Ahhhh, ambrosia
I dun care how close to bedtime it is. Nothing is better than fresh ground, fresh brewed coffee. 'Cos nothing sez a horrible morning than your well-loved coffee maker not working when you're half asleep and in desperate need of caffeine 1st thing in the morning.
Already was gonna be a whacko day (even though I stayed home from work). Landlady and plumber were due any time to look into mysterious flooding of my garage and neighbor's. Live in a 'half-plex' meaning my house faces one street and neighbor faces side street, our only 'common walls' is garages.
Never did figure out what caused the drain to back-up, overflow, and flood the garages. Washing machines, hot water heaters, dishwashers, sinks, toilets all tested in multiple combinations... no new flooding. Was nice to catch up with landlady on how much her daughter has grown since I moved in five years ago. Plus was extra-special sweet to hear that her father-in-law calls me 'his little lady'. *blushes*
See, landlady's hubby and hubby's dad do most of the handyman work around the property. I always get a huge kick when I'm around when they're working on something, the way they bicker (and I'll roll my eyes with elder gentleman when younger tries to tell him he shouldn't be up the ladder, needs better glasses to see wiring/electrical meter reading, etc).
Anyway, father-in-law will be out soonly to look into whether there is any way to fix my top oven (the bake element no longer works, but the broiler element does). The bottom oven is just fine... just very low down for tall peeps like Lolo and Kitty *g*. BUT!!! The ovens are ancient, narrow things and I'm sure no longer made, so might not be repairable. Did make landlady promise that we'd either leave things as is (kinda like one light over table in kitchen that has faulty wiring: don't really need it, so father-in-law has a smear of tape over the switch so it can't accidentally be turned on and electrocute (me) anyone), or somehow put new wall-mounted oven(s) in. I might lose the wee narrow cabinets to the side of the ovens, but not have a bunch of the lovely 60s era cabinetry removed to make room for a conventional stove/oven thingy.
*slurps more coffee* Back to dead coffee maker. The poor thing did give me seven years of very faithful service, so the only thing to do (not just 'cos I'd recently bought charcoal water filters for it) was to find the same model. Did... and on sale... and offering a rebate on top of that. *g* So... off to Macy's Lolo & Kitty went this afternoon. Gah! Macy's Kitchen department is a very, very, very dangerous place. God knows how, but we made it out of there with just my replacement Cuisinart coffee maker (same model... but some lil improvements *g*) . I dragged my feet ogling enameled cast iron pots, KitchenAid stand mixers, a desperately needed food processor or decent blender, muttering that I might get lost amongst all the goodies any foodie would love. Lolo exercised much restraint--and a firm hold on my coffee maker, guaranteeing I'd follow her--and managed to steer us to the exit without making a deeper hole in either of our bank accounts.
Oh, we also had a giggle when we saw the combo coffee maker/hot water dispenser thingy that sparked a snarky Eames/Arthur prompt... the thing is a Cuisinart! (But still, Eames would scoff that it's not a proper kettle for a proper cuppa... and def Arthur has to be an espresso or french press coffee snob).
Already was gonna be a whacko day (even though I stayed home from work). Landlady and plumber were due any time to look into mysterious flooding of my garage and neighbor's. Live in a 'half-plex' meaning my house faces one street and neighbor faces side street, our only 'common walls' is garages.
Never did figure out what caused the drain to back-up, overflow, and flood the garages. Washing machines, hot water heaters, dishwashers, sinks, toilets all tested in multiple combinations... no new flooding. Was nice to catch up with landlady on how much her daughter has grown since I moved in five years ago. Plus was extra-special sweet to hear that her father-in-law calls me 'his little lady'. *blushes*
See, landlady's hubby and hubby's dad do most of the handyman work around the property. I always get a huge kick when I'm around when they're working on something, the way they bicker (and I'll roll my eyes with elder gentleman when younger tries to tell him he shouldn't be up the ladder, needs better glasses to see wiring/electrical meter reading, etc).
Anyway, father-in-law will be out soonly to look into whether there is any way to fix my top oven (the bake element no longer works, but the broiler element does). The bottom oven is just fine... just very low down for tall peeps like Lolo and Kitty *g*. BUT!!! The ovens are ancient, narrow things and I'm sure no longer made, so might not be repairable. Did make landlady promise that we'd either leave things as is (kinda like one light over table in kitchen that has faulty wiring: don't really need it, so father-in-law has a smear of tape over the switch so it can't accidentally be turned on and electrocute (me) anyone), or somehow put new wall-mounted oven(s) in. I might lose the wee narrow cabinets to the side of the ovens, but not have a bunch of the lovely 60s era cabinetry removed to make room for a conventional stove/oven thingy.
*slurps more coffee* Back to dead coffee maker. The poor thing did give me seven years of very faithful service, so the only thing to do (not just 'cos I'd recently bought charcoal water filters for it) was to find the same model. Did... and on sale... and offering a rebate on top of that. *g* So... off to Macy's Lolo & Kitty went this afternoon. Gah! Macy's Kitchen department is a very, very, very dangerous place. God knows how, but we made it out of there with just my replacement Cuisinart coffee maker (same model... but some lil improvements *g*) . I dragged my feet ogling enameled cast iron pots, KitchenAid stand mixers, a desperately needed food processor or decent blender, muttering that I might get lost amongst all the goodies any foodie would love. Lolo exercised much restraint--and a firm hold on my coffee maker, guaranteeing I'd follow her--and managed to steer us to the exit without making a deeper hole in either of our bank accounts.
Oh, we also had a giggle when we saw the combo coffee maker/hot water dispenser thingy that sparked a snarky Eames/Arthur prompt... the thing is a Cuisinart! (But still, Eames would scoff that it's not a proper kettle for a proper cuppa... and def Arthur has to be an espresso or french press coffee snob).