My eyes feel glassed over, I'm tired, I want to go to freaking bed; but, no, here I sit...venting to you.
The day started out well. The electrician was to arrive around 8 AM to fix my electrical problem, which you may remember left my second floor in the dark other than the power I ran to it via extension cords and all of my ceiling lights on the main floor rendered useless. The power to the refrigerator was, yes, via a heavy duty extension cord running through my kitchen to an outlet in my dining room. It's been that way since just before Thanksgiving. Our eyes had adjusted to almost mole-like living especially with fewer hours of daylight during this time of the year. I'd gotten used to preparing our evening meals by the light of a lamp located across the room from the stove and sink. Today was the day that was all to end! Bliss! Flipping on a light switch and being bathed in the incandescent glow. We were up and ready to go and the electrician showed up shortly after 8 as promised. A few words and we were off to stay out of his way.
First....breakfast. There is joy in breakfast at a restaurant isn't there! We went to a little diner on the edge of town that is modeled in the 50's diner style. We filled our tummies and blew an hour of time without any problem...well, other than the slight mishap with Bryan's sprite. (I wore half of it) What next? Hmmm...Goodwill is right across the highway...and Bryan did need some longer pants. Off we went frolicing away another hour and a half finding clothes for all. We left with a huge bag and spent less there than at breakfast. This was turning out to be a rather productive morning!
Next, we stopped over at my friends' house. They had their step daughters this weekend and we arranged for our kids to play together and her husband to watch them while we went downtown to peruse several of the antique shops we see everyday across from work. What fun! I did find a book I'd been looking for...but when I opened the cover and saw "$65" I carefully closed it and gently placed it back on the shelf. Better keep looking for that one. By the time we got back to her house it was after 1 PM. Wow! The day was just rolling right along.
We surprised the kids and took them to the new McDonalds for lunch. Zip, zip...there went another hour. It was pretty evident that Bryan needed a nap....best solution....car ride! But wait, there was a message from the electrician on my phone that had slipped out of my pocket in the car. HE WAS DONE ALREADY! I streaked home! Yes! New conduit on the back of the house...shiny bright new conduit! We rushed upstairs as though it was Christmas morning flocking to the tree flipping on light switches along the way in a giddy frenzy. Ah! There it was....my heart lept at the site of it....my breath caught in my throat....my pulse raced...an angelic choir sang and a heavenly glow surrounded it.....center stage of my daughter's closet....THE NEW BREAKER BOX! Oh breaker box, I LOVE you! We stared, we laughed, we jumped around, we danced on a pile of antiquated fuses left behind. Okay, we didn't dance on the fuses, we threw them in the bin. May I never have to become acquainted with a fuse again!
I quickly busied myself unplugging extension cords and resetting alarm clocks. I happily sawed a notch in the closet shelf to allow for the conduit running from the attic to the breaker box and rehung the hanger bar. I vacuumed the floors! I turned on lights and shut them off BECAUSE I COULD just for the sheer exhiliaration of it! Ahhh...the soothing hum of electricity.
When I made supper I was nearly blinded by the light in the kitchen. My daughter walked out and said, "It's too bright in here!" I said, "I know! Isn't it wonderful!" She said, "Can we turn some of the lights off?" I said, "NO! Are you CRAZY?!" Of course, all that excess light now made it quite clear how dirty my kitchen was. Eeeek! I scrubbed the counters, cabinet doors and floors...and made coffee (without an extension cord)...because I could! We even had tickle time!
Of course, having completed all this, it was getting pretty late. Time for Bryan to go to bed...especially since he didn't get that nap he NEEDED earlier. Being slightly over tired it took a little longer to coax him into bed. Next...Johanna's shower....IN THE LIGHT!!!! I even read some of my book waiting for her to finish soaking in the tub. As she removed the plug from the tub I heard the "glugg glugg glugg" from the sink that I have learned to fear from past experience in this house. After drying off she says, "It doesn't look like the water is draining." The bathtub drain has been very slow for the last few weeks. I'm bordering on exhaustion at this point and snap, "It's draining...just very slowly." My daughter is tired at this point too....and getting a little on the cranky/fuss-budget/bitchy side. There are wood flecks on her sheets. Geez! For some reason a simple shaking and sweeping of the offending wood won't do. The bedding must be washed first....FINE! SLEEP IN MY BED. Now I have a crowded bed to look forward to. As she happily climbs into my bed to read a book I quickly rip the sheets off and take them down to wash bringing the furniture polish along to remove any of those damn wood flecks from her furniture as well. As I walked out of her room past the bathroom I notice, to my horror, that the water level has NOT changed in the tub. Holy crap! Does it never end?! I irritatedly grabbed the plunger and started trying to clear the clog. Now, if you've ever tried to plunge a drain, you'll know that months or years of buildup on the inside of your pipes breaks loose and suddenly streams into the vessel you are trying to clear. Gross! Black/brown bits floating around in the water. I flushed the toilet...good...still working...in hopes that perhaps it would somehow suction out the offending clog. No good. I ran hot water down the sink drain. Crap! It's draining slow now too....put more in and plunge the sink. Look back at the tub and ....WTF....water is draining from the sink into the TUB. Oh geez...and now the water in the tub is an opaque black mess...but the sink finally drains completely.
Back to the tub....plunge, plunge, plunge. Give it up Vanessa before you take a bad situation and make it worse. I've learned the hard way with the plumbing here before resulting in water from the second floor bathroom dripping down through my dining toom....oops, Freudian slip...room ceiling. So, I slunk from the bathroom, feeling disheartened and dishoveled. And here's a happy thought...Monday is Martin Luther King Day...that means I get to wait until Tuesday to get a plumber. It never ceases to amaze me...out of the frying pan and into the fire. But hey, on the bright side, I can flip on my bathroom lights and gaze longingly at my bathtub/shower now filled with black silt.
Perhaps I should start dating a plumber/electrician/heating cooling guy.
Posts
