Day 50: Our own private 'pool'

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 50: Our own private 'pool'

Yesterday, Dieter and I became the proud owners of a swimming pool. We already have a pool in our condo building, but now we had a private pool in our home, more specifically, in the bathroom. I’ll bet you want to know more about that ...

It all started when the toilet in the bathroom started acting up. Water still filled the tank, but it took longer and longer as the water came slower and slower. Sometimes we had to wait a whole ten minutes for the tank to fill. Dieter investigated the situation and was going to repair it.

He went to Canadian Tire where he bought a filler. While I did the dishes he set off for the bathroom armed with pliers.

Suddenly I heard a scream, followed by “Maaaaaaaa!” Not knowing what happened, but fearing some kind of personal accident I sprinted to the bathroom where I found Dieter on his knees in front of a tap that gushed water all over the place. 

“A towel, a towel, quickly!” he commanded. 

He pushed the towel I gave him against the tap, but within seconds it got soaked. Fearing that the water might come into the corridor I grabbed a bath towel, thus trying to block the flow. 

Since there was nothing really I could do I made myself scarce. 

In due time Dieter came into the kitchen ... soaked from head to toe. He asked me to follow him to the bathroom. Upon arrival, he flushed the toilet and it appeared to be fixed. Unfortunately, we now had our own private pool in the bathroom or at least a pond where we could keep koi.

While I finished the dishes he returned to the bathroom to mop up, dry himself off and have a change of clothing.

While all this was happening I had an accident of my own. While doing the dishes the rim of a drinking glass broke in the water. Having thrown away the glass I noticed that there was a gash in the index finger of the yellow rubber gloves I was wearing. Moments later I felt something sticky ... blood. The glass had cut through the rubber gloves into my finger. I consider myself lucky, without those rubber gloves it would have been a lot worse.

All the finger needed was a band-aid, as for our own private pool ... it’s no more.

Day 13: Is a home really the most dangerous place

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 13: Is a home really the most dangerous place

From the moment we step outside, we are on guard for potential accidents. Auto collisions, pedestrians getting hit by moving vehicles, potholes, loose stones, stairs, falling objects and more.

Some of these accidents, if severe enough are published in a newspaper, an online site or they are even screened on TV. But what about the accidents that happen at home? They do say that a home is the most dangerous place.

The Living Room

Quite by accident, we found a Chippendale end table. It was a little too big for the intended spot, but the color matched our existing furniture so well that I didn’t hesitate to buy it. 

What a mistake that was. I can’t tell you how many times we stomped a toe against one of its legs or banged a knee on one of the corners. In the end, beautiful as the end table was, it had to go. For its replacement, we bought a round table. It’s small enough not to pose a threat to our toes and its round edges are much kinder to passing knees.

The Bathroom

When Margaret redecorated her bathroom, she went to Home Depot and chose beautiful baby blue glossy tiles for her backsplash and floor. The salesman who helped her mentioned that while this was a great choice for a backsplash, it was far from ideal for a floor. 

Because of the glossy finish, the floor would become extremely slippery when wet. Margaret paid no attention, she loved the baby blue tiles and to hell with the consequences. 

It took exactly four days for Margaret to slip and fall on her baby blue tiles and end up with a navy blue knee. She promptly had the baby blue floor replaced with non-slip rough texture tiles.

The Kitchen

The most dangerous place in any home is the kitchen.

Fed up with a nearly blunt potato knife, Betty made her way to Canadian Tire and picked out a new knife. Come lunchtime, Betty started peeling potatoes and subsequently slicing them in half. 

Unfortunately, Betty (used to putting effort in slicing a potato) put too much oomph in her action slicing not only the potato but a section of her hand between her thumb and index finger. Eighteen stitches later Betty came home and threw the new knife in the trash. She told me that the attending doctor had quite a laugh when she told him what had happened.

A doctor had quite a laugh with me too. Yes, I had an accident in the kitchen too and the culprit was not a slippery floor or a knife, it was a can of pineapple.

A can of pineapple you might wonder. Indeed. Dieter and I had gone grocery shopping and when we came home we started unpacking the bags. Dieter crouched in front of the fridge while I placed items on top of the door. He reached for the items and placed them in the fridge.

Everything went fine until I placed a can of pineapple on the door. The can slipped off the door and landed with its rim on my socked left foot. Jeez Louise, the pain … I can’t begin to tell you how much pain that 500 ml can caused me.

When I was able to move, I hobbled to the lounge where I fell in one of the chairs. When I removed my sock I was greeted by a rather large bump on my left foot …

A few days later, the blood in the bump spread to the rest of my foot and now my foot looked like this …

No bones were broken, but walking was rather uncomfortable. In slippers mind you, because I couldn’t get into any of my shoes.

On the upside, I didn’t need a bone density test because this accident had proven that I have very strong bones.

The Bedroom

Well, we won’t go there but I’m sure quite a few accidents have happened there too. Not in my bedroom, but in general.

