Today I bring you a laugh at my expense.
Normally our life is boring.
Writing Maggie is very consuming, and having a set routine really helps. I’m not going to bore you with our daily schedule. Most of it revolves around writing the sequel to This Kingdom and signing the tip sheets. The never ending tip sheets. A tip sheet is a signed page that is bound into a special edition hardcover, and we have a lot of them at the moment.
Unfortunately, this fall wrecked our schedule. I had cataract surgery, which shot our workout routine in the foot. We had to say good bye to one of our family pets. It was time, and I’m not going to talk about it too much, because it is very difficult. (Miss Sookie in the photograph above is still very much alive, no worries.) And then Gordon, Kid 2, and her boyfriend went to an Irish pub to see a show, and Gordon brought back a horrible cold.
This is some crud from the deepest bowels of frozen hell. I mean, this plague is so bad, we were coughing nonstop and drowning in mucus. I tested us for flu and Covid, even though we had shots, and it is not either one of those. It is just some Holiday Cold.
Anyway, we’ve been struggling with it for over a week and the night before last was especially awful. Gordon coughed and woke me up, then I coughed and woke him up, and we got maybe 3 hours of sleep. But we have to work. We lost too much time as it is.
It was discovered recently that our wood fireplace is unsafe. There are four fireplaces in this house, but we only use one, and it gave up the ghost. I had no idea, but majority of the fireplaces in the newer homes are actually appliances. They are factory made and inserted into the house. Like all appliances, they wear out. A typical life of such a fireplace with moderate use is about 15 years. Ours was 27.
We had a long and detailed safety inspection. The insulating plates inside the fireplace were cracked and lost their integrity. Too much heat was being transferred to the drywall. The pipe that led into the chimney separated, and soot was getting into the attic. Oh, and to make things extra awesome, the vent in our smoke stack was not to code.
Picture a smoke stack. On top of it is a cap that keeps the weather out. The smoke escapes from the side of the smoke stack through openings in the chimney. These vents should be at least six inches tall. For no apparent reason, the first owner of our house, who was actually a builder, decided that it didn’t look pretty. Our vents are two inches.
This is not surprising in the least. We bought our home for a bargain prize after it sat on the market for a year and a half, and since then we’ve been slowly updating it. We love it, but if our house had a motto, it would be, “This is… interesting.” Every trade person has now uttered this word when diagnosing some new fun issue: the plumber, the electrician, the AC tech…
I should pause here to say that my husband is a fireplace fiend. There are deep personal reasons for his love of firewood, which I won’t go into, but having a working fireplace and a storage of firewood makes him feel comfortable on a man taking care of his family level. We have 3 cords of firewood right now. He built a shed for it. He is justified in this, because the last time Texas electric grid crashed, our wood fireplace kept us from freezing.
Even though it was not in the budget, we had to replace the fireplace.
Remember how we were severely sleep deprived?
The crew of fireplace installers descends on our home at first light and starts ripping into the wall. We open all the doors and hide in the study to work and minimize the germ exposure. The project manager carefully asks about the tile. We have this concrete monstrosity of a mantel we inherited, and it couldn’t be saved, so we decided to just tile it and be done.
Me, clutching my tea and desperately trying to get a grip on reality: Tile?
Project Manager: For the fireplace. Remember, I was going to give you a bid?
Me: Oh.
Gordon, staggering into the room: Eh?
Me: Tile.
Gordon: Oh.
Me: What kind of tile should we get?
PM: Not porcelain. Natural stone or ceramic.
We summon inner reserves and drive over to the tile place, where we wander around, dazed. After too much time, we finally find some limestone that is pretty, and I hug it. I am so tired at this point. I take a picture and send it to the PM.
He sends back the bid. His bid is way too high, but the tile place does installs, and they do fireplaces. We are shown the recent project pictures and decide that we are just going to do that.
Crisis averted, we drive back home, where we try to work while things are being smashed and broken, and metal is thudding, and people are on the roof, and the dogs are deeply perturbed… I spend hours looking at bugs. I need to get a composite bug monster together. If you have a fear on insects, do not google vinegaroon.
About 3:00 pm, I realize that I haven’t thawed anything out for dinner. For a while, Gordon was not eating hardly anything because the plague kills your appetite. I finally went with the nuclear option, summoned inner reserves for the nth time since this cold hit, and made a basket of fried chicken fingers on Monday. Fried foods are off limits for us usually, but I knew he would eat them. It worked, but I can’t feed him fried chicken fingers 3 days in a row.
I put in a late order for grocery delivery and go back to bugs.
Finally it’s 4:30 pm. The fireplace is installed. We are giving instructions, we write the check for the remaining balance, and the crew leaves. The house is clean, we have a new fireplace, and the only sign that construction took place is the bare wall.
Gordon stared at the fireplace for a bit and then gets this look on his face and goes outside. I follow him out there.
He stares up.
Me, feeling like my head is full of cotton: What are we looking at?
Him: The chimney.
We stand there, looking at the chimney.
Me: Why are we doing this?
Gordon: Didn’t he say our vents weren’t up to code?
Me: Oh. Oh crap.
Gordon: I thought that was supposed to be fixed. Was that on the bid?
Me: … … ………………………….
We stare at the chimney for about 5 minutes, trying to figure out what we are missing, then we go back inside, and I start looking for the bid in my email inbox. I find the appointment notifications, the safety report, more appointment notifications, the tilling bid. Everything but the fireplace contract. I don’t know if the vent is on the bid or not. I can’t remember.
