Sunday

Got up at 7:00 AM, hopped in the shower and got dressed. I need to get a electrical box cover from Home Depot and some bird seed suet and other things on sale at Meijers. Oh, yes, and Newt's filter broke yesterday, so I need one of those, too. I want to just get in and out, as I have a lot to do. Stopped and got a sausage and egg McMuffin and water for my breakfast/lunch.

Got back home and unpacked. Changed clothes and got down to it. Primed the bottoms of the two projects and let them dry (3 hours before you can paint - groan). Emptied the half of the pantry closet I will need to work in as well as the upper cabinet over the stove. Took the doors off the upper cabinet. Unscrewed the dishwasher and pulled it out. Carefully removed the upper cabinet face and molding. Difficult, as these cabinets were built in place and the carpenter used an abundance of 2-inch finishing nails. Ended up smashing the shelf with a hand sledge.

Skil saw would not fit in opening, so had to cut half of the one side with a saber saw and the rest with my SawZall. Difficult to get a perfect cut with either due to all that vibration. Cut down a 2 x 4 into a 2 x 2 for added support on the lower shelf (remember, the microwave hangs from this) and glued and screwed it on.

Ran the wires for the inside cabinet plug. They will go from the box into the pantry. Once in the pantry, they will be in conduit to the top, then back out and up into the cabinet. Installed the box and wired in the plug. Stopped to put the first coat on the projects. Carried them back in the house to dry and back to work inside.

It's almost 3:30 PM, and I am getting hungry, smelling the food in the crock pot. Found a basic recipe I embellished on: 2 pounds stewing beef, trimmed to 1 inch cubes, two medium onions, sliced, (I added this, as I needed to use them up: mushrooms, cut in big chunks), two cups of dry red wine, two beef bullion cubes and three tablespoons of cornstarch, mix it all up and turn it on low for 10-12 hours or high 5 - 6 hours (I made this at 7:00 AM, so I chose "Low"). I plan to serve it over wide egg noodles, and will let you know how it tastes... But, right now, it smells fantastic!

Sprayed the second coat of paint, carried them back inside. Took a break from everything and went outside to fill the bird feeder and pick up trash I noticed was blowing aroung out back. It stopped sprinkling a while ago, just cloudy. But its over 50 degree F. (10 degrees C.). Saw on the Weather Channel this is an El Nino year, which is holding the jet stream up in Canada (take that, Albertans!) and producing the above average, mild temps.

Cut and installed the all-important bottom shelf. So far, so good! Now to the scary stuff: Opened the box with the stove plug in it and took out the plug. wired the upper box to one of the legs. Punched a hole in the side of the box and ran conduit from the box through a hold in the cabinet where the dishwasher goes. Glanced at the clock and it was almost 8:00 PM! So, I quit for the night, made the egg noodles and ate dinner. Pretty darn good! Complex flavors, only thing I added was pepper. I think next time I'll add the pepper up front and also two or three tablespoons of butter.

Lying down to watch TV was a mistake. I fell asleep about five minutes later and slept through the night. I was BEAT!!!