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they can't wait to tear everything out with a sledgehammer and crowbar to put in their own hideous style that will be outdated in a year.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.