PLUMBING

Settling into our 1800's rental home has been a slow process. The owners generously agreed to furnish the home for us. They even claimed to hire an interior designer to do it, which after seeing the furnishings is more than slightly suspect. But I won't go into the sordid details about the oversized, nubby,  graphic upholstery and white leather sofa. (So practical,  with 3 and 6 year old!)  The good news is that it is new and not some dingy smelly old stuff, although I don't think the white leather sofa will look crisp and white much longer. The owner happened to drop by with some much needed something or other, when he observed Ina and Lola hurdling it like it was the  saw horse mount jump (whatever that gymnastics thingy is called). So he stopped  by the next day with a cream throw to go over the back of the sofa and some leather cleaning wipes.  I have already banned the girls from getting on the leather sofa, which lasted about 10 minutes. I am really into the leather wipes and have used them a number of times, even on my brown leather purse. It didn't do much for my purse though, I had a grand vision that it would condition it and make it look like new.

Anyway, moving on, the real focus of this installment is the plumbing. The first couple of days we took showers and baths and every thing seemed hunky dory.  Until one morning, while showering, Albert complained that the hot water pressure was a bit low. That was our first issue. No,  actually that was the second issue. The first plumbing issue took place when both toilets stopped working at the same time one day. Weird.  So the plumber promptly came over  and installed two new toilet backs. The second issue  Albert observed was that the water pressure sucked, and then we realized that the tub wasn't draining properly.  There is a drain in the middle of the tile floor and apparently when we drained the tub, the bath water bubbled up thru this drain. Even though we were noticing the draining issue and trickle issue we kind of had the hopes that it was no big deal and would correct itself on its own. Really we were just in denial, so much so that I even had the brilliant idea to color my hair one night.  Albert usually showers in the morning, when all of the trouble is, so I thought the pressure would be better at night. (Oh, clever me.)  What a great idea after spending the day at a  friend's child's birthday party sipping wine all day. The kids were asleep, I seemed like a great time. Blah, blah, blah, so it comes time to rinse out the dye and I go to step in the shower and at first hot water "dashes out" (as Graham our leasing agent described) then after a few seconds it waned into a trickle at best. A trickle of warm water smaller than your pinkie is not enough pressure to rinse out a full head of dye. And I must mention that it was a cold and rainy night. We are still coming out of winter here and it is heater/coat weather at night and we barely have heat in this house as it is. Not to mention that with a head full of brown dye you can't just hop under the cold water for a quick rinse. You have to suffer through it until every last drop of light ash brown has been rinsed away. Of course I am too much of a baby to actually take a long cold shower, so I just put my head under the  faucet in the tub while Albert helped me rinse it all out. Still frigid! Once I gave Graham my sob story he immediately got the plumber over. The plumber fixed the trickle  problem after going out to locate some replacement parts. There are always replacement bits needed that are never on hand so he has to leave and come back.  Then last night after another bath I let the tub drain and water started bubbling over in the toilet  and up in the sink and gulping down the drain. Then drain beside the bathtub  started gushing out water.  So there was a puddle there and then another puddle under the washer which is also in the bathroom. Ina took a shower this morning and the same thing happened where the toilet started making crazy noises and gurgling and then it started in the sink and then the sink filled up and wouldn't drain. Gross! The Plumber Returns.  I've already seen him 4 times this week.  

I have no photos to add today. But I'm thinking of doing drawings with the girls to accompany blogs. Input from my tiny troupe of readers would be nice. I also have started a Miss Endless Agony Blog. And will offer my unprofessional advice to anyone who submits a query.  

Actually this posting was written a couple of weeks ago, but I just got around to editing it.  We have now moved onto electricity issues that we're trying to sort out.  But I won't bore you with those issues.