After a two week deep freeze, we had an unusually warm day yesterday.
Millie loved it. She was outside a lot. Hanging out on the deck watching the world go by.
Today it’s about 40 degrees cooler. Millie wants to know where the warm weather went. She’s been an Ohio girl 9 years but she still doesn’t understand how fickle Ohio weather can be.
Poor thing.
I had a small problem with a slow kitchen drain last week . . . I know I can’t fix it myself so I called the Lovely Plumbing Company that’s been so helpful with issues here at The Little House . . .
You know me . . . I always jump to THE WORSE CASE SCENARIO and was CONVINCED it was a broken drain pipe because of the ground freezing during the polar vortex that we had recently . . . even though every other drain was working just fine and the toilet wasn’t stopped up . . . I’m a hot mess . . .
Lovely Plumber arrived . . . listened to my description of the problem . . . assured me it probably WASN’T a broken drain pipe . . . and proceeded to work on the kitchen sink.
A half hour later . . . he was done, I paid the bill, and he was on his way . . .
The problem was . . . the drain pipe had frozen . . . seems that XH didn’t slant the drain pipe when he replace the pipes under the sink oh so many years ago . . . there was just enough stuff stuck in the pipe to have it back up a bit and the water froze around the stuff and caused the drain to be slow. Another part of the problem was that XH didn’t vent the pipes properly and when the stuff was frozen there was not enough air in the pipe to help the pipe drain properly. Quick fix is to put in a vent thing that will allow enough air to circulate to keep the drain flowing while keeping the smell away.
Curse, swear, filth, foul . . . many bad words were said after Lovely Plumber left that afternoon . . .
How in the world did XH live with himself knowing that he half-assed an important job like plumbing to the kitchen sink? Did he truly not know how to do the job or did he not care? As much as he complained and grumbled about doing the plumbing, wouldn’t you think he’d want to do it right so he wouldn’t ever have to do it again?
Once again, I’m worried about every home improvement and home repair job that he ever did . . . wondering when it’s going to fall to shit . . .
And I wonder why I have such problems with anxiety . . .
When you hurt yourself sitting on a chair at work . . .
To quote my Lovely Kindergarten Teacher Niece . . . I was not “sitting safely” and the dire thing she predicts to her Kinders when they don’t sit safely . . . happened to her auntie . . .
I pulled a tendon in my leg . . . and it hurts like heck . . .
After two weeks of babying it . . . and imagining every worst case scenario possible . . . I broke down and went to see the Family Doc . . .
Who promptly laughed at all my “worst case scenario” fears . . . and diagnosed a pulled tendon . . . and prescribed 2 Advil twice a day for a week, moist heat, stretching exercises, and no strenuous exercise . . . which means no walking the dogs . . .
The best part . . . the “take 2 Advil twice a day” came with the words “with food”! Hot diggity . . .
There’s a few errands I should be running today
But it’s the first day in ages that it’s not freezing . . . or snowing . . .
And I don’t have the heart to call her inside when she’s enjoying sunning herself on the deck . . .
So the errands can wait
I survived January . . .
I survived The Third Week in January . . .
I survived a Polar Vortex . . .
I worried about the creaks that The Little House made during the cold snap . . .
I worried about the furnace . . .
I worried the pipes might freeze . . .
I worried that Hal might not make it through the cold snap . . .
I worried about . . . just about everything . . .
And through it all, Prince Charming sent me cardinals to watch over me . . . and when I thought I was going to have a complete break down over the worry and anxiety of it all . . . Prince Charming sent me a message . . .
The first song heard when I got in the car to drive to work this morning was one of his favorite songs . . .
Guess I really am stronger than I think . . .
That grief is grief is grief. Those who tell you it gets better with time are liars.
That no matter how you think you’re prepared for Ohio winter you’re never prepared for an Ohio winter.
That worry is a total waste of time. Whatever the worst case scenario is, your worry won’t help fix it and when it’s not the worst case scenario you’ve wasted all that time for nothing.
That family drama is actually entertaining when it doesn’t involve you.
And finally – there’s a reason why they’re called ex-husbands