I know we had a contract. I know because I signed it. Where did I put it? Did I put it into Contracts folder, because that would be foolish, since that’s where business contracts go? Okay, not in that folder. Is it in the House folder? No. Is it in Personal?
This is so stressful. I don’t feel good. The fireplace cost an arm and a leg, and now I am not even sure we can use it.
It’s 4:50 pm. I give up and call to the business.
The very confused business admin: It says here they installed a new cap.
Me: I’m sorry, but the smokestack doesn’t seem any different. Would it help if I texted a picture?
The admin: Let me get PM to give you a call. He will call you right away.
Gordon: Growl under his breath.
It’s 5:05 pm, and I text the PM: Hi, I am sorry to bother you, but here is our chimney and it doesn’t look different. You told us it wasn’t to code and I just want to make sure that we can safely have a fire.
PM, calling: I’m sorry, I didn’t call right away. I was buying a gift for my wife. It’s her birthday.
Me: Oh, happy birthday, and I’m so sorry to interrupt. The crew was great, everything looks good and they were awesome, except that I just want to make sure we are safe with this chimney vent…
PM: Mrs. Andrews?
Me: Yes?
PM: Please go to the backyard.
Me, shuffling out: I’m there… OMG.
PM: chuckling.
Me: I’m so sorry. I hope you have a great evening and your wife has a lovely birthday.
Me, hanging up: Hey honey!
Gordon stalks out in the backyard: ?
I point up.
We had spent all this time staring at and taking pictures of the wrong chimney.
Here is hoping the Holiday Cold passes you by this year.
First?
Simply amazing. Never ever thought I’d see a new post when it came out.
Certified plague-free 😀
First?
I hope everyone feels better soon!!
Feel better soon.
Hope you both feel better soon!
With the evil illness, the trauma of construction, the lack of sleep, and the terror of traipsing through a tile store (TOO MANY CHOICES — I had to pull my wife out of one in a near catatonic state from choice overload), looking at the wrong chimney is perfectly understandable!
I am so sorry the plague has descended upon your house! I hope you all will get better soon. I hate hate hate it when my mind fails me like that due to virustiredsleepdeprivationmentaloverload. It will get better, is all I can say…
***Hugs***
I’d make you both tea and my homemade chicken soup if I could. I’m glad the chimney and fireplace are handled. Please take care of yourselves!
We live in a house owned by an older gentleman who had a DIY attitude. My fiance calls it PeePaw engineering, as his PeePaw once welded a garden hose spigot on the oil pan of his truck bc he was sick of changing the oil.
So yeah, I get you and I am sorry.
Also, I hope y’all feel better soon. We had the “not flu/covid” cold last year and I still haven’t recovered my full sense of smell. I took MULTIPLE tests bc that Had to be covid, right? Nope. My pcp said other viruses could do that too.
I appreciate the term DIY attitude! The previous owner of our house was also afflicted.
Ha, Ha, Ha!!! Oh, that’s priceless. May you recover from the cold very soon.
Ah no on the cold and unexpected fireplace replacement!!! Hope you get some downtime this weekend. As a pets-are-family person, I send you all so much sympathy.
I kind of feel the new chimney deserves extra Christmas lights, to maximize ROI. But only if holiday decorator elves make house calls.
“If you have a fear on insects, do not google vinegaroon.”
I Googled. Bad Hordelet bad.
Judwiga was cooler looking, though.
I can’t withstand temptation.
The google itself wasn’t THAT bad. It was the “Vinegaroons can be found in the southwestern United States including New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. Their range extends south through much of Mexico and they have even been found in Florida.”
Florida? FLORIDA?!!? HERE?!?!
Oh dear
hope you feel better really soon. glad the fireplace is fixed,
Hello, some bug is hitting the countr/world particularly every content creator I follow has really crappy cold or a sinus infection. Even A lady I follow who is renovating her cottage in Ireland has been sick for the last 4 days.
I am chuckling, but when the brains won’t brain there is mothing you can do. 🤪
So sorry for the lose of your furbaby. I hope you both recover soon. Hugs
been there, done that. Brick masons are hideously expensive, and you ALWAYS need them in the wintertime. Fa la la.
Cold crud is evil. I highly recommend standing in a steamy shower to clear the sinuses a bit.
Best wishes for a better tomorrow, when you’ll discover everything you wrote on fireplace day actually makes sense.
I got the holiday crud: bronchitis and sinusitis. It is really awful.
The vinegaroon looks like something Grace Draven would cook in a pie 😁
+1
+1
NOT LOOKING!!
Glad that your fireplace is fixed!! I do love the pictures you post of Miss Sookie enjoying her naps in front of the fire!!
Hot tea, hot lemon, and chicken soup are my go-to’s for soothing the miseries. Hope you all feel better soon!!
(There are definitely several varieties of crud circulating in most metropolitan areas and their suburbs. The Chicago area has at least two. Maybe this arctic blast will kill them off. Here’s hoping!!)
Completely understandable!!!! Feel better soon! (and thanks for the laugh!)
Let me know if you need pictures of vinegaroons. It’s cold here now, but I’m pretty sure I know where to lift a rock or two, although they may already be under ground. They are uglier in person than the pictures show. There’s something about the color that is kind of like its blood is actually alive. The color pulses. There’s black and a kind of dark blood red going on and when the thing moves… well, maybe you can find a video.
Not even my cat will bat at the things. Hideous. And in case you need any inspiration when they get into the heater grate, you get bits of them sticking through. The cat alerted on it, but it took us a bit to figure out what the gross legs and claws were that were on this side of the grate.
Oh–I did find a pix on my blog of one on the wall if you need the pix, let me know!
