Fixer-Upper in Perpetuam
When things begin to go wrong, they keep going wrong. There's a type of Murphy's Law that says that if you are short of money, and short on time, at least three inconvenient things will break down in the house.
The first thing was the flood leaking from the cellar ceiling in my father's house next door. My husband had to break the cement blocks that formed the ceiling to get at the pipe. Then, the plumber came, brought a little piece that wrapped around the spot that was spitting out the water, and that was that. We were lucky, except for the inconvenience.
Then, the pulley at the bottom of the window that takes up the cord to keep the blind up in one of our kitchen windows, said it had held enough. We dismantled it, took it out of its recess in the wall, and noticed the spring had broken inside. The person who installed the windows and blinds well over twenty years ago, ordered the piece, but it still hasn't come. The likely outcome is that we will most likely have to replace the window-cum-blind, since it's all one piece.
Early this morning, my husband was washing up to leave, when the water stopped flowing, and the well motor began acting strangely. We turned it off. When I got up later this morning, I turned it back on, but it didn't pull up any water. I already called the plumber, and this problem I suspect will bring me a paper with a nice, juicy summary of different parts and pieces, with quite a few numbers at the bottom.
We already have left over problems from earlier times that we still haven't gotten around to getting fixed. One of the kitchen cabinet doors is leaning at an angle, another is propped up. The doorbell decided to shut up, and people use the door knocker. The house could use a couple coats of paint, inside and out. And other little things that we can live with, but could use a screwdriver, or simply, a replacement. Sometimes I feel I'm living in a state of permanent need of fixing.
This is when I wish the Harry Potter books were real, and I had a magic wand from Ollivander's and could fix everything with a spell or two. Unfortunately, the magic wand in real life is called money, and the spell to control it is not in our power.
The first thing was the flood leaking from the cellar ceiling in my father's house next door. My husband had to break the cement blocks that formed the ceiling to get at the pipe. Then, the plumber came, brought a little piece that wrapped around the spot that was spitting out the water, and that was that. We were lucky, except for the inconvenience.
Then, the pulley at the bottom of the window that takes up the cord to keep the blind up in one of our kitchen windows, said it had held enough. We dismantled it, took it out of its recess in the wall, and noticed the spring had broken inside. The person who installed the windows and blinds well over twenty years ago, ordered the piece, but it still hasn't come. The likely outcome is that we will most likely have to replace the window-cum-blind, since it's all one piece.
Early this morning, my husband was washing up to leave, when the water stopped flowing, and the well motor began acting strangely. We turned it off. When I got up later this morning, I turned it back on, but it didn't pull up any water. I already called the plumber, and this problem I suspect will bring me a paper with a nice, juicy summary of different parts and pieces, with quite a few numbers at the bottom.
We already have left over problems from earlier times that we still haven't gotten around to getting fixed. One of the kitchen cabinet doors is leaning at an angle, another is propped up. The doorbell decided to shut up, and people use the door knocker. The house could use a couple coats of paint, inside and out. And other little things that we can live with, but could use a screwdriver, or simply, a replacement. Sometimes I feel I'm living in a state of permanent need of fixing.
This is when I wish the Harry Potter books were real, and I had a magic wand from Ollivander's and could fix everything with a spell or two. Unfortunately, the magic wand in real life is called money, and the spell to control it is not in our power.
We bought a handyman's nightmare in Boston. Even to this day when something goes wrong in France I freak because it is too much déjà vieu.
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