A Very Fine Saturday
As I sit here in my bedroom recliner and watch a gentle snow fall outside my window, I’m happy to report that today has been a pretty good day. Many things that have been annoying me of late have finally been resolved. I’m now able to easily wash my hands after I go to the bathroom. I witnessed firsthand proof that our wedding photo album is a real and physical thing. I’ve found some time to sit down and work on a blog. And if things continue the way they have been…I might actually be able to sleep in my own bed tonight after three nights on the couch.
The Bathroom
The plumbing behind our bathroom pedestal sink has had a slow drip for several months. It was minor enough that a procrastinator like myself could conveniently ignore it, but just bothersome enough that my wife was continually reminded to remind me about it. I replaced some of the connections a few months back, but it didn’t really help. So we invited a plumber to take a look and he suggested that the faucet itself was old and in need of replacing. He kindly solved the drip by shutting off our hot water at the wall and charging us $100 for the wisdom. And so, for the last two months, we’ve washed our hands with naught but cold water. It stayed in this state for so long because in addition to my natural tendency to avoid just about any sort of project, I also have a particular aversion to plumbing. Give me an electrical project and I’ll only put it off for a little while. Paint? Only feeble attempts to avoid it. But, I have never attempted a plumbing task without confounding the issue into a catastrophe larger than the original annoyance. So, as much as it may have sucked to have no hot water in our bathroom sink…it was better than the fiasco I knew awaited us if I attacked that faucet with my arsenal of tools.
However, Moonshot eventually overrode my fear and I replaced the faucet. And you know what? I had no problem with the procedure. And had I stopped there, I would have walked away from my first successful water repair. But, I didn’t stop there. I instead decided to install the new drain that came packaged with the new faucet…cuz…it’s a new drain…that’s gotta be good, right?
Alas, the new drain didn’t work with the old sink and leaked everywhere. After conferring with Uncle Norman (my home repair guru), I opted to just replaced the entire vanity. We bought a new vanity and began to convince ourselves that this was better anyway. We needed the extra storage space the small vanity would offer.
Alas, the drain for the new vanity was further away from the wall than the old pedestal sink. Now, typically this would be a simple adjustment. But this old house’s pipes have all been soldered in frustrating ways, so there was no way to adjust the pipe. We had moved from no hot water to no sink at all. Hand washing and tooth-brushing were done exclusively in the kitchen sink as the new vanity sat in the bathroom waiting to be installed for two weeks.
Now, in my defense, I feel I need to explain this lack of forward progress. Monday’s and Wednesdays I entertain Norah during Moonshot’s piano lessons. Tuesdays and Thursdays I work late in a last minute sprint to get the books for Jet’s and my business done in time for tax season. By the time we eat dinner, it’s time for Norah to go to bed. And since the vanity is directly on the other side of Norah’s crib wall…it never seemed wise to tackle the project while she was asleep. I had planned on being productive last weekend but the ice storm power-outage thwarted my best intentions.
But today…
Today was a free Saturday and I was finally able to prove to my wife that my avoidance excuses had been genuine. There were more consultations with Uncle Norman and some crudely drawn diagrams given to a kindly gentleman at my local hardware store who was nice enough to explain some basic plumbing tricks. But, before I came upstairs tonight, I was able to brush my teeth in the bathroom…a bathroom with a working sink…working sink with both hot and cold water that doesn’t drip everywhere.
It’s a small pleasure, true…but dammit I did it!
The Photo Album
As I have mentioned here, Moonshot and I recently celebrated our second wedding anniversary. And yet, we still don’t have our wedding album back from the photographer. It’s been a long and complicated struggle involving countless calls and emails, mediation with the Better Business Bureau, and many senseless rants to empty space while driving in my car. I’ll not go into the sad story, but I will say that with the BBB’s help, we were able to get her to commit to today as her completion date. And while it’s true that she didn’t quite have them done, I did actually get so see exactly what she has done. We’re just waiting for the black and whites to come back from the outsourced developer (probably Wednesday). This is great news because it means it’s not in her hands anymore. So, even though we still don’t have our album…it felt wonderful to know that there is a real life, mostly finished book sitting there. It’s not imaginary…she’s not blowing smoke…we actually may get this thing some day soon.
Hang in there just a bit longer, MoMa and Panache.
The Blog
Yeah…I know I’ve been a bit absent of late. Well…clearly I’m writing it now, so what else do you want me to say about it? (See excuses under “The Bathroom”)
The Couch
While sleeping on the couch often carries a connotation of marital problems, I’m happy to report the cause of my relocated slumber has nothing to do with my impressive ability to annoy Moonshot. No, I’ve been on the couch because of snot. Seems there’s a ton of snot in the Grenstead these days. I’m sniffling a bit as I type this, but my poor wife has been knocked down my illness for the second time in this still new year. And sadly, Norah was not able to escape the virus this time. The little girl blows snot bubbles from her nostrils and fights a never ending battle between her desire to suck on her binky and her desire to breath.
On Wednesday night, my Jolly Gren slept horribly. She awoke every thirty to forty minutes and needed a bit of comforting to find her way back to sleep. I had recognized this pattern by the time Moonshot and I were ready for bed and I knew I didn’t want to go up and down the stairs that many times in one night. So, I curled up on the couch and let my sick wife get a good night sleep.
On Thursday, we stuffed a pillow under one side of Norah’s mattress in hopes that the incline would convince the nasal blockage to retreat down her throat instead of gagging her. It worked. Little Miss slept quietly all evening and I bedded down under my own blankets. However, sick Moonshot in a horizontal position had developed a horrible cough. For the first half hour I kept offering to get her anything she needed. But, it soon became clear that there was nothing I could do other than lay there and listen to it. So, rather than do that, I rolled away from my comfy sleeping nest and returned to my place on the couch.
