Tuesday, June 17, 2014

This was a very productive day!  
Jer got up and first thing painted the edges of the washer/dryer opening.  
Then we started out to put up the microwave and it was tricky getting the holes in the cabinet in all the right places, but we finally did it and it's up there!

When we pushed the appliances back into place Jer also leveled them.  The refrigerator had been leaning drunkenly sideways and the oven baked the Riley cake thin on one side and fat on the other.  So now they are both straight and level. 

You see that open space between the appliances?  It's about a foot wide and maybe we can get a little counter to go in there.  There's a back splash already glued to the wall there so they had a counter there before.  We will see how things go.  I am realizing that I don't feel as cramped in the kitchen as I expected to, but we also aren't storing food for several months either.  When we first got here and I started to put the pots and pans under the oven I was disappointed to see that the drawer under the oven isn't a drawer so there's a significant amount of storage space devoted to the cookware.  We'll have to rethink that too.

I was beginning to worry about the curtain rods I had ordered and looked up the order on the internet.  They were supposed to arrive today!  And sure enough it wasn't an hour before they were here.  There are already vertical blinds in the bedrooms and I have decided I like the clean look of those so I don't think I want to put curtains there, but the long one for the living room was a welcome sight.  We don't have close neighbors behind us, but it still feels a little odd to have the big black sky looking in while we are watching tv in the evening.  



While Jer was undoing the packaging on the utility closet doors I went to the library and got a card and some books.  It's a nice little branch library but I also now have library privileges at any and all branches in Harris County.  That's a lot of books!  It also has all the modern conveniences of online renewal and so forth.  I see that they have some classes for English as a second language too, so maybe I can volunteer there this winter.  

When I got back he was almost done installing the doors over the washer and dryer.  Don't they look great?  It makes me very happy to see them finally covered.  

When they were done we had lunch and settled down to read a little bit.  Then Jer started in on the fireplace bricks.  When he first started into them it looked like they were going to be really hard to get off and I started thinking of alternative plans, but he finally got it going and it came off pretty easily.  It came off in sheets of four bricks across and 3 up.  Under the fake brick is plywood.  There is a metal facing on the edges he will have to take off, but it looks like he will be able to just put on some wallboard over the plywood and make the joints nice and it will be fine.  The mantel will be covering almost all that wall.

 Now we are going to stop for the day.  I am so grateful for this man's kindness.  I know he wouldn't have done any of these things except to please me.  He would have been happy staying in Orem in that sweet little house all the rest of his life, winters and all.  Instead, he's here working all day for weeks.  I am so grateful to him for it because I do love this little place.  The more he gets done and the longer we stay the better I like it.  I hope you all will take opportunity to come and stay a while with us here and enjoy it too.