Everything in our House is Broken, Except for the Things We Recently Fixed

You. Guys. Is this the year that our house is simply just going to fall apart around us? The other day, I walked through my bedroom and was all, "Huh... that's strange. I feel like that window wasn't always LITERALLY BROKEN!!!"

Like, did a bird fly into it? Did the machinery used to remodel the bathroom vibrate it too hard? Did the constant 40-degree temperature daily temperature changes of our bonkers spring weather break it? Dunno, but we threw fistfuls of money at some window people to fix it for us.

Then, THEN! I called 811 to mark our underground pipes because Matt and I are dumb as stumps and really think we can put in a front yard fence for Luna all by ourselves, and the guy marking the water lines knocked on our door and was all, "Hey, y'all's water meter is running pretty fast." Come to think of it, last month's water bill had been unusually high, so we shut off the main line and omg the meter keeps running. So the water company sent out another guy who said that the leak is definitely on our side, because of COURSE it is, so we paid two more guys to come out.

They dug a huge trench in the yard then came and told us that 1) they couldn't figure it out so we'd have to call ANOTHER guy who owns a bore and pay him to look at it (when hiring these guys, they somehow glossed over the fact that they did not own every single water leak-diagnosing tool, ahem), and 2) we nevertheless owed these guys for digging a trench in our yard and then filling it back in. They'd take $500 if we paid by check, and $400 if we paid cash.

It is only by absolute random circumstance that Matt and I had even half that amount of cash in the house, and so that's how we found ourselves literally passing the hat amongst our children to pay the water bill.

Anyway, don't bother trying to break into our house and rob us, because now NOBODY in here has any cash.

Also, apparently diagnosing and repairing a water line leak is something else that nobody in the world actually does, as Matt has called every single person recommended in our town's subreddit and listed in Dr. Google, and has found exactly one human who will consent to come out sometime next week. He flat-out told us that his minimum charge is $345, which, sigh, and then described a process that sounded something like he'd inject a bubble of air into our water line and listen via sonogram for... something?

I don't know, you guys. I'm pretty sure we're getting screwed, but I literally have no way to figure that out or fix it. If only I'd majored in something practical in college!

But Boy, knowing a ton about Medieval religious practices sure makes one a hit at parties!

In other news, our big bathroom is glorious.

I mean, for a very specific definition of "glorious." The floor is finished, including a sub-floor heating system that is EVERYTHING to me. It's got its own little thermostat so we can program it to turn on only during the times when it would be comfiest to have it, and we can turn it off altogether in the summer.

Ignore, for now, the lack of wall paint and towel bars. Syd has agreed to paint a triptych mural for me in that nook where the toilet lives--we'd been considering an Alice in Wonderland scene, but our Greek mythology study has gotten us amped up about the life of Theseus, and now we're thinking of the journey from Troezen to Athens on the left, the labyrinth in the center, and the journey home on the right.

Stay tuned!

The shower, at least, is completely finished, and is glorious in all definitions of the word:

My favorite part is the overhead light/fan that also includes a Bluetooth speaker! I never could get used to keeping my little waterproof Bluetooth speaker charged, so Matt surprised me with this. Now even during showers I'm safe from having to have an independent thought in my head!

Syd was completely right about the family room. I LOVE the burgundy wall:

You'll be interested to know, I'm sure, that I took advantage of having to temporarily rehome all my books by changing my non-fiction cataloging from Dewey Decimal to Library of Congress. We have a lot of history books and craft books, and LOC catalogs them better than Dewey Decimal. No more "women's work" in a separate section!

Since we were already throwing absolute fistfuls of money in all directions, Matt and I decided that we might as well replace our 20+ year-old college dorm couch, and we're now the delighted owners of the world's largest--and SUPER comfy--sectional. But now I can't reach the outlet behind the couch, and the couch is WAY too heavy to just shove it out of the way to reach the outlet, so this DIY console table is on my to-do list:

Also on my to-do list are curtains for behind the couch to replace the much-loathed vertical blinds and some macrame plant hangers, because Matt also made me a ledge over the window to hold a bunch more of my crap and he put a curtain rod under it so I can hang lots of plants that get in his way.

Oh, and I have some more art and family photos and fossils to hang back up, ideally not crooked this time.

And then we can start thinking about the kids' broke-ass bathroom floor and broke-ass sink and million-year-old toilet that keeps acting like it's about a second from joining the broke-ass revolution, and the ripped-up carpet in their bedroom and playroom, and and and...