The Hood

Anna, our interpreter whose brother is our cabinet man, sent an e-mail needing the exact measurements of the hood for the stove. This is a bit tricky since our hood is on order, will be three more weeks before its arrival, and the store had no measurements to provide us. We took matters into our own hands and decided to shop elsewhere. Ron went exploring while I was in school, found one locally and had me meet him after I finished for the day. Nice, but no cigar. First of all, they did not have any in stock. Their other store on the Buda side might, but we could not convey that they should call for us store to store. Actually, it was not necessary anyway, this hood was stainless steel and black. The stove is stainless steel and the cabinets are cappuccino. I was not crazy about the black. Some former students had invited me for a beer, so I was going to be tied up in the afternoon, so Ron went exploring on his own. His mission was to find a 60cm wide hood in stainless steel. Simple! He found one and bought it, brought it home, unboxed it and held it in place. It was 2cm too wide. After a little ranting, which I should have videoed since it is a rarity, he decided to return it and buy the 50cm hood instead. When we both returned home, he empty handed, he explained that he thought he smaller hood would look silly. Call Anna and tell her the dilemma. No problem, the cabinets can be adjusted for the 60cm hood, which has been restocked at the store. No, he did not take off to buy it again, we had Michael coming over to watch a movie. Tomorrow is another day for fun and aggravation. In the meanwhile, I was socializing with two former students who had met in one of my classes early on in their academic careers. Both having at least four courses with me and with each other started dating. Their reason for the drink invitation was to announce their engagement now that they have both graduated with a May wedding. They want both Ron and I to attend. They had been at our place for a student Christmas party I used to give each year, so they both know Ron. I was elated at their announcement and am looking forward to their nuptials come May.

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It's a Stove, It's an Oven, It's Convection

Not much happened today, while I was at school. The stove/oven with ten functions was delivered, but the cabinet maker decided to return tomorrow. He had changed his day when we thought the stove/oven was coming on Thursday, so stuck to his guns in spite of the changes. The electrician did return to put in all of the sockets and covers. However, so far, we are not cooking with gas as the old expression goes. It is still take-out dinners. I wanted to take a picture of the new cooker, but my batteries were dead in my camera. Oh, well. One of our B and B guests arrived today from the States. She is a Frommer's guide reader. I had warned her ahead of time what she may be facing, but she is a good sport. Hopefully, the two coming tomorrow are as well.

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Phase One Completed

When we were stilling living in California, we had both bathrooms remodeled, in addition to many other jobs requiring contractors of one sort or another. In my experience, it was rare when a work person, showed up on time or even on the day they promised. Sandor, our tile man has been here at 8:00 am each day as promised. Today was no exception. This was the last phase of his work. He had to cut the tiles to create the baseboard and then grout the walls, floors, and baseboards. He was not satisfied when we said not to bother with tiling the baseboard area behind the radiators. They are flat and low to the floor, so it would not be noticeable. He, however was not satisfied with this, so cut them so that they could be slid from underneath and up. By 3:00 pm, he was finished. It looks so good, we are going to have the hallway done in May, matching the tiles from the kitchen to have continuity. We have to rid the place of dust. There is dust everywhere, even in the medicine cabinet in the large bathroom. Tomorrow, the electric gets finished off and the stove is delivered.

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Construction Worker Tango

Good to his word, the tile man was here again at 8:00 am to start putting down the floor. He said that it would be ready to walk on by Wednesday, the day that the cabinet makers were returning to do that installation. This left the stove/oven installation, but first we had to go pay for it. We wanted to give them money when we first looked at it, but they said it would be better to pay when we arranged delivery. Anna, our interpreter called to say we should have the stove there on Wednesday so the cabinets can be installed around it. We walked down to the appliance store; it is just down the street from us. The wonderful gentleman we spoke with on our first visit recognized us immediately and said "I have bad news." Those are four words you don't want to hear when you are trying to coordinate a number of laborers in a language you cannot communicate in and have to use the sister of one of them to translate. The bad news could have been worse. They sold the stove hood, but not the stove. At first they could not deliver on Wednesday due to some mysterious problem. A call into Anna to tell her, but she said it was ridiculous. Her brother the cabinet maker was coming in from the country on Wednesday specifically and could not change their days. We just turned the phone over to the salesman. He finished with Anna and gave us the phone. She would have to call her brother and call us back. Four minutes later, she called and her brother would come Thursday. As she was telling Ron this, the salesman was telling me he did manage to arrange delivery on Wednesday. Yikes! I am so confused now, I am overjoyed that I start school tomorrow and Ron will be here to deal with anything that happens on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Except for the hood, we should be complete by Thursday afternoon. Ron had the foresight to ask our salesman to call the company that would need to hook up the stove. There is only one, not the gas company, who is authorized to do it or the guarantee is void. With an oven with ten different functions, I want it working all the way through its three year guarantee. It has only been days, but it has felt like a whole lot longer. When this is over, I am putting Anna's name in for sainthood. This has turned into a part-time job for her. We gave her a gift certificate for dinner out for two, but we will have to do more by the end of this adventure. The tile man will return tomorrow to do the baseboards and then grout the entire tile work and he is out of here.

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Kitchen Remodel

Before we left on vacation, we decided the kitchen needed remodeling. One of the former Hungarian Fulbright teachers who had gone to the US for a year, has a brother who is a carpenter. We have been in touch with her thanks to our friend Jennifer, who was the exchange teacher from the US here in Budapest. We are having the cabinets replaced and in the process adding more where there is currently wasted space. Some of the oversized drawers are being converted from three to five draws. Most importantly, we are making room for a larger stove/oven. We picked out the cabinets and the counter top before we left. I am disappointed that our first choice of counter top is not available, so we had to settle for number two. The cabinet sample is darker than it really is in reality. It is a shade or two lighter than it looks here. Yesterday, we went to pick out the tile for the splash board and the floor. We also picked out the new stove/oven. It is everything I could want with ten functions: regular oven, convection oven, broiler, combinations of the three, and it is self cleaning. Yahoo! The last thing we have to pick out is the new sink. The double sink we have now has an attached drainboard. Being stainless steel, it has become corroded over the years with our mineral infested water, so the new sink will be built in. The tiles should be here by February 5th, so we will press forward after that. I cannot wait to get started, but more importantly, I cannot wait until it is all done.

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