Finally, a new post on Home Improvement

So, after a long weekend of home improvement, the Gas Range is in. Let me tell the story.

First off, the old range we had was the classic late 70's model electric, in almond color. If you would like to see what this looks like.....Yeah, its old and its ugly. But it did cook food. I have been wanting a replacement for quite some time. A while back, Gill and Mona told us they would provide a replacement as a house warming gift. Quite a generous offer really, and we simply said thank you. Then, out of the blue, we got the call that they would be coming up for a weekend to install the new unit.

Only problem? There is no gas hook up behind the old unit. So begins the task of planning out a trip under the house and re-routing the gas line to the kitchen. There is not a lot of space under my house. In fact, there is very little. So we first thought to try on the side of the house, where the original gas line makes its way to the water heater.Sadly this proved to be too small an opening for me, so we went with option 2, to dig up the crushed gravel from another project, and go that route.This worked out a little better. Sadly though, Gill couldn't make it very far in, so it was up to me. I don't like spiders, I don't like small spaces, an I don't like rats (which we haven't seen since I took the deck down, but it doesn't change the fact I was worried about being attacked by the colony, if there was one). But I managed to get in there.

So I learned to the art of laying down galvanized pipe for gas, the intricacies of thread compound and making sure the seal was tight. In the end, I managed to make a perfect connection, all the way into the kitchen, with no mistakes. Really, the no mistake factor is a complete miracle. The finished product?

The addition of a shelving system made all sorts of room on the counter, which was sorely needed.

And of course, the perfect way to break in a new range was to make cookies, which I was so excited to be able to see baking in the window of my oven.Thanks to Gill and Mona, from here on out known as Mom and Dad. You guys are wonderful and made this daunting task so much easier. Stop by any time, and I'll make dinner.