Who needs a repairman?

My dishwasher kept making more and more noise a couple of weeks ago and last week it groaned so loudly that I had to see what was wrong.

Actually, I asked Himself to see if he could figure things out and he took a hands-off approach.  You see, he's gotten to know me quite well over the past 28 years.  He understands that if he promises to do the job he'll feel pressured to get it done even when he's dog tired from work.  (Me nag??  Never!)  He also knows that I'm mechanically minded enough to take something apart, see what doesn't work, fix it, and put it back together.  He's also aware that I hate leaving a job in pieces and will do whatever to finish it.  Plus, my appreciation of the convenience of a non-human dishwasher is often and emphatically made known to all and sundry.

So Himself knew it'd get fixed more quickly if he left it to me.  Himself was right.

A couple of hours more or less at the computer produced an exploded diagram of my model dishwasher, a site where I could order parts with pictures to identify them, and a forum of what others had found and done when their dishwashers started sounding like balky teenagers.  Six trips to Mike's toolbox finally produced the right size socket wrench and torx driver and I took it apart.  Sure enough, the upper pump was broken and one of the plastic pieces was being ground up so I ordered a new pump and two gaskets.  They came yesterday afternoon and I put everything back together today.  It works just fine.

$35 and a few hours of my time is a far better deal that calling a repairman.  Plus, he didn't see the two pistachio shells, two screws, one rivet, and what looked like two sewing pins in the bottom of the dishwasher.  (They'd been down there so long they were pretty rusted out and I only spent the two seconds from the washer to the garbage trying to identify them)  I know one screw must have come from the upper pump when it came apart and I can see how a couple of pistachio shell halves might have gotten past me but the other screw?  And the rivet??  And how did the sewing pins thingies get past me???

I'm kinda pleased with myself.

Europe

Most, if not all, of you know one of my sisters and I are going to Europe with our mother. I've been preparing since July but haven't allowed myself to get excited too soon. This time next week, we'll be in the air above the western edge of Europe so I think I can now allow myself to start getting excited.

I've never had a passport so that was first on my "to do" list. Then I had to put "Get certified copy of birth certificate" on the list above "passport". I was getting a little antsy because the passport website said to allow six to eight weeks and I thought I'd need a couple of weeks to get the birth certificate first. It turned out that my certificate only took a little better than a week and the passport came in two weeks and two days after I submitted it at the post office.

Then I needed to arrange care for Richelle since she's homeschooled. I talked with local family and they were willing to pass her around but I didn't like that idea too much because that would be a lot of effort for them. I talked with Kimberly and she was quite happy to have Richelle visit for one of the weeks. They also homeschool so that's works out perfectly. Then a close friend of the family (my bil's sister) offered to take Richelle for the remainder of the time. Things are falling into place so nicely, it's almost scary!

We fly out of Portland to JFK in New York at about 6:30am Pacific time Tuesday, Sept 15th on flight #0744. We leave JFK at about 8pm Eastern time on flight #0098 and arrive in Budapest at about 11am Wednesday Budapest time. If I've done my math right (and I think I have) that means we land in Budapest at 2am Pacific time Wednesday.

We don't have a solid itinerary - or if we do, I'm not aware of it - but we will travel by Eurorail from Budapest to Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden. I understand that we'll be passing through France on our way to Belgium.

The big challenge is that we're not checking any luggage so must live out of a carry-on and a large purse for two and a half weeks. I'm glad I've had years of experience in Scouts of only taking what is essential!

I will try to post every day while in Europe and include pictures and will probably post at least once before we leave.

It still seems unreal that I'll be going to Europe but I'm getting excited anyway!

Birthday

Today was my birthday and it started out in a unique way by Richelle sitting me into a chair and giving me a hand-lettered breakfast menu complete with appetizer (applesauce), entrées (scrambled eggs with my choice of bacon or sausage and whole wheat or oat bread toast; hot oatmeal; and cold cereal of my choice from Cap'n Crunch, Lucky Charms, or Honey Crisp Medley), beverages (water, coffee, teas of several varieties, hot chocolate, or milk), and dessert of apple with or without caramel. The menu came complete with prices and a baggie of play money.

