Why Does Everything Break Down at Once?
........is it just us???? Tell me it isn't so........

I don't understand this, never will, and I don't like it much. 

Here is a list of recent breakdowns and ongoing repairs:

• dishwasher
• guest bathroom sink
• old oven
• leaky faucets in upstairs bathroom
• my husband's work truck
• new shower head in upstairs bathroom
• electric blanket
• main-floor wood stove
• problem with one tire on Jeep
• television in our bedroom
• DVD/VHS player in living room
• three out of  four of our phone receivers do not work
• heater in the upstairs bathroom does not heat

Things on their last leg:

• old oven range top
• refrigerator
• coffee pot
• plants that are dying for no known reason
• handles on doors on main floor and basement
• dining room chandelier
• modem for television in living room

I am so thankful that I am married to a man who can fix just about anything.
I really cannot think of anything he is not able to fix as long as it doesn't involve a computer.
He is cyber-challenged.

Since landscaping work in the winter is rare he has had more time to repair things at  home in his off-season. He has work coming in steadily and ended his landscaping season with a nicely lucrative project.
So, for once we have the money when we have the time!
That does not usually happen!

He has fixed the following which has taught me to be more thankful and to keep a sense of humor:

• installed a new pedestal sink in the guest bathroom which is quite large in proportion to everything else in the bathroom and makes everything else look bad. It is beautiful though.
• put a new seal in the dish washer. I cannot open or close it by myself now but he tells me it will compress eventually and I will be able to use it all by myself. I may miss the leaks which washed our dishes and did the kitchen floor at the same time!
• surprised me by picking out and buying a brand new (unused, but last year's model) wall oven to put in the oven hole that has served as our pantry for over 25 years. The oven arrives in a week so we are in a rush pouring over ideas (Pinterest, decorating magazines and books) to inexpensively find places to store everything in the hole. I'm so excited! I love to organize!
  Our circa 1950 oven/range has no window which hasn't mattered since the light stopped working years ago. It cannot be totally cleaned. It has only 1 reliable burner out of four, a timer that can not tell time, a temperamental oven with only one unmovable rack. It has great storage and is charming as long as it is not used for cooking!  The downside is that once the new oven is working I will have nothing on which to blame my cooking failures.
• repairing the truck has been an ongoing saga this fall and winter. We are hoping the last repairs have taken care of the problem. I think my husband is tired of getting stuck in town.
• for Christmas my husband bought me an electric mattress pad which I had wanted. We got the bed stripped, mattress pad installed, bed remade and turned it on for a test. We waited. After two hours the sheet which was directly up against the heated pad was still ice cold and for some reason the manufacturers decided not to provide heat for the feet or the upper back. Whereas my husband prefers getting into an icy bed and likes lots of fresh, cold air in order to fall asleep, I like to be roasty-toasty after a nice hot shower. We returned it, got a wonderfully soft, cozy, warm blanket along with a $41.00 refund since the blanket was on sale!
• the new baffle for the wood stove came in and will be fixed today. At least that's what the progress report has been since the baffle kit arrived. But emergencies and frigid weather necessitate putting it off over and over. My husband plans to work on it after he's done with the wood pile he just added to is done---it's warmed up quite a bit. I hope there are no problems with it after that is installed. 
• the leaks, toilets running and the new shower head that is not working (the second brand-new one installed in the last few months) are probably hopeless without all new plumbing.  Ah, the charms of turn-of-the-century plumbing.

The rest of the problems are being handled in this fashion:

• prayer
• patience
• humor
• pretending everything that is wrong with this house is part of its 100 year old charm 
• filling the tire with air every couple of months
• keeping the cat box cleaner and watering the plants more or less often.
• hunting madly for the phone when someone calls because it only rings at the base,not the receiver
• we don't watch movies most of the time so who needs a DVD player anyway?
• the TV upstairs is mostly for news in the mornings so, a shrunken, wavy picture and being unable to change channels or volume do not really matter.
• we are both becoming hard of hearing so the drips and toilets running are not a problem for us as long as we are not in the bathroom or shower. Thankfully they are cold water leaks.
• taking quick showers and running from the cold bathroom to either our warm bed or the main floor  wood stove. Hoping to be able to wait until the seasons change and floor heaters are cheaper.
• and did I mention prayer, patience, humor?????
  
  
  
  Life is funny.
  Sometimes, not so much.
  But even in hard times we must do the best with what we've got!
   That usually involves creativity, hiding or living with imperfections,
  using what you already have,
  and a lot of humor.
  

  I cannot complain---well----- I CAN and DO, I confess. 

  My husband's business is doing well and God has provided steady work.

  We were able to refinance our home, rebuild and re-shingle the roof, 
  repair the holes in the ceilings and walls, insulate some of this largely un-insulated house, 
  repair water damage that happened during a freak rain storm while the roof was uncovered,
  paint and repair the outside and some of the inside of the house. 

  We could afford to buy some of the things we needed
  and some things that are not needs per se, 

  but which make life a whole lot more pleasant. 
  I am very thankful.

  Kathi~