Don't Ick on my WOW!

I am a woman with many, MANY, diverse interests. There is basically a nearly inexhaustible list of things that I like, am interested in, fascinated by, find pleasure with, and bring me joy. I am drawn to all kinds and medium of art, I love adventure, travel feeds my soul and working with my hands makes me feel accomplished. In short, I am constantly "WOWed".

  

Recently, some friends and I travelled by cruise ship some ports in the Western Caribbean. For me, cruising is best when you have lots of ports to visit. I love to explore. Well, during our "sea days," I was drawn to the art auctions. Now, I realize that these copies of prints by cruise-ship-associated artists will never be priceless heirlooms to be passed from

generation to generation, I enjoy the auctions and have, on occasion, made purchases. I must say, however, that I am not enamored with all of the art on display for your possible purchasing pleasure. Some, in my opinion is simply hideous! I am always amazed at what some people go "gaga" for. It's true, I've learned, that beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. Anyway, my friends Candee and Bob were with me on this most recent cruise and patiently sat with me through some of the auctions. We were discussing the interesting choices of some of the fellow patrons when they told me what an auctioneer had cautioned the patrons at an auction that they had attended. Prior to the start of the auction, the auctioneer identified some typical ground rules then added one that she indicated was the most important: "Don't Ick anyone else's Wow." I LOVE that!

 

Think about all of the hurt feelings and silly squabbles and potential break-ups that could be prevented if we all agreed not to Ick each other's WOW! Now, of course we must draw the line on when Icks must be given, (and there are times when they must be given...), one should always try and Ick a girlfriend's wow when said girlfriend is attracted to Larry-the-Loser, for example. Oh and if the person with whom you may share a bed/apartment/house etc. wants to hang some ridiculously dark and depressing monstrosity in your shared space because said monstrosity makes a "statement," this must also be Icked! Yes, I know, you are thinking that "Lois, you  just admitted to the beauty in the eye, thing." So, lets agree that when hanging "statement" pieces in a shared space, the vote should be unanimous.

 

Some of you, regular readers, know that I suffer from chronic wanderlust. I must travel. It is as important to me as chocolate chip cookies to the Cookie Monster. Now, depending on which side of the argument I want to take, for better or worse, Hymie does not share my need to see the world. He is more than content to stay at home where he can piddle and maintain his daily routines and sleep on his side of his own bed. Fortunately, Hymie does not "Ick my Wow" when I am compelled to get my travel fix. He is not always "over the moon" with my destination choices and sometimes my timing needs to be adjusted, but as long as I don't travel alone, (and he feels much better when my mom steps in as my travel buddy), and I promise to come home, he is fine with me having my travel WOW. The biggest Ick to the travel WOW, for me is rude people. Whether its a rude clerk, a fellow traveler who causes the rest of us to be late due to their refusal to arrive at a departure location on time, a rude waiter, etc., rude people definitely "Ick my WOW!"

 

I hope that you find this catchy little idiom as cool as I do and that you consider using it yourself and even if you don't, please just don't "ick MY wow!"

 

TTFN,

 

Lois

 



Mid-Century Home, with a Twist

I love watching house hunting, home decorating and DIY landscaping television shows. Being an amateur woodworker, I get some "food for creativity" from watching these shows. One trend I've noticed recently is the number of home-buyers who are looking for "Mid-Century" style homes. These are homes that were built in the 1950s and early 60s. My parents bought one of these homes in the 1960s and my mom still lives in it today.  My parents have done some remodeling and some updating but it remains a mid-century style home.

As part of an expansion and remodel about 25 years ago, my parents enlarged their kitchen and purchased one of the first down-draft ranges. We all thought it was pretty cool because you could interchange range top "burners" for a griddle or for a "grilling" attachment. Then, because the fumes of what you were cooking, were "sucked" out through an exhaust system, (that sounded like it was powered by some engine from NASA), we felt like we were closely tied to the new "space age."

So, the range worked really well, of course there were countless trays of burnt cookies over the years that were blamed on the oven not working properly, but, aside from that, no complaints. Recently, however, there have been some pretty serious issues that have arisen. So, my sister, Karen and her hubby, Robert, decided to purchase a new stove for mom. They took mom to one of the big box stores, (which shall remain nameless), and let her take her pick. They explained to the sales rep that mom was replacing her current down-draft stove but that she was not married to the plan of replacing it with another down-draft. Mom explained how her exhaust system worked and where the ducting for the exhaust came into the stove and exited the house. After a LOT of looking and discussion, they decided to go with a more conventional stove.

Now, convention is a subjective descriptor. The machine they purchased is a beast! It has a ceramic stove top and a gigantic oven which is capable of baking three levels of cookies at a time. (Yes, I have a bit of an issue with cookies, one can never have enough, you know!) Now that it is installed, mom couldn't be happier with her selection. HOWEVER, getting it installed was much less satisfying and much more stressful.

One of my long-running rants/issues/peeves with large box hardware stores, especially the orange one, is that customer service is pretty much non-existent. That trend certainly held for mom's experience with her new range. You see, despite her having given detailed description of the venting system for her old stove, that information was not forwarded to the installers. When her stove was delivered, the first installation team refused to install because the old one was "hard-wired." So, mom called in an electrician to put in a plug. I phoned the big-box and told the manager that the wiring was completed and ready for the installers to come back as agreed. I was transferred three times, then told they would phone me later. Well, later became the next day. At that time, we were told that a different installer would be coming to do the work. We, however would be required to wait until he contacted us.

The installer came a couple of days later and started work. He was, however, not informed about the return ducting from the old stove and insisted that he be paid an additional $100 to do the work. I advised him that his issue was with the big box store, not with me. After a few tense moments and after I spoke with the correct person at the big box, the manager acknowledged that we had given all the information about the ventilation system so they would cover the additional cost.

One final issue arose with the stove. You might recall that I mentioned that my parents had done some renovations on the house. Well, part of that renovation included custom cabinetry in the kitchen, the customization included making the cabinets slightly taller than standard. Well, that little snowball caused another problem. The stove mom and my sister chose has a really cool lip that is designed to cover the "crumb catching" space between the stove and the cabinetry. Well...since the cabinets are taller than average, the stove did not fit. Fortunately, we found some plywood that worked well in allowing us to adjust the height so the stove slide in as designed.

In the end, the only thing that matters is that mom loves her new stove. However, let me just give any of you future renovators a suggestion. Unfortunately, cookie-cutter is the norm. Everything you do that is outside the norm has a series of consequences. Many of those consequences will continue to show themselves at the most unexpected times and in the least convenient times.

TTFN,

 

Lois