Today is a Happy Day!

Yes, today is a very happy day! My new stove and dishwasher are being delivered and installed this morning!

I try to not complain, but the electric stove that came with my house is horrible. One burner doesn't work at all, one burner works only intermittently, the third burner doesn't get hot enough to ever boil water, leaving only one fully functional burner. Long-time readers of this blog will remember my surprise when I burned my baklawa, not once, not twice, but three times! I thought that perhaps the oven wasn't calibrated correctly (where is my Dad when I need him, eh?) and it wasn't. I bought an oven thermometer and found that the oven was 50 degrees Fahrenheit off, so the next time I baked baklawa, I adjusted the stove accordingly. It burned. I put the thermometer in, and found that it was 100 degrees off. Then I baked a gingerbread, and found that the oven was 25 degrees off. Either the oven is haunted and hates me, or there is something seriously wrong with it.

Enter Shenandoah Life Insurance Company. They contacted me a number of months ago because my mother had a small life insurance policy with them, totally unknown to me. The check came last month - its not enough to change my life, but it sure was enough to buy a new stove!

I had so much fun looking at appliances..... The stove that I really want, a Viking commercial style gas range made for home use, is outrageously expensive, and I don't have room in my little kitchen anyway, so I had to put that particular day dream aside, especially since I have an all electric house! Then I saw my dream stove: a smooth topped double oven range with convection..... I toyed with blowing the whole check on that one stove. I hemmed and I hawed. But then my dishwasher, which had been limping along for a while, went out in a blaze of glory with smoke and sparks which scared my pets, so my decision was made: a stove and a dishwasher would have to be purchased. I decided on Maytag appliances and got a smooth topped stove, white of course, none of that fake stainless look for me! The dishwasher is also from Maytag and both trays will pull out all the way! My old dishwasher's top tray only pulled out half way, so this will be a welcome change. Also, there is a section for extra tall things like cookie trays and pizza pans.

I'm waiting for the delivery folks to get here now..... I'm so excited!

Maybe I'll do a bunch of Christmas baking this year! My ovens in this house, and in the previous house weren't good for baking, so the last time I baked for Christmas was the first year I lived here in Savannah. Its been a long time, and I can't wait to break out the traditional Italian and Lebanese cookie recipes!

I'll post a picture of my new appliances later today once they've been installed.