Thursday, September 29, 2005

Update

The plumber came today and put in our new faucet for us. He had a pretty bad time getting the old faucet off. That made me a little happy, since I would've felt bad if he'd walked in and got it off without any trouble. So we're back to hot and cold running water in the kitchen now. Woo hoo!

Now I just need to clean the sink. The new faucet's so new and shiny that the sink looks like crap.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

What's wrong with me?

You might think that a girl who walks into the salon saying that she has no idea what kind of haircut she wants would be happy to take whatever she gets.


You might also be wrong.

Monday, September 26, 2005

Problems

In my handwriting, it's sometimes a little difficult for me to be sure if I meant a 3 or a 5. It seems like that shouldn't be a problem a thirty-three year-old person would have, but I do.

In fact, a lot of things that don't seem as if they should be problems turn out to be one. Take our plumbing, for instance. Last Thursday I discovered that our toilet was leaking. Truth be told, at first I was a little happy to make this discovery. Our water bills have been higher than I thought they should be, and a leaking toilet would certainly go a long ways towards explaining the issue.

I got my tools out and set to work. Down on the floor trying to work in the nine inches of space between our toilet and our vanity, I discovered why normal people call a plumber. But I persevered, and managed to get the thing taken apart enough to realize that I was going to need a replacement gasket from the hardware store.

The hardware store wouldn't sell Pukka just a gasket, so we ended up with a whole new fill valve. It was ~$10 though, so whatever. Then we began the ten hours of installation. OK, not really ten hours, but it sure as heck seemed like it. Here's pretty much how it went:

Step 1. I tighten things under the toilet, while yelling random and fairly incomprehensible directions to Pukka, who's holding the things inside the toilet tank still while I tighten.
Step 2. I turn on the water.
Step 3. I cuss as water comes spraying out all over.
Step 4. I remember that it's probably best to turn the water off since this obviously isn't working.
Step 5. I turn off the water.
Step 6. I curse some more for good measure.
Step 7. I yell at any cats that have made their way into my field of vision to get out of the way.
Step 8. Goto Step 1.

After several attempts, we finally got everything back together and working without any water sprayage or obvious leakage. Apparently, Pukka'd had some communication difficulties between himself and the directions. In any case, we went to dinner as very happy people. However, that night before we went to bed, I touched the tile under the toilet, and sure enough, it was wet again. The toilet was still leaking, although much, much slower than before.

And so on Sunday, I found myself back under the toilet again. This time since we knew what we were doing, the whole operation took fifteen minutes tops. And I'm very happy to report that since that time, the bathroom floor has remained dry.

BUT, brilliant me says, "As long as we've got the water shut off, let's change the kitchen faucet like I wanted to."

I'm not even going to go into the events that transpired after that. Really, there's only three things you need to know:

1) There are good reasons why plumbers charge the hourly rate they do.
2) At this moment, we have hot running water in the kitchen, but not cold. Again, don't ask.
3) I'm heading immediately to the hardware store after work, and if the kitchen gods are kind, #2 will no longer be a factor by the time Pukka gets home from work tonight at 7.

Wish me luck!

Friday, September 23, 2005

Crap!

Pukka and I don't own a dog. We think we might like to someday, but for now, it's just us and the kitties. One of the benefits of not owning a dog is that you don't have to pick up dog crap out of your yard. At least that's what I thought until earlier today . . .

Apparently I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on the neighbors.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Austin

Pukka & I will be visiting Austin for the first time early next month. We'll be there for a wedding, so we may have a limited amount of free time. Still, please leave us a comment if you've got any advice of what we should see, do, or eat while we're there.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Green beans

We grew various things in our family garden when I was growing up, but there were two constants: tomatoes and green beans. The beans were a little more troublesome than the tomatoes. There's a beetle that will chomp the leaves and destroy the plants if you let them. It's not hard to spot a ripe tomato, but beans blend right in with their foliage. And to add insult to injury, they tend to hide under the leaves. No matter how thorough we thought we were, mom could always find a bean or two to prove our sloth.

Still, to this day PJ and I have an obsession with fresh green beans that borders on a fetish. The ones you get from the store are rarely fresh enough -- they've already started converting their sugars. But beans fresh off the bush, or at least picked earlier in the day -- delicious! Cooking them is a cardinal sin. We just snap off the stems and pop them in our mouths.

Saturday, my last stop at the farmer's market was to pick up some green beans. As I approached, I heard the seller telling another customer these would be the first and last beans from this planting. "Our three boys all left home within the last two weeks, so we went out and bought a bean picker," she explained.

"So you replaced your picker, is what you're saying," I countered.

"Yeah, and this one gives me a lot less trouble. Those boys always complained non-stop about picking beans."

I laughed. "I picked beans when I was a kid, and I can't say as how I blame them."

The woman next to me, probably in her sixties, smiled at me. "I picked beans when I was a kid too. I know what you're saying."

Then we all laughed and went on our way.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

turn, turn, turn

Never thought I'd see the day when I would be glad to pay three dollars per gallon for gas, but it came this weekend.

Friday night when I headed to my parents', the beans were still green in the fields, with one or two notable exceptions. Monday afternoon when I came back, they had mostly begun to turn. Lot of a difference a couple of days can make.

Here and there, also saw a few trees displaying fall leaves already. For the most part though, still green. It's not the uniform green of summer anymore though -- there's subtle differentiations of color now, hints of who will be scarlet or golden in another couple of weeks.

Stories of PJ's garage sale this weekend to follow . . .