Tidy Husband

Eligible for the seniors discount and the Happy Meal deal at the same time.

  1. A Visit to the Niagara Power Vista

    OK. First things first. I can’t spell Avocado. That A and O always get me.

    Today because it’s Saturday and we have to entertain her somehow, we took her to the Niagara Falls Power Vista where they were hosting their annual Spooktacular event

    It met all the requirements:

    1. It was free.
    2. It was for kids
    3. It was free. Also, did I mention it was free?

    As you’re well aware by now, I’m not a big fan of “I’m Bored” and so we try and have one adventure day every weekend. We were going swimming on Sundays but that’s been on hiatus due to the broken arm.

    When I was driving uber earlier this week I saw the sign on the road and I actually remembered it and we went! It was a great time of year to go too. I wasn’t too cold but the fall colors were very nice.

    Canada on the Left, USA on the right.

    If you do plan on visiting Niagara Falls do come in the fall. Sure, it might be a bit cool but there will be way less people and look at those colors! Just bring a sweater, and you will be fine.

    Before we left, BW read that kids are welcome to wear a costume to this event so we did – we only have about 5 more days before this costume gets worn for the last time so we may as well get some use out of it.

    Here she is in it earlier last week:

    chilling with the big man himself.

    They had a few interactive screens where you could learn about power distribution and the like but the 5 year old wasn’t really all that interesting. Her highlight was the train ride. They did a quick lap around the parking lot and played “Beat It” by MJ on the loudspeakers and she loved every last inch of the ride.

    We rode in the caboose. Coincidentally, she chose a book to bring home from school about trains so we knew all about cabooses.

    Her head really isn’t that big in real life. Promise.

    The thing with wearing a an avocado for a costume is that you can’t see your feet so entering and exiting escalators was a little scary but we managed. After a while, we just took the costume off and carried it. She did get a lot of comments about her costume though.

    The lineup for face painting was 50 kids deep so “Oh look, balloons!” and that worked, thankfully. We grabbed a free pumpkin, and a balloon animal they were giving away and we were out of there.

    After the train ride of course. There was no getting out of the train ride.

    Keep Powering On,

    TH and Co.

    P S> about the drawing above: I have been using stock images for the lead photo, but I remembered that I can draw (very poorly) and it’s more fun to post your work than somebody else’s so I am going to give it a go over the next few days.

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  2. I Wish the World Didn’t Have to Get Sick

    At the end of the day when we have brushed teeth, and read stories and changed pajamas for the 2nd time I get asked: “Dad, can you lay with me?”

    So I lay down beside her and we talk. Sometimes we play with her stuffed animals or whatever but today was all about life and death. An excellent topic for a 5 year old, but hey.

    This topic started when she told me that today at lunch one of her friends had some lunch go down the wrong pipe and she barfed. She told me how one big girl in the cafeteria got another bigger girl to go get the school nurse. Her little friend is fine but that’s what gets remembered in a school day. Not the learning, it’s the barfing.

    When you’re five, barf is big let me tell you. Hardly a day goes by where she comes home with a story that includes barf. Barf happens on school buses a lot apparently and it’s something I hadn’t really realized until she started coming home wit the barf update of the day.

    Playing with pennies last week came in handy. Perfect Score.

    She also told me that she got tested for sight and hearing today in the nurses office as I guess it’s a yearly thing they do.

    As I write this, BW is wiped out with the common cold in bed again, and I had another needle in my eyeball today so it’s been great, yeah.

    BW gets sick frequently and she knows about my eye situation and the needle so maybe that‘s where her statement came from tonight, but she’s right – we are all sick of sick here and wouldn’t it be good if we could all be healthy?

    She then asked me where babies come from but I dodged that one. I told her that it sometimes happens when nobody else is watching so we really don’t know. It’s not the truth, but not a lie.

    I call it the weave.

    Stay healthy,

    TH and Co.

