Never Being Boring

When I was younger and had no friends, my mom would make a big deal about how I was unique and special. I was still an outcast, but at least she tried. And it turns out she's correct. Once again, my allergist has told me that I might be a pain, but I have not committed the sin of being boring. Between the cats and ragweed, I'm still virulently reacting to them (and possibly dogs or feathers) at the 1:10,000 concentration even at 5 months when for all other things I'm at 1:1000 or 1:100. So he wants to split them out - again. I started with 3 shots and am headed up to 5 - joining only a handful of others getting that many. Probably still only once a week. Apparently, I'm the first patient that needed 2 special mixture revisions. When your 82 year old allergist says, "this is the first time I've had to do this", it likely means one is unique. Special, even.

And did I mention the weird extra branch of my aorta? I'm feeling all kinds of special.

In other news:
I took my car to the dealership at 160 miles shy of 36,000 miles because I had some notion that my warranty was 3yrs/36Kmiles. Turns out to be 4 years/50K. Sweet. Plus, I found the dealership. Like most things in this town, it's almost within spitting distance and I can't find it, even with directions. After a false start at the VW place, I finally found it. The Mazda3 needed an oil change, tire rotation, brake inspection and... a new engine mount. I mentioned that the engine power surged at 3300rpm. I think it's always done that so I figured it was a weird "feature". Turns out it's a bug that can be fixed by replacing a cracked engine mount. The ride is much smoother now. I totally love this car.

I put up some shelves in the bathroom to get the crap off the counter so I can rip out the sink and sink surround. It's a total gut job. Why not just replace the faucet that is rusty, attached so the handles turn backward, and now dripping? Well... The mirror is losing the silver backing. The sink deck is not level and water gathers in one corner. The finish needs a serious stain removal and polish, the undermount sink grouting is disintegrating, the drain lift lever is broken, and the drain leaks. Because the drain leaks, the cabinet is damaged in a way that swelled up the wood so the doors don't shut. And the ugly doorknobs are glued on.

I was going to wait until the kitchen was done, but the faucet took to leaking and the Höllviken price started trending up. So I bought the sink, the cabinet for it to go on, new drain parts, and a kitchen faucet for the bathroom. After at least half a dozen shops, I finally found a 1 post faucet with a 1 piece handle that doesn't require me to drip water on top of the faucet to turn it off. And it comes with a pull down spray option (as opposed to pull outward which requires 2 hands not to shoot water all over). And the faucet was sales tax free this weekend making it the same price as my second choice with tax.



Anyhow, I'm getting more and more excited about this project. Yay, plumbing! Now if I can figure out how to put a filter in-line with at least the cold supply so the water for tooth brushing doesn't taste vile. Judging by the residue from my drip collector, I probably never need to take calcium supplements ever again.

I made ornaments this weekend. I worked out a process for getting good blue/green swirled pieces without having the shape go out of round. Good stuff. Although I did drive back home on the freeways that are now shut due to fire. The hills about 20-30 miles east of here are on fire. The smoke blew over my way at lunch, turning the sky that alarming shade of orange, but is otherwise not troubling me.

Another thing my mom (and dad) did when I was little was read us the Paddington Bear stories. According to the google picture today, he's 50 today. Happy Birthday Paddington. I hope you have some fine orange marmalade while stomping about in your Wellingtons to celebrate.