Life's a Shiputz #3 Living With a "Half-Full" Loo 🆏 Shower and Better Hot Water Than Before

No doubt, we've all heard the advice to look at a glass of water that only at 50% as "half full" and not "half empty." So due to the Jewish Holidays of Succot-Simchat Torah, which last over a week our contractor has taken off for a holiday break. 

I understand and I'm not complaining. He made every effort to leave the house as livable as possible. A couple of days before Succot he replaced the plumbing in the laundry room and returned the washing machine to its corner. So I no longer had to launder at the very generous neighbors. 

The best thing he did was to make one of the bathrooms usable. The toilet was hooked up to the plumbing, and the shower works. There's even a small faucet next to the toilet, so we can wash our hands. We do have a second fully functioning toilet by the front door. We didn't renovate that part of the house. 

I'm glad that we have a usable toilet and shower. Also, did you notice
that my old accessories match to the new colors?

Considering that we're only two people in the house, and we're not doing any major entertaining, we have all we need. There are lots of families with only one toilet. Here we have two plus a nice shower. OK, I brush my teeth in the kitchen or the sink near the front door. There are worse things. Right? 

And yes, as I wrote in the title, the hot water is better than before!

Probably the worst thing about how this house was built was the plumbing. The pipes weren't well insulated, plus they were strangely routed. Three showers could have been taken with the cold water that came out before we felt something hot. And even though we supposedly had a very large hot water tank there was never enough even for just two of us, and the solar panels only seemed to work in the peak of the summer. 

One of the things that the contractor has to do is to get the electric water heater reattached. Now, even though days are getting shorter and it's getting chilly, the water isn't freezing. I usually had it on for a couple of hours in this sort of weather.

Thank Gd, we're surviving, and I really can't complain. Gd willing, the workers will be back in under a week, and then just a "few" more workdays and both bathrooms will be fully renovated. 

As I've said over and over:

"It's just a bathroom, not someone's health."

Thank Gd we're all healthy. That's all that counts. 

Life's a Shiputz #2 Keeping a Sense of Humor

Major "Surgery" in The Plumbing Department, Update #1

Kitchen Chaos, First Success, B"H

As you probably know by now, we've been renovating our kitchen. There are lots of ups and downs and even some unpleasant surprises. On the whole it  has been an enjoyable experience, and even the small crises have turned out for the better. We're at the "tail end" I hope, and Gd willing, by the end of the week, I really hope and pray that our kitchen will be not only gorgeous, but fully functioning.

There's lots more to be done, even though the kitchen guy had hoped to be finished by Friday. But the "lots more to be done" are really the smaller jobs, like the electric outlet "frames," tweaking some of the carpentry, installing the ovens and hooking up the gas.

I also have to get a few new kitchen accessories like new dish drainers, stools, step stool etc. I also had to get some sort of basket or tray for the drawer where the onions and potatoes are to be stored.

 On Friday, I found myself with a bit of time in Jerusalem before the stores closed. It may sound a bit crazy, but the first thing I looked for and considered most "urgent" was the "potato basket." I checked out the FOX Home in the Ramot Mall, and I found something nice, but it wasn't on "sale." The full price was too high. Then since I was dropped off in Pisgat Zeev, I went to that mall. Golf and Co. also had something nice, if not nicer, but it was also full price. I almost bought it, since it was better than the one in FOX Home. But I decided to check out a couple more stores. Home Center didn't have anything suitable. Davka in the Naaman Outlet I found a wooden tray that seemed to be the right size, and since it was 80% off making the reduced price less than NS20, I bought it.

The kitchen still isn't ready, but the onions and potatoes and garlic seem very cozy in their new home.

New Kitchen Progress, Gd Willing, After 9th of Av

For months, I've been working on getting us a new kitchen, and for years I've been talking about it. Honestly, I had no idea how complicated it could be. Somehow even building our house seemed easier. Then there was nobody around  to tell us that we were doing it wrong. We didn't comparative shop in terms of architect and cablan, builder. We just chose professionals who made us feel comfortable, neighbors, then planned and trusted them.

We didn't do that awful a job. None of us were terribly experienced, not the architect, nor the builders and certainly not us. Davka, the house has held up rather well. But to be honest, the biggest mistakes were in the kitchen planning. That's one of the reasons we need a new kitchen, and the other is that the plumbing needs replacement. Actually I'm keeping an entire wall of closets from the old kitchen and not changing them at all. The planning of those closets was mine alone. At first I thought that I'd get new doors for them, but then to save money, we're not. The formica on the new part of the kitchen goes well with it. Wherever we can save money, we will try.

A few months ago I thought I had it all wrapped up with the right plan, builder, color scheme etc. Then at the last moment, I canceled. One of my daughters helped me find someone else to do the work, and I'm much happier with this one, even though it'll cost a bit more.

The new kitchen contractor "tweaked" the plan in a great way. He's not pushing, which is good.

I took a couple of trips to Jerusalem to look at ceramics, colors etc, and things have changed enormously since my first plan.

Now since the 9th of Av is so soon, nothing gets signed until afterwards.