Yesterday everything I touched seemed to go wrong. I sometimes have these days, of course, but yesterday was particularly bad because I took an annual leave day from work.
Here's what happened:
- The house painters arrived shortly after 6:00 AM as expected.
- The dogs ate their breakfast, went outside, and I locked their dog doors to keep them safe inside while the painters worked outside.
- I ran to a local hardware store for a shut-off valve thing to repair my squealing toilet.
- When I tried to remove the old part from the toilet, it broke off. I then tried to remove the clip from the center over-flow tube and the whole center tube broke off too! It's like the plastic had dry-rotted. I tried in vain to get those parts out of my toilet to replace both parts, but I remembered that the plumber had used some kind of underwater sealant on them. Yup. Glued permanently, as far as I could tell. I couldn't get them off, so...
- Went to Lowes and bought a new energy efficient toilet.
- Came home to install the new toilet, but the phone rang. I was late for Physical Therapy!!
- Rushed to Physical Therapy.
- Came home and needed to ice my knee, but instead I...
- Removed the old toilet and installed the new toilet. (That sounds way easier than it was.)
- Remembered that I am almost out of laundry detergent and went to the grocery store to buy some Wisk.
- No Wisk at the first store.
- No Wisk at the second store.
- No Wisk at the third store.
- Looked up Wisk online and it is selling for over a hundred dollars a bottle.
- Went to wisk.com and discovered that Wisk has been discontinued!!
NOTE: I've been using Wisk since the 1960s. Tide breaks me out in a rash. Smelling many other detergents gives me a terrible headache. If I had known Wisk was going to be discontinued, I would have bought at least a year's supply! -sigh-
- Realized that I forgot to eat.
- Cooked. The food took longer to make than expected.
- Ate.
- Checked on the painters. Hard at work but one of them left early. They told me someone didn't show up at all, so now they are down two painters.
- Another painter left around 6:30 PM after working a 12 hour or so shift.
- Two painters continued working until nearly 10:00 PM.
- One painter is coming back late today to finish the job.
- Heard a drip drip drip when I flushed the toilet this morning. Thought I was going to have to replace the wax ring (a BIG annoying job), but I tightened the bolts holding the toilet to the floor and it stopped, so I guess I just didn't tighten them enough.
- Bought a new wax ring at lunchtime today anyway (They are very cheap.) in case I hear the drip ever again. The new ring is thicker than the one that came with the toilet, so I may replace it anyway. May not. We shall see.
- My one bad day has leaked into my second day.
- Heard the drip again. Installed the new wax ring. No more drips! I actually love the new toilet.
- My sons are not coming for Mother's Day.
- I'm missing seeing one of my granddaughters all dressed up for her high school prom tomorrow night.
- I never even got started on the real chores I wanted to do yesterday.
- Spent some time freaking out about everything I need to do before I move.
- The house is still not yet on the market.
- Stark ate something that has given him gas. PHEW!! Not good. I need a clothespin for my nose.
All that, but I have a beautiful new toilet that uses a much smaller amount of water to flush, AND it is chair height, so it doesn't hurt my knee to get up and down from it.
That is the silver lining.
Every cloud has one. Even "terrible horrible no good very bad day" kind of clouds have silver linings, and I am thankful for that!
As most of you know by now, I plan to move as soon as I can sell my house and retire. It is a process and it is taking forever. -sigh-
In the meantime I've done a lot of looking at houses that I may want to buy in several different towns in the hill country of SC and the mountains of NC. Who knows where I will end up??
Now. Let me tell you, all houses are NOT created equal.
Take this house for instance:
Maybe it is just me, but generally speaking, I would say the porch should be built over the front door. I don't know. Maybe it is just me.
Yes. This is a real house and it is for sale right now.
Aw...this house doesn't really bother me so much. It is the houses with previous tenants who refuse to move out that really bother me. You know...the tenants who lived there back in the 50s and 60s before they died.
Yup. The haints. The ghosts. The things that go bump in the night.
You can feel them.
They wring their hands as people traipse through the houses. The young ones giggle and run through the house in anticipation of new playmates.
You do not want to be their playmates.
Those are the houses to avoid.
How do you recognize those houses? It's not always easy, but some clues are:
- The house has "cold spots" that make you shudder as you walk past or through them.
- You hear footsteps in the next room thinking another realtor is showing the house too, but there is no one there.
- You could have sworn that cabinet door was closed....
- Hmm...what could possibly be making that shadow?
- What's that smell? Is something on fire? No smoke....
- That stray cat sure was acting weird when we drove up. I wonder what she saw through that window?
- What did I trip over? There's nothing there!!!
- The hair suddenly stands up on the back of your neck.
- Goosebumps appear on your arms for no reason.
I could go on.
I'm trying to pay attention and not end up buying a haunted house. Seriously. That would be bad.
The biggest clue that the house is haunted is the price. If the house's Zestimate is $300,000.00, but the house is listed for $125,000.00. That is another big clue something is wrong.
Just sayin....
Unless you come across something like this listing in Cayce, SC.
Click HERE to read the listing, but basically the worst part says: Upstairs apartment cannot be shown under any circumstances. Buyer assumes responsibility for the month-to-month tenancy in the
upstairs apartment. Occupant has never paid, and no security deposit is
being held, but there is a lease in place. (Yes, it does not make
sense, please don't bother asking.)
Makes you wonder, doesn't it??? That is a BIG CLUE something is very wrong.
You don't believe in haunted houses??? Really??? That is okay. The ghosts believe in you.
Wish me good luck that I find something very good at a reasonable price in a great place with excellent neighbors. Is that asking too much?? I never know. Stay tuned.
Hi Everyone!
Just a note to let you know that come June 1st my blog will be moving to www.alicessilveryears.blogspot.com.
The current URL http://www.alicessilveryears.com/ will no longer work after June 1st.
The new blog address is a secure site. Hopefully this will stop some of the hacker hits!
I hope you continue reading at the new blog address, when I have time to write, of course!
-Alice
