Hot Water

First words I hear this morning as Justin is leaving to teach class were, "Baby, I need you to go ahead and get up and start calling plumbers, we have no hot water and the hot water heater is leaking." Great, we just purchased a fridge and dishwasher two weeks ago and now this??? So I got out of bed, got some coffee down me and started calling random plumbers on a Saturday morning. Initially, I spoke to no one, just left voicemails or messages with call centers. Eventually I started receiving return calls and one thing was evident most plumbers did NOT want to work today.

Here is a brief synopsis of what I learned today:

1) 80 gallon hot water heaters are not cheap; I was thinking a couple hundred bucks.....wrong!
2) All plumbers think Whirlpool and GE water heaters you can purchase at Lowe's or Home Depot are crap and highly suggest you buy a "professional" one.
3) Most plumbers don't keep stock in hot water heaters and most plumbing supply stores are closed on Saturday.
4) The one company who had one in stock and could install today was going to charge $1600 + $79 Saturday fee for the heater and installation. Are you freaking kidding me???? My car wasn't much more than that, granted I drive a 2001 Cavalier, but damnnnnnnn!
5) Always do your own research so you know exactly how much you are really spending on the heater and the labor. I found out we could purchase and have a "professional" heater shipped to us for around $650......so we would be paying $1000 for installation???? (See lesson #4 above)
6) Ask for what you want, you may get it.
7) Called back plumber with the $1600 "company quote" and told him about my online research, he suggested I call the one supply company open for 45 more minutes and see if they had what I needed in stock. SCORE!!!!
8) Met Justin, purchased and picked up water heater, called above plumber and made a deal about a "side job"......must learn to speak in code at this point in the game. Plumber is currently here installing the new water heater at $150 discount than what his company would have charged.
9) Do your own research, ask for what you want, use your common sense and in the end save over $800.
10) I may want to reconsider my accounting profession; these plumbers are making the jack. But then again, I don't really want sewage as a daily job hazard.


Even with all the stress and cost of today, at least we were able to do it and that's the blessing. I may get a shower in a few hours too.

Who Needs Diamonds?

We hopped in Clyde, our F-150, yesterday with expectations of finding a new dishwasher. First of all, yes ALL of our vehicles have names; "Hawn" is my old 2001 trusty Cavalier, the "Tick" is Justin's Toyota Yaris, "Daisy" is our fun, old, CJ-7 Jeep, and then "Clyde" is our workhorse. Anyway, we headed off to Lowe's to purchase a dishwasher and "look" at new refrigerators. We spent about a hour perusing the appliances, asking tons of questions, and debating the pros and cons of purchasing both. We have a major space issue in relation to the fridge though.....33inches is the MAXIMUM width to fit in the pre-exisiting hole unless I choose to not have an oven or a pantry and well.....I NEED both of those. Lowe's just didn't have a fridge that met our wants and needs. So we hopped back into Clyde and kept looking. Home Depot, horrible layout and not ONE fridge in stock to meet our space issue. Pieratts, we'll be back one day when money isn't an option and we can have our dream Electolux or Thermador kitchen. HH Gregg......ahhhhh, I love you.

We walked into HH Gregg and within 5 minutes had found TWO 33 inch fridges with bottom freezer and we had our choice of manufacturers. Oh, and they had the dishwasher we wanted too; that is what we were shopping for right? They were willing to price match on the needed dishwasher and the fridge was on sale!!! One trip home to measure the height of the available space for the fridge and we were the proud owners of not one, but TWO new appliances.

Now....delivery. They could deliver on a Sunday, score!!! However, the people who deliver and hook-up the dishwasher don't work on Sundays, bummer!!! I look at Justin, a mechanic in a previous career, and say, "How hard can it be to hook-up a dishwasher? It's a water line, a drain, and electric?" After about 15 minutes of debate regarding installing the dishwasher ourselves, I have completely gotten John, our salesman, on my side and we leave with delivery scheduled for today.

So this is how our day unfolded: delivery at 11:00 a.m., refrigerator installed without a hitch, delivery men leave and forget old dishwasher they were suppose to take with them, call back to them and they say they'll come back for old dishwasher, trip to Lowe's for new water line and other "necessary" parts for dishwasher installation, dishwasher installed, dishwasher not installed, Justin throws screwdriver, Justin punches cabinet, problems addressed, dishwasher installed and all is well again in our little world 3 hours later.




Who needs diamonds? I couldn't be happier with my new "sparkly" kitchen appliances. Oh yea, and the old dishwasher is still sitting in our driveway.......

Summertime at Our Home

Our summer has started out typical for us. Buffett concert with Stacy and Mom, Memorial Day cookout with friends, all dinners cooked on the grill, bonfires in the fire pit, hot humid Kentucky evenings spent talking about the day and of course, our annual visit from the A/C repairman. We have a geo-thermal unit that is on its last leg and we keep putting off replacing it due to the $15K cost; unless you have an extra fifteen thousand in the bank then you understand.







Justin is getting ready to start a new job and is really excited. Although he liked his current job this one offered an opportunity to broaden his skill set and make a little more dough :-) I'm so proud of him for always wanting to do better for himself, me and our little family. I never knew I could be so blessed in a relationship until J. Its really something when you fall in love with your best friend.




We are going to hang out tonight with cold beer, baby back ribs on the grill, and good conversation. There truly is no place I enjoy more than our home on a summer night. For years I thought so many other things would make me happy; more money, a better job, a child, etc. And all it takes now is our home, our big baby Zeek, and my "spousal equivalent." Life is good.

I am trying to blog more often to exercise my writing skills. One of my favorite authors, Jen Lancaster, says if you want to be a writer then write! So this blog has the following purposes for me: to keep family and friends up to date, to allow me an outlet to vent, and to hone my writing skills. Bare with me people, the blog will improve.....maybe.

So raise your wine glass, your beer or your Diet Coke and Cheers to Summer! I love hot, humid days......now that our A/C is fixed.

Oh yea, we get to go to Lowe's tomorrow and buy a new dishwasher; when it rains it pours. But the blessing is we CAN go to Lowe's and buy one and that is more than a lot of people have. I'm trying hard to find the blessings and gratitude even in the stresses of our life. Our little world is a happy place to be.