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...my meticulous man!
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Hail

It hailed today. (See the solitary piece of hail in Superman's hand?) Being the true Californians we are we dashed outside in our bare feet and t-shirts (only true of Superman, but still) to stand under a stormy sky (with patches of blue in the distance) and be pelted with little bits of ice. Of course it melted pretty much as soon as it hit the ground. As far as I know it was K's first experience with hail and after it died down and turned into rain she continued to watch at the window and ask for, "more ice?" The next few days are supposed to be sunny. At last. We've had to endure, what, five whole days of clouds and rain?! I mean, I know it's January and all, but still. Five days is a lot to go (mostly) without sun and with lows in the mid-thirties. (OK sorry. I'm stopping.)

I continue to be a rabid fan of Freecycle. Yesterday we became the proud owners of a lovely Hoover carpet steam cleaner. Today we became the proud owners of CLEAN carpet. Or, a lot LOT cleaner than it used to be. Oh my word. I did take pictures but am too embarrassed to post them here because you might stop visiting me if you knew how awfully dirty the carpets were. Especially in the mudroom which is the only carpeted room our dogs are allowed in and also where the cats spend a good portion of time. Let me just say - EW. EEEEEEEEEW! I'm re-thinking my plan to re-carpet the whole house. Carpet is disgusting. Even though I vacuumed the mudroom mostly once a week it was still terrible! Terrible! Can I convince you of the terribleness without showing you a picture?!? No? Well be convinced because I am not sharing pictures.

In other news... I'm growing tired of feeling my belly rest on the tops of my thighs every time I sit down. Some have suggested the baby has dropped but I am fairly certain it's merely gravity taking its toll on my ridiculous torpedo tummy. I really hope they do an internal exam tomorrow and see if I'm at all dilated. I'm not putting the least bit of energy into believing I am, but it would be nice to know one way or the other. My super husband let me take a nap for a couple of hours this afternoon and I dreamed that H was born with a Jay Leno chin. Let's hope not. She'll have enough to work on with the nose and ears she's bound to inherit.

Also, I SO could have potty trained K by now. It's getting irritating. I'm standing by my decision to wait until after we adjust to H but sheesh! It's tempting. Maybe I should start the potty training and that will ensure H will arrive promptly. Someone at church had the good idea to use the baby sister as encouragement for K to use the toilet, because babies wear diapers and she's a big girl. I could bring H in to "watch" and have her be all impressed (as a newborn gets) at how cool her big sister is. I think that sounds like a good plan. They say to expect some regression too, as a little sibling comes home and the big one feels displaced or suddenly in second place. We'll have to play it by ear and see what feels right for our situation. It would be nice to have to deal with only one diapered child though... =)

"Hurry up, H. See what I have to deal with? It's your turn now."

Retrospect

I've never been one for staying up late unless it's on some generic night when no one else is up and for some reason I either can't put down a book I'm reading or have spent hours on the internet doing whatever. But ask me to stay up for some super party and I'll feel tired thinking about it. This is why I am currently in bed at 10:30 with Superman and Tesla. The dogs are outside, though I wonder if I should bring them in. I don't expect fireworks or many loud explosions at midnight in our part of town, but Jackson gets anxious sometimes.

This past year has brought a much-anticipated and hoped for change in career for Superman and a pretty big career change for me too. Our first baby turned one year old and we became pregnant with our second baby. We've done essentially nothing new to the house which is understandable but also must change in 2009. We survived yet another set of seasons with nothing more than electric heaters and a single window AC unit to heat and cool the not-quite-all-the-way-insulated house. Tesla joined the family. Our baby learned to run and talk and climb out of her crib.

I try not to have resolutions for the whole year. Someone once told me they do monthly resolutions because it's more manageable and less to lose if you happen to fail. I like that.

I resolve to learn to use my DSLR camera more effectively in 2009. Because as it stands now my little brother knows more about it than I do after having read the very book I bought for myself to learn more about it. The nerve.

Green water

See that? That's about 20 gallons of water that was used to wash a large load of laundry in my high efficiency washer. There were a few more gallons that belonged to this load but I had to scoop them out to prevent the tub from overflowing. If 20+ gallons is high efficiency what on earth would be the water consumption on a regular washing machine? Just look at all the water that can be used again! Water is precious out here in the land of 106 degree weather, especially now that our state is in a drought and we're being urged to reduce the ammount of water we use.

