This Old Condo

Today has been quite the adventure over at Chez WP...or taking into consideration that there's a guy right over my head hammering and singing canciones de amor de Mexico...Casa WP. Look, I still speak and comprehend enough Spanish to understand Mi amor, mi amor, extraño tus dulces labios. At least I hope he was saying labios and not labias which would make for a seriously bawdy song probably more akin to songs in Quechua...but I'm not going there right now. 

Despite weeks of careful planning, the roof AND the refrigerator arrived today. The roof guys found they had an earlier opening and told us Friday afternoon...after the fridge place closed for the weekend. I couldn't stop the fridge from arriving, but the roof guys said they would make a path to my door when the delivery truck arrived....sometime between 9 and 12 noon. The freezer was emptied into a cooler at 6 a.m. before I left for morning minyan, and since I would be home around 8:15, that gave me plenty of time to drop the upper stuff into its own cooler. No prob, right? 

Guess again. 

I wasn't home more than 5 minutes when the fridge guys arrived at about 8:20. They were very great and said to empty the fridge whilst they got everything set up...and the roof guys did their best not to throw shingles on them. Old fridge was standard depth and wedged into the opening so precisely that it took an act of brute force to get it out. The doors all had to come off and although it must've come through the kitchen door to get in, it wasn't going out the same way. So with a shrug and a grin, they began removing anything that could catch on the doorframe. 

no mice,
no plumbing

The guys were undeterred. They promised me everything would be just fine. At last, that bugger was sliding outta the hole. My biggest fear in all this was not the height nor the width of either fridge...it was a dreadful dark thought that there might be a dead mouse (or two) under there because that's where they hid on the two occasions I had to employ the peanut butter bucket. Once it was out, we confirmed that the bright stars who designed this kitchen, beautiful as it is, did not plumb a waterline for an ice maker. I am not doing it now. And that's still annoying.

There were no dead mice. A few giant dust balls and a rather large, imposing dead moth, but I could dispatch those easily enough. The floor got washed, and the new fridge, a counter depth one, sailed right in. 

Ian and Dan

Ian and Dan, my two patient heroes, slid that sucker right into the hole and it was perfect. I was thrilled that the giant sticky-outy part was gone and I could stop whacking my toes on the corner. (Yay, feet!) They installed, they adjusted, they walked me through a few new things, and they made the experience not simply pleasant but kinda fun. Okay...they laughed at my punchlines. All things considered, their good humor was great considering the pounding outside, the stress of moving the original fridge, and me trying to be funny. 

I knew, going to counter depth and a two drawer freezer, I was going to lose space. I was a little surprised at how much space I lost, but that's the price of toe-protection. Better organization in the fridge upstairs and the little chest freezer in the garage will balance out. It will be fine. Oh, and one MAJOR improvement...the stainless steel door is magnetic. Thank G-d! No more blue tape for kiddo artwork!

Okay, this is the part where I say thank you to the folks involved with the saga of me finding a new fridge. If you've been reading the WP for a long time, you might remember when the 26 year Sub-Zero was wheezing precariously and I had to replace it. That episode, Standing in the Sunlight and Blinking, was about fixing up that which was wrong with my kitchen. This time, the only thing that really needed replacing was the fridge, and like the last time, I did my homework to figure out what I wanted/needed. I shopped around, visited a number of appliance dealers, including Home Depot, Best Buy, Warner Stellian, and Lowe's, before I stumbled across Build With Ferguson's. They're actual a builder's resource, but the showroom is open to the public. So I walked in the door of the Oakdale showroom. (The tubs situated in lovely displays were ogasmic all on their own!) The lady that helped me, Kerrilynn, was nice, knowledgeable, and patient. I came equipped with the dimensions of the old fridge as well as the manual for it, questions about sizes, depths, counter versus standard, and a whole lotta other stuff. She took the time to not just answer the questions, but to educate me about what has changed in the 9 years since my last foray into refrigeration. Sorry if I sound like an advert, but customer service makes or breaks the experience, and this was a great experience from beginning to end. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ That's 10 outta 5 stars. Okay?

Meanwhile, back to the singing roofers. I am but one part of a row of 6 townhouses. I was stunned at the speed and efficiency these guy had. I will admit it made writing the blog difficult with hammering over my head for a good portion of the day. They were all very nice, stopped tossing shingles every time I walked out the front door. They were great about the fridge business, and as promised, they left space so I could get in and out of the garage. And while today could've been horribly, horribly stressful. it wasn't. The roofing guys I interacted with were charming and helpful. I loved when, at noon, they spread out blankets and had picnic lunch all together. It was kinda sweet, actually, with lots of banter and laughter. 

Next week I'll be back to ranting and raving, I'm sure.  But for the moment, I'm going to enjoy the silence overhead while it's dark out. They're coming back in the morning. Maybe I'll go to the Art Institute after morning minyan. Or the walk the Tree Top Trail at the zoo . Or go to State Fair. Whatever. I'll figure out something. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

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