My House Needs To Go On A Diet

Good morning Arizona!!  What the heck happened to your warm, sunny, short-wearing days?  It's 33 degrees with an expected 32 for tonight.  I think it's been getting up into the 60's during the day.  That is definitely NOT shorts weather for me.

So I put on my ski parka, my boots and my gloves and headed out to Lowes for appliances.  I pretty much knew what I wanted, but couldn't find a single person to help.  The line at the order register was long and I thought to come another day.

Finally, Eric arrived.  I had my dimensions in hand when the first major problem reared it's ugly head.  Almost ever single refrigerator of decent size is 69 inches tall he said.  MY space is only 68-1/2.  Are you kidding me?

I checked the specs on all of the top brands, trying to find SOMETHING that would fit and still be large enough for normal use.  It wasn't going to happen.  

I went home and measured three more times, just to be sure.  I double checked the website and sure enough, they are all 68.8.  So how many actual tiny fractions of an inch over 68.5 is that?  Can I smash it into the space??

Of course not.  What it means is that I have to figure out a way to put my house on a diet and take half an inch off the bottom of the overhead cabinets.  Seriously???  If there was a lip on the bottom edge, it wouldn't be so much of a problem.  There is not.  Big sigh!!!

I do remember my up-the-hill neighbor saying he had to cut his cabinets down when they got their fridge last year.  I'm going to ask him for advice.  In the meantime, I'm stuck with my broken drawer, noisy, talks-to-me-constantly fridge instead of this beauty.

In other news, I discovered when I arrived that the smoke detector was disconnected.  Mr. Chance said it was beeping upon his house check and put in a new battery.  Nope ... the new battery didn't stop the beeping.  I went to Ace Hardware for a new one.  The nice man said he was amazed the old one worked THAT long ... 16 years to be exact, said the date on the back.  

I'm not showing you the entire ladder because it's way up high in the sky.  I was almost on the top step.  It looked exactly the same as the old one, but of course it did not fit the ring.  I had to remove the entire thing, install the new mount, then twist it in place.  YAY!!  No beeping!!!  I really need a taller ladder.

I'm sorry to say I haven't seen any critters around lately, not that I wanted to see any more scorpions.  Mom Bobcat, the deer and even the quail are all hiding from the cold, just like me.  This morning I gave up and turned the heat up a tad.

As a quilter, I have TWO nice wool batting quilts on the bed and it's still not enough.  I can't wait for the electric blanket to arrive tomorrow!!!  In the meantime, I've finished three quilt tops.  I can hear my quilting lady now ..... ka-ching!!!!