More Oven Silliness

On Saturday, hubs and I went off to the "discount" appliance store. Basically, they have all the bougie appliances and then they "discount" them so they are within, maybe, the realm of affordable but you feel like you're getting a deal because you were never going to buy a Thermador any other way.

I did not buy a Thermador.

We have actually purchased other (normal) brands from them, but apparently when it comes to wall ovens, they only do the higher than high end of things.

So we were looking around and I was dismissing high end brands out of hand (not necessarily because I wouldn't like said brand but because I'm just not spending what a car costs on an oven) and a salesguy wanders over.

He does his whole spiel and points out that they're selling floor models at a huge discount. (And I mean discount yes, huge? Meh.)

Anyway, we explain the whole idea of embiggening the hole to do double ovens instead of another combo and he does the whole "oh then we'd have to come do an evaluation and they still might not do it" like Lowe's did - except Lowe's was going to be $35 and this place was going to be $150. And it's probably the same people. But whatever.

Then he points out that in this Kitchen Aid here, the top oven is actually a convection oven in addition to a microwave, so it's not quite the same and yadda yadda and...well, he caught my interest.

Because it does microwave and it also convects with air. 

And according to the interweb reviews, it does both well instead of how sometimes things like this just do multiple things badly.

And yet. Kitchen Aid = $$$$ and so I wanted to ponder a little more. So we left.

And we have to drive literally past the Home Depot on our way and hubs says, "might as well stop and look" and he's not wrong. So we go in and HD has very few wall oven / combo options (same as Lowe's) but one they have is...Kitchen Aid?

I look at the features. I look at the model number. And it's the same? The exact same one? For $50 more I can get a new one rather than a floor model. 

So that seems like a no brainer (and I mean the floor model would probably be fine, but the other place still wanted to do the $150 "make sure it'll fit" appointment first and HD is like "If you're sure, we're sure.")

So yeah. Kitchen Aid oven comes tomorrow.

And now my appliances span the gamut of brands - Samsung (fridge), LG (dishwasher), Whirlpool (stovetop - and the last man standing of the original guys, so I should probably start researching that), and now Kitchen Aid.

If we were planning to sell...ever...I might worry about the mismash. But yeah. I don't.

Oven Tales

While it is entirely possible that the title could apply to the weather hereabouts of late, it does not. 

(Summary of our weather - much like I guess for most of the US lately - is: gross. Hot and gross. Like living in Satan's wool sock when he's on mile 24 of a marathon hot and gross.)

(That said, yesterday and today have actually been lovely.)

I digress.

No, in fact, the oven in the kitchen is the subject of today's tale of woe. 

You can probably see where I'm going just from the words "tale of woe" can't you?

Of course we just replaced our fridge. (Did I talk about that? I can't recall and I'm too lazy to look. If I didn't, well, now I have. Literally less than a month ago. New fridge. Was the other one broken? No. But I hated it. And the new one was on sale. However, had I known the oven was breathing its last, I would have held off. Except I really do love our new fridge.)

But alas, on Monday, I went to set up to start a round of sourdough and as I was digging things out, eldest wandered by and said, "Is the oven working?"

"Wait what?"

"I tried to make a snack last night after you were in bed and it wasn't working." He reaches up and pushes the "Bake" button and there's furious beeping and a scrolling message of "Function not available."

"Oh." I put Pedro the sourdough starter down on the counter and move to eye the oven with eldest. Of course, being human, I push the button again as if somehow he had done it wrong or the magical pressure of mom's finger might have a different response.

It did not.

Nor did any of the other oven-centric buttons produce a different result.

I googled a little then toddled off to flip some breakers and count off two minutes slowly before flipping them back on.

A repeat of the button dance revealed the same result. Function not available.

As if there were any functions that were available. (There were not.)

I texted the hubby and put all the bread makings away, then poked at various appliance dealer websites to see what I could see.

Of course, here's where things take a definitively Sleepy Family turn. Because our current (non-functional) oven is an oven/microwave combo. Two separate devices in the wall, but one unit. The microwave? Still working like a champ. But it has to go because the oven is dead.

Hubby (and I to a lesser degree) is not so much about having to replace perfectly functional things, so he's all, "What if we just put in a single wall oven and built a shelf upon which to place a separate microwave?"

Eh, sure. Why not?

