Bath Time

My first successful home repair!!! Here is a pictoral of me fixing the bath tub:

This is after I took it apart the first time! It removed it, cleaned it, tightened the nut around the fixture, applied some vasoline, and put it back together. The tub still won't hold water.

My old apartment didn't have a tub. I couldn't wait to have a nice tub to take a long, hot bath after work... Almost there...

I noticed that the linkage was short so I loosened the nut again and made it longer, then tightened it. I put the drain back together and crossed my fingers... Success! The tub held water! I didn't believe I actually fixed something, so I stood in the tub for about ten minutes, staring at the water level on my feet. The level didn't move! Later, I took my first my bubble bath in my new house!

Of course, I didn't just know how to do this. Even though I've watched my dad fix the tub a million times, I've never actually tried it myself. Check out hammerzone.com! It gave me pictures and step-by-step instructions on how to do this. It even told a few troubleshooting strategies for when something goes wrong!

Speaking of Mail...

Amity's funny mailman story reminded me of what happened last week... Rocky and I were outside watering the garden - and I use the term "garden" loosely because it hasn't grown since I planted it a month and a half ago. So in the five seconds that I am not looking, Rocky vanishes. Now the first place I look is in Carmen's yard. She is the 90 year old lady next door whose yard is a menagerie of lush plants, just Rocky's size. He loves it there and she loves when he comes over. No, not in Carmen's yard. Not in my back yard where the garden is. Just then, the mailman walks into my yard, which is strange because I already got my mail that day. Trotting behind him with a smile on his face is Rocky Balboa. The mailman explains that Rocky was following him down the street to each house while he was delivering mail! At least he didn't bite him, I guess. BTW, Rocky follows everyone. If a random stranger walks down the street, he follows. He tried to get into the cable guy's van, too!

Replacing the Outside Light

Did not happen yet... I went to Lowes, stared at all the possible exterior light fixtures, selected and opened the one I wanted in the store (add that to the list of How I'm becoming my mother), and bought any supplies I didn't already have. Then I read and memorized the directions and was ready to install! I went down to turn off the breaker, lest I electrocute myself on my first real home improvement task... alas! Not only is most of the handwriting illegible on the breakers, there are five labelled "light." Disenchanted, I set the job aside for now, untile Ricci (Pauly's friend) can get over here to tell me which one to turn off! Stay tuned for adventures in the dishwasher and the tub....

I have the summer "malaise," as Becky calls it... there's really no better way to describe it. When you realize you've been so busy all summer, yet you still didn't accomplish half of the things you had planned on doing... it's time to get excited about the fall! Of course I have huge plans to be apple picking and canning preserves, but I will probably be too immersed in anatomy and phonetics, sadly. Here are a few cute pics from Florida~ hopefully my next vacation will be VEGAS! :) Luckily, I visited with my cousin Cori and her family one day! We did Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Universal, too! This baby giraffe came right over to the jeep at Animal Kingdom. There's a safari ride with all the animals in pseudo-natural habitats... but it's got to be better than the zoo.