I've been washing my laundry like this for a while now; I use the gray water to water my back lawn (if you can call it a lawn.) We don't have an elaborate system set up. Our system involves me carting buckets back and forth to the more dead-looking spots on the lawn. I have a hunch that as my pregnancy progresses the lawn will be greener closer to the back door. =)

So far, the grass hasn't seemed to mind this slightly-used water. I think it's happy to get whatever is offered - anything to water down the heavy doses of dog pee. We don't have a vegtable garden (I don't count the two tomato plans which are currently doing their best to convert dog pee into something useful) but if we did I wouldn't use it to water anything I later plan to eat. I do use it on my roses and they are appreciative (do you see a theme here regarding the desparate gratitude of all my plants??)

My laundry soap is biodegradable and environmentally friendly so there's no worries there, except for the possiblity of it altering the pH of my soil over time. To avoid that all I have to do is water with regular water every so often.

Obviously when I wash a load of diapers we hook the water back up to drain down the pipes. That can get to be a bit of a drag. I usually wash diapers every other day and it means that twice per load Superman has to lean the washer forward while I wiggle the drain hose into place. Since our washer backs up to the outside wall I think it would be super nifty for my super husband to install a valve in the ABS pipe drain and connect the drain to a hose bib that I can selectively use to water the lawn with "clean" water. Yeah that would be awesome. Are you listening, super husband? =)

Warming trends

It's still above 80 degrees outside and it's 10:30 pm. I battle between physical comfort (AC!) and monetary comfort (electric bill!) When the weather is like this our plan must be to rise early and be productive because once the afternoon arrives all forms of energy just drain right away.

Tonight before bed I shared an Otter Pop with Kem and sprayed down her hair for added cooling effect. It still wasn't comfortable enough for her to sleep until after 9 pm. We had been out and so I couldn't get the AC going to start cooling down her room ahead of time. Right now the AC blows out our bedroom door, across the short hallway and into her room. It's still noticeably warmer in her room but cool enough for her to sleep. I think an additional fan in the hallway might be in order (also to help the air turn the corner into the other parts of the house.)

Hopefully something terribly exciting will happen soon and thereby save you from having to hear about the latest house-cooling strategy.

Smoke signals a desperate housewife

*deep breath*

I made meat loaf last night in a slightly-too-small pan and some of the topping oozed over and fell to the oven floor. That is where tonight's story begins and I'll agree that it starts with me.  Of course by tonight I have forgotten about the spilled-upon oven floor and wish to bake some frozen french fries to accompany my microwaved leftover meat loaf (no vegetable; sorry Mom. Oh wait, technically potatoes might count.) In my haste to eat I forgot to execute the usual necessary precautions when the oven is in use: open the kitchen window and turn on the room fan. At the very least. Why is this necessary every single time you use the oven you ask? Well, I'll tell you. We don't have a vent over our stove/oven. Not only that, we have hyper-vigilant smoke alarms that are all HARDWIRED (means no battery except for back-up) and CONNECTED to each other. I used all CAPS so you could see which words were the important ones.

I'm sure you can guess where this is headed. But since this is the Super household, we do things in a super big way.

Let me be clear: I NEVER EVEN OPENED THE OVEN DOOR. The oven heated to 450 degrees, at which point I realized my foolish mistake (#2, if you're counting) and tried too late to turn on fans and fling open windows. It was nearly exactly at the point I realized my old meat loaf sauce was burning that the smoke alarmS screamed FIRE FIRE THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE to anyone in our neighborhood who cared to listen (as if they had a choice.) And when I say our smoke alarms 'screamed' that isn't too far from the truth. A calm, female voice urgently declares, "fire. fire." between deafening shrill bursts of sound.

Our house is under 1000 square feet. There are six rooms. There are five smoke alarms. Each alarm emits 85 decibels. One of the completely brilliant things about these smoke alarms is that they are all connected to each other! If one alarm goes off, they ALLLLL go off. That way if there's a fire in one room, then the alarm in a different room can let us know about it! (Keep in mind the size of the house.) These alarms also have a nifty thing called hush mode. This was designed so that when you DO have a kitchen mishap and are well aware of the smoke particles wafting throughout the house you can tell the alarm to just knock it off already, you know very well what's going on and you are much more capable of accessing this particular situation than it is. These are all good characteristics to have in smoke alarms - really! However, I question the necessity of FIVE smoke alarms in a house that is very nearly one big room itself.

