Variety

I have a variety of things to show you today. Hubby and I have been trying to get out and walk at different parks lately. At one park we saw some geese in the lake.

At another there was a turtle swimming in the bay.

Despite my tomato plants looking like they are half-dead, they are yielding a bounty of cherry and grape tomatoes.

I have added this cute little lady bug to my back yard. I used to have several little figurines around our pool, but over the years they've gotten broken. 

I need to defrost the large freezer in my basement, but first I need to use most of the food that is in it. I decided to try to make room for some of it in the freezer part of my refrigerator and found many, many Italian bread halves that we save from when we order in. The restaurant always gives us two halves and we only share at most one at dinner. I sometimes slice them thin and make bruschetta, but this time I decided to make some croutons out of 3 of halves to go with our salad. I used this recipe for Homemade Croutons and it was delicious. 

I will be making these again to use up more of those breads.

I cut up more fabric for the Log Cabin Star quilt.

I have added some stitches to the bow of the gift that Santa is holding. 

I have been spending most of my stitching time on the secret stitching so there is not much progress to show. Here is a peek at a pretty rose.

Unfortunately, the arthritis in my right thumb has started acting up again probably due to all the stitching I am trying to accomplish and I can only stitch 2 or 3 18" strands a day.

Now for a story. My current dishwasher is 14 years old. It works perfectly fine, but the racks are rusting and staining my dishes. It also gets mold under the utensil rack and a few other places that we are constantly battling as it has an old polymer interior. Hubby and I went to our local appliance store and I ordered a new, not inexpensive, dishwasher with a stainless steel interior. I don't want any more mold. Wednesday the crew that delivers and installs the dishwasher came bright and early. The installer walks in to my kitchen, looks at the old dishwasher and immediately tells me that the new one won't fit. Now trust me when I tell you that I researched and measured before buying. He measures the opening which he states is 23 1/2". The dishwasher needs a 24" wide opening. He goes back and forth measuring and declares that it can't be installed. He says I will get a call. It is loaded onto the truck and off they go. Hubby and I decide to go to the store and get this sorted out. I remeasure the opening and I find the manual to my current dishwasher that includes it's dimensions. At the store, the salesman is very helpful and actually finds our purchase of our current dishwasher on their computer. Guess what? The dimensions of the old dishwasher are virtually the same as the new one. Specifically, the widths are identical. We are told that the polymer tubs give a little during installation and the steel ones do not which is why they believe that our current dishwasher fit in the space, but they need to speak with the installation supervisor who is at another location so we go home. I decide to start researching other dishwashers just in case it is determined that I need to find something else. Now I need to tell you that supply is very limited. I originally tried to order a dishwasher that was one step down from the one I ordered and the store had no idea when they might be getting it. There was a two week delay on the one they wouldn't install. Thankfully mine works.

So I find two other dishwashers that are possibilities. We decide to return to the store and speak with the store manager who wasn't in when we first went. He was exceedingly nice and went through the same procedure. Noting that the old dishwasher is the SAME WIDTH as the new one. He looks up the two new dishwasher choices that I have made. One has over 40 people waiting for it and they aren't expecting any units to come in next month, the other has 30 people waiting for it and they are expecting 3 units next month. Sigh.... The manager says to wait until he hears from the installation manager and he will call us. We go home.

The store manager calls us and says that the installer insists that we only have a 23 1/2" opening and they can't install the dishwasher that we ordered. We need to go back to the store so they can process a refund. I am not a happy camper so I took pictures of the opening just to show the manager that the installer was wrong. Hubby and I measured the opening with 3 different measuring tapes and yard sticks.

I am not sure what we are going to do next. I think I am just going to look for another polymer tub dishwasher and wait until it arrives. My old one was fine and I don't think I will be in this house another 14 years. I will get an upgraded one in my next kitchen. Just have to decide whether to go back to my usual appliance store or try another. 

Well that was my story for this week. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I think I will work on some more secret stitching today.

Thanks for stopping by!