Our house is approaching 2 years old now, which apparently means that little things, like light bulbs, are reaching the end of their life expectancy. It’s actually quite funny (funny/annoying not funny/ha ha) that 3 of the 5 in our dining room light fixture have one by one blown up over the past few weeks. It’s been on my to-do list…go to Lowe’s for light bulbs. Now normally, I may not go to Lowe’s for things like this because we have a Home Depot and Menards right there in Ankeny…but all of the light bulbs we put in the new house came from Lowe’s and I’m sure they are special bulbs that you can only get at Lowe’s (I know this because I make a lot of assumptions), and I’d hate to go to Menard’s for our special bulbs only to have to find they don’t have them and THEN go to Lowe’s. Of course, every night it has been cold and snowy or we’ve had something to do or someplace to go and each evening we sit and eat over our dimly lit dining room table.
And then Monday night another little oopsy…the flusher thingy on the toilet in the master bathroom broke. Apparently that shiny ‘metal’ lever was not really metal at all, but shiny plastic and it broke off mid flush. So I told Matt that I would go to Lowe’s after work on Tuesday and finally get the light bulbs AND the flusher thingy. And in the mean I took the lid off the tank so he could reach in there and manually pull the plunger to flush the toilet. All was right with the world and we went to bed.
So after work Tuesday, I headed out to Lowe’s. I decided to go to Lowe’s in Altoona, as this is much closer to our house than the Lowe’s in West Des Moines…and if you know me at all, you know that I am the queen of taking the path of least resistance. (Example, why make 2 trips from the car to the house with groceries, when I can completely load myself down with 25 bags, a gallon of milk, a 24 pack of pop, AND some Tide? It’s doable, right?) So I head East to Altoona…I get off the interstate, I start driving through town…I am nearing where I think Lowe’s should be when I realize…I don’t think I know where Lowe’s is in Altoona because I’ve just driven to Menards.
I am just about to call Matt to ask for help when he calls me…to remind me to buy a three way light bulb for the lamp he uses in the living room. He tells me where he thinks I should go to get to Lowe’s and I turn to follow his directions…when I quickly realize I am heading back into Des Moines, definitely leaving Altoona, definitely not going the right way. My blood pressure is rising, as is the volume of my voice and I’m pressing him for the RIGHT directions. He’s telling me HE would have gone this way…and I’m begging him to quit telling me what I SHOULD have done and demand that he tell me how to get there from where I am NOW….all while trying to find a place to turn around on a busy 4 lane street during rush hour traffic. GRRR…finally he figures out where the heck I am, because apparently he isn’t all-knowing (I need to remember this) and begins to give me helpful directions. I follow them…back past Menards, and low and behold…the familiar blue sign appears straight ahead of me. I mumble my curt good bye now that I’ve arrived and am on a mission to get in and get out and get the heck out of Altoona. (Whose idea was it to come to Altoona anyways!?!?)
I proceed to the light bulb section, find what I am looking for, purchase them, and leave. Relieved to have the whole Lowe’s excursion behind me. Once at home Matt listened to me rant about how frustrated I was with not knowing where the stupid store was and him not being able to magically know where I was and tell me calmly and quickly where to go. He just smiled and listened and we hugged it all out. Then I went to change my clothes and walked through the master bathroom and saw the toilet sitting there without the lid on the tank. THE FLUSHER THINGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BLERG!!!!!! In all my frenzied I-don’t-know-where-Lowe’s-is-in-Altoonaness, I had completely forgotten about the toilet flusher.
I ran out to tell Matt and he smiled again and asked me if it was a popcorn night. Oh, he loves me. But, I said no, we couldn’t have popcorn for supper because I had to make something with leftovers so he’d have something for lunch the next day…and that I’d just have to go to Menard’s after work on Wednesday…because surely our toilet flusher thingy isn’t exclusively sold at Lowe’s. And if it is...well…I really might just freak out.
And then Monday night another little oopsy…the flusher thingy on the toilet in the master bathroom broke. Apparently that shiny ‘metal’ lever was not really metal at all, but shiny plastic and it broke off mid flush. So I told Matt that I would go to Lowe’s after work on Tuesday and finally get the light bulbs AND the flusher thingy. And in the mean I took the lid off the tank so he could reach in there and manually pull the plunger to flush the toilet. All was right with the world and we went to bed.
So after work Tuesday, I headed out to Lowe’s. I decided to go to Lowe’s in Altoona, as this is much closer to our house than the Lowe’s in West Des Moines…and if you know me at all, you know that I am the queen of taking the path of least resistance. (Example, why make 2 trips from the car to the house with groceries, when I can completely load myself down with 25 bags, a gallon of milk, a 24 pack of pop, AND some Tide? It’s doable, right?) So I head East to Altoona…I get off the interstate, I start driving through town…I am nearing where I think Lowe’s should be when I realize…I don’t think I know where Lowe’s is in Altoona because I’ve just driven to Menards.
I am just about to call Matt to ask for help when he calls me…to remind me to buy a three way light bulb for the lamp he uses in the living room. He tells me where he thinks I should go to get to Lowe’s and I turn to follow his directions…when I quickly realize I am heading back into Des Moines, definitely leaving Altoona, definitely not going the right way. My blood pressure is rising, as is the volume of my voice and I’m pressing him for the RIGHT directions. He’s telling me HE would have gone this way…and I’m begging him to quit telling me what I SHOULD have done and demand that he tell me how to get there from where I am NOW….all while trying to find a place to turn around on a busy 4 lane street during rush hour traffic. GRRR…finally he figures out where the heck I am, because apparently he isn’t all-knowing (I need to remember this) and begins to give me helpful directions. I follow them…back past Menards, and low and behold…the familiar blue sign appears straight ahead of me. I mumble my curt good bye now that I’ve arrived and am on a mission to get in and get out and get the heck out of Altoona. (Whose idea was it to come to Altoona anyways!?!?)
I proceed to the light bulb section, find what I am looking for, purchase them, and leave. Relieved to have the whole Lowe’s excursion behind me. Once at home Matt listened to me rant about how frustrated I was with not knowing where the stupid store was and him not being able to magically know where I was and tell me calmly and quickly where to go. He just smiled and listened and we hugged it all out. Then I went to change my clothes and walked through the master bathroom and saw the toilet sitting there without the lid on the tank. THE FLUSHER THINGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BLERG!!!!!! In all my frenzied I-don’t-know-where-Lowe’s-is-in-Altoonaness, I had completely forgotten about the toilet flusher.
I ran out to tell Matt and he smiled again and asked me if it was a popcorn night. Oh, he loves me. But, I said no, we couldn’t have popcorn for supper because I had to make something with leftovers so he’d have something for lunch the next day…and that I’d just have to go to Menard’s after work on Wednesday…because surely our toilet flusher thingy isn’t exclusively sold at Lowe’s. And if it is...well…I really might just freak out.
Comments
-Jami