Personal Note: House Stuff

[nebroadwe]

Yesterday I had a plumber come to fix the sink (and I cannot say that without recalling the Electric Company's animated sketch -- ou sont les neiges d'antan?). Turns out that the leak I thought was coming from the drainpipe actually originated with the drain basket and the leak from beneath the faucet was perhaps just the result of it being badly caulked. So a lotta money later I have a re-caulked faucet and a new drain basket ... and a new strainer, the first one I've ever had that actually works (i.e. isn't built to default to plug-the-sink mode if you jostle it absently). Bonus! Next task is to seal the underlip of the kitchen countertop, which I can do myself once I lay in some 80-grit sandpaper and polyurethane. Yay for tasks that don't require hiring a contractor at great expense.

I hope the rest of my house doesn't take the plumber's visit as permission to start pulling a wonderful one-hoss shay, though. I went to do a load of laundry this morning and discovered that the washer was half-full of water. (!!) I drained it and am now regarding it with stern and piercing gaze as it goes about cleaning my sheets. I'm really hoping I don't have to replace it until after I've remodeled the bathroom ...

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Oh, the joys of home ownership. *nods*

Fortunately, you can get a replacement (used) washing machine for around $50 - $100 (at least, every place I've ever lived, that's how much they generally run). I still wish I'd paid better attention when Dad worked on the appliances around our house, so I'd know how to repair my own.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, you can get a replacement (used) washing machine for around $50 - $100 (at least, every place I've ever lived, that's how much they generally run).

That's good to know. So far it seems to be behaving itself, so maybe it was just a fluke. [folds hands together and invokes deity]

I still wish I'd paid better attention when Dad worked on the appliances around our house, so I'd know how to repair my own.

I tend to yell for my friend who can repair anything, from a computer to a car to a sink. He actually replaced the washers on the kitchen drainpipe for me a little while ago, since I don't have any plumbing tools besides a bucket and a toilet plunger. I try not to call on him too often, though, because his wife has a list a yard long of things that need to be done on their house. Plumber, unstop thyself.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I have guy friends who are always amazed at my willingness to get down and dirty in repairing stuff with them - cars, plumbing, roofing, you name it - but that's how I learned what I did. I helped rebuild my '67 Mustang with my parents; I roofed my house with them; laid linoleum; plumbed; cut (small) trees; treated army worms; fenced property....

Yeah. I kinda miss doing that sort of thing, some days.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

My parents wouldn't let us help with jobs like that, for some reason, but I learned a certain amount by watching. That's how I ended up being the expert on wallpaper in the local group: I was the only person who'd ever seen it done. I'm still not sure how we successfully wallpapered a friend's dining room without a hitch. (We all swore off ever doing it again, though.)

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I hate wallpapering; I'd much rather paint (less fear of getting something crooked). Of course, my whole house is done in wallpaper and its of the particular "old lady" style I really despise and want rid of but don't have the money or inclination to get worked up about it yet.

One day.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I hate wallpapering; I'd much rather paint (less fear of getting something crooked).

The only thing I'll ever do with wallpaper now is those ceiling border things. I have some sailing ship border in one of the bedrooms that really looks good, according to visitors with taste. [buffs nails]

Of course, my whole house is done in wallpaper and its of the particular "old lady" style I really despise and want rid of but don't have the money or inclination to get worked up about it yet.

Put Ed and Al onto it. (Ed and wallpaper -- the phrase "one-armed paperhanger with the itch" leaps to mind ... :-)

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Put Ed and Al onto it.

Well, I kinda have...there's an FMA wallscroll covering part of one of the walls. I'd put up all my posters, too, but I keep thinking I'd rather have uniform colored walls before I start doing that.

Ed and wallpaper -- the phrase "one-armed paperhanger with the itch" leaps to mind ...

...What the hell does THAT mean? - Ed

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Well, I kinda have...there's an FMA wallscroll covering part of one of the walls. I'd put up all my posters, too, but I keep thinking I'd rather have uniform colored walls before I start doing that.

That sounds disturbingly like the way I think, which is one reason why my bathroom is so soulless right now.

"Ed and wallpaper -- the phrase 'one-armed paperhanger with the itch' leaps to mind ..."

...What the hell does THAT mean? - Ed

Ssh, brother! You don't want her to bring that time up! You know if Winry ever hears about it ... - Al

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Well, you know, uniform coloring behind the posters/wall scrolls/what have you doesn't distract from them, as opposed to beige background with far too many fussy flowering things.

...Oh, hell, I don't want Winry to know that at all - Ed

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

...Oh, hell, I don't want Winry to know that at all - Ed

"What don't you want me to know?" asks Winry, who, unfortunately for the Elric brothers, isn't deaf.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

...er, well, it was all AL'S idea - Ed, pointing

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"All I asked was whether it wouldn't be a nice idea to give Mrs. Hughes a hand around the house!" retorts Al, folding his arms across his chest.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

...Oh...god - Winry - what did you two do to poor Miss Gracia?

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Ed: "Nothing! Nothing! She wasn't even there!"
Al (still peeved): "Because you said it should be a surprise."

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Winry folds her arms - What. Did. You. Do.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Ed's jaw works. "We wallpapered Elysia's bedroom. That's all. End of story."

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

...Please tell me you didn't choose the wallpaper - Winry

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Ed rolls his eyes. Al leaps into the breach. "No, Mrs. Hughes had it all picked out. She was just waiting for the paperhanger."

