Back before I started Astonished
Back before I started Astonished Head, when I was regularly perusing Andrew Sullivan's site and exploring the links he includes there, I swore that, should I ever create such a site of my own, I would never talk about my toilet. I couldn't conceive of how plumbing could become worthy of even a passing mention. That was before I bought a house. Now, I can well conceive of how plumbing might become worthy of mention. Mainly because it's expensive.
That being said, I'm still not going to talk about my toilet. That's where I draw the line. I'll talk about my cat, my medication, my nighttime psychoses and my dreams, but never will I ramble on about my porcelain.
I will say, however, that after an intriguing match decided in less than four rounds, I have installed a new bathroom faucet. I mention this because it is an excellent example of the old "for want of a nail" adage. The previous owners did not replace a washer in the hot water faucet. This caused the faucet to leak onto the sinktop whenever it was used. This water often overflowed the lip of said sinktop, slid down the side of the vanity, and pooled onto the linoleum. Eventually, the linoleum glue gave up the ghost, and the water seeped into the subfloor. The wood began to rot. The damp wood attracted carpenter ants which, while the sworn enemies of termites, do their own sort of damage. They built a small village. Now, the subflooring is soft, and will need to be replaced, which I will do myself to save hundreds of dollars in labor costs. Cost of the original washer? 15 cents.
Now: dinner, and bed, in preparation for many hours' worth of bus time.
