I’m not a pessimist, more of a pragmatist. For instance, I knew that after two days in a row where I’d won two things – BACKSTREET SAINTS, a book I’d really, really wanted and an out-of-the-blue new banner design for my blog from the uber-cool design service Tekeme Studios, that a shoe was about to drop.
I just had no idea it would drop in a puddle.
Friday night, I went straight from work to get The Kiddo's hair cut and then to her VBS commencement service. We got home late, and we headed, pretty much, straight for bed.
The next morning, I sleep-walked myself into the kitchen with the intentions of putting on tea for me and grits for The Husband. But as I trudged in sock-clad feet across my kitchen floor, a ridge caught my foot.
A ridge that hadn’t been there the morning before.
I have laminate flooring in my kitchen, and I’ve loved it. Sure, I’ve been a water-nazi about spills, but even the few accidents we’ve had have created no problems. So at first, I thought someone had spilled water and let it soak into the flooring.
But then I saw a whole mountain range of ridges.
My heart sank. I traced the ridges back to its foothills … the dishwasher. Unscrewing the bottom plate and pretzeling myself to a vantage point, I saw a puddle of water under the machine’s guts.
The culprit had been found. And since it had been in that hole from 1994, if we pulled that sucker out, it was not going back in. Nope, it was time to find a new dishwasher.
That was easier said than done. I spent Saturday with my poor sister, trying to find a store that (a) had a dishwasher I could afford and (b) had a dishwasher that was in stock. One store clerk told me that I could order one. I asked when the dishwasher would be in.
“Oh, seven to ten days, and that’s to the store. Delivery to your home would have to be arranged once it got here.”
I couldn’t wait a week on a dishwasher – that old one had to come out post haste, and I had no cut-off valve to the dishwasher. So that meant I had to plug the end of the line with something.
I won’t bore you with the catastrophes that we ran into – wrong fittings, leaky pipes, a soldered-in cut-off valve to the hot water tank that suddenly sprang a geyser when we went to close it off. Suffice it to say that I got the new dishwasher loaded and running at about 10:30 that night. And the only way we got it to work was a coalition of the talent and brains of my dad and my sister, with limited help from The Husband and me. Because plumbing? It is so not my thing.
11 comments:
I hear you, Cynthia. Sometimes when it rains, your kitchen floods. We've had our washer/dryer break, followed immediately by the dishwasher (that was on its last legs anyway) and just yesterday the treadmill died(not that I mourned that one cuz I never used it but the husband liked it). It's almost like everything in the house is going kablooey because it knows we have to do a major reno so I'm taking it as a sign from above - rip this house apart!
Hear's hoping this week goes more positively!
Nelsa
Ugh, sorry for the dishwasher/floor problems :( Let's just say, I can relate...
Now, if that didn't make you curse, you truly are a saint. Did you at least oink? ;)
Seriously, you have my complete sympathy. I hate plumbing problems with a passion.
Toby, major appliance breakdowns come in droves -- I think it's because you buy 'em all new at the same time, and so they wear out all at the same time. And thanks for the compliments of my banner -- but that's my old one. I'm looking forward to an even cooler one from Tekeme -- they say they'll have something for me to look at by July 25 -- which is cool with me.
Nelsa, good luck with the reno -- every time we try to "improve" even a supposedly simple thing, we catch so much guff ... The Husband swears this house is jinxed.
Mia, I guess everyone has had one mini-flood in her life. I should be grateful and remember I could have had water up to the rafters like folks in REAL floods have endured.
Linda G -- I'm no saint. I fell off the wagon and uttered two swear words this weekend ... should have used oink!
I don't know which are worse - car problems or house problems. Hate them both! Bleh!
oh no! This is one of those catastrophes I can't fix, either. I once turned off the faucet in my tub and it broke in my hand, so I ran to my basement and turned off the water to the whole house.
Hubs had a fit; when I got home from work that night, he'd tagged and labeled every knob and pipe in the basement. I could have turned off only that one room if I'd known.
Ugh, sorry you had to deal with this. You couldn't have just set up a big barrel in place of the dishwasher and called it your hot tub?
Tawna
Knowing that plumbing is not your thing, is a blessing. It is so much worse if you think you can plumb, and you seriously cannot.
I'm glad you're back up and running! :)
Elizabeth, don't even WHISPER the phrase car trouble around my poor old clunker ... wouldn't want to give it any ideas!
Patty, my dad is a great help to me -- but he likes to take short cuts ... and short cuts usually involve installing "unnecessary" cut-off valves. Can't complain -- the only charge for labor he usually bills is one of love.
Tawna, I think even a hot tub would have over-flowed after awhile ... but a drain IS easier to install than a cut-off valve!
Susan, I'm a great believer in knowing one's limitations. That's not to say you have to keep those limitations for life -- but a person will never be able to improve what she doesn't know she needs to.
Oy, that sounds like a nightmare! I'm glad it worked out in the end. It's been a long time since we've had a major catastrophe-- I'll just knock on wood now.
Oh you poor thing! I know I'm guilty of not showing my appliances enough love and appreciation until they break. Especially my washing machine!
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