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  3. Call the Plumber

    Hello!

    A few weeks ago when all the other plumbing stuff was happening, I noticed that our bathroom tap was dripping. Not enough to be concerned about but I knew it was going to have to be fixed. So the next time our plumber showed up I asked him if he could fix it. He said he could, but it would be $400.

    Ooh. Well, what’s the problem?

    It’s probably a cartridge that needs replaced he said.

    I learned something that day. That sinks take cartridges. I told him thank you for the time but I can go on YouTube University and see if I can’t fix it myself.

    How hard could this be?

    Vise Grips and a hammer fix everything

    Apparently, it’s harder than I thought.

    First, I had to figure out what a cartridge is and what it looks like and what our 13-year-old faucet model was because I had to make sure I bought the right cartridge.

    Up next: tools. I had a hodge-podge of tools, and I needed a hex wrench. Of course, I had metric when I needed SAE. 3/32, to be specific.

    OK. I’m ready to roll right. First thing is to figure out the size I needed and then only find out the hex wrench is too long as there’s not enough space between the sink and the back wall.

    Back to the local hardware store to buy cheap short hex wrenches. The cheap wrenches worked for half a turn and then rounded right up so that’s out.

    By now the hex nut I have to remove is semi-stripped and has been caked tight with 13 years of soap scum. I have no choice but to pull the sink out from the wall so I can get at this stupid set screw.

    I forgot there was plumbing under the sink. I know, rookie mistake.

    This looks fine. I’ve got this.

    As you can guess, I once again get wet feet. I was smart enough to turn off the water, so the water was only about half cup dripping down the wall and once again, I have wet socks.

    Great.

    Up next: try and get the old cartridge out.

    Where are my channel locks? I knew I had channel locks?

    I don’t have channel locks.

    Oh well, this is the only tool I really need:

    An un-handyman’s best friend. My most used tool in the box.

    I figured this could go one of two ways: I would get the brass nut off and be able to replace the cartridge, or I’m replacing the entire tap. Turns out I lucked out and the little nut finally loosened. So far so good, right?

    Then when I pulled the cartridge out, only the top half came out. So then because I have no idea what I am doing it takes me about half an hour to figure out if this is even fixable at this point.

    Turns out, if I put the top half back in and then turned counter-clockwise the bottom popped out. I am still in the game.

    Okay! New cartridge goes in!

    Up next, plumbing. I figure I might as well clean out the trap, so I am good for another 13 years, but first I have to empty the disaster that has been under the sink and sort that out first.

    I took a photo and was going to post it here, but I’ll let your imagination make the image instead. Let’s just say there was a lot of crap under there. It was not pretty.

    Cartridge is in and plumbing is back and tight. Let’s put the handle back on and see how this all works out:

    Wonder of all Wonders. It works

    And….no leak! This is miraculous.

    YouTube University comes through once more.

    A few lessons from this project:

    1. You will not have the tool you need
    2. They make it look easy on YouTube.
    3. There will be water everywhere
    4. Things might not come off or go back on as you had hoped.
    5. Worse case, you call someone to fix your mistake.

    Hopefully, that’s the last of the plumbing around here for a long time because I am so done with wet feet.

    In other news, she had her first taste of fun-dip tonight after dinner. She was just a little wound up after all that sugar. But you should have seen the face with the first the dip and then taste. It was great!

    Dip. Lick. Repeat.

    Keeping dry once more,

    TH and Co.

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  4. Different Day, Different Mess

    Hey! Remember when I wrote about how boredom took over?

    I have good news! We have a hobby! It’s called punch pointing (or something like that)

    It looks like Miami Vice in our Living Room.

    BW really, really wanted to get a hobby and now she has one she has raced through this entire wall art and completed it in just days, which is kind of a great thing as she’s been occupied, and I can get back to keeping the child entertained and engaged instead of the adults as well.

