<p>“WashMom says that she married me because I can change a ceiling lightbulb without a ladder.”</p>
<p>Q: How many WashDads does it take to change a lightbulb? </p>
<p>A: What do you mean “how many” - he is unique! ;)</p>
<p>My dad made my H-to-be take a “test” in handyman-ness before we got married. H had to fix my little sis’ “great great great grampa of iPod” which stopped working after she’d accidentally dropped it from a second floor window. H passed with flying colors.</p>
<p>This is one of the funniest threads ever on CC. We’re so bored we went shopping to an outlet mall near here that we’ve NEVER been to – and now I know why! :(</p>
<p>Funny how as you get older, you get excited about the little things; like toilets. I keep vowing that I am going to replace our toilet with a new “comfort height” toilet. Now THAT IS LIVING! My DW draws the line at adding comfort handle bars. We’re not that old yet!</p>
<p>P.S. I spent the better part of today in my crawl space cleaning mold! What an ugly disgusting job. I wore a tyvex throw away jumpsuit, yellow rubber gloves, filter mask, goggles, knee pads, the works. Emerged smelling like a bottle of bleach. Cleaning a crawl space must be an episode (if not already) for the t.v. show “Dirty Jobs.”</p>
<p>I spent most of the day cleaning too. Maintenance is a major drag.</p>
<p>Lukester, you win the prize for exciting weekend, hands down! I say go ahead & treat yourself to that comfort height toilet. What the heck, go all out and add those handle bars while you’re at it.</p>
<p>I am madly in love with Mike Rowe.</p>
<p>^^^How did I miss Mike Rowe?? I guess I was tuned in to the Prettier Jobs on Project Runway, Top Chef, Designers Challenge and, oh yes, Dancing with the Stars.</p>
<p>Draino can eat out your pipes. The last time that happened we lost part of the living room ceiling. But we managed to unplug it this time at least with a snake.</p>
<p>Those are the heroes at our house: Roy Underhill, Kirsten Kemp, Mike Rowe, Ty Pennington, and Amy Wynn Pastor. </p>
<p>The superstars, though, are Tommy Silva, Richard Trethewey, and – the ne plus ultra of home improvement show celebrities – Norm Abram.</p>
<p>Well, for the past couple of weeks I have been spending a couple of days a week cleaning out the basement from h*ll. DH and I are both “pack rats,” an unfortunate combo. He finally gave me permission to throw out some publications (he authored) from the Urban Land Institute ca. 1977. Sets of really old crutches, broken kites, major school contraption projects from umpteen years ago, pieces of “new”(:rolleyes:) carpet we will never use to patch anything. Gave away some kiddie bicycles (youngest child is almost 16) never used skateboard. Sometimes I just put stuff out by the curb on a nice weekend morning with a sign indicating that it’s free, and it magically disappears within a few hours. You can now actually walk into our basement and move about, but I still have to tackle shelves and shelves and piles of games and toys. Remember, the youngest is almost 16. Ugh. And it just smells damp down there.</p>
<p>momof3sons</p>
<p>That’s just what I should be doing right now. Every room in our house–and the garage–needs massive de-cluttering. I hate to send stuff to the landfill so we live in one. I give loads of stuff away and still it piles up.</p>
<p>WashDad’s home improvement project is going to take the place of Curmudgeon’s goat herding - you go Dad! Come to my house when you get finished.</p>
<p>momof3sons</p>
<p>You inspired me to start cleaning out MY basement (that coincidentally is from the same place as yours)–only 2 hours so far, but it’s a start–thanks!! And we have dead mice–or had–maybe I got them all. Yuck!!!</p>
<p>Our basic repair story goes like this </p>
<p>Wait about a year to start … start project on Sunday and realize their is a secondary problem for which we do not have the parts … get to Home Depot too late or they are out of the extra parts needed … wait another 2-3 weeks to pick up the extra parts … get back to the repair and find unexpected problems so the family involkes the “count how many times Dad3togo swears so they can judge the difficulty of the project guideline” and then eventually make things better but not perfect. </p>
<p>So instead of spending $150 on a repair or $250 on a new applicance … delay a year, spend a few bucks less, waste a couple days working on the repair, and do a crappy job. It only took us about 20 years and 50 failed repairs to notice the pattern and retire ourselves as repair people!</p>
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<p>I used to do all my own car repair work, until someone stole my mechanic’s toolbox from my garage and I figured it was a sign from God. Now, other people work on my cars.</p>
<p>Before that, though, I was lying under our Escort trying to get the oil filter back on. The oil filter could only be reached from the bottom of the engine, and required a second elbow and a dislocated shoulder to reach. After struggling to get the old one off, replacing the oil, and just barely getting the new one back on, I was groping around next to me looking for the filter wrench. Just then, WashMom came out to the garage and asked how things were going. I asked if she could hand me the <em>#@&$</em> oil filter wrench.</p>
<p>And she said, butter not melting in her mouth, “I don’t see it – I heard you damn it to Hell about a half-hour ago.”</p>
<p>It’s now part of family lore.</p>
<p>WashMom: You go girl.</p>
<p>bethie and all garage/basement cleaners: I follow the Zen adage: Throw it out! H follows the Hindu adage: Keep everything! I lose. He goes through the garbage and curb to retrieve things I throw out.</p>
<p>A mouse wandered out of the garage to drown in a glass of water on our counter. After reading Maus I can’t bear the deat of a mouse.</p>
<p>speaking of putting things out by the curb, we put a large tv out one day. In a few hours it was gone. The next day, the person who had taken it came back. He didn’t speak English but it was evident that he was extremeley unhappy about the lack of a remote.<br>
Next time, I’ll make sure the sign says “Free/Gratis-AS IS”</p>
<p>Haha. We left some old green plastic lawn chairs out for the TRASH b/c they had lost their glossy finish and were leaving green powder on our clothes. I should have known someone would take them. Too bad for them, I guess.</p>
<p>My neighbor wanted to get rid of the reddish gravel the previous owners of her house had put down in the beds. She wanted to use mulch instead. It was a tremendous amount of work for her and her husband to remove the stones from her back yard. She had a brilliant idea when it came time to do the front yard - she advertised “Free landscaping gravel” on craigslist. Within a week, it had all been removed by people who wanted it and came to get it!</p>
<p>mythmom</p>
<p>My hubby is conveniently out of town and won’t be back until the garbage and recycling are gone. I’m playing hardball now. Sick of the mess!! We’re all responsible for it but I’m the only one who ever tries to get rid of anything–of course it’s usually my husband’s and son’s things I want to get rid of–because it’s junk. My stuff is much better.</p>
<p>I even did 2 hours of yard work–a bit of deferred (for about 10 years) maintenance.</p>
<p>bethievt,
I always wait till DH is out of town to clean out the garage, etc. I have also been known to take stuff back to Home Depot. My record is around $200. worth of returns. He never notices the stuff is missing… shh…don’t tell.</p>