So. It is nearly nine in the evening. Kem has been asleep for over an hour. Cue smoke. Beck dashes about in horror, attempting to turn the situation around before all hel-too late. Kitchen alarm sounds. Within seconds, every other alarm in the house sounds. Beck turns off the oven. Beck leaps atop a rolly and spinny computer chair to jab the kitchen alarm into hush mode. The kitchen alarm hushes for .7 seconds and then is re-started because one of the other alarms (front room or mud room) has now detected the smoke on their own. Beck calmly grabs a broom and drags a kitchen chair into the front room to stand on while stabbing at the front room smoke alarm with the end of the handle. Of course this alarm has been placed at the highest point in the whole house. The front room alarms stops for .3 seconds before being reminded by the kitchen alarm that smoke is still permeating the atmosphere. And so I begin a ridiculous dance that lasts OVER TEN MINUTES, rushing from room to room, jabbing alarms over and over again, trying to get them all on hush mode before one of the other ones realizes that, OMG the house is totally on fire! Sound the alarm! thus disrupting any progress towards hush mode I've made with any other alarm because they're all hardwired together.

As much as it makes me cringe I had no choice but to fling open the front window and door and back door as well as the kitchen window. Hello, neighbors! Happy Thursday evening to you all! Please don't call the fire department, really. No fire here! Just some burned meat loaf sauce. Don't you think I'd make it stop if I knew how? Of course I would! I'm sure it's quite the entertaining spectacle for them as I continue in my futile efforts to please just make it stoooooop.

It seems like an eternity has passed. I can't even hear myself think. I realize it's not quite nine o'clock yet and so therefore I'm still able to contact Superman. Perhaps he will have an idea. His phone is off. He told me he wanted to get to bed early. I leave him a message, wondering if he will be able to even pick out my words from amidst the noise of five smoke alarms sounding simultaneously. Sweet dreams, dear husband!

My next call goes to Rufulo. He's the one that installed the smoke alarms to begin with - HE should know what to do. I get his voicemail too, but just as I'm about to leave my desperate message the alarms taper off, one by one. Apparently the smoke has diminished to an acceptable level.  I leave my message anyhow, in the blaring silence, begging him to please tell me what circuit he has them on so in the future I can just flip the switch in the breaker box and be done with it.

Amazingly, Kem did not wake up a single time despite all five alarms sounding at once. This is completely true. I know I'll be campaigning for the personalized voice alarms in Kem's room ASAP. They're only $30 here and I say that's well-worth the potentially life-saving difference it could make.

My ears are still ringing.

Woe. Woe.

Woe is me. I am cold.

You know it's far too cold in your house when you can stand with the door to the refrigerator open for several moments and the cooling motor doesn't kick in. When you put off going to the bathroom because you hate to remove any amount of clothing for any length of time. When your hands and feet remain cold no matter how close you hold them to the radiator. Without an electric heater (loooooooove my heaters; haaaaaaaate the PG&E bill) the atmosphere in my home can easily plummet to a temperature of 52 degrees.

And when I'm cold I don't want to exert any extra energy, even to prepare food! (Bad, but true.) I especially don't want to do house work of any kind. I get wind chill just by walking from room to room! All I want is to wrap myself up in my goose down comforter and dream of a fireplace. Kem and I pass the day holed up in one of two rooms (kitchen, baby's room) and I sleep in her room when Superman isn't here so as to save electricity.

There are plans for a furnace to be installed (oh blessed furnace, please hurry!) but it'll have to wait until Superman can devote some time and mentality to look into exactly what needs to be done and how it will get done. Since he's currently coughing his lungs up at the (heated! lucky him!) academy, it might be a while. Not to worry though, because in a mere matter of months the pendulum will swing again and I will be melting in hundred degree weather, complaining when anything more than a single layer of cotton covers my body. Such is life under construction.

Sweet sleep.

I didn't want to publicly commit to doing the whole NaBloPoMo thing but that's what I'm trying to do.

