Our Round Tuit

It's the simple things that make me happy, like being able to use BOTH of my kitchen sinks!

Looking out the kitchen window, I could see the day was going to be another grey one on this last day of November. A smile of satisfaction settled on my face, though, as I plunged my hands into the hot, soapy dishwater. You see, for the first time in eleven months, I was able to wash the dishes in one sink, and rinse them in the other. We have not been able to use our left-side kitchen sink since I've been here. The garbage disposer was broken, and the plumbing on that side leaked, so we just made do with the right side. It didn't take too long before I got used to things being that way, and we adapted our dishwashing routines to accommodate having only one useable sink. 

But not any more! We found our "round tuit" this weekend. We've been promising ourselves that we would upgrade furniture and appliances, fix the sink, and fix up the house when we got around to it. ("A round tuit;" get it? Stale joke; I know.) 

Not only did Chuck fix the sink so it drained, he also took on the monumental task of replacing the garbage disposer. I know he dreaded it all day long while we were at church, and while we were eating lunch, and before we took a nap. He doesn't claim to be a handyman, but he is a devoted husband who tries to do things to make life easier, and more fun, for me. 

He made me laugh as he put a pillow on the edge of the kitchen sink cabinet in preparation for the disposer replacement. I asked him if I could get him anything before he started.

"A plumber would be really nice," he smiled. 

It was a big task, and he managed to remove the old disposer, and install the new one, but when it came to the electrical connections, he called on his friend Marve for a consultation. True to form, Marve offered to come over, and he praised Chuck for doing so much of the hard work before he got there.

"I remember the days when you didn't even have a hammer," Marve teased him. "Now you have a toolbox, and even a hammer to whack things with. Look how far you've come." Chuck takes the teasing in stride, grateful for his friend's advice and help whenever it comes to working on the house.

Not only did Chuck get our sink and kitchen disposer in good working order, but he also checked several other items off of our long to-do list. Our home will never be featured in Better Homes and Gardens, but it's getting better all the time. 

Bu-bye, old white couch!

Saturday Chuck surprised me by going to our favorite consignment shop while we were running errands, and the store was having a 35% off sale of upholstered furniture. BONUS! We bought a sofa and a love seat for our family room to replace the old, white sofa that was given to him many moons ago. I can't wait until they deliver our furniture Wednesday morning! And not only that...

(I feel like the Ginsu kitchen knife salesman on TV... "But wait! There's more!")

We went to Sears this weekend, and ordered a dishwasher. A dishwasher! For me? I feel pretty spoiled. When Chuck gets around to checking things off, he goes big, I tell ya.

The stockings were hung over the microwave with care...

While Marve was working under the sink last night, he offered to help us install the new microwave we bought several months ago that has been sitting on our hearth since we brought it home. We look forward to having Marve and his wife over for dinner the night the microwave gets installed. 

Aaand...we just ordered the rest of the black and white canvas prints of our kids so all six of them are on display in the family room. Of course, being photographers, we have pictures of all of them everywhere, but we wanted to have six of the same size and style to display them formally. 

I love this man so much.

As our first year anniversary is less than a month away, we are going to be able to say we accomplished a lot during our first year. We may have waited until the "eleventh hour," or the eleventh month, as the case may be, to do some of it, but we're doing it! When we finally get around to it, we really get a ROUND TUIT.