Plumber's Butt Head

It was Monday night when my Scottish Wife came downstairs after doing a wonderful job of cleaning the bathroom.

"The toilet handle is broken."

Tuesday, after dinner, I went to the hardware store to buy a replacement handle. While I was there I got a wax seal for the bottom of the toilet, because I was pretty sure it was the cause for a leak that has been there for some time. The wax ring was cheap, and for some unknown reason I was DIY inspired!



The problem being whenever the toilet was flushed, a small amount of water dripped so we could hear it downstairs. Because of this, we have a missing ceiling tile in the kitchen that makes the room look bad. The water had already ruined one tile, no need to put in another that would only get water damage.

The replacement handle was an easy fix.



Trying to get the bolts off the toilet was a pain in the ass because the previous occupant of the house decided to caulk/seal/glue the toilet directly to the linoleum. Some of the tile tore up while lifting the toilet. I was covered in sweat because of the heat, became a bit frustrated and grumpy. No one got hurt though. Cussing was kept to a minimum

After I got the seal on, the toilet leaked even worse than before. Bad enough that a professional had to be called in. No real damage was done, no blood was spilled, and no water was shooting up from a pipe with no hope of shutting the flow. I called Roto-Rooter, they do not charge extra for showing up in the evening.

The plumber came, we cursed the previous occupants for doing a number of things wrong to the piping, some of it not up to code. He did all he could, including replacing a pipe and valve, which had corroded and worn out. He got the leak down to a very minimal amount, especially in comparison to before I got to it. The tooth was already damaged, I exposed the infected nerve during cleaning. Josh from Roto-Rooter did his job well with what he was given.



The toilet is leaking very little now, which is good, so it may be possible to replace the tile in the kitchen and find someone who is willing to seal up some plastic to iron piping. It is in the best interest of everyone that I no longer lift up a toilet to fix what is underneath,

Blocked, Lazy and Distracted

The actual writing has been on the back burner for the past couple of weeks. Nothing more than fragments. I have been doing some writing work, preparing for the audition for Arts Fest next week. Also been accomplishing things writers do, waiting for the right time to let that out. It's good stuff.

Slowly starting to feel better, whatever I had really took a toll. It's giving me a cough now, which is fine during the day but not at three in the morning.

My son is feeling better, which is quite the relief. We all went grocery shopping on Sunday, a full shop and we did not put him in the cart. He walked with me the whole time, up and down the aisles, very well behaved.

He had an excellent therapy session last week. His therapist was working with him on facial features and identification. She drew the figure on the lower left then helped him draw the head and eyes on the lower right. He, all by himself, drew in the nose, mouth and he carefully put the ears on.



Last night he pooped in the toilet so he got some iPod privileges. I have an app of facial emotion indicators that he likes. Why he laughs hysterically at the sad emotion is very amusing and disturbing. I try to get him to press on the face that corresponds with how he's feeling, he presses on sneezy, or gassy. Then I ask him to show me happy, and he presses on that one.

He also bounced heartily on the yoga ball, better that than my knees. Last night with him tonight after an exhausting two straight weekends with him. This last weekend though, more joy than challenges.

WoW starts tomorrow night. Last chance slam at Barley's. Starts at eight. No excuses, unless you're too chicken shit to confront truth.

Ernie, Those Sheep are Tap Dancing

Finally got up the nerve to take my son out to see a movie. The Wexner Center is having it's annual kids weekend and this afternoon they showed Sesame Street Sings!

It has Sesame Street, the muppets, music, I can tolerate those things and he likes them. Let's see what happens if we take the act out of the living room. Plus, it only cost two bucks a piece so if the mission had to be aborted we would not be out much coin.

Speaking of coin, Laurie Berkner is coming to The Palace in February, $33 bucks to sit in the balcony. For those prices she's not building a wall on stage. Sorry, not buying into that!

Got our tickets and gave his to him. Told him to give the ticket to the taker. She tore it up and I told him to take it back. He looked so cute holding the ticket, I teared up a bit.

Found a row toward the back and I let him choose a seat. He picked the aisle.

We only waited a short time before the film started. He amazed me. Not sure how much he paid attention because he was pretty quiet and not singing along. I have to say he was very well behaved. After about an hour he got a bit fidgety, but that was because it was running too long. If he did not like what he was seeing he would have got up and walked around. But he stayed in his seat for 82 minutes.



Tried to get him to eat some celebratory Dark Chocolate Jeni's Ice Cream by calling it pudding, but he was not having any of it.

As I was driving there I realized I forgot my bag with his diapers in it. So I obsessed about that a bit. Luckily there was no poop until he went upstairs when we got home. Not in the toilet though.

Old and New Tricks

Not sure if it was the change in temperatures, the time change, an illness or something he's not saying but for the past several weeks my son's been in a slump. It happens to all of us. We noticed, his teacher noticed. It's hard not knowing what exactly is wrong, because he's not saying in a way we can get.

The past few days though he seems to be pulling out of it. He's been sleeping better for one thing.

We slept in yesterday morning and he came into my bed with a ball and threw it at me as he said, "Catch the ball Daddy."

It was such a lovely day yesterday we took him to a park. Surprisingly there were not many people there so he had the place to himself. He did not wander along the fence, but used the slide appropriately, he even climbed up it!

We figured something out while he was on the swings. For reasons known to him only he likes to drag his feet on the ground while swinging. If he does not hold on tight enough, he's likely to fall and get a face full of wood chips, so we try to avoid that. Underneath a couple of the swings is a hole in the ground that is deep enough so his feet would not touch the ground. When I tried putting him on that swing, he got right off.

It's amazing what he notices, or, what we think he notices.

Looking up just now, I saw him get up, go to the box of tissues and pull one out. He spilled a little oatmeal on the table and was attempting to clean it up.

Last night he stomped around the house in my wife's boots, which he had not shown interest in for some time.

Toileting though, is another issue although a couple of nights ago I did find him in the bathroom sitting on the toilet correctly. After awhile he got up, no poop, but did put a new diaper on (backwards but give him credit) with two feet in one leg of his pajamas. He tries, he really does.

More than 140

So I did the unthinkable and got a twitter account. Hey, Steve Martin's funny! If you want to rag on me after all my diatribes about it, go right ahead I deserve them.

I'll give it at least a week then see about whether or not I want to continue.

Friday night I'm going to see Roger Waters recreate The Wall. Never been much of a Pink Floyd fan, but do like Waters. For the record, my favorite Pink Floyd album is The Final Cut. Spoke to a local reviewer about the concert months ago. He went off, calling Waters a guy who uses his high school diaries for material. Guess that makes him the James Cameron of rock and roll.

Still waiting for the Macbook to be repaired.

In the midst of all this, I have been writing. Whether or not it's any good is part of the answer.

Put Snow White in the DVD player to see if my son would show interest. He sat all the way through Dumbo, which is a short feature. After about half an hour, he switched chairs. Fifteen minutes later, he lost interest completely. This is not a bad thing, he did try for half the film. What's more important is that he pooped in the toilet. Comet sighting celebration. When's the next one?