I miss nice things and good construction

So I'm working on making myself at home in my budget priced, conveniently located fourth of a quadplex. I fixed the bedroom so I have a retreat from the parts I haven't fixed yet. I painted, replaced all the outlets, switches, covers, ceiling fan and blinds, got some curtains, and furniture to go with the bed I had already. I got the mattress delivered on Wednesday. I figured out that if I close the blinds and curtains and door the air conditioner will keep it cool in here. It's pretty quiet at night. I'm below the level of the big highway and the street in front of me doesn't really go anywhere. The only part that bothers me in here now are the doors that jam, the doorknobs that feel gross and the strike plates that have paint all over them.



I decided to get a minimum of kitchen stuff just to sustain me while I hole up and do this work. I bought the ingredients and cookware necessary to make scrambled eggs and toast. Before I could eat my breakfast this morning I had to do 2 hours of cleaning and troubleshooting in the kitchen.

I started by cleaning the stove. It looks like somebody replaced the drip pans under the electric elements but they didn't clean the stove top first. And nobody ever cleaned the area underneath the elements. I found mouse nesting material and dog food in there. Do people not know these things come apart? Helpful Hints from Heloise needs to stay in the paper as long as appliances this old are still in use.

Then when I got ready to get out an egg I found the egg carton was soaking wet. The refrigerator was spitting water around inside it. And the space under the crisper drawer was completely full of water. Lovely. So I had to clean that up. By the time I finished I was really hungry so I went ahead and made my breakfast. As I was eating it I was looking at the refrigerator and realized it wasn't level. If I make it level maybe the freezer defrost cycle will work properly. So after I washed my dishes I got down on the floor to look at the refrigerator to see what adjustments are available. My SubZero back in Beachton has screws on the front that you turn to adjust the feet in the back, plus feet on the front you adjust directly.

Well this refrigerator is no SubZero. It rolls really great back and forth on one way wheels. But there are no level adjustments. I pulled it all the way out to study it. And look what I found!



Isn't that precious? Just like a Tom and Jerry cartoon. All it needs is a doorbell and a welcome mat. I guess that is the front door of the mouse that put the dog food in the stove. He probably moved next door when this place went vacant since the neighbors have food. I could cut up a metal paint tray to cover up this hole, but what would that solve? Mouse could still get all around in behind the cabinets and in the stove again. Live here, get dog food from the neighbors. Only thing that would prevent this traffic is to remove the cabinets and put sheet metal on the whole wall between my place and the next one.

So back to the freezer. I decided to just disassemble it and get all the ice out and see if the drain tubing will work properly. It looks a lot worse in person.


My main weekend project was supposed to be the upstairs bathroom. I want to see how well paint sticks to the cabinet before I start the ones in the kitchen.