figment

We still don't have a toilet at the house. Joe and his dad tried to install it last night but the wax ring didn't seal. With some google-education, I now suspect that the flange is below the floor level by about a quarter of an inch due to the new floor we laid, and that made it hard for the wax to seal. I think we'll try one of these puppies instead of a wax ring, they're supposed to be "no fail" and man I could use some no fail.

Every single thing about this bathroom renovation project has taken significantly longer and more work than I would have expected. I know I was probably naive about it, but still.

Joe and I are both really tired of sleeping on a futon on the floor at the Lofts. It's bad for our sleep, it's bad for Bagheera to be in an empty loft with us gone all the time, it's stressful for everyone. We're both crabby and feeling down. We've had a lot of other crap going on too - not just house - but this makes me feel like my basic needs are not being met and so everything upward of that is suffering too. We're both kind of phoning it in at work. I'm not really winning at fighting off a cold. We haven't eaten a home-cooked meal in several days; we've even been getting our breakfast coffee etc. at a coffeeshop. Suck, suck, suck.

And tonight, when we might be able to try again with the damn toilet because Joe's dad is free? Tonight we have to go to the final Fire Collective rehearsal.

I am considering being brave/stupid and trying to do the toilet myself this evening before the rehearsal. With one of those Fernco things I might stand a chance. And dammit I really want to sleep in my own bed in my house. We've owned the place for almost two months!!

(Please don't tell me that eventually all will be well, I already know that. But this part is hard.)

I was going to edit the earlier post to include this, but decided the tone of it deserved to be segregated into its own post. Results are up and... frankly, I suck. I mean, I finished, but I'm really disappointed in myself. All of my times (other than the overall; note bike was 5 miles shorter) got worse since the Philly triathlon. ( in which I am very self-critical and give lots of details most of you don't care about )

You know how I said I didn't break anything...? Well, I was wrong. My left radius is fractured, up by the elbow. It's just an itty bitty fracture... but it will still require a visit to an orthopedist, probably a cast, and about 6 weeks to heal.

No triathlon for me next Saturday. No more hundredpushups, either! Darn it.

I think we have bedbugs. I mean, I'm not sure they're "bedbugs" per se, but they are bugs, they are in the bed, and they bite me when I sleep. And the bites itch like a ... well. They itch a lot. I have gotten covered in bites, all over my arms and legs and stomach and... yeah.

We figured this out on Thursday night, so that's when I got my last bites. We have been sleeping on the couch since then -- well, other than Friday night, which we spent sleeping in Shenandoah National Park -- so at least I have not gotten bitten any more. (Ironic, to go camping and get bitten less than at home.) The bites are finally fading and I'm not itching madly any more.

But sleeping on the couch (which is a queen size futon, so it's not that bad) is really not optimal. Anyone coming in the front door of the apartment, we hear it. Noises from the street are much more audible. The streetlights mean that there's ambient light all the time, and the windows also get the morning sun. So this morning I was awake around 5:45 AM, and then managed to doze fitfully until 6:30.

Today I will call the landlord's recommended bug man and find out what the hell we can do. I think we may have to encase our mattress in plastic, but I'm not sure. We have to fix this, though. If nothing else, it's like we've gone from having a small one-bedroom apartment to a small studio apartment with a walk-in closet. Not okay.

Camping pictures are up here.

And please, help me identify ( this mysterious bug we saw )

No trip to Minneapolis for me and azure. Bad weather caused so many delays that our trip was canceled. So here we are in the airport in DC, waiting to get a refund. Hours in line so far: about 2.

Edit: Home now, at about 5:30. Gone from the apartment for a whopping 7.5 hours, and spent at least 3.5 of them in line. :-P