Good news, this morning they came and everything checked out so our gas is back on. Hooray for hot water and heat!
Bad news, I’m not exactly sure what happened but I think it’s because the water heater got turned to high, but there was a build up of pressure in the tank and the relief valve started leaking water. Good news, this prevented the tank from exploding.
How did I find this out? I was trying to fix the clogged garbage disposal and heard an ominous water sound from the basement and thought maybe the pipes were leaking again like they did last time the disposal got clogged.
NOPE.
I did figure out the problem and the leaking is almost all stopped now, just a trickle. It seems we might need to replace the valve now that it’s been engaged but it seems to be a cheap diy fix. THANK GOODNESS FOR SUMP PUMPS. And I did get the disposal unclogged.
Of course, while all this was going on, they that must never be unsupervised were unsupervised and got into the hot pink spackle wall fix-y stuff.
So I am sorry but I’m going to have to break out the big guns here
When the going gets tough, the tough say screw it and turn their living room into a dance party. Well, first they clean their kids, then they have a party.
Or, you know it’s been a bad week when I quote Corey Hart to have the strength to go on
I am a complete and utter heel for taking so long to thank everyone who voted for me in the Good Mood Blogger Gig competition. All of the votes and encouragement meant so much to me, and although I didn’t make it into the top 20, I got well over 3ooo votes which is amazing. I meant to tie it into a post about self promotion, but then I got sick and could only think about how much I hated really big umbrellas in crowded places.
So, I was starting to feel better and about to get back on track when my stove and oven broke. A problem, but not insurmountable. I bought a hot plate and made arrangements for a repair.
Then, we discovered when trying to light the water heater pilot that the vent that is supposed to take away all the bad stuff, like carbon monoxide was completely blocked. As in so blocked that the utility company immediately turned off all the gas to the house because it was so unsafe. Our hot water and heat are gas, but luckily it wasn’t too cold and between the microwave, hot plate and electric kettle we were able to get enough water to bathe.
Which is a problem, but not insurmountable, so we called the heating and air conditioning people to come and take a look. The repair guy said he couldn’t do anything without the gas being on, but then he decided to pull the pipe thing away from the chimney and found it completely clogged with dust and rubble and whatnot. He said to call the chimney company.
Which was a problem, but not insurmountable, so my husband called the chimney company and they came right out on Friday night and said the chimney was completely clogged and an interior wall had crumbled completely many years before and to fix this would cost a couple thousand dollars.
This was a problem and felt pretty dang insurmountable.
But we surmounted, oh yes we did and yesterday they came out again and got our chimney nice and clear. The utility company only has emergency crews on the weekend though, so we’re still without hot water and heat, but the end is in sight.
And after a good hot shower, I will be back to my bubbly self, I just know it. In the meantime, I think it would behoove us all to watch this video and remember that Corey Hart believes in you! Don’t give up!
PS This is not obligatory, but I certainly think that some wow, you took care of four kids, a dog and a husband with no gas or working stove for many days is certainly a nice thing to do. I mean, obviously our pioneer ancestors did it and survived, but I am made of softer, 21st century stuff and need coddling.
Or, I have 3 or 4 upbeat posts in the works but it’s just not happening today so let’s get this out of my system, shall we?
I know I was just sick but it turns out I am sick again. Or a continuation of the other sick, who knows? The good news is I must not be that sick, because I still have the energy to be very, very grouchy. How grouchy?
Dear Leaves: I don’t understand why you have to be so FREAKING LOUD when you fall. I wasn’t going to tell you this, but that’s why people like snow better, because it is quiet. Maybe you should learn something from snow.
Dear Husband: I know I should have been irritated by this on Saturday when it happened, but it really didn’t hit me until today that I don’t like it when you reach across and honk my horn for me while I’m driving. I know that idiot bike driver shouldn’t have been in the middle of the street going 2 miles per hour, but I must insist that I retain sovereignty over my horn.
