Wednesday, January 02, 2008

...While You're Busy Making Other Plans

"When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds, and diamonds are made under pressure."

-Peter Marshall

Well, the picture you see above wasn't supposed to be the first picture I took in 2008. No. Not at all. So why have I taken a photo of my lunch you ask? Well, see it all started last night after dinner, while I was doing the dishes. Alan and I had just finished our meal, and we were making plans to visit the Conservatory Of Flowers, in Golden Gate Park. They have a gorgeous exhibit going on now through March that is certain to pull anyone out of the winter doldrums. It is called Color: A Winter Carnival. It is supposed to be absolutely beautiful.

On display are all kinds of flowers and plants to lighten the heart. Beautiful. Fantastic. "And afterwards, lets have lunch and then grab an ice cream at Ben & Jerry's in the Haight," said Alan. "Okay, I can try one of the sugar-free flavors," I replied. It was all set. We would leave a little before 9:00 AM and we would drive up the coast by way of Half Moon Bay. Ahh... a long drive along the coast. But... well... my plans took a strange twist.

In fact, the twist is apparently in the pipes under my bathtub. LOL. Yep... we have a clog, and not just any clog, a holiday clog! See, while I was doing the dishes the pipes started making a festive little sound like, glopity gloop, gloop, gloop! And then it all backed up into the bathtub. Kind of like your tummy does when it hasn't made go for a while. Yuck!

So, we set off on a journey to Target, and Walmart, and Home Depot, to try and find some kind of unsticky, ungoopy, ungloggy plumbing stuff to remove whatever had decided to constipate our pipes. We found some that said, "DO NOT USE IN STANDING WATER," some that said, "DO NOT FLUSH FOR 48 HOURS," and one that actually said, "DO NOT STORE IN FOOD CONTAINERS," Well DUH! LOL. So we went with the one that simply instructed, "DO NOT USE TO PUT OUT FIRES," Oh, and by the way, it contains no peanuts or trans fatty acids! Hey, we were good to go!

A little while later, when we got home, we followed the label directions carefully, and nothing happened. So, two hours later, we followed the label directions again... still no go. With the night becoming more and more non-eventful, we decided to call it a day. We were both really tired and a little punchy at this point, so we both began to laugh at the same time about how we had begun 2008 slightly constipated! Tee Hee. Was this all a sign of things to come? I was kind of blaming myself at that point, because I had just read the night before about an old urban legend that says if you want to have a good year, you will wear pink underwear on New Year's Eve, and, of course, I ignored that warning and wore black! Yes, it was my fault.

I know what you are thinking. This is all very nice, but why is there a picture of my lunch? Ok... flash forward. It is now today, and I can't find the owner of the main house or his handyman. But I have left messages, and I am sure that someone will call us back soon, but in the meantime, I was starving. Alan decided to not make me cook, since doing dishes would be especially not possible, so off to In-N-Out Burger we went. Yum. I haven't had a big goopy burger in months. And French fries... yes... good. :) Today has been an adventure, it was definitely a plan "B" kind of day, but it has been fun. We take things like this well. Yeah. Humor and kindness is the best way to go. It's just the way life is... you know? Wasn't it John Lennon who said... "Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans." Sigh. **Grin** The conservatory will be there next week. :)


Can I take your order Miss? Tee Hee, he called me "Miss."


Be right Back...

Yum! Two Cheeseburgers with no lettuce, 1 order of fries and 1 Diet Coke.

-OndineMonet
"In-N-Out Burger"
San Ramon, California
January 2nd 2008
Afternoon

2 comments:

Karen Funk Blocher said...

I think it was over the holidays in 2006 that NPR had a long segment on plumbers and holiday clogs. It was hair-raising! Good luck with yours!

fdtate said...

A while back, In-N-Out Burger came up in a report about a celebrity, probably Britney or Lindsay. The wife asked me what it was. I didn't really know other than that it was a California thing. I was going to ask you, but life has a way of intervening and I ended up forgetting. Thanks for answering my question without my even having to ask.

Sort to hear about your clog. Sounds like it's time to go to the hardware store and get a plumbing snake or give Roto-Rooter a call.