The current crud is evil. I hope it passes soon for both of you. Glad the fireplace is fixed even though getting it done was hell on earth. Please take an afternoon nap. Sleep is just as important as a book. I say that as a greedy BDH member.
Wow, you need to take January off. Except maybe for Hugh’s book. I know you used to work while sick a lot, and I thought that had gotten better. Except Texas is Paradise for allergies, if you have them they are worse here, and if you didn’t have them Mountain Cedar will give you some.
Glad your fireplace is new and (hopefully) wonderful. Maybe you can rest on the weekend. Is Gordon’s shoulder close to 100% recovered??
That’s a huge bummer. I have had my two-year old Godson staying overnight with us on Monday because his mommy was exhausted. Then last night she came down with something horrible so he stayed the night again.
He’s crabbier than usual, I believe he is the source of all of us feeling a little off, but having him around gives me a great excuse for sleeping at 9pm and taking two hour naps during the day.
that was an “Ordeal!” Considering y’all now have freak ice storms in Texas, better to have a working fireplace. Hope y’all feel better!
Vnegaroon! I tought we had that in our bathroom when we were in Tanzania. Turns out it was a Amblypygi which is a relative but more spidery. I really didn’t take the time to get a close look but stormed right out when I saw it in the middle of the night.
I hope both of you will feel better soon!
You should have put a “don’t google it” advisory on the Amblypygi. ‘Cause of course I had to look it up. It is worse than the vinegaroon! Yikes!🙂
Oh ‘that’s interesting’ is something we have heard or found for ourselves far too often in this house. The first inkling was a light bulb needing changing, couldn’t get it out myself, Mr J couldn’t get out, we didn’t like the light fitting so he took the whole monstrosity out, to discover the it had been live, the light bulbs had corroded onto the metal fitting because the whole damn fitting was live. Fortunately Mr J is a careful worker and had turned the power off, but . . . Then there was the gas supply, the burners would flare up and down in use without us adjust the flame, that one didn’t cost us anything, except several men working and a lot of holes being dug to find the problem, because the error was on the supply side of our meters. It turned out that a single house supply had been connected to three houses, so if any of us turned something on or off while another house was using gas the pressure would change, the gas men said they’d not seen anything like it, very dangerous. I could write a pamphlet on the problems this house has had. The latest is the soil pipe, and we can’t get anyone to even come and look at it until the New Year *sigh* so you have my sympathy!
I hope the crud runs it’s course jolly soon and you get your brains back!
Amid all the chaos, can I just tell you how much I love this sharing of normal, albeit challenging, life experiences? I sincerely hope you both feel much better and are warming your toes in front of the “new” fireplace. ❤️❤️
Hello, I am sorry to say but I have a plague too. It’s covid. I had realy high feaver and my head did hurt the first day. Luckily I mostly slept it away. Hope you are better soon too.
Fireplace was on my list of non-negotiables when I was looking for a permanent home again … after a few years of rentals as I bounced back and forth on either side of Puget Sound. I would have preferred real wood fire place (Mr. Gordon is right, you can heat and even cook with a wood fire if the power goes out). However, I had to settle for gas fire (which does work even in a power failure). Once the weather turns colder, I have it on every day … the cats insist!
My son has had that crud for 7 days, he was hoping it was strep so he’d be on antibiotics. Nope, just whatever’s going around. Making him chuckle soup. Seems my husband is complaining of catching what my son has. But then again he once complained of catching what I had and I had morning sickness. Go figure🤨
Hope y’all feel better, and with multiple chimneys who could blame you for the mistake, 🤣.
With how muddle headed you both are feeling it’s a wonder you didn’t let a little snippet of TKWNKM2 slip😜
I am still waiting for Maggie with bated breath. Soon my little precious…
And now I see where the inspiration for the Baylor’s compound was found, with the former owner who “thought he was handy … his handiness was much in doubt”. (paraphrased … too lazy to lookup the exact quote).
That is…. a lot. 9n top of y’all already (apparently always) having a lot 🫂 Virtual hugs because 1. I’m not there in person and 2. I don’t want the crud.
Happy the things are fixed, enjoy your fire, and fell better! 🫶🏼
My condolences on the cold. Sounds awful. Congratulations on the new fireplace and chimney.
we have the cold. hope you are feeling better
I’m only laughing because I have done very similar things.
I hope all y’all feel better soon and get some rest before the holiday season really kicks into gear.
Vinegaroons: Ewww. Yet another reason why I’m so very happy I live in Canada. Even though it’s not as consistently cold here as it was when I was a kid, we don’t have such nightmarish creatures.
No, just polar bears and mooses, or are they called meeses🤣. Loved Canada when we visited awile ago, beautiful country.
:: hands you a cup of tea and wraps a wool blanket around you while fully masked::
{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}
we had the same horrible holiday cold and it took out of family of 8 for 2 weeks. imagine tiny baby screaming in pain with a high fever/cough/sore throat while my autistic son refused to eat, my other kids reigned in chaos and I had a million orders to somehow get together and shipped for my small business. I hope you feel better soon.
Signing tip sheets for special editions? Where can we buy or preorder these special editions?
I just received my Arcane Society trilogy of Nevada and Rogan special editions. They are gorgeous.
🤦♀️
Feel better soon. Enjoy the new fireplace.
I’m sorry for your plague. But you managed to make me chuckle. I have a very stressful time at work leading up to Christmas, so thank you for lighting up my day.
Honestly, your heading sounds like it could be the title for your next novella.
Get well soon, and have a merry Christmas!
