What are you up to today? This week?

[pdlnpeabody]

I spent most of the day dealing with my car and kitchen sink.  

The aerator in our kitchen sink broke off several weeks ago and I've been looking everywhere for a new one that fits.  After buying several adapters that ultimately didn't fit, I discovered that unlike all sink faucets sold in the U.S., ours is an odd size and isn't even threaded.  I'm beginning to think the homebuilder bought everything from China in odd sizes that aren't compatible with anything and paid off the building inspector to get it passed.

My 2016 minivan nearly caught on fire while my wife was driving home last week and we found a little surprise from the dealer.  When I opened the hood, I discovered that all of the caps to the various reservoirs, coolants, etc., had been deliberately left open last May, they did not change the oil (but charged me for it) and sabotaged the car enough that we blew a head gasket.  The shop we had it towed to said we would need a new engine, but they don't have any master mechanics to do the work, so we have to have it towed again.  The dealership charged me $1,680 to sabotage my car.  I picked up copies of the service records from the dealership and will be calling an attorney on Monday.  Vandalism of a conveyance is a felony in Florida.  I'll probably have to take out an additional loan just to cover the costs of the repair.  I'm wondering if the car's scrap value would be enough to cover the balance I still owe on it.

Luckily I still have my Harley to ride to work every day, but it won't be of any use if I need to take the entire family anywhere and the 300 miles of riding to and from work every week will eventually lead to additional repair bills.  At least the weather had been good for riding.

[Medieval]

L.p.I was making dinner last week. Stovetop was off and I had just put a casserole in at 350. I started to smell something burning and went in to check. There were flames in the oven! I gave the flames a squirt of fire extinguisher. Called the hubby. By the time the hubby arrived on the scene, the flames started up again. He gave it another squirt which finally put it out. When it all cooled and took the pan out of the bottom of the over we found what was on fire. An industrious mouse had stored a bunch of dog food next to the burner! I hadn't used the over in about 2 weeks. It took the whole weekend to clean the oven and all the fire extinguisher dust from surfaces in the kitchen.

[havanaholly]

Oh, Jess, I feel your pain!  Our last long road trip the hubs took a consultant job and we were away for three months; when we returned home our house had been taken over by hordes of wild mice and they were EVERYWHERE; it took two years to eradicate the slow and clumsy and find all their hiding places and former nests, by which time I was no longer humanely removing them to breed elsewhere.  I really like the plastic clip-type traps and bait them with peanut butter.  They kill quickly, which is as humane as I now feel towards wild mice.

[chapchap73]

My philosophy on all wildlife is that I will always let it be at peace so long as it stays outside. If it thinks it's going to move into my house, it's going to die.

Edited February 13, 2022 by chapchap73

[FurMama]

A neighbor had loads of pine straw and mulch hauled in and spread in her backyard because she didn't want the upkeep. Shortly thereafter she was overrun with mice. Thankfully only 2 got into my house. I left for work one morning with the image of Jasper, Carly and Morgan surrounding a cowering little creature next to the baseboard in the dining room. I told them just don't eat the nasty thing. When I came home at lunch it was laying on the kitchen floor by their plates looking like someone had dunked it in their water bowl. The plastic trap caught the other. 

[havanaholly]

I will still use a hand towel to catch anoles and small nonvenomous snakes and take them outside, because they are so good at eating nasty critters (snakes, especially, because they eat mice!); anything else that belongs outdoors had better stay there if it wants to live.

[Medieval]

Lol. Awesome stories. We live in country with a field stone basement. Never ending battle keeping wildlife out. They are smarter than hubby. Long ago they learned to avoid mice traps! Now, I put uneaten dog kibble away. Still waiting for cats to find out about mice. At least no one has caught one yet and left a present! I do have a pic of the 1 1/2 foot garter snake cats cornered and i released outside this past fall.

[havanaholly]

8 minutes ago, Medieval said:

...waiting for cats to find out about mice...I do have a pic of the 1 1/2 foot garter snake cats cornered and i released outside this past fall.

If you have garter snakes you probably won't see any mice.

