Done With The Chores
7:32 a.m. - 2012-09-29


Things really piled up this month. There was the bathroom remodel, then the usual stressful fall items: drain maintenance, heater check and roof check. I didn't mean for most of them to happen on the same day though. First, when the hall bathroom was done, the guys tried to test the new bathtub out and discovered that the drain was stopped up with rust. Because the tub had rusted through around the drain years ago, we never used it. I did have it repaired, but by then everybody used the shower in the other bathroom, and we never did trust the tub again anyway. Apparently not using it for twenty years did the drain no good. In addition to that drain, I had been meaning to have the drain people out for the yearly maintenance visit for the main drain, but was almost a whole year overdue. Anyway, the spouse set up the appointment for the bathroom drain, and when the guy arrived I asked him to do the main drain too. That was taken care of quickly and scratched off my list.

The PG&E appointment to have the heater checked was the next day, and the day before they were due, I heard that the city inspector was coming out on the same day for the final construction check, and then the bathroom people called and said the shower door had been completed (they measure the space after construction is done and make the doors to order) and they were coming out on the same day to install it. So I was worried that the arrivals would overlap each other and I would be running from one thing to another, but it worked out fine with nicely spaced arrivals and completions. We passed the inspection, the heater is not going to blow up, and the shower door looks great.

The next day, my nephew came over to do some work for us painting and such. My husband does not like me to go up on the roof unless someone else is here because last year it got too hot up there and I got a little wiped out from the heat. The spouse has been so hassled and busy this year that he hasn't been able to be here for me to do the roof, but hey, I thought, the nephew is someone, so he helped hold the ladder and spot the return to ground level. I told him that what we were trying to avoid was a scream and a thud. Anyhow, I checked the roof where the new venting had been installed, swept off some leaves, and was done in about 15 minutes. I need to see the roof for myself every year because I am better at spotting problems than the husband.

That means all my fall chores were packed into only two and a half days, but now I am free to get on with life.

I finished the Doris Chan sweater I was crocheting, my first crocheted garment. It fits great, and I think I am going to really like it. I just have to sew on the buttons but the crochet part is all done. I am now putting together the African Flower afghan. I never thought I would ever get interested in crochet enough to make anything big, but this year I finished off the cupboard afghan, finished the Mexicana afghan, made a sweater, and started another afghan. Amazing.