28 October 2008

The Haus of Many Waters


By the shores of the Irvine Lakey
By the shining Big-Pacific
Stood the wigwam of the Hauswife
Daughter of the Moon, the Hauswife
Right behind it rose the garden,
Rose the prickly bouganvilla,
Rose the palms with fronds upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Pacific


My deepest apologies to Mr. Longfellow. Can you tell that we've been studying Hiawatha, Minnehaha, Nokomis, and the shores of Gitchee Gumee to the point that they tumble around our brains inspiring very silly poetry?

But, aside from the many waters of Hiawatha, Henry Wadsworth has little to do with this tale of woe.

It began with a new dishwasher, which is a good thing, and a desire to save the $75 removal/installation fee. A good thing too, yes? NO! Nevernevernever try to remove a dishwasher if you're not a plumber! Spend the $75 with bliss in your heart! Do not under any circumstances yank and heave and wrench and hitch the execrable appliance until it is half-way out and irreparably stuck and you are drenched in sweat and mad as a hornet! Because that's when you'll hear a tiny little whisper in your mind wondering if you might have broken something.

Which is why when you step into the dining room two days later and hear, "Squiiiish-squiiiiish-squiiiish..." you will wishohwishohwish that you had spent the blasted $75 instead of broken a pipe in the wall and destroyed the entire kitchen, the butler's pantry (*), and the dining room including the Chinese rug and the piano.

(* Yes, we use the official la-di-da name for the room connecting the dining and the kitchen to the pantry, but we call the guest bathroom with Scottish decor the unimposing name "The Scottie Potty" so the pretention level balances out.)

Three days of roaring dehumidifiers and deafening blowers later you will still be beating yourself up. The knowledge that you have months of living in a house under construction without a functioning kitchen, especially over the holidays, ahead of you will encourage much grumbling and cause you much negative self-talk. It's just not worth the potential savings, folks... even if your wife forgives you later!

Moral of the story: Call the plumber, Hiawatha, or your wigwam will be filled with many waters!

12 comments:

Shelly Roberts said...

Ugh .... SO sorry to hear it. My man would have been happy to help you out!

I Love Purple More Than You said...

Oh man. That's awful. I will learn from your mistakes and call the plumber when we need a new dishwasher!

emily said...

Just what I needed- this would soooo happen at our house too.

Lisa said...

OH NO! Sorry to hear that:-(

ErinOrtlund said...

Laurie, you have an amazing ability to laugh at situations that would have me in tears! Hope everything sorts itself out. :)

P.S. "Scottie Potty." LOL!

Rebecca said...

We seem to learn lesson after lesson like this! Actually, are we learning a lesson if we continue to do it??

Tish said...

ohhhhhh my! i am so sorry!

Tish said...

BTW, so glad to see you've kept a sense of humor aboutit!

Brad and Christy Sherrell said...

Three X-mas' ago our toliet overflowed right after opening presents. Nothing like having the demo crew out to your house to celebrate the Lord's birthday. Never thought I would get the sound of the blowers and dehumidifiers out of my mind. 4 months later, we were back to normal. Well, not normal...2 remodeled bathrooms, new carpet, paint, baseboards throughout the house, entryway flooring, new fireplace (yah, I know that doesn't have anything do with a flood but while you are at it...why not)! Sorry you are having to deal with this during the holidays! Good luck and we will see you in November for OCEAN!

Liesl said...

Oh dear! I am not at all laughing at your ordeal, just your hilarious way of telling of such things :) I also very much enjoyed seeing a picture from my homeland (MN) on your blog, too! You are officially my favorite homeschooling momma. Isn't Minnehaha gorgeous?! Steve and I had our engagement pics taken there...

Laurzie said...

It is gorgeous, Liesl! I bet those photos are pretty fantastic, too. Hey, maybe we can meet for a meal or even just coffee next summer when we're in Minneapolis for the Mehaber? I think we'll be there for the last week in June. Let me know! :)

darci said...

oh no! that stinks (probably literally..like wet carpet :(
we do things like this too...'let's save money!' and in the end you don't save anything..sigh. ahh well, we could all be worse, right? i have a friend who's father in law painted their car, yes, their car, with a roller. :)