So night before last, we went over to Lowe's to take a gander at their wall oven options (because they were on sale - woo!) and upon finding what I figured would suffice, we nabbed a salesman and began to explain the situation.

Salesman began shaking his head. "We'd have to come out and measure and look. It's $35 for that."

Head scratch. "But why?"

End of the day, because we're not replacing it with the same exact thing (combo oven and microwave) people have had our same idea but then been annoyed because it didn't look pretty when the install was done and tried to blame Lowe's.

"What if we promise not to blame you?"

He smiled and shook his head. "They have to come out and look. Even then, they may not agree to do it."

Grumbling a bit, we leave sans purchase.

Last night, hubby gets home from work and stands with his hands on his hips staring at the oven. "How hard can it be?"

I'll admit, my heart sank. Nothing good starts that way. Ever.

And still, within maybe ten minutes and a little help from eldest, the broken appliance has been removed from the wall (and is now sitting on the kitchen floor blocking use of the stove, but hey, who needs to cook?) and un-hooked from the electricity. 

"If you wanted a double oven, this hole would be easy to expand."

Well now. That's a thought.

So that's where we are right now. Oven/microwave combo on the kitchen floor. Hole in the cabinetry waiting to possibly be expanded (and one of the lower drawers removed) for installation of a double oven instead. And yet another decision that I need to make (do I want a double oven? Or do I still want a single oven and a shelf? Or just to raise the single oven and put in...another drawer? Or a lower shelf? )

Do I have any idea what I want?

I do not.

But maybe this weekend I'll figure it out.

And he's back

Eldest is back from his wanderings in Mexico. When he was exhausted from a day of travel and I picked him up at the airport, he had lots to say on the way home. I really enjoyed hearing about his trip without having to pry every answer out of him as if it were an interrogation. 

Sadly, he has reverted back to his normal reticent self now that he's been home a few days and while I had hoped to continue the conversation and, dare I hope more, turn over a new leaf in our ability to have what I would see as a more normal relationship it was, alas, not to be.

Ah well.

The meme that says: Texting (or talking) with a teenager is like texting someone who's just not into you.

Yeah, I feel that.

Maybe it's as it should be. Cut the apron strings and so forth. But I feel like they're so cut, I spend many days questioning if they ever existed. At this point, I just pray that later in life he doesn't forget we exist and will toss a scrap of attention in our direction now and again. I say that, and then I realize hubby only reaches out to his family when I force it, so yeah. The prospect isn't bright. Yay?

Still, I'm grateful he had a good trip. He learned a lot. And for a time was willing to share it with me. If they go again next year, he's already said he wants to return. And that's something, too.

Perhaps I can convince him to give learning a little Spanish a try in the intervening time.

Hasta la vista, baby.

Eldest is off on his trip to Mexico with 7 others from the youth group (and three adults). I've received two texts - one letting me know he landed and another asking for me to approve an app install for Google translate. 

Heh.

I'm going to interpret that in teenager as doing well and having fun.

I'm a little jelly that he's traveling internationally, even though Mexico isn't high on my list of where I want to go (because I have been many times in my childhood). Still, I don't think I ever visited the area where he is and I do love seeing new things. And honestly, right now, I just want to go somewhere.

Dad and I are planning a road trip to inter my sister's ashes in September. It's meant to be just him and me, but now that we're including places I'd like to stop and see and place he'd like to stop and see, youngest's ears have perked up and he wants to come.

And eldest has shown some interest as well.

Hubby says, "Well if everyone else is going..."

So maybe our two-week road trip will turn into a family jaunt (although then we have to board the dogs, but that's a small thing in the scheme.) Part of me says, "Cool! Bring it." And part of me is a little sad to lose the time just with Dad. I guess we'll see how it all shakes out.

Nice to meet you, where you been?

It's very bizarre.

In the last six months, I've had two people get back in touch with me after years of silence. The first, right around Christmas, after 22 years. And then this past Sunday after ten.

And I don't really understand it.

I mean sure, it's kind of interesting to "catch up" but they both started off as if we could pick up right where we were. As if they didn't ghost me with no explanation, leaving a big hole in my self-worth. And, to be fair, maybe they don't understand just how profoundly their behavior impacted me. I'm sure it's more about me than them. I don't imagine normal people lose friends and think it's because they're supremely un-friendable.

