HOW WE LOSE THINGS

We spent the morning hunting a new dining table. Found one. Then it fell out of the truck in the way home and broke. Imma gonna drink this cocktail now.

I dumped all of my things for the day into my milk crate that I have strapped to the rack on my scooter and zipped home. It was Friday, I had worked a full day and was mentally exhausted. Troubleshooting microscope problems that a user is having on a microscope while maintaining social distances is challenging. I was ready for wine and pizza, but when I parked in the driveway and started unloading the crate, I realized my sweater was missing, one of my favorite sweaters from Anthropologie. So…not cheap. I thought about it for a few minutes and sent a text to Michael. He had left to pick up our pizza. I turned the scooter around and set off to retrace my route home. As I scanned the road and sidewalks, I had a vision of my sweater laying in the middle of the road with tire tracks and tears. I had doubts I would even find it, but suddenly there it was, laying in the middle of Rockhill Street. I pulled the scooter over and ran out into the street to rescue my sweater. I picked it up, gave it a quick look over and shoved it into my scooter seat. When I got home, Michael greeted me at the garage door with “Did you find it?” and I excitedly pulled the unscathed sweater from my scooter seat with a “Huzzah!”

There was a lesson to be learned here that I did not pay attention to.

The next morning, Michael and I went in search of a new dining room table. We started with the antique shops in the West Bottoms, but after rummaging around four floors of two (not air-conditioned) buildings and navigating around people not wearing masks or incorrectly wearing masks, we gave up. I suggested we head over to another store in Westport, one with air conditioning and snacks. We walked into the store and found the perfect table, a new desk chair for me that will double as extra seating at the table and a new stool for Michael to use at his work bench. Plus snacks! We were done. All that was left was to find lunch and make a quick Whole Foods stop. Michael loaded the truck while I paid the bill and then we made our way to a sushi place with great lunch specials. As Michael turned a corner, I heard a noise. I looked back and opened my mouth just as Michael started saying “nonononono'“. He pulled the truck over and we ran out into the street to retrieve our perfect table that was now in pieces.

I am sure my skin changed color as I sat silently in the truck. I was sick with fury. Michael made a plea for me to not be angry with him and declared that he was taking it back to the store. There was no way that store was going to give us a refund and I was angry with myself for not checking that the table was secure in the back of the truck. Did I not just almost lose a very expensive sweater because I failed to make sure that it was secure in my crate? Michael and I exchanged some healthy, but heated words. I refused to go into the store with him. I just couldn’t face the employees. I only partially know what Michael told them, but he returned with a full refund and we went to lunch. We were seated at the mostly deserted outside patio and Michael said “Okay, let’s get you a cocktail.” I started to say that a cocktail was unnecessary, but then I found myself ordering some cucumber, sake concoction for lunch. Then we called around to see if other stores had that table, which they did not. We were sad, so sad that when we made it to Whole Foods, we didn’t even look through the cheese bin.

We kind of lost steam after that. We went to a couple of other places, but didn’t find what we were wanting. A 36” wide round table that is 30” tall is not an easy find. We went home and spent two hours searching the internet for table options. I finally found one that we both agreed with and ordered it. It should be here Friday, but I worry about not seeing the table in person before buying it. Re-doing the dining room is proving to be quite the adventure that started with a speeding ticket I got as I raced to IKEA to pick up some benches. Who knows what calamity will ensue when I replace the china cabinet or when I convince Michael pull everything from the space and repaint that room. I probably should have started with the paint. I apparently do things backwards, but I am learning some valuable lessons along the way.

Such as don’t speed and always secure the cargo.

THRONE

Well, this is happening.

8 Likes, 2 Comments - Cindy Maddera (@elephant_soap) on Instagram: "Well, this is happening."

I posted pictures, but I never talked about Michael replacing the toilet a few weekends ago. I didn't really think we needed to replace the old toilet. Sure it was wobbly and needed a new seat, but it was still a functional toilet. Michael has said something at least once a week since the day he moved in about how the old toilet needed to be replaced and blah blah blah something about a bidet. Replacing the toilet was not in our budget when we had the bathroom remodeled. It was the least of our problems at the time. I was more concerned about the tile falling off the wall and the moldy window collapsing in on itself. There were also things in the bathroom that Michael and I figured we could do with some supervision and there were things we figured would never get done even with supervision. So we contracted out to have the tub, window and tile replaced. 

I don't do well with mess and construction and the uncertainties that come with construction. I knew that if we tried to do all those things in the bathroom on our own, the bathroom would be a wreck for weeks and weeks and even months. During those weeks and weeks and months, I would be scratching my skin off and pulling out patches of hair. Having someone else come in and replace the tub, window and tile and promising to do it all with in three days was worth every penny. This just left the old wobbly toilet for us to deal with and for Michael to talk about every day until he finally decided that replacing the toilet would be his summer project. He scheduled a Saturday for his friend Andy to come over and be his supervisor. Then I met him at Home Depot Friday afterwork to pick out the new toilet as well as a bidet attachment for the seat.

There is a crack in the bathroom floor that runs from the back of the toilet to the wall behind it. Most of the time, I just pretend that it doesn't exist because if I start thinking about it, before I know it I have decided that the whole bathroom is going to collapse into the basement. The evening before I was supposed to meet Michael to pick out the new toilet, I came home from work and said "The thing that worries me is that you're going to pull up the old toilet and discover that the crack in the tile goes all the way through the floor and it has just been a miracle all these years that the floor hasn't collapsed." You know that saying "let sleeping dogs lie"? This was how I felt about the old toilet. If we didn't pull up the old toilet then we wouldn't know the horribleness that could be under the toilet. Michael's response to this was to yell "GOD DAMMIT!" and grab a flashlight to go inspect the crack in the tile. It was later determined that I was overreacting.

The old toilet was taken out and the new one put in without any problems or disasters. It was pointed out that I may have been right when I asked if we could just re-set the old toilet instead of spending money on a new toilet. The wobbly toilet could have been shimmed to keep it from wobbling, but the new toilet promises to save us over $100/ year in water costs. So...planet earth and all that. The bidet feature is also nice. Of course now we've started looking at the bathroom sink and cabinet and how it just doesn't look all that nice sitting between a new toilet and a new tub.

And home remodeling projects never end.