Thursday, January 17, 2019

Hick is Unstopperable!

Last week, I mentioned how Hick had finally put in T-Hoe's running light that had burned out LAST YEAR! Of course, he was fishing for praise, after finally getting around to that task, and another issue that arose on December 30th. ALSO last year, I might add!

When we had our Christmas Dinner with Genius, my kitchen sink suffered a setback. The meal and festivities were over, Genius had departed for another after-Christmas party, and I was toiling in solitude to clean up the aftermath. Once the first set of dishes were done, I pulled the sink plug to let out the water. The plug came out fine, but half of its rubber gasket thingy stayed behind. Uh huh. The rubber blew a gasket.

Let the record show that we built this house during the year The Pony was waiting to be born. Which makes it 21 years old now. I suppose things wear out after 21 years. That's nobody's fault. But as you might imagine, if you're an astute Val-reader, is that a part of this situation IS MOST DEFINITELY Hick's fault!

On December 30th, I told Hick that I needed a new sink stopper. Of course you can't just run out and buy a matching sink stopper, because my kitchen sink is so 1980's style that people on any HGTV show would scream and run out the door and exclaim "NO! It will need a complete renovation!" I can't believe those folks, can you? They get a perfectly livable house, maybe one that's just been completely remodeled to sell, and they can't wait to tear everything out with a sledgehammer and crowbar to put in their own hideous style that will be outdated in a year.

Anyhoo...my kitchen sink is almond. The color. I did not want an almond sink. We built the house, you know, so I could have anything I wanted. Except I had to have what HICK wanted. Which was an almond sink. I don't dislike my almond sink. It goes well enough with my burgundy countertop. But all along, I'd been asking for a stainless steel sink. I had one in my $17,000 house in town, and it served me well. The size was right, a double sink with room to submerge my biggest pans. It didn't show marks from the pans rubbing against the sides. It was easy to clean. And shiny.

My almond sink is a double sink. It's not big enough to lay down my 9 x 13 glass baking dish. It shows a black mark if the cookie sheets or certain pans rub against the sides. It takes two scrubbings to remove those marks. And there are two chips in the almond part, from Hick dropping a knife or something. I don't even want to admit how long I scrubbed, thinking they were just black marks.

Anyhoo...Hick said he'd get me a sink stopper. I waited. And waited. The dishes couldn't wait. I found that if I wrapped the rubber back around the stopper, I could get a pretty good seal in my sink water. Good enough to get the dishes washed before it all leaked out. Every day, when Hick returned from his two or three trips to town, I would ask if he had my sink stopper. Nope. He forgot. But on JANUARY 8TH, Hick had my sink stopper.

Okay. It's Hick we're talking about. So he didn't really have a new sink stopper for me. "I fixed the old one." It must not be easy to find a matching almond sink stopper for a 21-year-old sink.

"How'd you do that?"

"I didn't buy one. I pounded in a new rubber until it stayed in place."


There it is, in all its faded-almond, pounded-rubber glory.

Of course, it doesn't seal quite as tightly as the old version. Bumping that round part with the edge of a bowl will knock it loose. But I'm alerted by the gurgling sound, so I can fish around through sharp knives and shove it back in.

I'm still trying to figure out how I can remember to prepare Hick's meals 365 days a year, but he can't be bothered to repair items that I use daily. Unless he has an agenda.

Uh huh. I discovered why Hick suddenly completed two (TWO) last-year's tasks on January 8th. I KNEW there was a reason. Hick let it slip on January 9th.

"Oh. I took paperwork by the lawyer's office so he can tell me what I need to do about that strip of land the car repair guy has his driveway on."

Another money-sucking venture that I think warranted a joint discussion before implementation.

13 comments:

  1. I think those sink stopper things are still pretty standard. I am also pretty sure that I read somewhere a kitchen sink should be changed out for a new stainless steel sink every 20-21 years. I'll bet you could also get a matching stainless steel dishwasher too.

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    1. Heh, heh! If only there was a Kitchen Sink Replacement Law, with an amendment requiring the dishwasher.

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  2. Yeah, I'd talk to that lawyer, too, and let him know your "price"! Heh, heh, heh.

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    1. If I talk to the lawyer, that will be ADDITIONAL BILLABLE MINUTES!!!

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  3. 1. I have never in my life seen a sink stopper like that. We just call them plugs out here.
    2. If the house was built so you could have exactly what you wanted, you should have put your foot down (over Hick's mouth) and demanded the sink you wanted.
    3. How close is your nearest good hardware store? Or any hardware store?

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    1. 1. Ooh! Now I feel like I have a special, exotic sink stopper. Even if it does come loose if I bump it.

      2. Don't even get me started on the plastic LAUNDRY SINK he put in, that I NEVER wanted, that he found along the road somewhere, and now divides my washer and dryer, making me take two steps to transfer wet clothes, rather than just reaching down and putting them in with one motion. My foot should have been put down somewhere more sensitive than Hick's mouth!

      3. The closest hardware store is five miles. Right by Hick's Storage Unit Store. You can never find any employees to answer questions, though. The Pony and I could have loaded up half the store and gotten away with it, that time we went looking for some special saw blade for Hick's Christmas gift.

      That one is really more of a farm and ranch store, so I don't know if they'd have sink stoppers. The other stores are over in Bill-Paying Town, 20 miles away.

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  4. We have almond appliances, but you can't find that color anymore. As for your sink stopper. Let me share a tip about my long-legged plastic sink/washtub next to my washer. All I asked for was a new plug. I quit asking and ripped off a piece of plastic bread wrapper to wrap around the bottom of the defective plug. Works like charm.

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  5. I have a stainless steel sink. A very old one and let me tell you, it has stains I cannot remove. My stopper quit working, so I picked up a trio of rubber plugs in different sizes. The smallest was too small, the biggest was too big ……. but the middle one was just right! Knew better than to wait for HeWho to get one.

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    1. WHAT? Stains in a stainless steel sink! That's preposterous! I'm pretty sure people like me think STAINLESS steel resists stains! I guess I didn't use my stainless steel sink as vigorously or as much as you do. A little Bon Ami cleaned it right up.

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    2. I'd like to know what the stains are, because I've always had stainless steel sinks, they're standard here in Aus. and even the old ones come clean although not as shiny as the new ones.

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    3. Rust can be scrubbed off with those soapy steel wool pads available in supermarkets, then kept away by making sure the sink is rinsed and dried after use. Ditto those brown tea stains.

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