The Ice-Maker Line Lesson

Homeowners stuff is so weird. Being a homeowner and adulting in that fashion, is still so weird to me. Some days are better than others. On the one hand you can paint and decorate and mess things up and not worry about losing a deposit. On another hand, you pay (sometimes in more ways than one,) for everything you mess up.

Water is a force to be reckoned with in most walks of life, but especially in a house. Pipes and stuff are serious business. I'm two types of people weirdly melded into one: I won't ever pretend to know more than I know, if it can get me into trouble, but I love a challenge and refuse to believe I can't find a way to figure something out or make things work. Sounds like a recipe for disaster right? I'm relatively careful.

Friday afternoon I get home in a storm, with groceries and kid, and I hear this faint noise from behind my fridge. The fridge is on, running properly and I think, "Huh? Have I never keyed into that sound before?" I go about my Friday evening routines and then come back to make tea and it's louder, it's almost like a weird hissing sound. I move the fridge and start digging around and there it was: a water leak from the ice maker line.

It was small but the more I started messing with it, the worse it got. I stood there calling my kiddo for help to get towels and just took a breath, "Okay, who do I call?!?" My husband was not my first call, nope not on a Friday during dinner service. I called my local friend who's husband was quite handy and had helped with weird things I'd never know in the past. She didn't answer. I knew there had to be a water shut off but how much do I mess with things? I called the front line of the restaurant and asked for my husband saying it was "Important." I'd never called that number before. Ever. 

He told me to shut off the water under the sink. First knob, water still going, my daughter reported back. Second knob, my daughter said same thing, no result. It wasn't working and I was freaking out. My husband told me to go outside and hit the main water shut off. Yeah that wasn't happening. That thing needed a serious tool to get it to chill. Back to the under the sink situation.

As I was meddling down under there my husband zipped home and I was picturing me twisting too much and breaking it worse, having some newer, worse leak and I just kept poking around. I had found a 3rd knob. Turn, turn, and done. Off. Of course that's when hubby arrived. Crisis averted?

Behind my fridge was disgusting. Lots of old dog food crumbs, fallen magnets, a broken something and so much crud and I was appalled. It looked moldy. Mold is the devil. There was a small hole of separation from wall to floor and that's when the panic set in...what if that thing leaked all day and there is MOLD under there now and it just keeps growing mold because we live in Florida?

I took off any clothing that was essential because I have the worst luck ever with bleach. I always stain something and usually it's clothing that I actually like. So in my bra and underpants in my kitchen on a Friday evening I'm on my hands and knees on the tile floor scrubbing with bleach all the yuck. It is also fun to note that since pregnancy I have had a fantastic aversion to certain cleaning supply smells. It makes it fun, really, and bleach is the number one offender.

I gave up and kept all the water in the kitchen shut off knowing that Saturday afternoon I could tackle the project. I Googled things and looked on YouTube. It seemed pretty straight forward, nothing to scary. I went to Lowe's armed with knowledge.

We had a play date that ran awkwardly long. It was a whole weird thing where they ended up at our house even though we started at the park and things just snowballed. It was okay. We get along but I had stuff to do and the play date ran twice as long as I'd planned. When I stopped and began I got out the video tutorial to go with the kit I bought...uh OH, the video said the kit I got was not preferred.

I packed up the kid. Back to Lowe's. Every non-fun outing requires a lot of negotiation between my daughter and I. There are many agreements of doing a good job. She loves the hardware store but when you go there needing help and guidance and needing to use massive amounts of patience? She grows tired and fast. 

I got round two of what I thought I need and with a back-up plan. I was ready to attack! I'm a practical person and I believe that most things can be done with an open mind, some specifically situational and learned tools, and some confidence. I realized how annoyingly strange it was all installed to begin with and became defeated pretty fast. I even tried to just rig it through Tuesday to work so that my husband could more expertly repair it on his day off, with no child under feet and asking for snacks as you are using the wrench.

It was when I got creative that I realized again, in all my over-buying for other options and in all my optimism and "Can-do" attitude that it didn't fit properly. We had to go back to Lowe's again. I was tired, but I wanted working kitchen water, so I had to finish. I had a great crying jag, balled up on my kitchen floor. My daughter came to console me. And we gathered up for the last trip. 

