Needed: A Husband!

I'm a little slow getting to this because of a series of events, but have received many emails and comments telling me to get to it. I've decided that there is no way to catch up on my blog unless I start chipping away at it...so here it goes.

I think of myself as someone that is quite handy. I've been single my whole life and have lived on my own for almost half of it. I've learned to do many things from my parents, even those things that are typically thought of as "a man's job". Unfortunately I don't have a man in the house, so I play that role for now. I'm told it is intimidating, however I look at it as I really have little choice. Being the helpless female was never a role that I wanted to play. I do however look forward to the time when someone else is willing and able to wear the pants. Willing and able to fix things. Willing and able to know exactly what to do in situations that I don't. I'm very old fashioned in many ways and hope to be able to pass over certain roles to someone else.

My embarrassing moment all starts because the battery on my house alarm key pad died. I was actually quite upset about it because they are rechargeable and I'd only had it for about 9 months. For a couple days I couldn't set my alarm and could only guess how much a new battery pack would cost. Just one more thing. Come to find out, it really wasn't the batteries that were bad.

Back up a few days. I was making salsa and was using a small food processor. It was working and then it wasn't. I hadn't used it for years and so I just assumed it was because it was broken. I went forward and made my salsa. Later that day the plug in my kitchen wouldn't work. I did what I was suppose to and went and checked the breaker...which was fine. I hadn't tripped any switch. Just to make sure I turned them off and back on, still didn't work. I chalked it up to one more thing that I needed a handy man to do around my house. Things I might be able to do, but don't choose to...like climb on the roof.

It wasn't until I was commenting at work about it to a couple of the men. When commenting about the batteries, one asked the simple question, "Are you sure you didn't trip your GFI?" No, I wasn't sure. I'd only done it once before and it too took a few days to figure out and only after someone mentioned it then too. I don't think we had GFI plugs in the home I grew up in, so I don't even think to check. It would have been so much easier to push the little red button then to go outside and unlock the breaker box, but it just didn't cross my mind. So when I got home that day I pushed the little red button and walla...the keypad worked again.

The system resets itself and the time and everything else wasn't set up the way that I wanted it, so I got out my manual and started programming it late one night. Here is where my embarrassing moment comes into play. I set the time and then went to set the chime so that it would say what door or window was open. I then went to sent the volume and that is when it happened. It was 12:30am. The siren started going and it said "fire" on the key pad. I put in my code twice and the siren stopped. Now, I was told that I didn't have fire on my alarm, so it didn't cross my mind to call in a false alarm. I kept programming and was even trying to figure out how I did what I did. Now, remember, it is after midnight and my cell phone is in my bedroom. 5-10 minutes later I go to go to bed and see I have a missed call and a message. It was the alarm company. By the time that I called them I could hear the sirens. It gets worse. They call to try to stop the false alarm and put me on hold. Then the lights are outside of my house. Now this is the moment where you wish you could crawl in a corner and wish it all away. However, doing so may cause them to go through my door, thinking there really may be a fire. So my doorbell rings and I unfortunately have to answer it. Picture me ready for bed, with a phone to my ear with the alarm company and opening my door. As I open my door there are at least 6 (as far as I could see down the sidewalk) firemen dressed and ready to fight a fire. At that moment they get radioed that it is a false alarm. All I could say was that I was sorry. They did NOT look happy. Now meeting a few good looking firefighters would usually be an exciting thing...not at 12:40 in the morning when they are upset with me! I tried to explain that I was programming my system and the alarm went off and because I was told I didn't have fire I assumed I was okay. Then I said I was sorry about a million times. They still did not look happy with me. All those men staring at me...not good. I then said, "I don't know what else you want me to say, I am sorry." Finally the boss, the one at the door, smiled and said, "Well, at least now you know it works." I thanked them for coming and apologized yet again. They left and I was wide awake...so much for going to bed. HOW EMBARRASSING!!!

My need for a husband doesn't stop there. A couple days later I went to pull out of my driveway and noticed water running from one of my plants down the street. I made a mental note that my dripper system must be running too long and I needed to shorten the time it ran.

When I got home, there was still water running down the street. I checked the sprinkler box and it said it was off. I couldn't figure out how to shut them off and so I turned the dripper so that it was in the off position and would stop the water from coming out. My back yard had a small pool to the west. I knew I again needed to find a handy man to help me, but figured I'd temporarily fixed it.

A couple days later I went to dig up the dripper system in the back to figure out why I still had a pool of water. I noticed that there was a couple cut lines in the hose. That must have happened when dad and I were doing yard work and were hoeing weeds. I cut the line and put in a plug to stop the water. Again...temporary fix. Mental note, call a sprinkler specialist.

Later that day I come home in the dark and hear a fountain of water. I park my car in the garage and grab a flashlight. One of the drippers in the front yard, that used to have a plug on it, was a fountain of water. With the dripper system still on and with all of them plugged, there was so much pressure that it pushed it out and who knows where it went. I still to this day have not found the plug that was in it...about 2 cm across and 1 1/2 cm tall. I tried to figure out how to shut off the outside water. I remembered where they said it was when I bought my house, but I couldn't get it to move and so second guessed myself. I called Uncle Delwyn and he said he'd come over...it was 10 pm. He came over and was able to use a wrench to get enough leverage to shut it off. Problem temporarily fixed. He said the valve likely got stuck open.

About a week later, Eric, my brother-in-law, found that a valve had gone bad. He disconnected it and told me if I bought another valve he would put it back together and hopefully that would work. I still have yet to make it to Home Depot.

Now, just remember...you love me and will always be my friend! Even when I do things that are a bit embarrassing...but fun to laugh at:-)!

So...if you know of any good, spiritual, stable, yet handy, single men that are looking to find someone awesome and amazing (that's me), feel free to send them my way:) Until then I will continue to play both roles the best I can. That could lead to many more embarrassing moments, but at least I can laugh at myself. Life is really quite good and I like it that way!

Needed: A Husband!