You might have RSV. It can be like a cold on steroids, with intense coughing. 🙁
Sending all the positive vibes for a speedy recovery because whatever y’all have sounds horrible!
so does that mean you have to do the other 3 too? ugh. my sympathies.
Colds are soooo horrible! I was a NP, and I made a hand out giving suggestions for things to help with cold symptoms. The main thing is that your sinuses are going to take at least six weeks to heal. So you are going to have postnasal drip and coughing for six weeks. Sorry! I encourage you to rinse your sinuses with a bottle rinse at least three times a day during the worst symptoms. Then once or twice a day as your sinuses heal. (Do not use a neti pot, it’s torture).
The BEST cough syrup is Hycodan (hydrocodon-Homotropin), hands down. It has a decongestant with the cough suppressant. I have to pay cash for it because Medicare won’t cover it. It’s worth it.
Feel free to e mail me for help.
I’m soooo happy for you that the chimney was in fact done. On Aug 14, my 2 months retired husband put a hole in our master bathtub, about 5 in across (irregular hole) trying to stop a drip that we had had for YEARS. Today we have a completely renovated master bath, new everything, new deeper linen closet, and KID 1 (she and her 6yo son currently living with us) have a new deeper bathtub as well…it only took 3.5 months to fix that small hole….my clothes are still 2 floors down in the basement as I wait p*tiently for the master closet to be painted….
Not only that, 2nd chimney looks nicer that 1st chimney.
1st looks a bit like a cylon bunker
Of course I googled vinegaroon. Didn’t everyone?
lol. I googled one last time it was mentioned here.. lol no idea prior that there is a spider like creature that can shoot vinegar out its butt. This thing is my holiday humbug spirit animal.
NO! NO! EWWWW
I did too, and all the other ones mentioned! I knew, from the depths of my imagination not to, but I’m the one that peeks through my fingers at the scary parts. Ah well, who needs sleep anyway.
I have a world class epic very bad day. My pets and my kid are good and I sucked up enough to not get fired, that is where the bar and my gratitude are set. Apparently, at work, I’m aggressive, combative and a negativity peddler that doesn’t have the self awareness to understand her influence on impressionable the youth(adult coworkers). Oh and I need to smile more bc no one understands my face is not for them. Fun times in performance review land.
I am in my soft bed with my cats and a glass of wine. Reading this post and feeling some comfort that Sookie is adorable, Gordon can have a fire, and I’m sure you’ll feel better soon, Christmas plagues are the worst.
💗
Hope it gets better soon, Jenn.
…I need to smile more bc no one understands that my face is not for them. You are a kindred spirit, Jenn! So glad I’m not alone in that! Cats and wine for the win.
Ugh. The smile police. If it makes u feel better, the last one to tell me to smile won’t b doing that again. Not that I was unkind, just honest. I deeply appreciate your turn of phrase: ‘ bc no one understands my face is not for them.’ I may use that someday. Smiles…
Thank you dear BDH friends!! You kind support has made me smile for real.
((Hugs))
Ooooh vinegaroom, its pretty intimidating looking for sure.
The only bug that has ever wigged me out was the spruce bug and not because of how it looks.
We built a log cabin on our lake property in Northern Ontario using trees cut from the property. Naturally after peeling them the spruce bugs came in hordes to devour. They have a very distinctive sound when theyre flying in. Since trees are their thing they have the most painful bite and after peeling bark and being covered in sap the one time I was bit it felt like someone took pliers to my flesh twisting and ripping their way in. Needless to say,now i only have to hear that distintive sound of one incoming and i dash a way screaming and diving through the nearest door to protected space.
Glad you got the firplace fixed up! Sorry to hear of the pet loss ☹️
I have had two vinegaroons in my apartment, one live and one dead. I screamed so loudly when I found the live one that my upstairs neighbor came down to see if I needed help. The dead one was under the bed, pretty sure a cat got it. They are harmless to people (maybe a sting hurts but it won’t kill you) but they look like a demon and an alien had kids.
Glad they really did fix your chimney vents!
Please be safe and careful! Losing pets is the absolute worst. Can’t wait for the next installment of Maggie (was lucky enough to get an ARC through Edelweiss and I’ve already read it twice). Careful with those colds – picked one up up north on a family visit and my sister’s version turned into pneumonia. Thank you both for all you do to bring joy – thoughtful joy – to so many lives.
Oh I needed that chuckle!!
Feel better soon!!
We’ve had that cold from hell. I’m still suffering and it’s been 2 weeks. I didn’t test for it but it feels like Covid lol. I’ve had that bastard 3 times. Lost my smell and taste and I don’t have it back yet. Thanksgiving was tasteless. I don’t know what this is but I’m sooo done. Hopefully it doesn’t ruin Christmas I have so many things to do and I haven’t felt like it. The fireplace thing yeah that’s definitely something I’d do too. 😂
Oh, I’m so sorry you guys are sick! So glad the fireplace is usable for you… I’d hate to go through that again.
That is a misery of a cold! Same here, hubby caught it, gave it to me and drippy noses, sneezing , sore throats and about 2 weeks to feel better.
Your house reminded me of the Tom Hanks movie The Money Pit.
At least you didn’t have a turkey shoot out of the oven, across the courtyard, into the bathroom landing in it full of water and crashing through ceiling! Best movie ever!
Feel better and hope this will be it for house repairs for a few years.
Merry Christmas ahead of time !
Sorry to hear you got the cold passing around! Mine fortunately was very minor. Hope you feel better soon!
I’m deeply happy you got the chimney replaced. A friend had a fire start in her not up to code chimney, resulting in them moving to a rental for almost a year while the house was repaired. So yea!