    Do you want to know what BW is not that great at? Picking up. She’s a much better at leaving where it was than putting it where it should be. It’s a skill.

    Do you know who takes advantage of this skillset? Let me introduce you to the Dog:

    She has issues. So. Many. Issues.

    I mentioned to BW that I don’t think it would be a good idea to leave the wool out on the couch like that because: the dog. The dog likes to eat things it shouldn’t. We have lost more crayons to the dog to keep Crayola in business for another 100 years. And then there’s socks, gloves and shoes of course. If you leave it lying around and it looks delicious in a doggy worldview then chances are it will be eaten.

    Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the proof of my concept:

    This is also known as “I told you so”

    BW has some untangling to do in her future. Thankfully, the dog didn’t eat the wool, and it seems it’s just been licked to death.

    Speaking of messes,

    We are still full on with the drawing and singing and surprisingly no screaming tonight. so that’s good. We like singing and painting.

    I have 2 offices here at home. One is where I write and listen to music and actually has lights and paint on the walls and the other is in the real basement (you know, the messy part) where I have a few things setup to sell my crap on eBay. I’ve pretty much taken over any sub terrain territory here.

    Down in the basement is a stack of printer paper next to my printer. You want to know who found my paper?

    She also found glue sticks a stamp set and some markers too.

    I know. If you look closely at the photo you will she she wrote her name. She would be a very bad thief when it comes to leaving evidence. It didn’t take much detective work on my end to figure out the source of the mess. I thought it might be the dog, but then I realized she has no thumbs so scissors would be tricky.

    I told her tonight she has the entire family room to paint and color. There’s a desk and chair just made for her that’s her size and has to be much more comfortable than a cold basement floor.

    I even offered her the stack of paper so she could bring it upstairs and make a mess in her office instead of mine.

    Nope. I get ignored. It’s a theme here.

    Keeping it Clean,

    TH and Co.

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  5. Signs from Above

    We’re having a bit of problem listening here. It’s like she just doesn’t get it.

    Our evening looks like this:

    “Please put on your pajamas”

    She plays in her room.

    “Please put on your pajamas”

    She still ignores us

    “OMG. Put on your pajamas! I’m not asking any more”

    Parents, you know how this is. You get completely ignored. It’s like I am flapping my gums and I am getting no help here. I want help. I want wine. I want a child that listens. I want her evening to end so mine can start!

    The PJ instructions are only one example: I also tell her not to touch Mommy’s blinds on the windows because they are pricey and she has little tiny hands of destruction. So what does she do? She touches them again! O.M.G. Help Me.

    Bedtime tonight was far from a smooth slide into bed for her. More like a stumble, or maybe an outright train wreck. At one point she was at the top of the stairs yelling “Huggie”! over and over and over in tears. It was not pretty.

    I finally managed to get her to stop. I um, may have stretched the truth a touch for it to happen but desperate times, and all that..

    I managed to get her settled down to a dull roar and into the bed again and I was trying to tell her that all the screaming and drama has to stop because everybody loves each other in this house and there’s no need to scream when all you need to do is GO.TO.BED. There’s a no screaming rule in this house.

    “In fact” I said, “there’s a sign on the roof that says so”

    “You’re joking me” she replied.

    “Oh No”, I told her “We have a big sign on the roof that says that. When the police fly over the house they see the no screaming sign and then know all is good here and keep on flying by – which is what we want.

    “We only want the police to come down if we put up the sign that says Free Pizza and then they come down and we all have a pizza party on the back deck. But right now the pizza sign is broken so they just fly by right now.

    “Oh” was her reply

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    She bought it. She’s in bed. Probably dreaming of pizza parties.

    Now, if I could only get her to put on her pajamas the first time that would save me a lot of time and story making-up skills because I can’t pull this stuff out of my rear every night.

    I save it for special occasions, like tonight.

    Tonight’s lesson: Pay attention to the signs from above.

    TH and Co.

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