Tonight the plan is to have Superman go in to try and quiet the baby. If I can have 4 or 5 hours of sleep I'll be in heaven. If I get six I think I'll probably live forever with all the energy I'll gain. I think she's gotten in the habit of waking up for several mid-night snacks that aren't really necessary. Superman and I both do the exact same thing when we go in to comfort her but the difference is she's actually calm and quiet after 30 seconds with Superman. Nothing I do (except nurse) will calm her. Once she sees me she remembers, oh yeah! boob! BOOOOOOB I NEED THE BOOB NOW!!! NOTHING ELSE CAN CONSOLE MEEEEEEE!!!! (And that's pretty much the the volume at which she communicates this, too.)

I am officially sick of this house. I know I'll come around and love it again but right now I find it difficult. The house isn't to blame, of course I am. We never should have started all these remodel things if we didn't have the money to carry it through to completion. However it's difficult to start any sort of remodel thing on a house this old and NOT find more to do "while you're at it." Plus, when you have a man as talented as mine it all seems relatively cheap because labor is free! Unfortunately materials are very much NOT free and I'm pretty sure we've been to Home Depot or Lowe's at least once a week for a very very long time now. I am glad that we're insulating and re-windowing, especially since we have a baby. The old flaky paint is worrisome now, especially since Kate puts everything into her mouth.  I hate how un-friendly our house is to curious crawling babies right now. I feel like it's somehow putting a damper on her development, even though she gets in plenty of un-hindered crawl/stand time when I'm working and when she's in the church child care.

I've got to post this before midnight, which is in ten minutes.

Tyvek

Superman Tyveked the house just in time for the first hard-hitting rainstorm to pass through last night. Rain means no more having to bother with watering the grass and plants - yay!

Heard about a p2p file sharing network called grooveshark.com which sounds pretty groovy indeed. Supposedly everybody gets paid (people like you and me would have to work a little for it) but there are still some things I would like to see resolved (exactly which labels are supported; how the copyright holders get paid) before I jump on board completely. I do have an account (it's beta, want an invite?)

I'm still not back up to my normal weight and my efforts to speed the process by increasing my ice cream intake have likely contributed to my current sore throat and stuffy nose. Will we ever be well around here? So far Superman is the only one who has escaped unscathed, and judging by his routine lack of sleep and consumption of Smarties I'm surprised he's managed to beat the sickness this long! I would love to make the house a more germ-free (and baby safe!) place but currently the best I can do is barricade the baby in the kitchen and keep that floor clean the best I can. Meanwhile all surplus dollars will be thrown at the exterior siding because we must work from the outside in. As much as I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have my bathroom, linen closet and full-sized bedroom closet done it doesn't make any sense until the house is warm and dry. Not that it isn't, we just want to increase the chances of it staying that way.

I've sustained my first tooth-related injury. As in breastfeeding. Breastfeeding a baby with a newly-cut tooth. (I'll wait while you leave the page, TAB.) Yeah, it's not as bad as I imagined it would be, but at least she only bruised and did not draw blood. Oh the joys and self-sacrificing love of motherhood.

And as I can't think of anything else to say I'll make myself some Top Ramen (for the throat; I already had a healthy nutritious dinner!) and go to bed.

Tough call

Which do you want today: a waterproof house or a new counter top?  Another example of the daily choices I must face in my marriage to the sexiest builder ever. I decided on a compromise. True, the waterproofing of the house is important, what with winter right around the corner, but the house has already been rained on once and the upcoming week shows several sunny days. We'll just nail off the sheer today and let it thoroughly dry out during the week. So that means a new counter top for me! Yeah, it'll only be laminate, but it'll be SEAMLESS laminate and in my favorite size and color. Yippee!!!

Holey healed

This other novel was pretty good because it wasn't really about the adultery. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. The narrator's perspective is one that I'd never have if it weren't for fiction; I recommend it!

Kate and I went to the heart doctor today and he confirmed that both holes in her heart have closed up completely. Hooray! The receptionist said, "have a nice life!" as we left, hopefully never to return!

I've scheduled my first dentist appointment in... oh... probably over two years, maybe even three. I know I have at least one cavity. Next up is the chiropractor. I know something is up with one of my ribs. My days at work leave me feeling uncomfortable and I swear I feel something shift/float in there that isn't supposed to when I turn my torso sometimes.