I live in the SF Bay Area, so we don’t have a lot of bugs and I’m restraining myself from Googling that one. I’m going to stay strong.
I think I caught that same cold, it has a cough that sticks around like you owe it money. Sorry for the loss of your furry friend and glad you got the fireplace back up and working!
Hope you’re feeling better soon and glad you got everything fixed..Ya’all take care of yourselves and deepest condolences for your loss.
Hugs and sympathies for the loss of your non-human family member. Hope the plague passes you over soon! Sometimes it’s a relief to hear other humans also have “dumb human” moment; often feels like my life is riddled with them! 🙂
Has anybody checked if searches for vinegaroon have jumped?
Sorry for your loss of a fur baby and for the miserable cold – that’s an awful double whammy.
A laugh for a laugh… (it’s only fair)
My Life as a Comedy of Errors, or How I Entertained My Neighbors This Week
Saturday: (Note – It rained all day here before switching to snow last Friday evening.) I ran outside to check the mail. As soon as my boot hit the front walk, it landed on glare ice. I ended up doing the splits and sliding 5 feet down the walkway. My body is not meant to do the splits. There are multiple bruises and muscle aches. The kids across the street attempting to make a snowman (wrong type of snow, too fluffy, not wet enough) called out scores like Olympic judges. To add insult to literal injury, the mailbox was empty.
Monday: Mid-afternoon, but I was already in my jammies for an early night. I got notification of a delivery. Not wanting to leave it outside in the cold, I ran out to the mailbox in said jammies. (Learned from Saturday and walked on the grass/snow.) Halfway back to the house, arms full of squishy packages, jammie pants fall down. Normally, this wouldn’t be a huge issue since it was already dark out except: 1) I don’t wear anything under my jammies; 2) I’m so pale, I glow in the dark; 3) there is a street light on the corner of my property that puts a spotlight on the whole front yard. Thankfully, only a few neighbors were outside to catch the show.
Tuesday: Went out to check the mail. It was daytime, so I was in real clothes. Walking in the grass back to the house, arms full of packages [it’s Christmas, lots of deliveries coming], pants fall down. I learned from last time and wore a long coat. No free show for the neighbors… also ordered a belt from Amazon. It should come this weekend.
Wednesday Night: While putting out my trash can for pickup the next morning, I found that the lid was iced closed. (I normally keep a stick under the lid in winter to prevent this from happening.) Fought with it to break the ice. It was a hard fought battle. The lid gave way unexpectedly and I ended up on my tushie in the snow. Not an issue, it was a soft landing, no bruises… except to the ego. I have a corner lot. My [detached] garage and driveway are on the side of my house. Across the lane is a streetlight. (Do you see where I’m going with this?) This is not usually a bad thing, because it’s dark af in rural MN. Unfortunately, my neighbors across the street happen to be moving this week. They were having a party, loading up the moving van and multiple truck beds. At least my pants did fall down this time.
Thursday: Decided it was safer to stay in the house and avoid public humiliation… Stepped on my pants leg and TIMBER! (Because I have delusions of height and bought jeans for average sized people, not because they were falling down.) Silver lining: I live in a split-level entry so it’s unlikely the neighbors saw that one.
If you need me, I’ll be buying a massive roll of bubble wrap before my next excursion in public.
Wow! So glad you are okay! Other than your dignity, of course!! Hugs!
Hehehe! In solidarity, I will tell you that a couple of years ago, I proudly walked out of my optometrist’s office, sporting a brand new, stylish pair of glasses, stumbled, and belly flopped on the sidewalk in public. It was fun. 🙂
oops. I hope you don’t feel too bad … life happens..and sometimes you happen to life 😉
being a klutzy mostly myself I can totally sympathize.🤗
It’s good that you have a great sense of humor, possibly in sheer self-defense. Sending hugs, suspenders and duct tape. (The quick way to hem pants that are too long-just make sure to duct tape on the inside of the pants. My failure to do this on one but only one leg also established that both my husband and brother r utterly useless in checking my appearance BEFORE leaving the house. For a meeting and lunch out. It was mentioned only once we were home again. Black pants with silver duct tape. Sigh.) The suspenders should b kept by the door and worn on all trips to the mailbox(which u might want to check for a curse, as there seems to b a theme). I applaud the long coat and belt, although most of my jammies lack belt loops, so the clip on suspenders might b a better bet. Here’s hoping most of your holiday packages have already arrived!
So glad I have not used the fireplace without getting a chimney sweep or inspection first. Still putting it off. Not much drive to do it though where I live.
Glad your fireplace is fixed and chimney is fixed. I hade to rebuild my chimney due to age and leaking down inside the house when it rained. Had to do roof and gutters too that year. Now I may need to replace the fireplaces or get them repaired due to cracks and wear and tear. No looking forward to the project.
Worse cold is RSV. I had to sleep sitting up due to congestion and coughing left me gasping for breath. Worst two weeks ever.
I feel your pain on the fixer upper house….. we have a similar and the last 10 years have involved a lot of ‘why did they do that?’ , ‘errmmmm that’s …. Interesting’….. and several ‘oh FFS!’ As we’ve sorted things out…. The running joke now is the work was done by messrs Bodgit and Scarper…
On several occasions there have also been dark mutterings wondering if we could track down the previous owners after especially nasty findings.
Hope the cold from hell goes soon and you feel better.
I hope you‘ll feel better soon! We love our fireplace, keeps us warm when the floor heating reacts slowly… in Germany all new fireplaces have to be closed… more like a „fire oven“.