Last night was a perfect repeat of Thursday with Moonshot’s coughing coming in regular intervals.
Everyone’s been pretty good today. Both Norah and Moonshot seem to be on the last leg of their illness and the couch as yet to show itself, so I’m hopeful that I might be able to sleep next to my wife tonight.
Time For Bed
And with that, I call this very fine day complete. Goodnight.
8 comments:
As PD and I have an old house, we are WAY TOO familiar with the fact that little projects turn into bigger ones. But the completion of such tasks are that much sweeter, if I recall.
It will be fun to get your album and relive the day once more. And then again whenever you like :-) I didn't realize that you were so newly-wed.
Hope your couch is comfy and that you get to get back in your bed soon. Tell Moonshot and Norah I hope they feel way better real soon.
Wink - We love living in an old home, but we've decided that for our next house...we're going to factor in enough remodel costs to update the plumbing and electrical.
And yes, I slept wonderfully in my own bed last night. Moonshot even let me sleep in this morning, a wonderful treat.
Congrats on completing that plumbing cum home improvement project. (not sure I used the Latin correctly there, but I went for it).
Good trick with the baby's mattress. Hmm... might try that with Ben's bed next time he gets a cold.
I hope that wasn't a very expensive photographer, and I hope you've spread news of her poor business dealings.
I'm very proud of your home improvement accomplishment! Isn't it crazy, how one little "I'll fix this" turns into a major overhaul of your own choosing, and then yet one more tiny little thing stalls it forever, and you turn around and realize you have expended 1,000% more time and money than you initially intended to??? But great job. I actually replaced a faucet in my bathroom, too, a few years ago, and was incredibly proud of myself. The drain was a bitch.
I was just thinking this weekend that I have logged more hours on our family sofa than anyone else in the house, for reasons similar to what you described with Norah. It's just easier that way sometimes!
Hope you are all feeling better soon.
Si - I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that happens to occasionally. Plus, I actually kinda enjoyed reading your two takes on the same theme. Although I think you may have been exaggerating the "pithy wisdom" since you didn't tink we'd be able call you on it. Blogging is like fishing in that respect...the best and most witty comments are always the ones that get away. :)
Typically, my immune system body slams any wayward germs unlucky enough to drift into my kill zone. And even now I haven't been hit like my two ladies, but *sniff* I'm clearly not running at 100%.
Mark - I'd think that Ben is old enough to prop him up on pillows. The thing with Norah is that she's young enough that pillows in her crib are still a no-no. The tilted mattress is a SIDS friendly snot-drain method but I wouldn't think needed for Ben. But feel free to use it.
My feelings toward the photographer are still mixed. She's a nice lady...we just disagree on one specific point of our business transaction. See, we took too long to get our album design back to her. We were supposed to take the proofs she returned to us and design our layout and place our order within some set amount of time. We didn't. We were wedding'd out and just happy to have th eproofs to flip through. We took about 6 months to return our order. She said at that point that it would take a little longer since other people ahd turned theirs in on time. I understood and felt that was fair. What I didn't understand was that what she meant was that we would CONTINUE to wait in a holding pattern until there were no on-time customers in front of us. So people continued to jump before us in line. I explained that by this logic, we could conceivably NEVER get our pictures. She said that was rediculous. All I ever asked for was a general time frame and she kept saying that she couldn't give it to me since we turned in the proofs late. Eventually, my harrassment and the fact that the BBB sided with us made her get it done.
SHe's still a great photographer and was really wonderful to work with up to this point. I might even use her again for a Norah photo session...I just think that if she's going to handle her late turn-ins like that, she needs to make sure her customers know that they REALLY need to turn in the proofs on time and understand what happens if they don't.
Jet - The wedding album isn't done yet...probably next week. But hopefuly Heroes will be exciting enough to make you forget about the pictures.
You'll have to marvel at the sink when you're over. And if you only have one tool...the hammer would be my choice. There were many times these last few weeks I would have happily taken a hammer to that infuriating hunk of faux-marble. But, the only way to get better on these things is to beat your head against it. I learned alot, so just let me know if you need to replace a sink.
Shame the Saints couldn't pull it off...but I'm pretty happy about the Colts. Now if Manning can just keep his habit of choking in check for one more game...
"Cum." I didn't realize that was Latin. Imagine that. ;-)
LOL what you said to Simon aboot the exaggeration. I thought it but wouldn't have had the you-knows to say it...
If youns are gonna talk sports, I'm outta here... I can handle plumming and snot and all that, but not football.
Bye :-)
Did I really write "plumming???"
Erica - I know there are folks out there who would roll their eyes at just how proud we are of our simple faucet replacement. But there is a great joy in wading into a task you know nothing about and coming out the other side victorious.
Wink - Of course it's Latin...have you not seen Caligula?
And I don't discuss football very often here...so I don't feel too guilty about an occasional comment. Plus, I'm not one to throw stones at misspelling...unless of course it's Simon (I've got a pile of rocks ready to chuck at that guy).
Simon - (throws rock) Oh, sorry. No misspellings...I just got excited.
I don't get too wrapped up in sporting events of any sort. However, I have no problem rooting for someone else's home team. I mean...I don't know players or coaches. I don't follow the history of the teams. So I tend to root for the home team of someone I know or places where I've spent alot of time. Seattle often gets my vote because my friend Polly lives up there. New Orleans gets my support cuz I lived there for a short bit. That sort of thing. So...I'd root for your Eskimos if they were televised down here. And I'd watch them maybe once a year...which is what I do with other sports. I'm an equal opportunity half-assed sports fan.
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