[grazhina]

It's been 23 days since my refrigerator quit working. LG or the warranty company, whomever it was that DH spoke to last time, promised that a repairman would be over to check the fridge and get authorization for a new compressor. They said they checked with the local authorized repair company and  said someone would be here for sure on the afternoon of Feb 23rd. No repairman came. I figure that even if they sent one over quick like a bunny, it would probably be at least another month till my fridge was working again. I liked that fridge. It was nice and quiet. The LG before that one was also nice and quiet. The Maytag I had for a month before that made a loud whining noise for 40 minutes of every hour. It used to give me a horrendous headache. The store said that noise was normal for a Maytag, but they broke down and swapped me the LG. 

I'm still waiting for the repairman for my stove. He'll come next week. I'll ask him to check my baking element too, in addition to fixing the convection element. Last night I made a meatloaf and baked some potatoes. Usually the meatloaf takes an hour to cook. Yesterday, 30 minutes into the cooking time I smelled something burning. One of the potatoes had exploded (No, I remembered to pierce all of them so they wouldn't blow up- I've been baking potatoes for 50 years), and the meatloaf was overdone and scorched on the bottom. It seems my baking element went into overdrive. That's the third one I've had in that range. Otherwise, it's a wonderful stove and I love it..... except that the baking elements keep going crappola.

I keep thinking about what I'd like to do to the people in charge at AIG warranty. Flaying would be appropriate. The decision makers at LG deserve punishment too, for deciding to save a little money by installing compressors with a cheap plastic part instead of the original metal part. Lots and lots of people hate them now. Our breakdown was too late to join the class action suit.

[Medieval]

You should cook dinner like my mom. She picks up a phone and dials. In all fairness, her and my dad have the worst health from all the restaurant and fast food meals.... but short term, if very expensive, would work, right? I would just cook everything on stove top or crockpot. Did you know you can make a great corned beef and cabbage in crockpot. I feel you pain Grazhina. Just trying to ease it with some levity!

[KathieB]

I lived for about a year without a stove/oven. I managed with a microwave, toaster oven, crock pot, and electric wok, even hosted dinner parties.  

[havanaholly]

Our last RV camper was very small and I had no oven, so I used my electric skillet to do any baking.

[chapchap73]

 A friend of mine who was a realtor said that LG stood for Looks Good because the brand broke down so much. I had no idea there was any kind of lawsuit against them, but I hope they lose all the money they "saved" by using cheap parts and cheap labor. Things used to be built to last longer than a celebrity marriage, but I think those days are gone. I hope it all gets fixed soon, Grazhe. I was recently without a stovetop and kitchen sink so I know there are ways of making do, but it sure is annoying.

[grazhina]

1 hour ago, chapchap73 said:

 A friend of mine who was a realtor said that LG stood for Looks Good because the brand broke down so much. I had no idea there was any kind of lawsuit against them, but I hope they lose all the money they "saved" by using cheap parts and cheap labor. Things used to be built to last longer than a celebrity marriage, but I think those days are gone. I hope it all gets fixed soon, Grazhe. I was recently without a stovetop and kitchen sink so I know there are ways of making do, but it sure is annoying.

The most annoying thing to me now is the uncertainty and the lies, just flat out lies. At least the company I bought my range from comes when they'll say they will, and apologizes for the long wait for an appointment, but with AIG we were told that absolutely, the repair man was coming. 

I was going over my emails this morning, and my first one from AIG came on January 31st. My husband was on the phone with a bunch of people there the other week and there are so many phone numbers and other assorted numbers on 3 sheets of paper and he wants me to deal with them the next round.....I don't know what any of his scrawls mean (and I don't think he remembers either).

[pdlnpeabody]

I had to get a loan to fix my car.  The bill for a new motor and other items damaged by the dealer is going to cost $12,174 to fix.  Even if I didn't have an additional year of payments left on the car, a used one will cost around $36,000, so fixing the old one is my only option.  

The good news is that I was able to get the loan, I should have a tax return arriving soon and my contract gig called me this weekend with some non-legal work to do, so I have a work-around to earn some extra income without violating my employer's non-legal work restrictions.

