Sub Zero Hootanany

I've been on a Craigslist quest for the last year for a Sub Zero 611 for the upstairs. Clearly, it's way too pricey to buy new, but there are definitely some deals to be had on Craig's if you are patient enough. I love this particular fridge because it's tall (84"), narrow (30") and only 24" deep. I hate the way most fridges stick out way past the counter and things always seem to get lost in the back. It is so odd to me that a 24" depth is so unusual and of course it's only the pricier brands that make them.

I was almost ready to give up, but then I found a guy that was selling TWO 611s for much less than the cost of buying 1 Sub Zero new, so I dragged my honey over to Concord and we snatched them up. The ice maker doesn't work on one which I could care less about and they only have really minor scratches. They are both stainless and we can't replace the fronts with cabinetry, but everyone still seems obsessed with stainless so they should make for 2 pretty sexy kitchens. I can't wait to start using one downstairs. Our current fridge has about 5 different climate zones. It randomly freezes or doesn't seem to refrigerate certain parts of the fridge at all. The 611 is the over-under refrigerator/freezer which makes so much more sense to me too. I have to bend way down to get anything out of our current fridge which is just silly. Thank God for fancy people that like to remodel their kitchens every 5 years and get rid of perfectly good high-end appliances!

35 Degrees, No Heat and No Power

I have been able to endure most things with this remodel: very little electricity, no central heat, no real bathtub (this is the most challenging for me!), and a house that often feels like a wind tunnel. I can even deal with this in the 30's which it's been dipping down to lately. I know that for most parts of the country that that's no big deal, but for us N. Californians, that's below zero. What pushes me over the edge completely though is when we lose all our power. I came home tonight for the second night in a row to absolutely no power. It was out in the whole Mission (our neighborhood). Luckily, my magical UPS driver, Jose, had delivered my toasty new boots earlier under the stairs. That was my only saving grace. I ran upstairs with the box and by the light of my little green lantern, I opened the box and slipped into my new boots. I think they deserve a whole entry to themselves later. I love them.

The great news, however, is that after living without a furnace for 13 months now, we have a furnace guy scheduled to start installation on Monday and an electrician starting on Tuesday! Josh ripped out our gravity furnace last November because it was in the way. Most of the year we wouldn't use it anyways, but now that we've officially entered our second Winter without heat, it's been getting a little more challenging. I really can't believe that these big things are finally happening!!

This picture is of our little angels, Muffin and Lucy, during last year's Winter without heat. They were curled up as close as they could get to each other for warmth and as close to the space heater as they could muster.