Superman and I have been trying to live strictly within a certain weekly dollar amount. So far I think we're doing great; I'll tally everything up at the end of the month and see how much money is available to forge ahead in the bathroom remodel. We thought up a temporary plan to hold us over until we can afford to get the lovely 6-foot bathtub and all the surrounding tile and/or manufactured stone to go with it. This way we can go ahead and demo the existing tub (hello, Mistablades?) and build the closet for the master bedroom which is badly needed because right now Superman and I share a 3-foot square closet.

Studly

Some people have a life verse. Superman has a life pun.

It takes a stud to build a house.

Amen.

Heaven... I'm in heaven...

lmno...PEEEEEE

I have not used the bathroom for... several hours. Why? I have no bathroom to use. Plain and simple. I am told that the toilet will be installed "soon." Thank goodness my bladder of steel has managed to hold up despite the pregnancy.

Mistablades and Superman have been working all day long re-routing plumbing and ABS. I have:

• gone to the dump by myself and unloaded 720 lbs. of old bathroom


• made a batch of refried beans


• washed cloth diapers and hung them out to dry


• "did money" which means the enormous stack of receipts from this month are now in the trash and I can tell you exactly how much we earned and exactly how much we spent in any category and exactly how much we shouldn't have spent, too


• kept a baby alive (obviously, but I like to point this out because, HELLO, someone has to do it and it's not something you should take for granted)


• made food/juice as required


• took the car to get an oil change

Now that I think about it I believe the last time I used the bathroom was this morning. It's 10:34 pm. Yikes. That just doesn't seem healthy.

Would you believe that Mistablades calls US and asks if we could use him because he has a free weekend? Well it's true and I bet you wish you had a brother as cool as mine. (You're cool too, TAB, because you're our truck dealer.)

Crunch

I've been tired. Too tired to think and write. Too tired to make sure our bills are paid (it just so happens that they are.) Tired to the point that I took a pregnancy test because I'm that tired. Only people who have been pregnant know what I'm talking about. That's tired.

Well no, I'm not pregnant. Just tired.

It takes a lot out of me to have so many open-ended projects around the house. Too much is up in the air. The exterior is half-way sided. The interior is missing walls and sinks and electrical outlets. The floors are in no way finished and we grind more dirt into them each day. I've lost track of "normal." I think I should just re-define normal as this, but it's hard to accept the fact that normal may mean a sinkless bathroom and no wall between bathroom and bedroom. Normal means unfinished flooring and no trim around the doors. Normal means a desk in the kitchen and a stroller in the living room. Normal means no AC, indefinitely.

And then the truck had to go and die on us.

I just want to tackle one project at a time so I don't have to decide which project needs the most amount of money thrown at it. Of course they all need to be finished at some point in time but which should be done first? Superman has to drive to work so the new truck fund gets money this week. Maybe we'll have the money to move the toilet and tub next month so that we can build the bathroom walls the month after that? But that's a lot of months to go with only a sheet separating the two rooms, and it's already been several months without a bathroom sink. What about the AC? When will that be installed? And the exterior probably should be sided before the end of the summer.

Money money money.

Superman got a call regarding his career change efforts today. Background investigations are in progress at one of the police departments to which he's applied! At least if he gets hired there he'll make regular money. Less money, but regular money, down to the penny! Then I'll have a better idea of how much I can throw at which project. I can devise a plan and follow it and not be thrown off by variable income. Making a budget is tricky when you're never actually sure how much money you'll have each month. Could be thousands. Could be... nothing.

If I've learned anything it's Save! Save money! Money should be saved!!!

Under construction

I wrote a whiny email to my mother earlier today. I guess the whining never ends as I am now fully grown with a child of my own and still whining to my mommy about the unfairness of it all. I do it because I know she'll reply with an understanding word of encouragement or two or ten and I so desperately need the encouragement because, wow, being a mom is hard work. I completely believed it was hard work before becoming one myself but now I'm living it. Believing and living are two different things.

Here's the whine of the hour: my home is being torn apart. Yes! I asked for it to be so. I love customizing this house to our own dreams and needs. It is fun and adventurous and the sketching of ideas and demolition and building has been satisfying. That being said, I am going crazy. Out of my head. Insane.

Here's why.