But my life certainly seems to support that as a definition for me. I joke that hubby makes friends and I lose them for us. Because all the dead friendships have certainly pointed their fingers at me as the sole problem.

Sure, you can spout that it "takes two to tango" or whatever, but of the "two", I'm the only one who is ever made to bear the responsibility.

Thus, I pretty much stand by the idea at this point that there is zero point in trying to have friends anymore. I'm...well, I'm not content. That would be a lie to say that. I'm resigned to it. 

I don't mind being someone's friend. I think I do a pretty good job of that, honestly, for as long as it's allowed. But I have given up on any of them actually returning the favor in the unconditional way that I friend. And as such, I am definitely more reserved when it comes to sharing. Because the part that hurts the most when the inevitable occurs is the destruction of trust. The fact that I trusted these people with the parts of me reserved for friends and they were not worthy of it. Worse, they didn't care. They didn't see it as something worth caring about.

So yeah. Both of these former friends are probably disgruntled with my responses to their overtures. If the situation was reversed, I know I would be. But at the same time? I kind of feel "fool me once" needs to be in play. Because as much as I'd like to say I'm older and wiser and wouldn't be as bothered by another collapse, I know that for a lie.

And at this point in my life, I value my heart more than the nebulous idea of a real friend.

Toothsome

I mentioned, I believe, that I had to have two gum grafts in the past nine or so months. I'd had some (I think in different places? But I really don't remember.) back in 2005. Even if it was a re-do, I'm okay with having to do it every twenty years give or take. (I mean, in an ideal world, I wouldn't have to. But looking at my dad's gums, I'm not feeling like I have the odds in my favor.)

Anyway. The second of the two was in March. It healed well enough, but I noticed I had a lot (more?) pain in the tooth/gum when I was finally cleared to chew on that side. And it was even more cold sensitive than it had been.

So, after putting it off for close to a month, I finally went back to the periodontist to see if I'd broken the graft or if they'd inadvertently done something. Perio said no, the graft looked great. Referred me to an endodontist. 

They took a look then froze the end of something with liquid nitrogen and started touching teeth. All was well til they got to the one in question when I about jumped off the chair in pain and it was a solid five minutes before the pain abated. That plus the x-ray meant root canal. I'd expected to schedule same, but he was like, "If you have time, I do."

And well, I was there. 

All things considered, it wasn't awful. Again, not signing up to have them for fun and profit, but still. 

Amusingly, I am realizing just how much compensating I must have been doing for that tooth, because I am still surprised when I take a drink of something cold and accidentally let it go in my whole mouth and it doesn't hurt. Woot. 

In other tooth news, youngest came to me with a molar yesterday. I really thought the Tooth Fairy was retired, but I guess we have a couple more yet to go.

A little oasis of quiet and calm

Today, the three boys are off helping a fellow Trail Man (what they call the boys in Trail Life) with his Freedom Award project (equivalent to an Eagle Project.) Hubs texted a bit ago saying he was on his third trip to Lowes for the day. Ah, planning ahead.

It's been nice to have them out of the house and knowing they're in the sunshine working muscles. They were all grumpy at six thirty when it was time to rise and shine so they could get there on time, but such is life. I enjoyed my coffee in silence after they left while the Sleepy Pup ran around the yard sniffing all the morning sniffs.

Then, after a bit, I toddled to my office and actually was able to write some words on my newest undertaking. It's good because it's been...a while. I'm not yet at a point where I'm willing to get a pre-order setup, but maybe my writing career hasn't reached the end of its road as I previously worried. 

I guess we'll see.

After lunch, Sleepy Pup and I wandered up to the mailbox and I was initially delighted to see a veritable treasure trove of mail. Back inside as I sorted out the trash, I realized that the majority of the pile was addressed to two different addresses. Neither of which are ours. 

So I sorted them back out (including two end of year report cards from the public schools. Ha.) and then the pup and I went back out and walked them to the appropriate mailboxes. I thought it might be a longer stroll and had geared up appropriately, but it turns out that both boxes are actually on the fringe of our road-facing property. 

Regardless, their mail has now been delivered appropriately and pup and I are home, after a nice little jaunt in the sunshine.

I'm contemplating more words, but it feels a little like a chore, so I think I may give myself a break and just do more later if the whim arises. Perhaps instead, I'll go sit on the covered portion of the deck and read or crochet.

This quiet, relaxing day is just what the doctor ordered.