Another conversation you never want to have

"Hey, does this floor drain work?"

It does now.  I have a snake.  That hooks up to a battery powered drill.  And it does a good job of clearing small clogs.  I'm assuming the clog in question was just backed up sludge from the ewww.  Anyway, the floor drain does.

I used to have a water softener in the house.  I knew that, but at some point in the past, it actually used to work.  It's missing the tub for the salt and now it leaks water, which is what prompted the question about the floor drain.  I'm a be sweatin' some pipes tomorrow so it won't leak anymore.  It started leaking when the contractor moved it.  He was going to fix it when he comes back up, but I don't want to pay the extra on the water bill, so I'll fix it tomorrow.  

Yesterday, I loaned him my sledge hammer and crowbar to demo some cabinets.  His was on another job.  Hey, I don't mind.  I have everything.  Except a saws-all. (OK, nobody can have everything, but I have a lot of tools.)   I told him that but I don't think he believed me.  I felt bad for him because pressure wash the floor day was today.  He dropped his pressure washer and now has a brand new one because he broke something on it that couldn't be fixed. I was at church.  I told him I wished I was here, because I have a pressure washer in the garage.  

Anyway, the part of the conversation was this:  "There was a lot of poop on the floor.  There was a white line where it started and you could see it come up."  I cleaned that floor.  With bleach.  But that's why the insurance company insisted it be pressure washed.  I could tell why, because when I walked into the house, there was the wretched stink of ooze throughout the joint.  It's gone now, and the basement is cleaned, swept, and fully demolished.

"There was a lot of poop on the floor." is never what you want to hear about your house.  The guy is pretty cool, though, and I'm so grateful for him.  I think he likes me, too, because he asks me, what if I do this or that.  I told him, whatever he wants to do, great.  I had some say-so in the front door and he showed me this or that, and I told him I didn't care what he did, in a nice way!    He's pretty much got carte' blanche' on this one as long as we don't exceed the budget or he doesnt' do anything that the insurance company won't reimburse him for.

If I wasn't on a budget, I'd pick all new cabinets for the downstairs.  It's not a big kitchen and the cabinets aren't going to match because as the insurance company said, it's not their responsibility to make sure things match.  They just replace what's damaged.  Fair deal.  They're ponying up a ton already for this nightmare and I don't want anything I shouldn't get.  I'm just thankful to have the joint cleaned up.

2 X 4s get delivered this week sometime.  It'll be so nice to have this done and one less thing on my mind.  I originally wrote "one less thing to worry about".  I don't worry.  That's God's to have.  I'm just trying to get through the day without trying to think about all of this.

I'm getting fat as butter again.  I gotta either stop cooking or learn to cook proper portions.  Sadly, I like my cooking, but way too much.  Right now, I'm kinda hooked on that BBQ sauce I made.  It's not bad.

I was looking for cold weather gear this morning.  Thank you, Uncle Sugar, for letting me keep the uniforms because that included the cold WX gear.  I knew where my "Eskimo II" hat (I had to explain about the whole Eskimo thing today at church) was and my gloves, but I found something I'd not put with the gloves and hat.  When I first got back on the path in September of 2010, it was partly due to finding some radio programs called Running to Win and the topic of the seven sermon set was "Making The Best of a Bad Decision".  I have this hope that God is in control and at just the right time, His will shall be done in the matter.  I know someone who might benefit from them so I'm happy I found them today.

There is one less vehicle in my driveway today.  The middle kid has Chevron.  Half-way through the journey back to Murray I received a phone call.  "Does the gas gauge always move this fast?"

Yes.  yes it does.

The above story means that I saw two of my three boys yesterday.  Me and the youngest went to a movie.  Then the middle one joined us so he could come up and get the truck.  The little one just wanted to collect his stuff.  The house is two bb guns and a bow & arrow lighter today.  The bb gun target is also returned to its rightful owner.  It's just been collecting dust here.  The kid is smart.  He knew what he wanted, and more importantly, exactly where it was. 

I'm thankful to have some kind of part in my kids' lives.  I do love them so much and am proud of them.  Middle boy, I was told, wants to be a pharmacist.  Great for him!

Little one is getting serious about this whole college thingie.  He's ready to get his ACT on.  He used words like important, and study, and go good because it matters.  I'm very blessed that I have great kids.

Two of my three boys are men now.  The last one is just about there.  When I speak of them, I really should use the word sons.  They're not boys anymore.

I thought about this today, too.  It's interesting to me how God works, which is no surprise to you, I know.  There are things I would like to do but in practicality, cannot, because of the circumstances I created for myself.  But I will be able to someday.  In the mean time, the Lord is finding other things for me to do for His kingdom.  I was out early this morning putting down ice melt, and I had my cold weather gear on, including said eskimo beanie.  That's why I had to explain it.  I thought I would get there early enough to have it done before anyone else got there.  Yeah, not so much.  

Our Thanksgiving meal is purchased, except for the celery which won't be bought until just a day or two before.  I located the roaster pans today and the menu has been complied.  Winco Foods had turkeys for dirt cheap.  Not as cheap as Smith's but that was for their store brand.  Winco had name brand turkeys for cheap.  I found a 24 pound Butterball that will do just nicely.  

We're ready to get ready.  I only have one oven again (whine!) so I have to start baking a day early.  I have a three crock crockpot that will help keep things warm so all I have to do is put them back in the oven for a short time.  You have to let your turkey set before you carve it, so I'll make good use of that time.

Again, I always make too much food.