Everything is NOT in it's place. Mostly everything does not even have a place. The bathroom does not have a sink, so you may wash your hands in the tub or the kitchen sink. Tooth-brushing and face-washing and all the accouterments thereof are also located at the kitchen sink. Along with the dirty dishes and breast pump parts.

The bathroom vanity drawers have been under the mattress-less crib for months.  Q-tips can be found in a box atop the washing machine, along with the un-sanitized thermometers because I can't find the rubbing alcohol under the crib!

Clothes are either clean and on the loveseat or dirty and on the mudroom floor in piles that the dogs/cat re-arrange and/or shed upon. I don't wear most of the clothes in my actual dresser drawers because they don't fit! It seems that I have settled at a reasonable, healthy weight, I suppose in order to breastfeed. My BMI is now within the normal range for my height and age which is great except that only, like, 3 outfits fit me comfortably. I need to sort and purge the clothes that are currently either under the bed or in the attic in unlabeled (because they were hurriedly thrown to accommodate demolition) black plastic garbage bags.

The sheets on the bed need to be changed but the dryer is full of diapers and there is no clean space (other than Mt. Washmore on the loveseat) to fold the diapers. Besides I don't know if I could find another clean set of sheets as my mudroom shelves are completely out of order.

Okay. Time to feed the baby but I need to pump some milk, too, for when I return to work. There's no easy place to balance the top-heavy pump because available, easy-to-reach and also functional electrical outlets are few and far between. The pump tips over onto the dirty floor when I set it down while holding the baby with the other arm. The dirty floor is cluttered with boxes. Boxes to take the the crisis pregnancy center. Boxes to take to the Goodwill. Bags that are from the attic, to be returned to the attic. Bags of papers. Boxes of photos. Bags of borrowed breast pump parts. Boxes of things to be returned to family members. Bags that are empty! Yes! Boxes of books.

Oh yes, what's for dinner? Take something out of the freezer to thaw but there isn't any counter space to thaw it on because there are dirty dishes on the counter because the dishwasher hasn't been emptied of the clean ones yet. But I don't have enough space to store the clean dishes because of the hole the dishwasher made in my cupboard space and I need to sort another giant bag up in the attic that I just threw all that stuff into.

The dogs and cat need to be brushed to cut down on the clusters of pet hair that are beginning to accumulate in the corners but I don't know where the brushes are.

And now I'm hungry and need to eat something healthy for Kate's sake but there's no counter space to make anything and the knives are all dirty so maybe I'll just have a cup of noodles. While I eat I'll sit at my desk amidst piles of un-attended to paperwork and look online to see if I can pay bills catch up on blogs.

I don't know how much longer I can take it. It feels like all I do is clean up messes - large messes - except that each time I need to invent a place for parts of the mess to live. And in a day or so a wall will be knocked down and I need to find a different place for things to live. And do it in a manner that allows safe and easy passage through the rooms of the house. Without forgetting where each important item is.

I will be so very happy when the interior re-arrangement is done with and work can resume on the exterior of the house. Because then, THEN, I will have a full closet in each bedroom AAAAAAAND a linen closet in the bathroom. If it were not for that glorious hope I absolutely would have torn every last strand of hair from my head by now.

Yup

She's Superman's daughter alright. Kate's here in the kitchen smiling in her sleep while her daddy is hammering and sawzalling the bedroom wall. I wish I could sleep through that racket.

Cleanliness

On second thought perhaps I should tuck a bottle of hand sanitizer into a stud bay for use before the trip to the kitchen.

Stucco marathon

How to remove exterior stucco:

1. Cut a grid using a diamond blade on your Skilsaw.

2. Remove the heavy slabs of stucco, fasteners and chicken wire with a crow/pry bar and hammer.

3. Take approx. 1.5 tons stucco to the dump.

4. Admire clean wall ready for old sheer removal, insulation, window re-framing and replacement and new siding.

Thank you to Afropuff for modelling steps one and two and for all his help.

Appliance death

What's next? The refrigerator? (I shouldn't tempt fate. Though I would like an excuse to look further at my dream fridge.)

Today the oven took the next step in it's slow and irreversible death. Now it emits a strange smell in addition to heating to roughly 25 degrees cooler than I'd like. Initially I hoped to replace some sort of temperature sensor but the oven was made by a company that has long since been out of business.

No more baking for me. Thankfully the stove top still works just fine.