Immediately at the returns desk, my daughter recognized the cashier as the one from our first return and said, "Excuse me we need to return all of this, because like none of it worked for my mom and we need kitchen water and she said it doesn't work." The cashier found her endearing and said, "Well I'm sure your mom knows!" 

I had cried off my make-up and I'm sure had the look of determination, exhaustion and anger plastered on my naturally blemished face and the cashier that helped us twice said, "Oh, no, you're back," in a sweet way of saying she had hoped we'd fixed it last time. The one genius thing I did was grab an exact piece from the mis-matched size of the first part of the connector and took it with me. I marched right up to someone and said "THIS, I NEED THIS SIZE, AS A CAP OR STOPPER FOR WATER TO CLOSE A PIPE PLEASE."

When we got to the register with our friendly cashier that had helped us with multiple things earlier, my daughter said, "Yeah we had to come back because my mom had like a MAJOR meltdown in the kitchen." I laughed and said, "That's true. Mommy did have a meltdown."

I had given up on repairing the ice maker line. After 3 trips to Lowe's no one in my house needed ice ever again. Ever heard of ice cube trays? Had we become lazy millennial people? No thank you. I could have got the power drill and make the hole bigger but the problem was the connector sizes were different on the pipe side than the fridge side, which was why it was set up so badly to begin with. I then realized that in all my master plans of 2019 a dishwasher was my black Friday goal and the ice maker line goes right behind, so we should just do one big install in a few months.

I got the correct cap sizes, turned knobs back on and have been enjoying water ever since. I used the wrench properly and everything! I told my husband the ice maker news and he accepted it gracefully. I slept better knowing that I'd solved part of an issue and would live to tell the tale.

I don't feel like I bit off more than I could chew and I certainly didn't mess around with something I couldn't handle. I felt like I should have gone more with my intuition on a lot. My husband actually really supported my handling it myself and said, "You can totally do this, you're smart enough to find your way around everything." Even when he got called to come help he was patient and understanding that water leaks are no joke.

My lesson was a balance in what was all worth it really. It needed a safe fix of course, but when my sanity, my abilities and just how poorly it was set up to begin with came into play I had to make some educated decisions and maybe lose a luxury for a bit until we could have a more detailed repair later.

I felt accomplished and like I learned a lot, although slightly disappointed I couldn't write a post about my success of replacing the whole line. Perhaps that will be an end of year thing. Homeowners stuff is no joke though and I feel like there are some intense growing pains that go with it all, but I have to take it like I take everything else, one day at a time. Happy Monday!

Missed Posts, Big Little Lies Binge, Back To Me

Yesterday I missed a post and for no other reason than I felt like crap. Detoxing off the evil meds has been better but still taxing and yesterday kicked my butt. So here I am on a Saturday, writing it out and sharing all the things.

I totally just needed to sleep it all off yesterday. I slept like crap Thursday night and just needed to go ahead and sleep it all off. I was lucky enough to leave work early and rest and reboot and party with friends last night. I finally just accepted things. I have no one to impress. I'm not trying to win some beauty pageant so as long as I'm healthy, what else is there? I work out 5 or 6 days a week at 30 minutes a pop, and I don't eat a bunch of junk. If that doesn't work then maybe I'll just stay where I am. I'm still at a lesser weight than I was when I started.

Tomorrow is the Big Little Lies season 2 premiere and season one was a huge thing for me. Not only does it keep all my favorite actors in one series, but the stories of marriage, relationships and parenthood hit home hardcore. And after my disappointment with Game of Thrones, I need something great in my life.

Silly things today have made me feel like I'm back to me. Snuggling, quiet cups of coffee, doggie cuddles, fresh sheets, piles of laundry to handle, homemade salads for dinner, big bowls of popcorn, my daughter watching her shows and movies and being calm, and the rain. We needed the rain and I love the rain.

