Thursday, January 24, 2008

One of those days....

Sometimes things seem to run smooth and then you hit patches where everything seems to hit at once. Well, the last month as been one of those patches. So here is a list of events that have occurred in the month of January to give you an idea of just how much Murphy really hates me. Most of it is annoyance so its not really painful but its enough to keep you on your toes:

1. Stove died - Not all of it, just the oven portion. There is a computer board inside our oven that regulates the temperature, self-cleaning, etc. Well, that board went out 2 years ago and we replaced it at the cost of $450. It went out again this month. The stove is probably 7-10 years old so its not under warranty (of course). We have since been to Lowe's (awesome store) and we get our new stove Saturday. (They will be hauling the other one away which is good because it may end up at a target practice range if they didn't.)

2. Toilet plugged - It was a partial plug so it would somewhat flush sometimes and then clog others. You could plunger it and it would work fairly well for a little while and then clog again. It ended up being a part of one of those kid's meal toys. It was far enough down that the toilet had to come up, a new wax ring and new bolts applied, and resealed. The first time I put the toilet on the bolts (really difficult by yourself because the bolts don't just stick up and line themselves up), one came out of its socket and I ended up at Walmart at 10:30pm on a Friday to get a new wax ring. 2nd time was a charm (only because I bought a spare wax ring in case I screwed up one.)

2a. Toilet cabinet broke - I placed this under 2a but it was a separate problem. It is linked because if I didn't have to work on the toilet, it wouldn't have broke. Anyway, it was sitting outside the bathroom door. At about midnight, I'd had enough of the bathroom. Took a shower and then sat to watch a little tv. The wife's cat decided it would be a good play toy, jumped up on it and toppled it over breaking the doors off in the process. It has since been replaced by a better cabinet.

3. Sick daughter (kind, of) - Jayna has complained off and on about a sore ear. She complains, then runs off playing and having a good time without another thought. Tuesday I was called by her school because she was complaining and they were a bit on the sensitive side because a week ago they had a case of strep throat in that class. So, I went and picked her up, took her to the doctor's office on Wed. She doesn't have strep but did have a little bit of a red throat. She's fine other than it being winter.

4. Computer problems at work - The day I take off to take care of my pseudo-sick daughter, I get a call that our accounting program won't let anyone sign in stating that they are already signed in. After 1-1/2 hours at work shutting down computers, restarting the server (more than once), we finally get it fixed. After that, I head off to the doctor's appointment.

5. Flooded basement - Before you get excited about this (I was excited about it enough for everyone), my wife called me while I was waiting for the doctor to come in. She got a call that our basement might be flooding. So I rush (after the doctor gets done with Jayna) out the door heading home. Come to find out, the frost-free faucet in the front of the house decided that it didn't want to be closed anymore. I think the gasket seal inside decided to finally conk out. It had problems before but would still seal so I wasn't really surprised. Anyway, I already had one purchased, got it changed and got the water back on within 10 minutes of getting home. (Most of it was trying to decide where I hid the new frost-free faucet.) Amount of water in basement was a gallon or less with one wet sweater, one wet Animal Shelter uniform and the bottom of one box.

6. Various work issues that seem out of the ordinary. Too many to mention individually but its been interesting. Maybe I'm being over-sensitive or maybe people just need to take a nap. Haven't figured out which yet but if there's a nap to be taken at work, I will volunteer.

Anyway, just a glimpse into my life. I'm not trying to complain but blogs are cheaper than therapists and blogs can't have you committed. (I guess they do provide a written record that can be used against you, but we will worry about that at the hearing.)

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