Day 122: The good, the bad and the bloody

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 122: The good, the bad and the bloody

The past 24 hours have been eventful, to say the least.

First, I had a rather bad dream. I know, hearing about other people’s dreams is about as interesting as grating cheese, but this dream of mine was nothing short of extraordinary.

I was bowling at Kennedy Bowl, practicing my game, when an unusual visitor showed up … the queen of England. (Don’t ask me where I come up with this stuff). At some point, the queen was getting a guided tour from Kevin Arsenault who took her behind the lanes. Not in the safe walking area where the ball boys do their work, but on the lanes where the pins are. I threw my ball and missed the queen’s legs by a few inches. She was not impressed.

A few hours later I had an accident while preparing lunch. After moaning for weeks that my potato knife was getting blunt, I bought a new knife in the Dollarstore. Dieter didn’t agree with my purchase, said that you can’t be a good knife for $3. Yeah, well, if this knife wasn’t up to the task he could find me a better one in Canadian Tire, but for now, this Dollarstore knife would have to do.

Today was the first time I used it and … I nicked the tip of my left index finger. Blood everywhere. I rushed to the bathroom to wash my hands with soap and water while yelling at Dieter to bring me a towel. However, when presented with the requested item I didn’t really want to use it as it’s hard to get blood out of a towel. So, I asked for paper towels instead. After a few minutes, the bleeding stopped sufficiently for a band-aid to be applied.

Next up … the Belgium vs. Japan soccer match.

I didn’t watch the match because as mentioned in a previous post, if I watch the game, the Belgians are sure to lose. So, I went down for a nap instead.

I had barely rested my head on the pillow when I heard cursing from the living room. “Did Japan score?” I asked. “Yes,” Dieter said. A while later I heard him snap his laptop shut. This could only mean one thing … Japan had planted another one in Belgium’s goal. This time I didn’t even have to ask, Dieter uttered a frustrated “It’s over.”

I knew that napping was now out of the question. I was too agitated. This had happened time and time again. The Belgians had done well in the qualifying round, they had won all the games in the knock-out round, and now they allowed themselves to be beaten?! I was utterly disgusted with my team.

One way or another I must have drifted off though because I was awoken with a very enthusiastic “WE ARE IN!!!”

I can’t say that I was very surprised as this is typical of the Belgians. They play a relaxed game, passing the ball around without seemingly a care in the world. When Japan scored their first goal, they must have been surprised. When Japan scored their second goal they finally, finally shot into action. The Belgians need a good kick, so to speak, for them to wake up.

And they didn’t disappoint. Not only did they score and score again, in the last four minutes of overtime they scored the third goal making it 3 – 2.

Thank you, Red Devils for nearly giving me a heart attack.

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$2,000 faucets

It started so innocently.  My son saw beautiful faucets in Home Depot that were on special … $59 down from $99.  Unable to resist a bargain he bought them and brought them home.  Little did he know those faucets were about to cost us close to $2,000.

The first problem arose when the new faucets didn’t fit the current vanity table in the bathroom.  Oh well, the table was old and in need of replacing, so why not go for a new cabinet?

Off we went to Canadian Tire to have a look around.  We saw reasonably priced vanity tables, complete with a sink, but … they were rather small and I didn’t particularly like the design.  

So, we went for a separate vanity table.

Of course, now that we had a new table, we really should go for a sink as well, so … off we went to look at sinks.

It didn’t stop with the sink of course, we also bought new lighting and a new mirror.

When the vanity table and the sink got installed in the bathroom yesterday, we hit a snag … the piping didn’t fit.  Since neither of us are qualified plumbers we had to rely on a professional.  $210 later, the pipes were connected.

Everything look great.  The new vanity table, the sink, the lights, the mirror … except, now that everything looked new and improved we really should finish the job and go for a new floor.

Off we went again to Canadian Tire to look at floors.  I liked simple, square white tiles, but could have those.  According to the sales person they were not suitable for a bathroom, because their shiny finish would make them slippery when wet.  To cut a long story short, we found a nice tile that wouldn't have us slipping and sliding all over the place.

Of course, now that we had chosen a floor tile, we needed cement and grout, a bucket to mix the cement in and tools to spread the cement, a tile cutter, spacers and a sponge.

Were we done?  Yes, we had everything.

At the checkout point something caught my eye … a washing machine.  It looked so cute and was so reasonably priced.  We needed it, it was a nice deal, so … what the heck, why not?

So, all in all … if Dieter hadn’t gone for the faucets, we wouldn’t have needed the new vanity table and sink.  If we hadn’t gone for the new table and sink, we wouldn’t have gone for lighting and a mirror.  Neither would we have needed a new floor.  If I hadn’t seen the floor, I wouldn’t have seen the washing machine.

$59 faucets that turned into $2,000 faucets … oh well, the bathroom needed renovating anyway.