Oy Vey. I’m so very blessed to be living here in the comfort of my home, Winterpast. As careful as I can be, I tenderly open and close my cabinets while knowing they aren’t the best. I had the best. In 2015/2016, I designed a beautiful kitchen just for VST and I. Lovely in every way, I chose all the bells and whistles while VST beamed at my glee. I was such a lucky woman in those precious days.
VST was like a boy with new a new set of Lego’s. He anxiously awaited the delivery date, and slowly put the kitchen together. Truly, it was like a jigsaw puzzle. Although we had professional installers, every evening VST sat fixing little details that weren’t to his liking. When it was done, it was a thing of beauty. No, it wasn’t white. Who ever dreamed up a white kitchen, anyway??? Ever had tomato sauce boil over???? A husband with grubby fingers? A real life? Mine was maple. With soft close cabinetry. I miss my kitchen, but also know, that ship sailed. I’m now the owner of run of the mill, stock Oak cabinets that will still be here when I sell the house.
Ace and I had a conversation one day about houses. There is a magnificent mansion on the hill above me. At least 5,000 square feet built in 2004, it’s multiple stories and very out of place. It looms over our development like the house in Psycho. If someone lived there it wouldn’t be so eerie. It’s void of life most days of the year. Just a small light shines from the lower floor. Nothing else. One small light.
AS we sat chatting about the house, I shared the opinion that a house needs a family or it’ll deteriorate. Things do break. With no one there to fix them, broken things can cause other complications. Pretty soon, you have a house that’s falling down. The Dunmovin House in Virginia City had that problem when we first moved in. Being empty for so long, faucets were stuck and toilets were leaking. A house needs constant attention and love.
So, on my last little vacation to the Biggest Little City just West of here, disaster struck while I was gone. The problem was discovered not long after my return. Of all things that could have broken, my silverware drawer runner gave way and snapped. Go figure. Just like that. A broken drawer left me with a problem to fix.
I should have paid closer attention to VST during our cabinet adventures. To him this would’ve been such a minor little problem, he is surely laughing up in the heavens. I bet the kitchen there have has soft close cabinetry. I wish he’d talk to me in my dreams tonight and give me instructions on how to fix this broken runner. As that isn’t happening, I made my way to Lowe’s this morning to see what replacements parts they might sell. Depending on the skills of Mr. Handy Lowe’s Associate, I asked whether or not they had a matching piece to the one I had in my hand.
“Oh, yes, we sell those in packages of two. They go on each side of the drawer.”
You know your boat is sunk when you run into Gilligan.
“Yes, Sir, only one side is broken. This is the support that goes against the cabinet wall. The drawer side is okay. The plastic connection piece in the back snapped.”
“But they sell them in pairs, so you can’t buy just one.”
“Yes, sir. I know that. But the space on the store shelf for the size I need is empty. Could you check to see if you have any more in stock?”
“In the package of two, right?”
In the end, my patience held, and he decided that I really needed a plastic piece in the back of the cabinet that had snapped. The one I hadn’t removed to take with me. That one. So, he sold me two replacements, because, as you know by now, they only sell them in pairs.
While I was there, I also needed two garage door openers of the new kind. The ones that open two doors, not just one.
On the package, the words were comforting. They went something like this.
“Universal Garage Door Opener. Simple. A moron can do this. Even a widow.”
Returning home, you could already connect the dots to the end of the story. The plastic piece is in no way the same as the one I should have taken to show him. Besides, it will just break again because it is flimsy plastic and the silverware drawer is extremely heavy.
The garage door openers will work with the two units I have with one small problem. While on top of a 10 foot ladder, I need to disassemble the cover of the unit, press the Yellow “Pair” button, and stand on one foot while singing “How Dry I Am”. Truly. The instructions are just that Chinese to me.
Tomorrow. On my To Do List.
#1. Hire a handyman.
#2. Pray for a good one.
Lord have mercy on this poor widow woman. Big girl panties and all, this is real life on the high desert of Northwestern Nevada. Nevada means home. Suck it up, Buttercup. Be thankful everything else is working today.
More tomorrow.