Merry Christmas to me!

I was promised one of these for Christmas.



That, my friends, is a Hoover Hard Floor Cleaner. Now, some might call that a lame-o Christmas present. But all of our floors here are hardwood, vinyl or tile. Not a carpet anywhere. And my back and I have a tenuous working relationship. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes not. After mopping a floor, I can be pretty much useless for an afternoon. So that hard floor cleaner makes my life ever so much easier, and, therefore, makes a wonderful Christmas present.

Or Mother's Day. I got one there years ago on Mother's Day; John got much flack from the car pool, I can tell you. But, come Monday, when they were looking for black eyes, they saw smiles. I really liked my present.

But nothing lasts forever, and it was time for a new one. Having been married sometime before the wedding at Cana, gift-giving occasions are somewhat subdued for us. Often we have small surprise gifts for each other, but our major gift-giving involves shopping. We take a day to go out and shop together, buying for each other and for ourselves. It's usually things we need; clothing, tools, floor cleaners. We get the chance to spoil ourselves, have a quiet lunch together, and talk out bunches of things while we drive from store to store. Our Christmas trip this year was cut short by a family party, so we said, "We'll pick up that cleaner sometime."

Yesterday I was in The Big City, and decided to run into Best Buy and pick it up. I don't know what compelled me to do this, but I did. And I mean compelled; I really felt like THIS WAS THE DAY.

It sure was. About 10pm yesterday, Mary was in the shower, and I was in the office. I heard an odd noise, and came out of the office, which is in the basement, to see water pouring down the wall. When John pulled the ceiling and wall apart, it appeared that the water from the shower was pouring out through the toilet. Sure enough, we had to call these guys;



They spoke of rodding and septic tanks. And then they fixed it. It only took two hours. I wish I had become a plumber, rather than attending college. Even at a high level position in my profession, I might equal their salaries. Maybe. And I would get to leave someone's house in an awful mess.



I would get to put fixtures in unusual places.



After handing over a ginormous bill, I could drive away and leave the homeowner to scrub and disinfect. You'd best believe I was thankful for the prompting to buy that hard floor cleaner!

Really, they did a good job of pre-cleaning. But I am recovering tonight with dark Dove and Cabernet. Best get back at it!