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting at the dining table when I heard a weird noise coming from the fireplace… Cooper, our Welsh Springer Spaniel was lying on the cool glasplate in front of it (mandatory, remember German rules and regulations..). He looked up, irritated as well. When I got closer, I saw a small bird in the chamber, making noises by trying to get out. So I banned Cooper from the living room, opened all the floor to ceiling windows and opened the Glassdoor of the fireplace/ oven chamber. It was afraid to come out, but once I got closer with the ash shovel it flew straight out the nearest window. I still don’t know how it got in there, must be through the chimney….
They sit on the chimney because it’s warm. If there’s smoke or other fumes coming up out of the chimney, it sends the birds to sleep and they fall down the chimney. You can get chimney guards that prevent this. Don’t ask how many birds I had to retrieve from the wood stove before we got chimney guards.
Noisy home repairs when you have to be home — say, working — are the worst. Hail damaged roof replacement was our monster headache — literally with hours of pounding. You have this Wisconsin book-devourer’s sympathy.
Fireplace as appliance with a limited life? Geez, planned obsolescence with a vengeance!
Thanks for letting us laugh with you in the middle of all this. Laughter is a great healer. Praying your life returns to health, boredom and productivity soon. And that your good memories of your pet outweigh and outlast your grief.
So very sorry for the loss of your sweet pet. No matter how long you had them to love, it never makes the loss any easier.
And, OMGosh, so sorry you had that awful next-level cold. I had a variant. It started with a severe headache & high fever, devolved to a low fever and Rivers of non-stop mucous for 7 days. Now it’s an ever-present cough…
Praying you both recover and the fireplace offers all the warmth and comfort ever!
Bless you both, we all do these things especially when we have horrible colds and our brains go to mush 💖 So sorry for your loss, no one can understand the pain of it unless they have their own angel/pickle 🐾Take care of those colds they are a beast, I live in the UK but we still get versions if it. 💖💕💕
Life can be a lot, and I feel like lately, it’s been a lot for all of us !! Take some time to breathe when you can and I’m so sorry for the pet. It’s never easy, doesn’t matter how and when, grief is grief.
Regarding having a good fireplace, it was one of the bonus points in the flat we purchased last year, and I discovered that it has to be redone entirely. It seems it was built by a precedent owner, who decided it was an excellent idea to put WOOD around the pipes. Yeah. Wood. So I’m not getting a good fire for Christmas anytime soon, we have other financial priorities :'( like building our kitchen but I digress.
At least you can chill in front of a good fire now so there’s that ! Yay to a good fire !
Reminds me of the motto of the house I grew up in “I’ve never seen it done this way before!” — used by every tradesperson that ever came through the place. (Didn’t help that we lived in a hurricane prone area so every few years we had the joys of ~water damage~ to compound whatever else had gone wrong. ‘Twas interesting indeed.
Hope y’all are well soon!!! Thanks for sharing chimney misadventures!
If you find vinegroons creepy, google solpugids
OMG you’ve had an absolute stressful time. Glad the fireplace is up & running. The lurgy can be killed with kindness. Hot hunny & lemon drinks always work with me. Hope you recover soon.
Our previous home was also constructed by a builder in the early 60’s. We cringed every time we heard “creatively built” and would reach for the checkbook. Hope you enjoy your new fireplace, up to code chimney and feel better.
Last year’s crud ruined our Thanksgiving, Christmas, and my daily life until April. Fortunately, my husband bounced back faster than I did, so there was someone adulting. The mucus is horrific: box of tissues gone in three days. Congrats on the new chimney and potentially lovely mantle!
Hoping you feel better and get all the fluids, protein, more fluids, water, nutrition, etc you need to heal!
You have some seriously impressive inner reserves. Hope you are back to full health real soon.
I feel your pain. I have that same cold. After a month it starts to get better.
Your fireplace will give you joy and warmth. Worth the money.
Alas, I googled vinegaroon. Will avoid the southwest.
Drink lots of warm liquids. Feel better soon.
I hope you are on the mend. I’m glad your fireplace is functioning. We live in Las Vegas where a wood fireplace is an oddity and I miss having one. I experienced my first and only vinegaroon when we were stationed in El Paso. Their favorite treat is a scorpion so we let it be.
I lost one of my fur kiddos Tuesday and am reeling and having an awful time personally. I’m so sorry for your loss 💔
The chimney though, what an excellent laugh! Keep warm and hug everyone. Texas is being Texas and it’s a bit nippy today!
Take care of yourself Cori. It’s so hard to lose them.
Bad cold…with a bad cough…you need Buckley’s cough syrup. It’s probably the nastiest stuff you’ll ever taste in your life. But it works like nothing else! I don’t believe it’s available in the US so if you can’t find it and you’d like to try it, send me an email, I’ll box a couple bottles up for you and send it!
Get well soon! 🙂
feel better soon! and thank you for working through all the stuff to bring me a new book.
I’m looking forward to Maggie.
Ooof I feel like the Austin/surrounding area must have had a rash of “custom on a budget” houses built at some point because ours has quite a few similar issues that we’ve discovered while we’ve lived here. Everything from “why is this arched doorway into this side of the kitchen SO DAMNED NARROW???” and thus unable to fit a single solitary appliance through it unless they too are custom sized to the worlds smallest wood burning fireplace that can fit maybe(?) a single log and only if we don’t have a starter log in there to a random shelf thing in the big bathroom up 11 feet high that does nothing but gather dust and make the heater in there less efficient.
Oh the joys of homeownership is what I’m saying LOLSOB
Feel better soon. Also, I feel like I’ve been there, done that.
