Chocolate

Well, we had a couple of setbacks followed by a real victory today on the home front. Yesterday I took my first shower in our actual bathroom; it was very exciting not to have to dash down the back stairs to the basement in my skivvies to use the very crappy, cold basement shower. The tile guy finished on Thursday and Walt was able to put the shower head and bath faucets in at last (no sink or toilet yet though). We do have a problem with the tile, however; we chose unglazed white tile on the floor with black grout -- it's 1" hex tile, so the grout:tile ratio is actually a lot higher than with just about any other type of tile. The problem is that the black grout got absorbed into the tile in many places because it's unglazed tile, so we've now got a floor that looks permanently dirty. We're trying to get rid of it using super cleaner and a scrubber, but when I did a test patch today, I couldn't tell any difference. Our last resort is sanding the floor tile by tile with extra fine sandpaper. Ugh. But there's really no alternative because something has to be done, it's just hideous as is.

We did finally get the cabinets delivered yesterday (after the delivery being on, then off, then on again), and Aaron spent a lot of today laying out the base cabinets. There will be several more days of cabinet work, but just having the bases there -- even with no countertop and shims everywhere -- makes it seem more and more like a real kitchen.

We also got the stove delivered today, and this was the one real victory we scored on the home front. We've been going back and forth with this horrible moving company that first wanted to charge us an extra $800 to deliver the stove, then came back and said it would cost $250 (the justification being an extra $50 for the extra stairs and $200 for two more men) -- and at the end I finally negotiated to split the extra $250 with the seller. I've been really crabby about this, because it seems essentially like one of those scams you read about in some old person's mag like Reader's Digest -- moving company takes your furniture and then withholds delivery to extort money from you. When I was calling the seller to discuss this shipping problem (since this was the first time he used this so-called "white glove" service), he also called it "extortion."

These guys show up and there are two obviously seasoned mover-types and two guys who look like they just rolled out of Fast Times at Ridgemont High -- they couldn't have been more than 18 (which Walt later quasi-confirmed when he asked one of them if they wanted a beer and they said they were under age). When they unloaded the stove, they realized that it was 1-1/2" larger than the front door (and that was already after we took off the door in preparation for the stove's arrival). Walt sprung into action and ran out to the truck with his screw gun and essentially unscrewed the door handle for the range, the toekick, took off the knobs and tried to slim down the profile of it as much as possible. The wonderful thing about this was it worked -- although the movers still had to bring it up with 1/2" of clearance. It was a real feat; I could hear heated directives getting issued the entire time they lugging it up the stairs (all 444 lbs. of it). We got a couple of minor scratches on the front, but I was just thrilled that we got it inside. I was picturing a repeat of our armoire, when the movers tried to get it in the door and found it was too big; it's now sitting in the garage waiting to be posted on Craigs List. As the two young lugs were leaving, I heard them say, "This must be what it's like when a woman gives birth." That was almost worth the $200 we paid for them.

I was working at home today, but it was really chaotic what with the cabinets and the stove and Walt frantically trying to prep the bathroom for additional work. Devon and I took a little break and went down the street to See's Candy. The nice ladies at the counter gave me a sample and also gave Devon one; I didn't want to seem churlish in the store, so I let her hold it -- and of course she immediately started eating it. I think this was the first time she's ever had chocolate; I know that Walt and I haven't given it to her before, and I don't think she's getting it from anywhere else.

Let's just say it was love at first bite. The See's woman also gave Devon a little bag of chocolates, small foil-covered solid chocolate balls, and I let her hold these as I was paying (and as she was gobbling the original chocolate sample she got). When we got out, I wrested (with a lot of difficulty and screaming) the remainder of the eaten chocolate from her and threw it out, and right after I did that she grabbed one of the other chocolates and crammed it in her mouth, foil and all. She was so pissed that I had thrown away the first chocolate that she kept her teeth clenched the entire time I tried to pry the second chocolate out (which she ended up eating, including the foil). We had to go to the mini playground by the library to let her run off some of the sugar. She ran around like a child possessed, reiterating the power of sugar and caffeine to make any normal child act like a demon. When we headed back home and passed See's, Devon made a lunge for the door and tried to get back inside. I was amazed that she was able to associate the chocolate with the store after the first taste. I guess it shows the power of chocolate.