We had another set-back yesterday when installer was not making enough headway on the installation of the bottom cabinets and we needed to re-schedule counter-top people and plumber. He finally decided that he could finish the sink unit so countertop could go in and plumber could re-hood up sink/disposal/dishwasher. He said to call countertop people to come that afternoon.

I called and of course, they were busy. Unfortunately, the man (this is a very small business) has an out-of-state 3 day job in WV, starting Fri, and the person scheduled for Thurs could not change the time. This meant I would be all weekend without a sink. Now, if I'd been told I was going to be sink-less for a week, I can deal with this, but was told 2-3 nights at most. Remember - I'm 72 and my coping skills are less than they were when I was young.

The wife of the countertop installed called me back and said she and her husband would come Wed night at around 7:30 to install sink unit an part of the L-shape counter - didn't have time for the seaming and cutting of the rest, and hadn't finished the new countertop. I asked if she was sure they wanted to do this and she said yes, otherwise it would be Monday AM, and my diva plumber said I'd have to have him Tues unless it could be the first appt of the day (which it couldn't). So I took them up on their offer.

Cabinet installer can't estimate time any better than my grandchildren! He was still trying to get the two cabinets and the dishwasher side installed when they came at 7:30, having said they should come at 3:30! Thank heavens they didn't! The countertop guy and his wife are the nicest people on earth! They got it all done and were out of my house by 8:30.

This AM, plumber came to do the install. I ended up having to get a new disposal, and they brought that. This was not the same man who came both Mon and Tues - he'd gone on vacation. I've used this plumbing company for 30 years and this is the first time they've sent me a team that was totally incompetent. I told the head guy that I wanted to reuse the ball cock valves on the H & C water an wanted a new 1/4 turn valve put on the dishwasher water supply and new hoses. I told him this THREE times! He kept questioning me and I asked him if he saw a problem with the ball cock valves (only a few years old) and he said no he just didn't understand why I didn't want them to "match". Under my sink? I needed to go to pulmonary rehab and I've left plumbers from this company in my house many, many times with no problem. It's a small company. I told him the wires were live under the sink as that circuit also was for the plug for the refrigerator which the installer wanted in the kitchen again. I took him down to the garage and showed him the circuit breaker was clearly marked "dishwasher". I then showed him where the main water shut-off valve was as well.

He then asked me if my electrician was coming to hook up the disposal and dishwasher. I told him no -- the previous guy had disconnected it and no one had told me I needed to get an electrician in to re-connect it. He said he could do it if I wanted him to do so, and I said I did. Asked if he needed anything else, left my cell phone number and told him to call if he had ANY questions and told him that installer might come before I was back. He said this would take about 2 hrs.

As I was pulling out of the driveway, the helper (he had a glazed look on his face and acted as if he did not understand a word I was saying) came rushing out to the driveway with a package of 1/4 turn valves and asked if that was what I wanted on all 3 valves. NO! Just on the dishwasher valve. Yikes! I hurried through rehab and decided not to do the two errands I needed to do but to go home. Yes, not only were they still there, they had not yet installed the disposal or the dishwasher. I'd been gone 2 1/2 hrs. Plumber said they couldn't figure out how to turn off the electricity. I again told them which circuit breaker and he said it didn't turn the power off. I went downstairs and flipped it, came upstairs, refrig was off so I told him it was off. He had his little tool that shows if a wire is hot and it said the wires were. How could this be? It was that circuit on Mon and Tues, and the electrician had told me it was that one when he was here on Fri? No one rewired my house in the meantime! I suggested that his partner go to the garage and we'd do the old "is it off/on" yelling routine. Nothing appeared to turn it off, which was, of course, impossible. At that point, I grabbed the little tool that my SIL had left her when changing outlets, and told him to try it. His tool was reading wrong and was broken. I paid for at least 1 1/2 hrs labor for the Two Stooges to mess around.

Then he said he didn't know how to install this kind of disposal - only new how to install continuous feed, not batch feed. I reminded him that it came from his shop and that I assumed they would not have sent it if he didn't know how. A call to the office and the owner talking to Dumb Dumb seemed to revive his memory! I'm not making this up! We got it all hooked up, everything works and thank God he got out of my house before I committed murder!

Onward and upward...