update from yesterday

I emailled the intake worker in frustration and got back a brief missive with good news.  I still don't know my budget, but there's more money coming and I have passed approval. I'm now officially disabled.  I still don't know to whom I ask questions or what that allows me, and I deeply need a plumber.

See, one of the reasons I go sideways so easily is that I'm struggling with bad plumbing.  It started with that damn electric water heater.  Could be Dan didn't install it right?  I don't know.  I wasn't involved. But it never could reliably supply hot water enough for anything. So I've been boiling kettles in the kitchen and taking them downstairs to draw a bath. Frustrating, but I accepted it and made light of it. "good exercise."  

Then the kitchen drain started leaking at the vent. not a repair I can do myself, because it requires putting in a new fitting on the stack. I removed the P trap and put in a bucket. Week later, the tap wouldn't stop dripping.  

Plumbing wrench, yes. special fancy little tool for the tap?  yes, but it kept bending. Lots of CLR and vinegar to try and break loose the threads?  Still no luck. I can break it, I can't fix it. So off goes the line tap because it's not just dripping, it's a steady little stream.  while I might enjoy a fountain, the bucket would need a lot of emptying.  

So here I hauling jugs up from the bathroom.  Washing in a bucket with kettle boiled water.  Boiling to do dishes, and hauling the bucket of greywater downstairs. Including right after surgery, it still needed done.

it's a constant low level stress for me. Hot and cold running water was one of those blessings I always would count to check my self pity. Now I can't even shower, much less bathe. Laundry gets cold wash, and believe me, it doesn't come as clean.  I had to boil one soiled item on the stove.

Well it's just a lot to haul and then when something like "you get to live indefinitely on half what your base utility costs are," well, that's like a last straw on my nerves and I just can't.  What I did to get through was scrub the floor.  The kitchen floor was in dire need of it anyway.  I hadn't properly brush scrubbed it since like 2011 or earlier.  Just steamer wipe or damp mop.  I hadn't polished it since then either?  Maybe once or twice with mop on shine.  Anyway, gave it a good reconditioning and it expended energy, gave me focus, and the pretty floor cheered me up. I did a bunch else scrubbing around it too, the lower walls in the kitchen, the stairs and lower walls going down, spots on the floors, dusty missed spots here and there.  just getting a little further ahead of the madness.  I still need to strip down the shelves with the jars and clean all that but it's a daunting, if actually simple, task. It looks worse than it is but looks awful.  So many objects to move and wipe.  But it's getting on my nerves. Three other similar jobs are polishing my crystal chandeliers.  Then I realized yesterday that the dust buildup on the pantry shelves in spots could hide whole house hippos so that has to be cleared and cleaned too.

I have that blessing, a surfeit of tasks and activities from which to choose.

ATM, it's combing and carding wool.