In a disappointing exchange with the nurse practitioner at my doctor's office, all of the side effects I experienced she "had never heard of that happening." Thanks for the vote of confidence. Well, they did and for now, we're going to stay unmedicated, and happy I might add. I didn't realize how not uncomfortable I was, until that nasty medicine took it's toll on my body.

I'm sorry I missed a post but get ready next weekend because this writer is completely off. That's right I'm taking 48 hours of no posting to spend some much needed time with the husband. For tonight, I'm being lazy with my perfect kiddo and just enjoying that I feel almost completely back to me. Happy weekend readers!

The 9PM Too Tired To Post Post

You thought I forgot? I've been out all day and immediately came home to mom chores. Weekends are rough. I'm too tired to be all artistic and poetic. But I will have a real post after I scour my house tomorrow. 

Saturday Party-Palooza And Universal Make-Ups

After a grueling 48 hours of being on the phone arguing with the system and then cleaning my house on a Friday night -- yes I am a party animal -- I was amping myself up for a very busy weekend. As I've made extremely clear, I relish and love my down time. Any time for me to hide in my bed and eat popcorn, and I'm there.

Today we have 2 back-to-back birthday parties and a friend coming along. It was supposed to be horseback riding to birthday party 1 to birthday party 2 to Mom being done and in bed by 6PM, but instead horseback riding was cancelled.

This was a weird blessing in disguise because I now have a slow, easy-going morning, yet another thing I fantasize about but am rarely awarded. The girls are playing on a "Friendship mission" and I'm seeing my hubby for the first time in 2 weeks for more than 20 minutes in a row. 

We often forget that the universe can give us what we need even when we don't fully understand that we're asking for it, let alone needing it. I had a conversation with a friend earlier this week about how much of life is "if I can only make it to this then I can be happy," or "I just need to get through this weekend and then I can be more focused." We are usually centered on what we don't have to achieve what we do want, instead of appreciating all that is in front of us.

I had a rough couple days, yes. I threw my inadvertent tantrum instead of just bottling it up inside like normal Americans, and now I can reboot and get away from it. It's so important to just take things as they come, but often difficult.

I was anxious about today. A partypalooza Saturday wasn't ideal. I have to leave my comfort zone and socialize with other moms, and two full parties in a row. Tomorrow I get to catch up with an old friend but also in a large social outlet. Sometimes these things drain me.

I had this conversation with my dad this week about how, we love gathering and being conversational and social with people but we need a retreat in our safe space until we get back to an even calm after all of that. 

After my bad customer service experience, and as someone who works in customer service, I realized that being treated badly by bad customer service reps, made me a little less patient with my own customers, and one thing that I work hard on in my job is patience, and understanding. I wish that was a STAPLE in everyday communications but we often get so frustrated so quickly, it falls to the wayside. 

With all the reflection and then cleaning and calm, and now a morning of play dates, family time and extra coffee I'm feeling better. I'm still adjusting to a lot, especially work stuff with my husband, but I'm also mindful that we have great things ahead to look forward to. 

The Universe gave me this morning to make up the last few rough days and I feel grateful and ready to take on party-palooza. So happy Saturday!

Busy Saturdays, Borrowed Bathing Suits and Bad Texts

I'm going to be completely real...I'm exhausted from an epic day. We had horseback riding lessons and then a birthday party hosted by some of our most favorite people.

I'm insanely sensitive to new friendships. I very much test the waters, but some people, you just completely mesh with instantly. And those are the friends that hosted the party. There were other friends there and just tons of fun including bouncy slides and a pool.

My daughter's horseback riding instructor said, "You guys are so busy Saturdays!" This is factual. My daughter spent 5 hours swimming and taking pizza slice breaks while mommy indulged in deliciousness of every avenue also.

The highlight was my friend got me to borrow a swimsuit and get in the pool. I told my friend's daughter verbatim, "Miss Ali is not a pool friendly mama." I'm admittedly a horrible, horrible swimmer. To, once again, quote The Princess Bride and Andre The Giant, "I only dog paddle." I can keep myself afloat, that's it. So my daughter knows how to swim, much better than her mother.

