I got to play plumber yesterday —— the little piece that connects the chain to the flapper busted on our toilet. Not good when you can’t flush the smelly thing without taking the top off the tank and reaching down into the tank.
Fortunately I was able to find a “universal replacement” flapper with chain at Menards. It didn’t work so too good the 1st time I hooked it up because the excess chain kept getting caught under the flapper and the water kept leaking out into the toilet.
Only my superior intellect properly diagnosed this malfunction as there was not a word about it in the “universal replacement” flapper instructions.
That’s because there were no instructions at all —— not even a picture. Well, I have now divulged the highlight of my day.
Aside from going to get a few groceries (mainly milk because Aaron drank the last gallon (and I mean the WHOLE gallon!)) Jake and I didn’t have too much to interrupt our naps. Except, of course, washing dishes, laundry and counter cleaning.
Our kitchen counters always seem to be in a constant state of gunk. I think NASA missed a bet when they didn’t try day old cereal milk to glue those tiles on with —— because it takes a whole lot of soaking and scrubbing to get those glued on Cocoa Bombs off the table. Jake loves to help with that because once you pry those off they usually fly away and land on the floor where he can get at them.
He also likes to help load the dishwasher as he frantically tries to get his head into the dang thing and prewash anything his tongue will reach while I am loading it. This usually means he gets a lot of spaghetti juice and cereal glue-milk dripped on his head from the top rack while he is after the contents of the lower rack.
This is no problem for him though because once the door is shut on the dishwasher he can wander into the other room and rub the goop off his head on the side of the couch or on the carpet. Jake is soooo much help around the house!
MjL 25 Jan 2007, 5:51 a.m.
I absolutely love Ben’s “Dino World”! That’s what being a kid is all about!
Way to go Ben!
Plumbing, toilet repair, etc. -- now there’s some life skills that could be a class --
Ashley had her orientation at the high school yesterday. She brought home her handbook that lists all of the requirements and classes. Now the “fun” begins -- figuring out what classes she should take. Her ideas and my ideas don’t mix well most of the time (too much dad in her!) I figure that’s my weekend project.
Gee, my kitchen counter/table must be related to yours! It just never seems to go away!
Have a good day. (don’t eat too much Jake!)
Tammy 25 Jan 2007, 6:58 a.m.
It started out with one sheet of paper and a couple little dinosaurs and grew into this taped and glued extravaganza. He spent hours on it and loved every minute of it. We still have it saved in his tub. Tracey has this huge plastic tub with a lid for each of the boys and all kinds of memorable things end up in them. Some day Ben can haul out his “Dino World” and show it to his grandkids.
Life Skills. I wish they taught a whole lot more about those than they do in school. I understand it has gotten a little better since I was in school, but there are so many things that should not be left to stumble through. I could do a whole list, but things like balancing a checkbook, doing income taxes, how to shop for cars, houses, and other “big ticket” items, wills, funerals, insurance buying, and how to boil an egg in a microwave. (you can’t without an explosion!) And those are just for starters! Then there are those things they are trying to teach and shouldn’t. Oh Well. I couldn’t be a curmudgeon in a perfect world.
MjL 25 Jan 2007, 7:47 a.m.
So, how many eggs have you tried to boil in the microwave?! :O
Your ideas on “classes” are great, but that’s all they’ll be unfortunately.
I have tubs of memories downstairs too. In fact, I just about cried recently when I ran across this police thing that Andy had strapped to his bike handle bars when he was young. It had a headlight, blinking lights, police siren, police sayings and a pretend microphone. He used to put on his police helmet, his pretend badge, and go riding around on his bike. And...guess what it still works after all these years! I guess I never took the batteries out. It was sooooo funny (and painful too) to hear that thing going again.
Enough down memory lane. Time to go figure out was to cook for dinner.
Tammy 25 Jan 2007, 4:12 p.m.
I took a large peanut butter jar (back when they were still made of glass) and poked holes in the lid made of plastic wrap —— then watched my egg bomb go off in my Radar Range. When I moved out of the house back in 1975 I bought a monster microwave instead of a stove and immediately began doing all the things they said you shouldn’t do! I had heard about the exploding egg so I prepared ahead of time. The first time I put the egg in the jar about half full of water and it took quite a while to blow. Then I just put the egg in by itself and I don’t think it even took a minute. Pretty cool. I could see it would have made a horrendous mess had I not prepared my container.
I went all out and made Taco Salad for supper. Noah is off to Judo and Ben is off to Scholastic Bowl so it was just Tracey, Aaron and I. I forgot the sour cream and corn chips so we had to substitute ranch dressing and nacho flavored chips. Also got medium taco sauce instead of mild and Tracey is a dragon lady now. Oops.
MjL 25 Jan 2007, 6:04 p.m.
I had a couple of grumbles here....I defrosted and heated up pulled pork bbq....Dave is NOT a fan of pork! Oh well!
Maybe you should teach Rosie to do the shopping for you!
Tammy 25 Jan 2007, 6:38 p.m.
Wouldn’t that be great! Just send your robot off to do the shopping. Maybe our kids will have that luxury, or our grandkids. Rosie can barely keep from falling down the stairs.
MjL 25 Jan 2007, 6:44 p.m.
Oh, but I bet she’d be great at bagging food properly!
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