The week started great--fall-like weather on Monday evening, was able to drive home with the top down, listening to The Spade (not some crummy mix cd--lol) good and LOUD! Butch sounds great really loud, btw. Yesterday, not so autumnal, fighting my way through traffic to get to the homestead, but okay. The Spade STILL rocked and life seemed cool, enough. But THIS afternoon, humidity and heat are back AND, oops, forgot about the baby shower tomorrow and the gift I was going to make. Had the material, had already cut it out, but geez, would have to miss Stitch n Bitch to get it done. To get past this loss in fun and frolic, which is almost as good as a California night out on motorcyles, first listened to one of The Butch Walker Mixtapes (version unknown) a couple of times and then put in Butch's Live at Budokan dvd--genius!!! Sewing, singing along, living la vida loca alright...it's what the creative process is all about. A bit over halfway done, went to the kitchen and,
great (sigh), there's a puddle of liquid between the washer and the fridge. On the continuum between not so bad and really gross, could be the washer and/or fridge needs to be replaced
or the cats had to express themselves (about WHAT??!!??) again this week. Last week,
someone peed on the laptop case that was inadvertently left on the bed. No explanations, no remorse, not even guilty looks, just there. Honestly! Never got to the bottom of that matter.
Since I can't smell anything, the best clean up strategy is? Are we talking simple mop up or get out the Hazmat gear? (Hard to get
too upset about the whole thing, singing along to Race Cars and Goth Rock), but OK, get a "specimen" of the mystery liquid in a sandwich bag and take it over to Stitch n Bitch for a verdict, right? Luckily, the next door neighbor, let's just refer to him as A to protect his identity, was taking his evening constitutional (smoking his evening cigarette) on the steps outside, smelled the bag and pronounced it water. HUGE sigh of relief! But, the water came from ...? A is a nice neighbor and it turns out, something of a Home Depot-type, so he came in and checked around, moved the washer, all those kinds of checklist things the house-sensitive kind of person knows. Glad I had the big flashlight right there next to the washer/dryer so I at least seemed like I was prepared for minor household emergencies. A thinks it's the washer. He even went to his apt., checked the common wall between our apts (who knew there was common wall?) and returned to let me know the diagnosis so I could report to the apt management. FYI, that's a loosely applied term, apt management, but really not something blog-worthy.
Unlike Butch Walker, who got me through what could have been a real drag of an evening. Both the BWM cd and the Budokan dvd had put me in a more relaxed mood, so the water leak wasn't such a drama. Looking at this washer problem as a plus: have never liked that washer; a new one would be great. AND, once again, Butch's music is a highly recommended analgesic for whatever ails you--totally fantastic, life embracing, gets you out of your funk no matter what, rocking, or breaking yer heart, grabs you out of the blah ordinary and kicks your butt back to what's real! He made an evening that could have been disastrous--forced to work on a sewing project with dread, deadline looming, missed my weekly copanionship time, annoying nuisance of a household disaster--into something pretty easy to take. I worked on the baby gift in a very positive spirit, with lots of happy thoughts going into it, got to show it to the Stitch n Bitch crowd and get their approval and admiration--it's a 2-sided flannel coverlet with a hood at one corner, enhanced with a color-coordinated bias edging--and happy thoughts from them toward the upcoming birth. Made them laugh with the "specimen" idea I had for them to tackle before I ran into A.
And, got to know my neighbor A a bit more. Their baby is almost a year old now--haven't finished either of the two gifts I've begun for her. What a nonentity neighbor I am!
Thanks to good neighbors and to Butch, for providing the needed and appreciated positive vibe!
Rock on, y'all!
