Sunday, June 2, 2013

Be Careful What You Wish For

Back on Friday, I mentioned that we were still waiting to find out when our corner cabinet and desk would be delivered, as well as our Amazon order. Well, later that day we received an email from the contractor saying delivery of the cabinet and desk would take place on Saturday around 11:00 AM "or so".

We knew from experience that the chances of the delivery happening at 11:00 were slim and none. So we weren't surprised when that time came and went. But then more time came and went its merry way. Finally, around 2:30, the truck pulled into the driveway. Not to be a smart ass (well, maybe a little), that's a reasonable on-time record for these parts.

We figured it would take a couple of hours to install the corner cabinet, and we were right. Once again, the dulcet sounds of a hammer drill echoed throughout the land as the cabinet was bolted to the wall. Then it was time to attach the pull-out shelves and cabinet doors.

Just one small problem. It seems that instead of assembling the unit in the shop to make sure everything was copacetic, the builder decided that all was well. Problem was that once the cabinet door was attached, you couldn't pull out the sliding shelves. Seems the designer (ahem, mi amor) made a miscalculation. Ooopsie!

In spite of that issue, everything else was fine and the finished pieces are beauties:


And check out all the storage space!


For the desk, there's a pull drawer for the keyboard, plus a spot for the printer (bottom shelf on right), and room for files and whatnot.


On the left there are shelves upon shelves and on the right are two very cool features. See that box at the bottom? Well, David built that to store our dog food. The top not only lifts up, but the box tilts forward for easy clean-up. And as it's on one of those sliding shelves, the whole thing pulls out and the lid of the box can be used to place pots to be filled with purified water.

The water jug will be on a sliding shelf right above the dog food box. You can see one of the slide hinges on the left, above the box. Totally cool, huh?


Of course, you-know-who had to check out the installation within seconds after the contractor left.

The shelves are now back at the shop being trimmed down a bit, and they should be ready in a few days...or so. In the meantime, we'll move my computer to the new desk, and I'll be able to pull up any of my recipes and be able to see them at a glance, while being right there in the kitchen. Groovy!

By around 4:30, the installation was complete, and we took a deep breath, poured ourselves a drink, and toasted our latest additions.

But the fates weren't done with us just yet. Around 6:45, after no sooner finishing dinner, the phone rang. It was Roy, from Roy & Sons, calling about our Amazon delivery. As he has always called the day before delivery, we just presumed he was going to let us know he would be stopping by on Sunday.

Ahhh, nope. Roy was at the end of the lane saying that he wasn't sure his truck would make it to our house, in case the lane was all mucky from a recent rain. We would need to meet him at the lane entrance to get our stuff.

David hustled to grab the car keys, while I took care of tethering the dogs so they wouldn't run out the gate. Just as David got the car to the gate, Roy's delivery truck arrived. Seems he had a change of mind about the lane conditions.

After off-loading our boxes, including a 300-pound generator, off David went to the shop for the handcart. We got that box loaded up and moved under the palapa.

Everything else we hauled inside and we had a small fest of opening everything else. One of the items that David purchased was a new pair of Croc's. Now here's an irony for you. When he looked at them this morning, there was a small sticker saying they were made in Mexico. Go figure.

Anyhow, within less than 24 hours of posting about not hearing about our deliveries, everything had arrived. Funny how fate works sometimes.

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