You know, of course, I had to stop mid-read to check out that bug! It’s horrible! Thank goodness it’s not running around where I live!
I have already gotten this cold. It is THE WORST. I’m usually never sick longer than 3 days and this stuck around for almost three weeks. All my hopes that you get over it STAT!
Illona et-al – First, every single time we go out into the public, when we get home we gargle with Listerine, every single time. So far in the last few years since COVID, we have not gotten flu/cold. Last year we looked at used sewing machine, in basement, with dead mice on the floor. BH got very, very ill, even though we both gargled when home. Believe she got hantavirus, no test, but negative for COVID/FLU. Two courses of antibiotics, finally after one month she recovered, but it was close. TX has spawned a “virus” which kicks your backside, cousin visited his parents, was coughing the whole time he was here, we were not invited for Thanksgiving, so we are healthy. Gargle every single time out in public, nightly too.
Nothing is ever “simple”…the adventures of home ownership. If you live in your home long enough you’ll replace everything in it!
Hope HA is on the mend.❤️🩹
I would love to come over and make you some chicken soup and I promise I would not read any manuscripts that I see. lol
I do have a hot toddy recipe for the cough at night. Take 1/3 cup bourbon, I use Jack Daniels but that is my preference. Add 1/3 cup honey and 1/3 cup lemon juice. Heat on stove or microwave. You can share that 1 cup so you each have a half of a cup. Drink it warm, and go to bed.
Hope you’ll feel better soon.
I meant 1/3 cup of bourbon.
What a time y’all have had! Just some unsolicited advice, but if you’ve been sick for a week I would hit the doctor up for some steroids or cough meds to help. Hope you feel better and enjoy your nice warm fire!
So sorry for your loss. That is always a tough time. Hope your colds resolve soon. A previous poster mentioned checking in with your PCP – when I get a respiratory infection in cold weather, the irritated airways sometimes progress to mild asthma when the cold air hits them. At that point I have to use an inhaler for a couple of days to get rid of the inflammation. Albuterol, not steroid for me, as the steroid inhaler inevitably led to a secondary strep infection. Three strikes, steroids out.
DIY houses – this one was handmade in 1920, had an addition when indoor plumbing arrived in the area, and was renovated by the owners and their friends/relatives over the decade before I bought it two years ago. Sadly, during that decade they chopped off all three chimneys and roofed over them.
This obviously sucks from an off-grid perspective. In my previous house, the wood stoves and central chimney meant we were able to stay in the house even through weeklong outages. I really hate gas generators, but there may be one in my future. So far I’ve managed to dodge that bullet, weatherwise.
It must have been such a relief when you realized the repairs were still good! Enjoy your hot drinks. Off to get mine now…
I’m so glad the fireplace/chimney situation is sorted – I think most of us can relate to the “mistaken identity” occurrence but how funny and must have been a huge relief!
Sorry about your fur baby.
You are real troopers working through that wicked bug. I hope it passes very speedily.
i swear when you’re sick like that and blowing your nose constantly, its like each time you blow your nose, more and more of your brains leak out in the snot until there’s nothing left. hope you feel better soon and get your brain power back.
I hope you both feel better really soon and until it does, just keep remembering the words “this to shall pass” now if it I could remember where that’s from, but I’m picturing Ian McKenna/Gandalf so guessing it’s hobbit lore, and along with a good second breakfast, we know it stands the test 🙂
LOL! However, it’s really not your fault being plague compromised and you had multiple chimneys. Get well soon and enjoy the new fireplace.
Condolences on the loss of your pet. Congratulations on the new fireplace. And congratulations on your growing fame. Ilona Andrews was in my crossword puzzle today.
I’m pretty sure I got this exact cold back in September. The good news is, it only lasted a week or so. The bad news is, I then got bronchitis. Good luck, and try the Mucinex nasal spray. That’s basically what saved my sanity.
Being sick is terrible. Sending hugs and prayers. Get well soon please
I currently have the Holiday Cold.
It is *awful*.
It is not: strep, rsv, covid, influenza A, or any of the other things they can do anything helpful about.
Advice from urgent care: manage your symptoms aggressively so you get some sleep and can actually get better.
So sorry to hear about the loss of your pet. A local vet (Northern California) began a grief group for pet people, and I was very grateful for it. Maybe there’s something like that near you, if you wanted to go that direction.
Congrats on the new fireplace, and hopefully you’ll regain the brains and energy soon, needed to continue working on the book. Take good care
I am sorry that you guys are sick, but this was hilarious and made my day!
I am sorry that both of you are not feeling well. It is possible that you have the respiratory virus. Unfortunately, there is no real treatment for it other than treating the symptom. Sleeping with your head elevated will help with preventing pneumonia. In pharmacy school we were taught that it helps make you swallow the mucus rather than inhale it. Lessing the chances of it ending up in the lungs and causing infection. However, if you spike a high fever or breathing becomes difficult you should go to the hospital. The respiratory virus has caused deaths. I hope you guys start feeling better.
We had it in October. I promise it goes away…. 2.5 weeks later…
Hope you’re feeling much better, soon.
Awww!! Sending good vibes to the two of you. May you do something comforting and that fills whatever need you have very soon.
Usually I just send virtual hugs, but not everybody is into those, virtual or otherwise.
Define ‘newer homes’ please? I’m now looking at our fireplace and wondering…
It doesn’t LOOK like an appliance.
Thanks for the laugh. my husband calls it home groanership. I know, dad joke territory. Glad you got your fireplace fixed.
