mundane matters

There's been a little bit of "movement at the station" here the last few days...no rain of any real importance but at least the clouds have been looking a little more hopeful, with some falling around the district. Just not here, or over the prickle farm.

ANYHOW. The chirpy handy man from down the road arrived to put in my kitchen splash backs! Given that this is a undertaking that is over ten years in the making (filed under "I'm Too Busy" and "Don't Even Want To Think About It" in the husbands diary ) its a pretty momentous occasion.

Remembering the walls of my kitchen are timber tongue and groove. Great stuff to clean.  Amazingly though, when I cleaned the bench top off and ran the steam cleaner over the walls, and then a quick wipe over with a dishcloth, the walls came up very nicely.

The splash back installation has also included painting the sole remaining window that has managed to escape the attentions of not one but TWO painters that have been here over the past five or so years. The fact that I am not the one doing the sanding and painting of the window frames has just about made me skip with joy.

Unfortunately, when I was doing my Sadie thing on the walls, leaning over the stove, I managed to give myself a bit of an electric shock (resulting language was not at all ladylike).  Jury's out as to whether it was the stove or the master switch for the stove (I have my money on the latter), however when the handy man looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and said he'd be happy to put a new stove into place, I went and made some calls. Husband approved, found some room in the budget and the EXACT sort of stove I had hoped to find (given space limitations and limited budget...but geez, they are not cheap items) just happened to be in stock in the Towers. Meant to be. (Surely a stove is a tool? Tax deductable under Repairs and Maintenance?!)

Things are poking along steadily, with the splashbacky bits being cut and fiddled with today. Measure twice - or more - think about things, and cut once. I'm in no rush. Its taken ten years after all. Stove is being collected today, and by tomorrow afternoon, should be all over red rover.

I'm not sure its going to make me cook any better (or keep the kitchen tidier, lets face it, I'm a shocking housekeeper!) but I look forward to some LEVEL cakes and will be interested to see what difference a fan forced oven will bring. Intend to bake a big pav for a BBQ this weekend.

Stay tuned for the afterwards pics.