Meanwhile, back in the kitchen....

(Kind of a cheesy take-off on something my mom/dad used to say "Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch" - which was probably related to old "Before-My-Time" Radio Shows!)...

No, I haven't completely abandoned the Kitchen Refacing Project. I just got side-tracked with the AWESOME vacation and requisite backlog of "work" that had amassed during my hiatus ("It's nice to be loved!" NOTTTTT!!!!)

The project is still a "Go" according to DH, so we shall trudge onward...

Interestingly, I got a call from Kitchenw**** the other day. From "Larry," their Job-Scheduling Guy. He wanted to follow-up on "Steve" the Salesdroid (this was the one who fubar'd and mentioned Granite Countertops in front of hubbie - despite the fact that I'd made it Crystal-Clear that Granite Countertops weren't gonna fly!) (Although, to his credit - he wasn't one of the condescending ones who didn't want to deal with "a woman" when it came to presenting the bid).

So anyway, Larry calls and asks about how-well Steve did his job of explaining things (yada-yada). I chose not to gripe about the Countertop Debacle but decided to keep it fairly succinct (How very Un-Nancy-Like!). "Yeah, he explained things fine - but quite honestly, the price was just too high..."

"Well, it's a good thing I called you then!"

["Oh, really?!" says the inner-voice, oozing sarcasm]

"Oh?" says the outer-voice [in a much more "PC" tone!]...

"Well, the holidays are approaching, and we like to keep our guys busy..." yada-yada (A friend had already mentioned to me - about how contractors of this ilk tend to have their work-load slow waaaaaaaaay down toward the Holiday Season - and how "holding out" could result in some pretty good deals)...

Well, bottom line: The original bid (among the highest, I might add) was somewhere in the realm of $7,700.00. Now, all of a sudden, they were willing to slash nearly $2,000.00 off the bid!

Which begs the question - "If you were willing to do the job for $5,700.00 - why are you yanking my chain and telling me it's gonna cost $7,700.00???"

But "PC-Nan" prevails, and the question goes un-asked! Instead, I reply that "I'll discuss it with my husband... Can I have your name and number and I'll get back to you?..."

Well, the total is still ABOVE the $5,000.00 cut-off - so it ain't gonna happen.

In the meantime, I get a FedEx Overnight Letter, extending the same $5,700 offer, so it seems like they're pretty desperate for business (Hmmmm... Maybe my theories about the economy and hard-times and all that crap weren't all that far off-base, after all?!!).

So Kitchen Tune-Up is still the front-runner in the race. Rog and I have an appt to meet with them tomorrow morning (so NOW I'm dragging Rog into it - so he can get edjamuckated!). Their bid was the lowest and all my research (State Licensing Board, BBB, etc) came up "clean."

They were also good about breaking out the bid (at least the preliminary bid via email) in such a way that I can get a good "Apples to Apples" comparison. One Additional Service that they offered was painting the insides of our cabinets a "light" color (for an add'l appx $400) - and the more I think about it, the more I like that idea. I think we can do that and STILL keep the total$$ under 5K...

Anyway, we'll meet with them tomorrow and hopefully get the process started to move this project forward!

More to follow, I'm sure............................................