I lived on the San Juan Islands for a number of years (in Washington state) and the power was always going out. We had to have a wood stove to keep us warm.
Being sick is no fun. Hope you are on the mend soon.
So sorry about the loss of your pet. Mine snuggle into my heart, and the grief when they pass is challenging, to say the least.
So I didn’t look up the insect, this BDHer is learning! But I was in bed when I was reading this and fell asleep and dreamed of tiny insects biting me and no one else!
Sorry to hear about your bout of plague. Old RN here offering unsolicited advice. Check with your doctor about Tessalon Pearls. They have some tetracaine in them that helps against the relentless coughing bouts. Can definitely help with sleep disturbances from a hacking unproductive cough when you’re at that point. Also elevate the head of your bed to help with the draining yuck. Either a board or brick under the feet at the head or something between the mattress and springs/support. Helps stuff avoid pooling in the back of your throat which is followed by the gasping chokes which trigger the spastic cough attacks. And do the warm saltwater gargle WITH fresh lime juice. The lime makes the gargle more effective. Think ceviche where food cooks chemically instead of thermally. It can help create an inhospitable environment for the virus. And when you’re better throw away your toothbrush or replace the head if you have that kind. Don’t let your toothbrushes cuddle in the same holder. Storing separately helps reduce if not prevent viral sharing. Stay vigilant for signs of a secondary bacterial infection. Green goop is bad. Yellow goop is generally just sad. Thinking about you and all battling various winter viral battles.
Thank you so much! I went old school with Russian tea with lemon, elevated head and pillows, and we did Vicks. For some reason, none of the usual things worked, but Mucinex, surprisingly, proved most effective.
We store the toothbrushes separate and switch them often. Thank you for the reminder – I am about to toss ours.
Yep, I had that terrible cold with coughing that sounded like death was imminent and I’m in New York. Lasted a good two weeks. Was zooming with a friend in Toronto. Her whole house has it now. I think it’s global. But the fireplace (yours–I live in an apartment) is done! Yay! feel better soon.
Have a small wood but bought a new fireplace that’s suppose to heat entire house. Now around to put it in. Heck chimney sweeps are not common in Florida.
Thanks for the vinegaroon tip! (I love bugs, and that’s a cool one!)
Get better soon!
Googling vinegaroon isn’t bad, it’s scrolling down to all the CRAZY people HOLDING a giant, alien scorpion that will haunt me.
“Mr. Hallorann, what’s in room 237?” “Nuthin’! There ain’t nuthin in room 237 so stay out, you hear me? STAY OUT.”
What a workout!😱
I googled vinegaroon. It’s really cool! This from the little girl who grew up and STILL wanted to hold the big chunky scorpion.
But, I don’t think it is scary enough. Of course, anything giant would be scary enough.
Unfortunately, I do have that same cold. It’s lingering and draining despite massive amount of vitamin C. Stay well and hydrated
I just got over that same cold (and I am no where near Texas), went through three boxes of tissues, tried many, many cold meds with no success, and lost 5 pounds because I couldn’t gather together enough brain cells to feed myself.
My deepest, heartfelt sympathy to you both and hope you have a quick recovery ❤️🩹
I am lying in bed for day 3 of your Christmas cold and feeling deeply grateful I have no decisions more world shattering than the the kind of tea I am drinking. My blood test said bacterial infection but I am certain it is a intergalactic host organism trying to sap our will to live.
I work in healthcare. Your “holiday cold” is running rampant, and like unwanted guests tends to linger. Wishing you both a speedy recovery.
We bought a house that we have been “updating “. The line we hear most often is “why did they do that?” Enjoy your fireplace!!
I really think they need to sell a test kit that covers RSV, the other common respiratory virus.
I suppose a cold could lead to a bacterial respiratory infection too.
I’m sorry that a nice evening out led to such misery.
Glad you got your fireplace fixed. I understand how these survival needs run deep.
I saw a video about this and they tested negative for flu and Covid. Sometimes you have to test 2 or 3 times for particular strains. She said it keeps coming in waves just when she feels like she’s improving.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTrub1D82/
I hope you both are starting to feel better now. My condolences about your pet.
I’m sorry to hear about your loss. Some things never get easier.
I’m sure Miss Sookie is pleased to have her excellent spot in front of the fire back. I hope you are all feeling better!
Reading the accounts of my fellow BDHers, it sounds like the winter viruses r well traveled. My husband seems to have brought one home to share, so pretty sure we’re doomed. He’s coughing a bunch but no fever, so far. He works at a school, so often brings home whatever is going around. The one thing that actually helped was if he immediately upon returning home throws his clothes in the laundry and self in the shower. This reduced the number of viruses by 50%, so that’s what he does now. Depending on if his clothes go in the bin in our bedroom or directly into the washer, sometimes I get a floor show.
I’m going to hope for the best and check my musinex supplies.
Feel better! (And please, keep your killer cold down there with you and I’ll try hard to keep the 5-feet-of-snow-since-Thanksgiving-and-8-12-inches-more-coming here in the Great White North.) (Altho it’s not really the snow here, it’s the 20 degrees below normal cold. I can handle the snow. My house is old, it doesn’t like cold from the east)
😂😂😂
Well, it happens…
We just had to have our fireplace replaced, too. We also found out everything you did, it is a one piece install, no longer meets code, and had lasted 36 years on a 25 year warranty. We had seen chimney fires in the neighborhood, so we were happy to do it. Our daughter was our GC and our nephew did the tile and mantle install. We were so grateful. Have many wonderful fires.
This gave me a good chuckle, and the pictures added some extra dimension to the chuckles