Going...Going...Gone

Surprises

Our new dishwasher was installed a couple of weeks back. It was an unusual experience in that the installer had me helping him and wanted to see if he could repair our 199 degree faucet as well.

It began as a typical installation. I removed the stuff from under the sink, but the previous owners of the house had some type of utility shelf installed under there that hooked around the pipes and wiring. Mr. Serviceman had a time figuring out how to remove it. He brings this very small flashlight with him and says that it is too small, do I have a bigger one. So I quit what I'm doing to go get this guy a flashlight. He gets the shelf out and then he notices the Steaming Hot Water heater under there and comments on it. I say, "Yeah, it's neat but it leaks." This bit of info. gets his attention and he starts messing with it. Pretty soon he says, Maam, you have two choices, I can either look at this or leave it alone." I'm going to have to call a plumber anyway, so I tell him to go ahead. I'm minding my own business again and I hear, "Maam", could you turn on the faucet so I can see where it's leaking." Okay, I can do that; the problem, I end up helping him for about 30 minutes and it's uncomfortable because I have to lean across the sink to reach the faucet because he's under where it is and I couldn't stand far enough back to keep from touching his legs with mine. He says it's not leaking from any of the pipes, it must be in the faucet itself. Then he says, "You have two choices, I can leave it alone or I can take the faucet out and see if there's any pinholes." I tell him to go ahead. I'm minding my own business and he calls, "Maam, could you come and see this?" He has the whole faucet out, pipes and all and says, that there are no pinholes, it must be in the inner workings of the faucet. Then guess what he said? "You have two choices. I can either put it back in or leave it out so you can take it with you to try to find another one." I tell him to leave it out.

He's put an hour into the faucet, but finally gets around to the dishwasher. I go on about my business and he begins to install the dishwasher. Then I hear, "Maam, could you come here. Would you like to clean out where the dishwasher was?" I really don't want to, but he is standing there waiting so I get the broom and sweep. I tell him I'm not mopping, it's really not that messy. I leave and try to go on about my business and then I hear, "Maam, could you come here?" I go in there again and he say's, "Could you hand me that flashlight? I want to see if I'm seeing what I think I am." I'm thinking, "For Pete's sake! Will you just finish the dishwasher!" Mr. HelpMe says, "Yes, it's what I thought it was, a mousehole!" Then he says, "You have two choices, you can let me fill the hole up or you can leave it, but I know women don't like mice." I just let him think that's so because it's not true in my case. For my classroom pet's I had two rats. Anyway, I tell him to go ahead and fix it and he asks if I have steelwool. (Sure I do, I just keep it laying around.) I tell him no, but I do have those dish suds pads. He takes half the box and stuffsed them in the mousehole.

It only took him 30 minutes to install the dishwasher and an hour and a half to do all the other things. He didn't charge me which was nice, but he sure needed a lot of help.

I had my hair colored and cut Wednesday. The hair dresser and I had some misscommunication and how it turned out will surprise some people. Let me explain, I was born a blonde and have pretty much kept my hair blonde. My hair dresser wanted to cut my hair into a type of mohawk. It looked cute so I said ok. We talked about coloring it blonde all over and tipping the top in a lighter blonde. As we looked through the book, someone said something about a picture of a girl with dark hair and red highlights being cool. I said it was. I'm sitting there with the dye on my hair and it's getting darker and darker and I'm thinking, "That's not blonde and boy, it wasn't! When all was said and done, my hair was dark brown and tipped on the very top in a type of red! Talk about surprised! It's okay though and everyone seems to like it. Some of my students said they liked it and some just stared. I don't know how long I'll keep it this way, but it sure is different.