She left me to make up my mind and then returned a few minutes later wearing an apron and carrying a small pad of paper in one hand and a pencil in the other. She took my order rather professionally, I thought, and went back to the kitchen. A few minutes later she brought me my applesauce and left again. In due course of time, back she came with a plate of Scrambled Egg Supreme with bacon and a slice of oat bread toast and a cup of vanilla chai, all done to perfection. I don't even recall teaching her how to properly scramble eggs or how to fashion and cook a sausage patty (husband of the birthday girl was also waited on) from bulk sausage! There are times I'm convinced that child learns by osmosis.

She came once to ask how everything tasted and if it was to our liking and then returned once more to present the bill...which I paid for with the play money provided.

I made lunch since Mike is on swing shift but at supper time, Richelle led me to the table which had a candle burning in the center and was set with one placing of silverware wrapped up in a napkin and a supper menu. The appetizer was peanut butter and honey on wheat bread toast; entrée was my choice of a Sandwich Slam (whatever I wanted between two pieces of bread), cheese toast, mac 'n' cheese, cheese quesadilla, turkey wrap (turkey slices rolled with sliced cheese), and Bacon a la Cheese (crumbled bacon and grated cheese); drink choices were Mountain Dew, Kool-aid tropical punch, Kool-aid lemon-lime, milk, and Kool-aid orange; dessert was fresh, homemade oatmeal cookies. We don't really consume that much cheese and certainly not that vast amount of Kool-aid but she went with what she could make.

What a hoot! I loved it and am saving those precious menus with the date lightly penciled on the backs. Those meals was her gift to me and a wonderful, thoughtful gift it was. I will always remember it. Such a darling daughter!

The little grand piano at the top of this post was Mike's gift to me. It's a trinket music box that plays "I Just Wanna Be Loved By You." I know each year that I'll get a grand piano figurine of some sort. It's not the piano that's the gift but the reason for it.

You see, years ago when the kids would whine about not having something they wanted, I'd point out that I'd always wanted a baby grand piano but they don't see one in the front room. That was always my standard retort....until Melissa gave me a little grand piano figurine at Christmas in 2000. She was so tickled that the house almost couldn't contain her and when I opened her gift, she squealed, "Now you can't say you don't have a grand piano anymore!"

I received two more from her and Mike has carried on in her memory.

Things I learned this week

1. If you have trouble sleeping, quit drinking tea and soda.

2. Make sure your child knows what "off" is on the valve feeding the soaker hose so you don't have an unpleasant surprise four hours later.

3. A picnic and swim in the river makes a child's entire day.

4. Teenagers are quite hungry when they get home at 3am after a long day of work. Keep snacks on hand for them or there's no telling what they'll get into.

5. When your husband suggests you wipe down the computer chair with alcohol because he unthinkingly sat in it still wearing the same pants he wore in the poison oak, it's a good idea to remember to do that BEFORE you sit on it wearing shorts.

Scouts

Another weekend spent with scouts, this time working to get the resident camp set up for the summer. Each June, there is a work party that hangs the canvas tents on the tent frames, spreads the mats out and puts the docks in the water at the waterfront, hacks back the vigorous growth encroaching on the many trails, and spreads bark, gravel, or sand wherever it's needed.

There are additional projects also going on. Last year I helped Mike build a three-stall changing room at the waterfront and the year before that, I helped a crew cut boards to length to replace about ten tent platforms. This year, the extra projects were splitting up about five years' worth of firewood in the form of trees that came down last winter (those trees had a diameter of 3 -4 feet), and placing a number of benches along the main trail all the way to the end of the peninsula (about 1/2 mile).

So which did I do? Neither. Mike did some finish work on the changing room and I helped "make" feathers. The feathers are a special award made of a turkey feather dyed to look like an eagle feather. They had to have a leather loop, some colored fluffy feathers, and red felt attached to the quill end. The trick was wrapping the leather loop in such a way that is doesn't slide off. Another woman and I worked on that.

And in spite of my lack of physical exertion, I was pretty tired Saturday night. Maybe that was because one of the six women in our cabin did as fine a job of snoring Friday night as I've heard in a long time. I thought I had successfully ignored it but I guess not. One poor woman took her sleeping bag and finished the night in her truck. I can peel the shingles from the roof myself but I've figured out a way that I don't snore while camping. I still breathe pretty heavily, I'm told, but I don't snore.