3 Steps Forward...

Have you ever run in sand, or mud maybe even uphill? If you have than you have a keen understanding of the concept of 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. Why does every little accomplishment take VAST effort? Why is it that the diaper pail is always full at 3:00 am? Why can I not seem to complete ONE home improvement project without "The Golden Rule of Three"? The Golden Rule of Three, as a friend pointed out to me some years ago, is a rule that says "you will make at least 3 trips to the hardware store during any home improvement project". I think I have yet to prove that rule wrong. When I lived in Leadville, and the nearest Home Depot was in Avon, almost an hour away, projects sometimes went long, and sometimes didn't go at all, depending on the weather.

Joy and I were out and about running errands yesterday. She in her car seat and me, um, driving. We have one of these car seats that she can stay strapped into, and to get her in and out of the car, all you do is mount her seat to a receptacle that's already mounted in the car with a "quick release" lever. So, getting her in and out of the car, as long as she's strapped in the seat, is a piece of cake. I think back on the days when, in order to transport little one hither and yon, one would have to actually strap and unstrap into and out of the car seat. That sounds like a HUGE PITA to me, and these days, by comparison, things are easier. They are not easy, just easier. We went to 3 stores and it took hours. When I'm by myself, I can jump out of the car and almost literally run into and out of the stores I patronize. You see, I loathe "shopping". When I want a product or service, I like the "blitzkrieg" approach, which is, get in, get it, get out. That means I can get my "shopping" done in record time, which is how I like it. Er... liked it. Babies slow everything down. You take longer to get out of the car, you take longer to get into and out of the store. Hell, you even drive slower. Yeah, slow is life. So, getting furnace filters, a camera tripod, and some D subminiature pins from Radio Shaft took something on the order of 3 hours. It should have taken an hour. 3 steps forward.

I haven't written in a few days because things have been a bit busy around here. I took it upon myself to "fix" the dishwasher. HAH! I took the suspect door parts apart, cleaned them, and put it back together, and turned the damn thing on. It started with a satisfying hum, and I was certain it was on its way to a "fixed" state. I walked away to putz around in the garage with my transmission for awhile, and came back in about 30-40 minutes later to find water on the floor, a funny smell in the air and a "dripping" sound coming from the basement. Oh yeah, I fixed it good alright. I was so mad I was fuming. I yanked the dishwasher out, and put it in the garage. It was old and on its way out anyway, and these attempts were to try to get a little more life out of it. Contrary to my goal, I perhaps shortened the life of it, damaged my subfloor in the kitchen, and damaged my ceiling downstairs, and perhaps the lighting fixure the water was actually dripping from. Industrial accident, flood damage and a fire hazard all wrapped up in one. How's THAT for FIXING IT EH? Sometimes only 2 steps back is optimistic.