November 7, 2004

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  I went to update my word count on Nanowrimo.  I woke up early, wanting to catch up, but I can’t get into “edit profile,” it keeps sending me back to ”sign in.”   I wanted to see that bar fill up.  I love seeing it inch closer to the goal.  Do you realize it’s almost Thanksgiving?  I’m gonna have to do double time before and after to keep on track. 

  
  

  Not wanting, and not being able to afford to tear up my counter, in the island, I read, with glee, about an oven you can buy, for $100, that sits on the counter.  It can hold up to a 22 lb turkey.  The electrician told me that the existing built-in oven, beneath the built-in microwave, was not a big enough space in which to put a new one.  The problem is that the cabinet is an inch too small to hold the current-sized ovens.  This all started when I tried to fit my roasting pan in there.  “How the hell am I supposed to do Thanksgiving?”  I asked the man.

  
  

  He acted like it would be no problem to cut open the counter, take the Jenn Air out, and pop a new oven in.  But this would require replacing the counter top.  There is Formica on there, and everywhere, which I can live with.  Replacing all of it, and I’ll have to upgrade before I sell so I might as well do it now, would be EXPENSIVE.  And Christmas is coming.  No, I’m going to Meier and Frank today and find one of those ovens. 

  
  

   God, I love kitchen gadgets.  H, my ex, used to have fits when I’d bring something home.  And if it went on the counter there would be weeks of battle, before and after.  My youngest used to let me in when he was gone, to show me the new furniture he’d bought. I’d sneak into the kitchen while she was upstairs getting her clothes.  The counters were always bare, not one thing on them.  It was so sad standing alone in my old kitchen, a visitor.  That was the one part of the house I was really proud of.  I’d done it in red and white.  I found this guy who did upholstery for boats.  He constructed a built-in banquette and covered it in red Naugahyde.  I’d gone to Jamie’s, that hamburger place on 23rd, and taken a picture of theirs.  He duplicated it and I’ll never forget seeing it lying in two pieces on the neighbor’s lawn. Their side yard was right next to our kitchen door.  It looked hideous, all giant and red.  But once he got it in –He had to get down on his back and kick it in place — it looked great against the wallpaper.  I’d found salt and pepper-shaker wallpaper, with red accents.  I had the cabinets painted white and the floor done in white with red diamonds.  This was back when you could still use linoleum.  Was that a bitch to keep clean!    Hearing her footsteps on the stairs and taking one last look at the dirty floor, I left my kitchen.

  
  

   

  
  

   

  • 12:00 pm
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