Also, I hang out with notoriously "Hot moms." Moms that have tan, gorgeous figures with non-mom boobs or still breastfeeding boobs, and whose only traces of motherhood are cover-able stretch marks or weird new veins, so I'm not one to pool hang and bathing suit up among the glitter-ati. My amazing mom friend has like 50 bathing suits and insisted I get in with her. She tried last year...she failed. I kinda owed her.

So I squeezed myself into a busty one piece and did okay. I was impressed actually, with myself and I got major points from her, so also a win. Going outside of my comfort zone is kinda big and I totally got all in, in more ways than one.

So we meander home. I need a shower. The kid is bathed. I need to do laundry and run the dishwasher. The dog is fed and walked. But I got the bad text.

After a day like today, my ability to rationalize and be less dramatic is completely lowered. With exhaustion comes mania sometimes, whether I like it or not. So my husband sent me a "We need to talk," text after being fishing all day and my mind was quick to hit the negative fast.

We need to talk texts are EVIL! I assume the worse. No one ever texts "We need to talk...because I bought you a new puppy." Or "We need to talk...I want to bring you dinner." That just always has bad juju on it.

After I called him, he calmed me down saying that we just need an adult convo to deal with adult things, but still..ugh, bad texts. I'm currently binge-ing Parks and Rec getting ready to put myself into the shower and wash off the day, whilst fantasizing about food. 

I wish I had some cool, insightful thing to write, but that is not of today. Thank you all for reading and Happy Saturday!

Garage Sale Saturday

We live in a small neighborhood. I've heard a bit about a "homeowner's association," but our FHA loan specified we cannot be in an HOA...apparently ours is defunct or not real but theoretical? All I know is there an old man, in an old school, very sad looking golf cart that rides around smoking cigars and telling people what they shouldn't do and asking for dues. Seems like a legit set-up right?

Well once a year they do the community garage sale...or as I like to call it, pandemonium for leaving your damned house. Every home in this neighborhood has a minimum of a two car garage, and most residents don't have more than two cars. For some reason people still park on our very small streets. It gets to the point where you have to go two miles an hour to make sure you can squeeze through if two cars are parked on the same street across from each other. A fire truck would struggle any old day.

I learned during the hurricane that the reason the cars aren't in the garage, is because everyone is some level of hoarder, which actually makes garage sale day kind of interesting, if you don't live here. Doing something simple like leaving your driveway becomes the most aggravating part of your day. No one knows how to drive. Then you get stuck behind the people who need to slow down to look to see if anything catches their eye instead of parking. Did you feel the eye roll there?

It makes me super happy to have an escape and I pray for the end of the sales to be swift. On our way to Saturday morning routines I saw at least 5 other neighborhoods advertising their own community garage sales.

My daughter thinks garage sales are so amazing. And I recall having that same idea when I was her age. To me it was fascinating that people had so much stuff, but that you buy their stuff for cheap? That was awesome! My niece had a "garage-sale-ing" obsession too that drove my sister insane. I now know why.

I was happy to avoid our neighborhood like the plague. So much so that I bought my daughter a new craft kit just to keep her from asking to wander the neighborhood. It's not that I wouldn't let her have a few things, but we don't need more stuff.

I stopped pretending I would re-sell things and just give them all away because I feel like that's what I'm meant to do with them. They served me well and now someone else can use them. We always accept hand me downs and garage sales are just shopping hand me downs!

So many neighbors just have random, for lack of a better word, crap that they want to make money off of. It's rare that you find a good deal for an actual necessity. While I like to imagine that people are using the money for a good cause, I mean let's be real here. It's probably not that. Maybe they are figuring out a new appliance or upgrading something but they likely aren't about to toss it into the church offering.

While garage sales can be an adventure I dislike this day every year and this year it caught me by complete surprise. Luckily I was able to get errands done early today, so the inconvenience was minor, but I was in no rush to get home. 

We managed to push through unscathed and without so much as a quick dog walk tour of the goods. The shoppers were great people to watch though and I'm glad some neighbors got rid of their wares. Perhaps my enchantment with garage sale Saturdays will have another seasonal visit one day but for now, I'm happy not out people-ing. If you are out there "garage-sale-ing" make sure you have your negotiation skills ready for action and enjoy the weekend!