The Spendthrift's Progress

Pull-down terror to the attic. (All that and the kitchen sink.)

Our attic, which is roomy enough that we really ought to finish it off, can only be accessed at the moment by a rickety set of pull-down stairs. At some point in the last year, the last step broke and the tenuous alignment of the top and bottom sections was further severed by warping. We'd replace the things but a: broke; b: see above regarding finishing it off.

I had to brave the stairs today so I could measure our former kitchen table, to see if it would fit in a friend's new apartment.

All was well until I tried coming back down the stairs, pushing the bottom section down as I gingerly navigated the top.

It makes a horrible noise.

Upon hearing it, so did the girl.

I now know what sheer terror sounds like when my daughter is involved.

A liberal application of cuddles and boobie later, she's calmly waving her feet in the air as she watches me type. All's well, and all that.

In other News of the House, we have a new hot water heater. I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but my parents, not wishing to see their shiny new granddaughter scalded as a result of our not-so-shiny old water heater, decided to give us one as our Christmas gift. (My sister is getting dental work. Let no one say our folks are not practical people.) The boy had five days off, so we set the swap date for last Friday. Installation went fairly well until the house was repressurized. At which point, one of the ancient galvanized pipes gave up the ghost and sprung a leak.

So, of course, plans were made to replace the section. This also went fairly smoothly until the house was repressurized. At which point, the cold water pressure in the kitchen sink went bye-bye, the victim of a dislodged chunk of Pipe Crud.

So the boy, having one more day left in his five day block, spent what should have been his free time replacing the cold water supply to the sink. Thankfully, this repair does not appear to have broken anything else, but you never know with this place.

Have I mentioned that I hate my house? I'm trying to reframe how I picture the place in my head, describe it as a "quaint cottage" instead of a "tiny mind-numbing wreck," but this constant state of breakage is making it awfully difficult.

posted by mohmlet @ 12:27 PM