What I'm Reading This Week #12

A happy first Friday of Spring to you all!  (It is the first Friday of Spring, right?  I have no concept of time anymore.)  As I type, the 80th stranger to enter our house in the last month is arriving.  This is the plumber to install the new hot water tank.  We went with a Rheem 12 year tank because I do not want to do this anymore than I have to.  When I was younger, I always thought hot water tanks were meant to last for like 20-25 years and who knows, maybe back in the day they did.  Now you're lucky to get 6-10 years out of them.  Our first one we got with the place in 96 and seriously lasted like 15 years or something like that and I surely don't think they put a long term tank in as builder grade.

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It decided to poop out on Christmas Eve.  By some miracle we were able to have it replaced the same day and so began our journey into "things you will fix because you were too stupid to leave before the 'big things' decided to give way."  You know, stuff like HVAC, replaced our windows, our third or fourth hot water tank now and that's not including all of the remodels we've done over the years.  Get a townhome, they said.  There's no maintenance, they said.  Oh you mean how they shovel your sidewalks in the winter and weed in the summer?  No they don't.  They stopped doing that 15 years ago.  So any of you people wanting to throw your parents into condo living because of the 'convenience', it's all a lie.

These plumber people we started out so impressed with have slowly been sliding onto my sh*t list because the woman is not getting back to us with an estimate for the pipes.  I don't know if she needs to take her socks off to count or what but it should NOT take four freaking days.  (Five by the time you read this and I say that because I'm counting the day she came out and said we should have the estimate that day.)  The Mr talked to the installer about it and he seemed to be puzzled why there was no estimate as well and he agreed that just because the pipe is flexible doesn't mean the inside isn't a crap fest.  (I mean, obviously he's going to say that, he wants our money.)  

How much money?  I.STILL.DON'T. KNOW!!!!  

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Sorry.  Breathe in, breathe out.  

Getting our life back is hinging on this crap and I absolutely refuse to use that asshat that we finally got out of here with the drywall.  The Mr is 98% sure if we didn't have the potential of the pipe replacement to dangle for him that he would've ghosted us and left us with crap walls.  I told him at that point I would've gotten involved because he's been lucky to deal with the Mr thus far and my filter is frayed and non-existent at this point.  I don't want him back here.  Just looking at the ruined carpet on the stairs every day spikes my blood pressure to unhealthy levels and wondering how the hell we're going to get that out due to his incompetency.  Yes, go ahead and break up my walls so I need you to drywall it again.  NO THANKS!!  

Sorry again.

It would be one thing if this was like a random thing that happens but I cannot tell you how many reviews I read or stories I hear from others who talk about half the contractors they call/email won't even bother calling them back (had that too), they'll come out to do an estimate and never give you one or flake on you.  HOW do these people get good reviews?!  I don't even bother with people who get crappy ones but these are more than four star people we call and they can't seem to locate their asses with both hands, a GPS and search party. 

Triple sorry.

I'm going to go pop open that wine I forgot about the other day while you all peruse:

Do Resistance Bands Build Muscle?  (I can tell you they kick our butts when we do them.  Every time the Mr sees the bands come out, he immediately groans.)

3 Nutrients That Might Improve Your Wellbeing  (I'll take all the wellbeing I can get!)

"Is This It?": 4 Key Reasons for Midlife Languishing  (We can relate.  LOL)

Don’t Dread Menopause. Prepare for It Instead  (How exactly do we do that when doctor's dismiss your symptoms or want to throw you on an anti-depressant or whatever.  As I get closer to this delightful time of life, I find myself paralyzed by the shroud of secrecy/shame and lack of concrete information that still seems to be prevalent about it.)

10 Spice Rack Storage Ideas That Will Put an End to Kitchen Chaos  (Uhh, they forgot the solution I use for people who have ZERO room to make a nice little nook somewhere!)

27 Ways to Organize Your Small Closet for Maximum Storage  (Some good tips I need to put into practice once I can get back in there.)

7 common mistakes which are making your bathroom dirtier  (Oh my)

26 Best Perennial Flowers and Plants That Come Back Every Year  (I love our phlox.  They seem to be the only thing that grow in clay.)

50 Easter Gifts for Kids That Will Have Them Feeling Festive  (Some adorable ideas but scroll past the expensive ones.)

The Cure frontman Robert Smith says he's "sickened" by Ticketmaster fees  (GO ROBERT!!!  1) Good on you for not charging hundreds for your tickets and 2) if only other artists would stand up to them like he did concerts might actually be affordable!)

I feel like we can't plan anything since we're in a limbo as far as getting the house back into some kind of shape.  I have two weeks before Easter in which I would like to actually be able to sit down and eat at our table for the first time in a month.  At this rate we may be getting a Honeybaked Ham box lunch, grab our Easter baskets and go to the park until we can't take screaming kids anymore and then go back to the dreaded homestead.   I can't help but look skyward and how all of this remodeling crap that initially started in 2020 was meant to give us a more peaceful abode and now we basically hate it here.  

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Guess I'll pull the blinds, turn off the lights and wait for the voices.  😵

Oh wait!  We did have one good thing!!  So I painted some primer on the wall and reapplied the Wheat Bread paint.  The more we kept looking at it, the more pink it looked.  (Both that and Taupe Tease)  I was not going to repaint everything just for it to have a hue I didn't ask for.  So off to da Depot to look at paint samples as the paint guys at the counter did everything but help us.  I painted a slab of wood with the Wheat Bread and took it in to compare with other similar shades.  The one we felt was closest to what we were thinking is called Studio Clay so we go a paint sample.  Yahtzee!  I painted it just below the other samples and it's the perfect shade of beige with no pink or weird undertones.  So I think we have our shade of wall paint if we can ever get to that point!  

OH and I also ordered some canvas prints and some sound absorbing panels to tuck into the back of them to hang on the walls in the hallway which is now SUPER echoey which was the opposite of what we had it drywalled for.  Five 20x30 prints for $145 through Canvas Champ.  

OH! OH! and we also ordered square iron balusters that we think will work with our stairs since it's been a big fat fail up to this point.  Yes, that means another project down the pike which means more pressure on future us.  That was me....trying to not be a permanent downer but still circling the cul de sac right back to Poopietown.  

😁

Any plans for your weekend?  Have you started thinking about Easter yet?

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