I Have Had It!

Our average stay at an address was a little less than four years until our move to Texas.  Remember the old joke about trading in your car because the ashtray was full?  We were like that with houses.  So 15 years in one house, new when we built it in 2003, has brought many mundane things to the forefront we never dealt with in the past.

We have had the flashings around vent pipes and the chimney on the roof changed and the roof cleaned (huge black gunky mess!). The entire house trim has been power washed and painted.  The landscape redone about three times.  A new AC and furnace unit, water heater, dishwasher, refrigerator, kitchen sink, additional crown molding, glass shower doors added in guest bathroom, bedroom carpeting, plantation shutters, interior painted twice, etc., all new experiences for us.  

We custom built a 4/3 pool home in Florida in 1996 and didn't have as much trouble as this bathroom has been!  The first two weeks went great and then it went down hill.  My last post said it is done.  Well it was until we started using it.  The shower enclosure problem is a tile problem.  Instead of tilting the top of the step in slightly, it is tilted outwards.  The "sweep" under the door is not enough to hold that running water back so it comes out onto the bathroom floor.  Now they have to take the glass down, rework the tile and then the glass people reinstall the glass.  When Ted used his sink to shave, the stopper wouldn't work.  I tried moving the post into every hole and it didn't help.  They were to stop by yesterday to look at it, called instead to tell us that "next week" they will be over to take the glass down.  Then no one came. I guess that call negated their need to fix the sink in a timely manner!  

I think it looks very good but why can't people do things right the first time?  Of all the workers, why wouldn't someone on the tile crew or glass crew lay a level on that tile to see if it tilted correctly?  Why wasn't the sink stopper tested to be sure it held water?  I can only imagine what would have happened if I had to type a letter 3 or 4 times before it was correct and could be sent out!  I would have been looking for work in a heartbeat.  

A big problem down here is the language barrier.  People do not necessarily learn English.  "No me gusta" is one phrase I learned right after "donde esta el bano"?  "I don't like" and "where is the bathroom"!  "Dos Cervantes, por favor" is another biggy but I don't drink so have no need for two beers!  I remember a news story in Florida of a prescription marked take once a day.  Once in Spanish is 11!  The person ended up in the hospital!   I guess eventually we will have two languages but all the Ellis Island people were anxious to learn English.  We see on the news all the time someone using a translator and they have been here for 20 years!  The glass people and stopper installer were all native English speakers so that wasn't the problem in these two instances!  

In the meantime the carpet people stretched and cleaned our bedroom carpet.  It looks great so I hope there are no hidden surprises lurking.  

Enough of my rant!  We can use the shower for now by placing a heavy towel outside the shower and I will let Ted use my sink!  I need mirror time more than sink time!  

We attended a concert last night with Terry and Carol featuring the Houston Symphony and a Las Vegas headliner doing 50s and 60s music.  It was a very energetic show and had people up dancing in the aisles, including us!   All four of us agreed it was a great evening.

We have our Community Theater tonight so will meet Gerre and Barry for dinner beforehand.  I have their 50th anniversary gift to give them.  I don't want to drag it on the cruise and then have them drag it home!

We have invited four couples for Labor Day so my weekend will be church, cleaning, shopping, cooking.  Not too exciting!