Dishwasher Blues in Stainless Steel Hues

Did you ever read the Berenstain Bears? Remember Too Tall?

He always wore a purple cap and a striped shirt. Here he is with his gang trying to convince Brother Bear to do something awful, probably steal a watermelon or something. I guess he was 'too tall' in height, but he was also too much of a bully. Kind of like the dishwasher that's currently downstairs being Too Tall to fit into the space its designated to rest in. Not cool, dishwasher. Not cool! Stop being such a bully. Meet the Bosch bully:

 

Let's hope the Too Tall plauging my own life decides to play nice.

Alaska Update

I've been slowly gathering supplies for renovations at my dad's house. So far I've picked up the following:

• Level, which is really important for things like hanging curtain rods
• Curtains for the living room
• Curtains for the guest room
• Curtain rods for the guest room
• Curtain rods for the living room
• New bed linens for both bedrooms including:
• mattress pads
• sheets
• pillow x 2
• bedspread (only for the guest room; my dad already had one)
• Corded drill for hanging curtain rods and other tasks
• New light fixtures for the living room (except the big one that goes over the dining room table)
• New shower curtain and liner for both bathrooms
• Feng Shui book for my dad (he hasn't read it yet)
• Electricity tester for changing out light fixtures
• Probably other stuff that I can't think of right now

I need to return some sconces that I bought for a fixture I'm spray painting and I also need to return one curtain rod for the guest bedroom that was too short.

Yesterday we tried to remove the old dishwasher and failed because we couldn't get the water to turn completely off. We turned off the water to the entire house and we even turned off the water under the sink, but the water still gushed out when we removed the dishwasher connection. Most likely the little knob under the sink is broken. So a plumber is coming out today to install the new Bosch dishwasher:

and new Delta Windemere kitchen faucet:

The kitchen faucet is oil-rubbed bronze (hi, mom). I helped my dad pick out that faucet because it has a detached sprayer. Everyone I know who has a sprayer that is connected to the faucet itself complains of it breaking.

One thing I'm wondering is about the 'other' hole in the sink top. It WAS used for a little filtered water dispenser, but the dispenser is broken. However, it's still stuck in that hole. Can we get a replacement? It didn't come with the faucet. What if we don't want it there anymore? Can we just buy something to cover up the hole? I'm going to try to research this today. We'll see how it goes.

Live from Alaska!

I am hard at work today at my dad's house. After flying all night, I arrived in Alaska at 3:00 am (7:00 am my time). I got about 4-5 hours of sleep and have been working nonstop since. A lot of the initial work involves planning, but I've already made one trip to Lowe's. Here is a list of the big stuff I need to work on, prioritized:

- Buy an electrical tester thingy so I can work with wires without being electrocuted
- Move old bedroom furniture to guest room to prepare for new furniture delivery
- Remove old dishwasher and install new (to be honest I'm afraid to do this so a plumber may be called) Water scares me a lot more than electricity. The reason being is that if a light doesn't turn on...so what? If plumbing leaks, well, major emergency!
- Clean. There's a lot of stuff to be done, but mostly this involves hauling trash into town to the dumpster and vacuuming.
- Determine if I am going to be able to spray paint the brass light fixtures (they're wall sconces) oil rubbed bronze and replace the sconce shades (they're sort of flower-ish right now). If not, new fixtures will have to be purchased and installed.
- Pick out and purchase a new light fixture for over the dining room table. It's a very important light as far as the feel and design of the entire main floor and wouldn't be improved much by a spray paint color change.
- Declutter. I'm going one "drawer" at a time. (The idea is to break it up into small sections - they might not really be drawers.)
- Tons of other stuff

So far I've picked up the spray paint and a few glass light shades to try out. Along with hand soap for the kitchen sink. Hey, you gotta start somewhere.

More later with pictures, of course!

Chair in Progress

I'm working on a little project this Saturday evening. The paint smells like licorice! Weird. Going to try not to smell anymore, haha!

Miami Recap

Since I haven't been home much due to school, work, and an awesome vacation to Miami, I don't have much to update you on the condo front. Instead, here's a list of what I did in Miami last week. I'm going to post day by day since each moment was pretty action-packed. Here's day one.


DAY 1

Miami Beach

• Arrived 12 pm. 
• Visited Whole Foods.

The view of the ocean from Smith & Wollensky's

• Ate lunch at Smith and Wollensky's.
• Shopped at Merrick Park. (I didn't buy anything. I'm clearing my clutter and one of my new year's resolutions was to not fall prey to fashion trends.)

View from my room

• Attempted to take a nap since I had been up since 5 am.

In Scarpetta

Scarpetta's lounge area before dinner

• Ate salad and spaghetti at Scarpetta in the Fontainbleau hotel

The 'dance' floor of Club LIV

The strange microbe looking things hanging from the ceiling in Club LIV

• Visited club LIV in the Fontainbleau hotel

I enjoyed Scarpetta, but I don't think it was crazy awesome. The salad was excellent but the pasta was just OK. I could tell it had been homemade, but I'm not crazy about spaghetti noodles (even if they are fresh). Club LIV was fun but it was FREEZING cold. Seriously do not wear a skirt or dress unless you have a sweater. No one was dancing which I found odd. You can sort of tell how calm it was in the picture above. It is a nice club though as far as the atmosphere they have setup. The decorations are really cool. They look like giant microbes hanging from the ceilings and appear to change colors due to the lighting. They have a great light show controlled by one of the DJs in the front of the club at the foot of the stairs. I really enjoyed watching women trot down the steep staircase in their five inch heels. Luckily none of them fell (I would not have liked that, seriously). You can walk through the massive hotel to get from Scarpetta to club LIV. It's a short walk. But very, very cold inside that entire place. And no outside areas in the club or restaurant to use to warm up. So just plan for it!

The night wrapped up pretty late and I had been up for almost 24 hours straight. Whew! What a way to begin a vacation.

Hello from Miami

I spent today hanging out in the ocean and recalling childhood games played in the waves. Note: they are still fun today.

This is my view in the morning.

More later!

Miami!!

It's a brand new month, and it's time for new adventures. Right now I am en route to the airport to fly to Miami. I'll try to post during my trip, but I'll give you a full update on my adventures next week!

I've been to Miami twice before - once in 2009 and once last year. I actually drove when I went last year, and I stayed only a few days. Ugghhh! I'm so glad I'm flying this time. Here's where I'll be staying on South Beach:

I love how the ocean just seems to be endless.

My boyfriend and I are actually surprising someone with our arrival, but I'm 99.99999% certain she doesn't even know about this blog. Um, let's hope not!

I can't wait to eat key lime pie, ride bikes, have French breakfast outside on Lincoln Road, and spend time with my boyfriend's family!