fat suburbanite dad: busy week

What a week. So the house is practically re-piped - just the shower in the master bath needs to be done. The guys that have been doing it have reconnected one bathroom and the kitchen each night before leaving. Twice not until about 9:30 PM.

So - do you think we needed to change the pipes out? Here is what the outside looked like:

And then there was the inside:

Will we have to take iron supplements now? No wonder the water pressure stunk. And don't let the unblocked portion in the picture fool you - you couldn't see any light through a three foot section of pipe.

Of course we weren't really prepared to have remodeling done, so mama bear has been driving all over trying to find matching tile (of course the ones she bought are being discontinued). Do you have any idea how far we have to drive to get to a Lowes? Like 15 miles north or south. Or 12 miles to the north-east. At least there is a Home Depot one mile away, and another three miles away. How do we manage?

(note - for anyone stumbling upon this site I'm just rubbing it in to the country relations who don't live within 40 miles of anything)

Speaking of do-it-yourself warehouses I had to make a trip to get a new water heater. Of course it went something like this...

Come home from work Tuesday about 6 PM.

contractor: "how old is that water heater?"

fat suburbanite dad: "I dunno... at least eight years." (turns out to be 14 y/o)

smart contractor: "Maybe you should get a new one. They are less than $400 at the store."

dumb fat suburbanite dad: "Golly gee willikers. I dunno.. this one seems to work fine."

smart, wise contractor: "Ok, it's up to you. It's just that you'll probably need to change it soon anyway."

dumb, naive suburbanite dad: "um, well yeah, that sounds awfully reasonable, since the pipes are so bad, I have no idea how old the heater is, it's probably full of scale, and I would save in energy bills. Besides, the old heater is already disconnected, it would only take 45 minutes to go get a new heater, bring it back, and get it hooked up. So no thanks."

Guess what? (Parents - use this as a reading comprehension test - how late did the contractors work? Now test reasoning - How late is Home Depot open?)

Invigorating showers Tuesday night! I love home improvement. Here is the new heater.

The odd schedule has been tough on the youngins too. It's been a long week. The boy has been feverish and the girl just tired. (update: she has a fever too). No wonder they looked liked this at 3:30 PM on a Friday afternoon.

Sadly, the boy was unsuccessful in his fly catching attempt. What a valiant effort though.

And in case you are interested, here are some progress shots of the guest bathroom.