Tidy Husband

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

  1. How I Replaced a Nest Learning Thermostat in under 30 minutes

    This has never been so easy.

    I guess it was bound to happen:

    some assembly required…

    Google sent an email that our Nest Thermostat was discontinued and seeing how it was about 10 years ago that we got it, I guess it was a good run. In order to keep us as customers they gave us a half price deal on a Nest Thermostat 4, which I guess is the latest model.

    This is an inconvenience and not a problem, but still… a problem. If I recall, the older one was a lot harder to install and it took me a good part of the day. Either I’m now a pro at thermostat installation, or the instructions are better.

    The install was not without problems though, and almost got us divorced. (I kid)

    I asked BW to watch the thermostat and tell me when the power went out so I would not electrocute myself. I go to the family room to the breaker box and I have to tell you I never have had a breaker box where everything was labeled correctly. It’s always been a guessing game and today was no different:

    I then a switch, and then holler upstairs and ask BW if the item is off/on a needed.

    I switch what looks like the one marked “furnace”. I should upstairs to BW asking if it’s off.

    “Nope”, she replied.

    How about this one?

    “Nope”

    This one? “

    “Nope”

    This has to be the one..

    “Still NO. Why don’t you just turn off the whole house?”, she asked.

    I turn off the entire house and this thing is still showing as it has power.

    This thing has a battery and even if I was to pull it off the wall, it would still have power.

    “I told you so, but you didn’t listen”, she tells me. She’s probably right.

    Okay then…let’s start the install, shall we?

    Google told me to take a picture and be sure I have the right cables going to the right slots. So, I took a picture - the one you see above. It’s usually the thing I remember to do after the thing is apart.

    AS I am concentrating, BW decides now would be good to time to sit right behind me and eat a bag of Cheetos. I can’t concentrate with distractions like this. It’s a me problem and not a BW problem, but it’s a problem. Still, it’s hard to concentrate when somebody’s crinkling an aluminum chip bag 3 feet away.

    BW stops eating and I get back to the install.

    Once I had the wires sorted out, the rest of the install was pretty easy. The app showed you through all the steps and I was done in 30 minutes from start to finish which is amazing!

    I’m so proud of myself.

    I don’t know what the difference is between the new nest and old nest as it used the same wires and the app looks to be the same. This one shows you the time as you walk by it, and the screen is a bit bigger, but that’s about it.

    Now, hand me that bag of Cheetos. Let’s celebrate.

    Until Next Time,

    TH and Co.

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  2. Homesick

    We knew this was coming. There’s no place like home

    It looks like the idea of being away from Mom and Dad for so long has been realized and there have been tears.

    Photo by Dillon Kydd on Unsplash

    These tears mostly happen at night so we’re not sure if they’re just tired tears as we get this at home too. If you recall there’s some bedtime tears about missing her friend Diamond as well.

    I’ve been told that she’s fine in the a.m and is happy to be with Abuela. Today they went over to her Aunt’s and from the photos I saw of her, she was eating very well and living her best life so who knows.

    But, it’s been a week and that’s when the homesick seems to happen - the novelty wears off a bit and home starts to look real good again when you’re away, regardless of age.

    AI created this. It kind of looks like her. I think.

    I’m told she even misses the dog, and if you have met my dog there’s not much to miss. Sure, the dog is sweet and as illustrated the other day just wants to be a lap dog but this dog will not win awards for being smart, that’s for sure.

    It’s not like we left her with some long lost relative we only see once every few years. We talk on the phone to Abuela every day and she’s been in the child’s life since Day 1 so it’s not like she’s around strangers.

    At one point, she was going to come home tomorrow, but cooler heads have prevailed and she’s there for one more day at least - tomorrow she goes to the zoo, which is perfect because that’s the one field trip she missed from camp.

    I’m a homebody too (BW would argue too much at times) so I get it. There’s something about having your own bed and being around your stuff and the familiar sights and sounds of home.

    Like they say

    Heck, after a while even the dog starts to look good.

