Oh the excitement!

I have had a WONDERFUL day. I suspect that it may not class as wonderful for you but believe me, I am sitting here grinning. Exhausted and aching, but grinning. The slow cooker is bubbling away with a lamb concoction in it, and I may be crawling to get some food, but hey, it is worth it.......

Remember the free dishwasher my friend Margaret spied on a notice board at her church? Well, today was the day I arranged to get it. So last might, I moved the old one out, cleaned the floor and undid most of the pipes. That meant emptying the cupboard under the sink and we will not discuss the state of it. But then, I couldn't undo the cold water tap. So I called a friend and he arrived and sorted that one. Then another friend came round to load it into my car. It was destined for the tip. I have great friends.

And then I went singing. That was lovely.

So this morning, both the guys who had offered to collect the dishwasher were indisposed, so I popped into the shop to get a big bunch of flowers for the kind people who were giving me the dishwasher, and then collected another friend to help.

Off to the tip, and then on to the other side of town. And then home to do the "quick and simple" connection and start washing dishes.

Yes. Well.

The cold water stopper thingy would not shut, so we had leaky water everywhere, which meant finding the stopcock and switching off the water to the house, and when another friend called to see if it was installed, I said no, bring tools. So there they were, my two valiant friends, masquerading as plumbers. There was a trip to the hardware store involved. I had the jigsaw out to cut out the back panel, followed by resorting to ripping the whole thing out.

I made coffee.

And took photos.

There was much laughter and talk of strange things I have NO NEED to know...... Plumbing is not on the list of things I want to learn.
One friend in the cupboard sorting out water pipes....
Two friends in the cupboards sorting out water pipes.......

I made more coffee.....

They got the dishwasher connected without leaks, and 3/4 of the way into the hole....

And then....

They decided that they would rip out my old microwave and install the newer one.

Of course.

So off came the casing, and it was so dreadfully grubby,I was mortified. I washed it. That took forever, but it got clean in the end, and they measured and repositioned and then remembered that one had to go for a haircut and the other had a daughter arriving for lunch in 15 minutes.

They promised to come back.

So I started trying to restore some order to the chaos. Like putting the dishes in the dishwasher and switching it on. IT WORKS!!!! Oh the joy......

That is what they left me with.

BUT

They did return, and look!

We finally got the dishwasher pushed into place. That took lying on one's stomach and shoving. x2. And the microwave is in place too. The bottom one is a combination oven and the top is a microwave. The bottom one is the newish one. Do not look at the colour of the vents around the top one. Apparently they are white. Well, the bottom ones are now white. Groan.

I was lavish with my praise and thanks, believe me. The guys did a great job, and I am SO thankful. They informed me that it was like Men at Play - sort of meccano for big boys. They also had a ball, I have to say and there was a great deal of laughter.

And look what I found at the shops - Febreze in a New Zealand fragrance. It is lovely, and when I use it, I think of my daughter. And I can see from the photo that I have forgotten to refill the tea lights on the table.

Right. I am off to find something else to pop into the dishwasher. This is so exciting!!!