On another note, I'm taking the family to Orlando to see my sister next weekend.  She lives in Kentucky, so I haven't seen her in almost 5 years.  My wife and I just found out that she has bought tickets for all of us to go to EPCOT.  My kids think we're taking them to Disney Springs.  They always enjoy going to Disney Springs (we always go at least once while in Orlando).  The last time we went to EPCOT as a family was 10 years ago.  I only had three kids and they were all too young to remember it.  Our trip to the Philippines in 2019 opened them to the much larger world out there and they want to visit more countries, so they should appreciate the opportunity to at least meet people from 10 other countries, even if it's just a Disney-made world's fair of sorts.

[J_Sea]

I went to the Seattle miniature show today and won a door prize- I got to pick a box of furniture from a lovely selection that a woman from my home town donated. How awesome! This hobby is so great some days! 

[grazhina]

A repairman came and replaced the compressor in my LG fridge this morning.  LG must have sent to Korea for him, he spoke only a few words of English.  I am now keeping fingers crossed that it will be ok from here on. My oven was repaired a few days ago. Why do I feel like there's a boulder balanced over my head ready to come tumbling down on me?

 

[KathieB]

7 minutes ago, grazhina said:

Why do I feel like there's a boulder balanced over my head ready to come tumbling down on me?

Does it have anything to do with your daughter who was reportedly headed to Lithuania?

[grazhina]

1 hour ago, KathieB said:

Does it have anything to do with your daughter who was reportedly headed to Lithuania?

Yeah, that could be a factor. She's been there about a week and a half, said she went to a big festival last weekend, it seemed like everyone in the city was there. Although I've decided not to think about it, she's been in some of my dreams. Shortly before she left the US I asked her if she was still comfortable going, the situation in Ukraine was building then. She replied that Lithuania was a safer place to be than the US. She's bought into the idea that America is a dangerous, racist country. Her flight left the day the Russians invaded Ukraine. My youngest son, age 28, tries to console me by saying she's going through a mid-life crisis. 

[KathieB]

3 hours ago, grazhina said:

Yeah, that could be a factor. 

Hard not to think about it. If your son is right, let's hope her mid-life crisis is short-lived. The times we live in provide enough crises ... no need for a personal one on top of it all. Meanwhile, hold tight, Mama. Que sera, sera.

[KathieB]

I've been doing some genealogy again, after a long hiatus. Discovered via a DNA match that a Bennett living less than 10 miles from me, is an exact match to Lloyd, with the numbers indicating they (both males with Bennett surname) have a common ancestor within the last 5 generations. New Bennett has tracked the family to England in the 1500s and is linked to Richard Bennett, the colonial governor of Virginia. It is crushing me not to be able to share this with Lloyd. Unfortunately, the missing link lies somewhere in the late 17, early 18 hundreds, when record keeping was local. We have identified more than a dozen counties in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, any of which could harbor our mystery man, and most of which do not have records online.  The search goes on!

[havanaholly]

Genealogy is fascinating!  I'd love to know where my Native American DNA came from.

[chapchap73]

Wow, this thread has been quiet for a long while. I hope that means everyone is having a happy summer. We are entering the last phase of work in our RL house...at least I hope it's the last one for a while.  We had to replace all the plumbing because of leaks a few months ago. Copper pipes with iron mixed in and limestone water do NOT play nicely with each other. Now we have all Pex pipes which is great, but we were left with walls and celiling carved up like a Christmas goose. All those drywall holes are patched and most are painted. The painter(me) isn't as young as she used to be so she's slow. They are working on the master bath starting Monday...waiting for tile to dry. Took out the old vanities and discovered some missing tile underneath. Some panic as I did not want to have to rip up the whole floor, but found some leftover tile in the basement. I had 5 tiles, and they needed 4. It's going to be so nice when it's finished, but right this minute I am a little weary from living in a construction zone.

[havanaholly]

Nothing really earth-shattering with us.  Last August son #3 showed up looking like the homeless derelict the a*****e he'd let move into his house had made him, after becoming more & more abusive and finally convincing his he'd be dead if he stayed.  We dealt with eviction over the Fall,  finally regaining possession of his house in early December.  His next door neighbor was studying to become a realtor and has since gotten her license and is in the process of selling his house for us.  

[FurMama]

Working on RL house too. Had the privacy fence replaced which made me want to spruce up the yard.  Next are roof repairs and some electrical work...things get old. Lost another furbaby in June, Carly to kidney disease. She had done well for years and a month after a positive vet exam she was gone. Still trying to understand that.