Home Improvement

I am not particularly fond of home improvement projects...but considering this is the second time our bathroom has flooded since we've been living here (and who knows how many times prior), our carpet was disgustingly wet and in danger of molding. (Not to mention the countless times our turtle has had accidents on the carpet, too...)

On Saturday, we were practically on our way out to my co-worker's "BBQ" (with no BBQing) at the beach (which I supposedly neglected to tell hubby who hates the beach), when I flushed and the water kept rising and rising and rising...and then spilling over as I frantically yelled, "HELP!! HELP!!! HELP!!!!" Hubby rushed in and guided me to turn off the pipes and plunge (after the obligatory, "Why do you break everything?!"). Too bad 1/3 of the bathroom carpet was already soaking wet. We spent another hour trying to remedy the situation before we left for the "BBQ."

I don't know if this comes with the marriage territory, but I'm really surprised that Hubby still came with me to the beach, despite his alleged claim that I did not inform him of the location of this "BBQ." In the past, he wouldn't have come with me, ESPECIALLY if he found out the morning of that a friend of mine that he has never met was throwing a gathering at the beach. He was a good sport, though. We got to Playa del Rey Beach around 3 and dropped off peanut-butter brownies and chocolate chip cookies. After about half 45 minutes, we took off for Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Target to look for a steam vacuum cleaner. We ended up purchasing one at Target, whereby using our first wedding gift card. (Aww, our first home appliance/purchase together. :)

On our way home, we stopped by a new Mexican joint on Jefferson for a delicious dinner of carne asada burrito and nachos. We came home, ate, put together the steam vacuum (rather, Hubby did while I continued eating), and then Hubby steam vacuumed the bathroom. By the time we settled down, it was close to 11:30 P.M. and we were tired.

Yesterday morning, our bathroom floor was still pretty wet. When I got home from church, I walked in and was overcome by a funky smell...not a good sign. So Hubby vacuumed again (to try to suck out more water) while I moved furniture around and stuff off the floor so that he could steam vacuum the rest of our place. As tiring as that was, I'm glad he did because he has stopped smoking inside (woohoo!), but our place still wreaks of stale smoke.

After steam vacuuming the bathroom a third time, we decided to tear up the carpet b/c we weren't getting anywhere. We've always known there is linoleum underneath the poorly-installed carpeting so with this second plumbing fiasco and our fear of the floor molding, we went about tearing the carpet up with reckless abandon (rather, Hubby did while I held the trash bag open, showed signs of disgust, and then took it downstairs to the dumpster). After several hours of pulling nails, sanding down rough parts, my independent journey to the hardware store, installing "carpet jams," and all sorts of other big and little tasks, we finished around 5 P.M. All the while, I had flashbacks of helping my bro and his partner with their place...oooh, how much I don't like home improvement tasks! At least our bathroom is fixed and improved. Nothing's worse than plumbing problems, that's for sure.

When we finally finished, we quickly showered and got ready to have dinner with Hubby's BGF. Since she didn't want Chinese food and wanted something unique to the Westside, we brought her to Enterprise Fish Co., where I had a delicious glazed sea bass with string beans and a crunchy risotto cake, creme brulee, and a hard-earned Newcastle.

Thank goodness I have today off. This weekend has been spent cleaning up our place (dusting, vacuuming, washing, organizing my junk/piles). Unfortunately, the last house chore for this weekend is cleaning Lil F's tank...