No news isn't necessarily good news

Some of you have asked how things with the house are going, and the answer is that they really aren't. The only thing that has been done since my last blog post is that the contractor came out himself and put shingles on the house portion of the addition so that water would stop pouring in when it rained. Apparently there was some issue with the actual roofer and blah blah blah, he couldn't get him to come out and he (the contractor) didn't want to leave us hanging so he and one other guy came out and roofed it. The porch still isn't roofed but Henry and I did get up there and put tar paper on it so it's not raining under the porch anymore. As far as the construction, that's really all that there is to report other than the funny call we got from the permit office but that has all been straightened out. The city didn't want to give him one permit for $50k, but they'd gladly give him two permits for $24,999 for a small fee and he could go on his merry way and carry on with his plans. That's just stupid and another way for the city to make money. I feel bad for him, but welcome to Franklin I suppose.
Sort of related to the renovation, Henry and I finally ordered the new stove and dishwasher that we've been eying for like ten months. We were told that black Friday would be the lowest prices that there would be all year so we patiently waited for that day. The dishwasher was on sale, the stove was not (wth??), but we got $50 off for buying two appliances. That does not equate to a sale price on the stove but at least it's something. They did tell us that if it went on sale during the next thirty days that they'd refund the difference so there's that. To top it off we will get some cheap gas on our next fill up because of that whole rewards program thing so all in all I suppose it's not too bad. Our purchasing experience was overly complicated and drawn out as usual (Home Depot, when will we ever learn??) but we eventually got it paid for and left the store. They will not be installing it because the laminate does not go under the dishwasher and makes a small lip so they won't install. Again, wth?? It's like a quarter of an inch and doesn't interfere with removing the dishwasher. Ask me how I know, go ahead. It's not a big deal because we know how to install it, but it's still ridiculous. It's also ridiculous that they don't charge you sales tax on the dishwasher if you have it installed because it's considered a "service" and therefore not taxable but since we aren't having it installed we had to pay sales tax on it. I guess that makes that fifty dollars off for buying two appliances irrelevant. The install was $69 extra which is basically the same as the sales tax that we paid so whatever.

So, who wants pictures?!?!?!?

This is the dishwasher that we got. The controls are at the top so little fingers don't push all the buttons and melt all my tupperware. The picture on the right? See those little blue things? Those are special bottle/glass cleaner wands that fit up in the container and shoot water into the bottom thus removing the sludge of chocolate milk or whatever else might have been lurking in there.

Below is the stove that we got. It has a smooth top, five burners (do you still call them burners if there is no flame?), and double ovens. Just look at all the pizzas I can cook in there at a time! I have no idea what I will do with all of the pans that used to live in the bottom drawer but I smell another kitchen remodel to figure it out. *Note: We actually do know what to do with them but it really is another project for another day. I'm super glad that when I boil over stuff, it won't go all down in the eyes resulting in a tear down and scrubbing of parts of the stove that normal humans are not meant to see. I've had a smooth top before so I'm aware of the whole no cast iron on them, don't use scrubby pads, etc. so no harping on that in the comments. I'm also super stoked that the elements in the stove are covered so there's no crazy mess around them either. I think that a stove with two ovens is a good choice for us because we have a bunch of kids. We can do two pizzas and breadsticks at the same time, or dinner and dessert, or just use the small one on top when it's just Henry and I. In any case, I'm really excited to have a new stove and dishwasher since I have had the same ones for like thirteen years and they weren't that great to begin with. I know that that's probably not a long time to have (cheap) appliances, but it's two marriages, two houses, and four kids later and I'm thrilled for the change. I'm glad that I got to pick out what I wanted and didn't just choose the cheapest ones in the store because they were functional (and cheap). So there you have it, that's all that's new with us. ~Kellie~