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

That's something at least...you didn't use alchemy, did you? - Winry considers if they had, the room would've been all right. Sure, there probably would've been little dragons peering out from behind bushes or entwining with the fleur de lis or playing with the teddy bears - whatever Miss Gracia had picked out for Elicia, Winry was sure Ed alchemizing it to the walls would've meant a hopefully subtle change rather than his generally 'dragon-fanged with pointy bits style.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"It doesn't really help much," explains Al hastily. "You still have to get the paste on the paper before you can put the paper on the wall. It might have helped with smoothing out the air bubbles, but -- "

"Will you can it about the air bubbles?" hisses Ed.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"...What happened with the air bubbles?" Winry knows for sure this Is A Problem, if Ed's denying already that there is one.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"Nothing I couldn't fix," Ed says, glaring at his brother.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"It sounds like it didn't get fixed, though." Winry folds her arms, fixing the Elric brothers with the patented Rockbell stare.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"It wouldn't have needed fixing," mutters Al, "if someone hadn't joggled my elbow."

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"That wasn't MY fault! That damned dog of Lt. Hawkeye's decided to play tug o' war with the paper!" Edward hunches his shoulders, almost as if he's expecting to get hit anyway.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"I told you we should have put it off once the Colonel ordered you to dogsit," says Al, self-righteously.

"It's a military dog!" grumbles Ed, still keeping an eye on Winry's wrench hand. "When you tell it to sit, it sits! When you tell it to stay, it's supposed to stay, right?"

Al's petulant frown begins to twitch around the edges. "You never did," he observes.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Don't CALL me a dog of the military!" Ed nearly howls at that, realizing just what sort of a verbal trap he's walked in to - dammit, why wasn't Al even on his side, today?

Right on top of Ed's words, Winry shrugged at Alphonse. "Ed must not've gotten the training Miss Hawkeye's dog did."

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Al knows what his brother's thinking and thinks that Ed shouldn't have pointed the finger at him first. "Maybe," he says to Winry, his frown upending into a grin despite all his efforts to control it, "if Colonel Mustang had tried food rewards ..."

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"That BASTARD can't teach me ANYTHING!" Ed's steamwhistle howl makes Winry wince in response.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Al just looks at him, the word "obviously" hanging like smoke in the air between them ...

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Getting back to the wallpaper." Winry is determined to find out the end of this story. Mishap. Why the Elric Brothers are never invited to spend any more unsupervised time at Miss Gracia's house.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Still incandescing at Al, Ed has only a terse, crude, and physically impossible suggestion for anyone who cares about the matter to do to, or possibly with, the wallpaper.

"Brother!" remonstrates Al, taking a quick step back out of Winry's potential line of fire.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Edward Elric." Winry's fists are on her hips and she's got that expression on her face - you know the one: Obey or Die. "Tell me what happened with the wallpaper. Right. Now."

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Only a few things are capable of giving Edward Elric pause, and Winry in obey-or-die mode is one of them. His fury dims as surely as if she'd tweaked some internal rheostat, but nevertheless he hesitates. "It was an accident!"

"What was an accident?" Winry's voice clearly warns that she won't be aiming for his rheostat next time.

The brothers exchange glances, Ed's angry and frustrated, Al's angry and ... embarrassed? Then they both begin explaining at once: "It really was an accident --" "That damn dog grabbed the paper --" "-- thought I had it figured out --" "-- didn't realize Al was actually going to --" "-- should have allowed for uneven adhesion --" "-- came down, and plaster every frickin' where --" "-- but we were cleaning it up --" "-- dog tracking paste through the house --" "-- told Mrs. Hughes we were sorry --"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Winry slaps her palm over her eyes, her hand dragging down over her face. "Wait. Wait. Slow down." She points at the elder Elric. "Why did you think alchemy would solve it?" Holding up her hand before he can even get a word out, Winry says, "Oh. Right," and stares at both brothers with a frighteningly harsh stare.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Ed opens his mouth, but Al puts a hand on his arm. "It wasn't Ed who tried alchemy," he tells Winry. "It was me."

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"But only after we tried everything else." Ed is determined not to let Alphonse take all the blame.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"Everything ... else?" Winry hopes that's metaphorical. Ed can be startlingly creative about things other than alchemy, but his habit of hypothesizing ahead of his data (otherwise, leaping before he looks) has led to domestic catastrophe more than once. There was the treehouse incident, and the exploding pies, and ... "Al, what did you do?" she asks hastily.

"Well, we kept getting air pockets between the paper and the wall," Al answers, "so I thought I could use alchemy to kind of, well, push them out at the top, so the paper would lie flat."

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Ed's trying valiantly to contain a smile and losing the battle. "Hey, Winry," he snickers, going down for the count, "every hear a wall fart?"

[ishte.livejournal.com]

I see that you've had some of hte same sort of adventures I've had this week. Glad to know that you got it fixed up. I was lucky that a) my plumber also happens to owe me nearly $500 in back pay that we are taking in trade. (he does HVAC Plumbing and Electrical... and he has a list.) and b) it turned out my leak was only one small drip from the connection under my kitchen tap. Today the 6 foot puddle in my basement is gone and everything is mostly dry. Tomorrow I must remember to spray the area with bleach very thoroughly. Today I forgot.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Yay for small, easily-fixed leaks and dry floors!