Hallelujah!!

We finally passed our plumbing inspection this morning! We were able to get the toilet moved over without replacing any floor tiles, as the base of the toilet covered up the enlarged hole.  We also replaced most of the IKEA drain system with metal pipes and a metal p-trap.  A different inspector showed up, which worried me (now what's THIS guy going to find to complain about??), but he did indeed sign off.  I have a feeling that if we'd had today's inspector the whole time (instead of the guy I've been affectionately referring to as Lumberg, for all you Office Space fans - dead personality ringer, I swear), we would have saved a couple of extra inspections and $350 in extra inspection fees.  Ah well, que sera, sera.

The contractor and I enjoyed a hi-five, and R enjoyed hearing the news as a lovely early birthday present.

Next, we need to deal with our electricity issue. I priced new gas appliances, and as they are significantly less expensive (<25%) than the $20K for the electrical upgrade, that's the route we'll have to take. Bad news is, I lose my beloved oven with its delay start, automatic timer, and warm feature, which I used twice this week! The good news is, I'm getting a fancy BlueStar oven (http://bluestarcooking.com/) and a gorgeous Thermidor cooktop. No automatic features, but otherwise a sweet upgrade!  Mama's gotta be happy in the kitchen, right?  And a few hundred dollars extra for the upgrades seems a pittance after the $20K price tag.  Luckily, the appliance store has 12 months interest-free financing.  It's the first time I'll be taking advantage of such an offer, but it will really help get us through to next month when I start getting my new paychecks.

BlueStar appliances are in demand, so we'll have to wait 6 weeks to get the oven, and then we'll schedule our electrical inspection after that.