    Hang in there, little one. Our hearts haven’t forgotten about you.

    We miss you too.

    Until Next Time,

    TH and Co.

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  3. The Scrabble Game

    I always lose. always

    I’m surprised by this as I’m a pretty good speller but BW is better at the competition part of the game. As I am apt to do a lot - I half-ass it and place my word somewhere on the board. It’s not that I’m not trying it’s just that I don’t think like a professional scrabble player.

    Photo by Piotr Łaskawski on Unsplash

    But as they say, it’s not whether you win or lose…

    We haven’t played in some time as it takes a bit of time and we haven’t had much time for board games lately. Any little time I have in the evening seems to go to writing here.

    Maybe I should stick to scrabble.

    With our little charge in somebody else’s care BW and I managed to have a date night of sorts at home because who wants to leave the comfort of your own home? I suppose we should have taken advantage, but ubers and eating out is an expense we don’t really need.

    Tonight BW told me that I hadn’t done anything today. I took the day off and scrubbed 2 bathrooms, cleaned up a child’s bedroom, stripped, washed and remade 2 beds, mopped the floor and have done too many dishes to count. I can hardly wait for my next day off.

    Lastly, we’ve been on a 70’s music kick here this weekend and I’m currently listening to Bonnie Tyler. Not because I’m her biggest fan, but because of the cover:

    I mean, look at that cover! I know it was the 70’s and all but I wonder who okay’d that cover? “Let’s put her face inside a diamond” they said. This has not aged well.

    Here’s a link to all you need to know about this album.

    That voice though - and I can listen to an entire album uninterrupted which is winning to me, even if I will never win at scrabble.

    Until Next Time,

    TH and Co.

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  4. Child Free

    It’s almost too quiet.

    Photo by William White on Unsplash

    “Did you talk to the child?” I asked as I walked in the door.

    “I tried, but she did not want to talk to me”, BW tells me.

    That sounds about right.

    She’s having too much fun with Abuela going to birthday parties and expeditions where they check out covered bridges and bake carrot cake cookies. No wonder she could care less about the folks back home.

    This leaves BW and I with unfamiliar territory: time on our hands. Not much time,because bedtime comes soon after I hit publish here - but more than we are used to.

    We talked to each other today about stuff to do around the house and the general planning of the week ahead. Uninterrupted.

    We had thought about going for a walk tonight but we decided against it because we can’t walk the dog because the dog never got trained to walk. It would be easier to walk a wild walrus, I think.

    There’s an entire story about trying to train the dog, but that will be saved for another time.

    It’s eerily quiet here. I have not told anybody to do anything in hours and now I have all this extra time in the evenings where I can read and start a project and not get interrupted a million times.

    We did not have to listen to a song, watch a show, clean up any mess we did not make - or tell somebody to go to bed for the 13th time. I didn’t have to hear how disgusting the adult toothpaste is because we told her she had to use it because she’s a big girl and we won’t be having any more kid toothpaste in the house.

    The silence is great, but boy is it quiet here. I forgot just how quiet.

    Maybe tomorrow she’ll want to talk to us - because right now the silence is deafening.

    Until Next Time,

    TH and Co.

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  5. The Replacement

    I’m not sure whom is better at this point.

    It’s day two without the child here and that means a few things:

    Photo by Mateusz Glogowski on Unsplash | Today’s weather in Buffalo. I was up sp early this morning it was still dark.

    1. As I am not the primary caregiver with the child away and because BW is fully capable of caring for herself, I have to get up and work for a change. I’m OK with this as I like to live indoors.
    2. The pecking order here has changed with the child away and yet I am still not at the top rung.

    The top rung belongs to the dog now.

    I write a lot about how the dog is a royal PITA but she’s also very loving and wants nothing more than to be a lap dog. Because we have no child to spoil, the dog now gets the fruit of BW’s attention.

    “No, you can’t get on my lap”

    I said “NO”.

    Oh, all right…..

    Tonight, the dog wins the internet.

    Until Next Time,

    TH and Co.

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