Dear people who don’t have anything against children but can’t stand it when parents don’t do anything about it: Please, I am begging you tell me exactly what you’d recommend I do. Because I am fresh out of ideas. My idea for you is that you take Bono’s advice and tonight thank God it’s me instead of you.
Dear Leaves: okay, I lied, I don’t know if most people prefer snow to you but I don’t feel bad about it because I had my reasons.
Dear Self: I know you thought it was a good plan to promise the kids a trip to the playground if they napped, but now they are napping and you don’t want to follow through because the leaves are too loud and hurt your head. How are we going to get out of this mess?
Dear Sonic: I hear you over there telling me hey, bring the kids to me for some happy hour cherry limeades! You won’t even have to get out of the car and they’ll forget all about the playground. Nice try. You are a sneaky little drive in restaurant, I’ll give you that.
Dear people who will be outside of the school today talking loudly on their bluetooth headsets about their personal business as they wait for their kids: You look crazy and from what I hear your lives are Springeresque messes. Just sayin’ is all.
By the way, if it is raining and you are in a crowded place with people trying to walk, you don’t need a stadium sized umbrella. Seriously, why do people do that? This is why they invented the raincoat so that you can keep yourself dry without poking people in the eye with your umbrella spokes.
Dear person looking for something on the floor of their car while driving 20 miles per hour on a 35 mph stretch of road and totally messing up my plans to turn left: While I’m not blaming you for my sickness, the extra stress today couldn’t have helped. I hope you aren’t reading this while driving, although I wouldn’t put it past you.
Dear kids: I can hear you up there playing and I think this lets me off the hook for my promise to take you to the playground. I will probably still take you anyway, even though it is most likely sending the wrong message, because it’s better you make a mess in nature than in my house.
Dear Self: Are you crazy? Hit publish and run upstairs and see what they are doing. Remember that mess with the lotion and oatmeal bath powder?!?!
I am so sorry that this is tardy, we seem to have come down with a fiendish plague at my house. I don’t think it’s swine flu or even regular flu, but it is responsible for copious amounts of snot and phlegm.
But that is boring and so to avoid the crime of writing while sick (which always results in page after page of me whining how UNFAIR it all is and weeping at the tender beauty of my courage in the face of rhinovirus) I’m proud to announce the grand prize winner is:
Sean from Lance Bass Ruined My Life for Book Thongs
Stephanie from Adventures in the Life of Me for Fortifido and Dog Snuggies. Be sure to check out her animals trying Fortifido and the Snuggie, too cute!
I will be contacting the winners by email later today to get their addresses to mail their prizes. Although I probably won’t get to the post office until we all stop leaking. I am a good citizen that way.
This one ultimately wasn’t that disgusting, but I only got to the point where I could eat it by convincing myself it was just like black pudding. That might not work for everyone.
I’m not one of those bloggers that gets a lot of hate mail, but this post has gotten me a few indignant replies. Don’t knock it til you try it, they say. Yeah, well don’t be getting all pissy at me until you’ve read my dang post and see that I almost puked just dipping my finger in the brain juice. So I did try it. Oooh, scuzz.
Okay, as a person who eats and enjoys Spam on occasion I have to say you are setting yourself up for a LIFE OF MISERY if you can’t find a way to make peace that people are going to mock your choice in canned goods. That is something my life coach taught me and I am sharing it with you all <– see, THAT’S why I should win good mood blogger.
This is the most viewed post on my blog. The funny thing is, I think if I’d been able to just pull the chicken out of the can as I’d planned instead of having to pour it out, the post wouldn’t have been nearly as popular. Handling the chicken was pretty disgusting, but the taste wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t good, either. Really the taste wasn’t there.
I wasn’t the first person by far to taste and post this, but as far as I know I am the only one who served it with spring mix and a blood orange garnish.
I don’t know why I wasn’t content just to let my brother try this one, but after we taped this, I went and tried one and prompted yakked in the sink. Oy, I think it was the hot dog water smell that made me sick.
You can see more of my food posts here. Let me know in comments the grodiest foods you’ve tried!
