Squawk Radio
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
We interrupt this intelligent discussion of reading and writing habits for a tantrum by Christina Dodd
My husband and I are building a house.
It started innocently enough. We were living in Houston and wanted to get a little closer to our parents in Idaho without actually living in Idaho. Two years ago, in Washington state, we found a beautiful spot to build and bought our ground the day before our anniversary, thus making the appropriate gift, “real estate.” My husband designed our dream home (he ran a design department for a structural engineer and we’ve been married for two million years making him the expert on both Home Design and What I Want.) We got ready to move, a grueling process since we a) loved Houston and b) we’d lived there long enough to accrue a lot of things and a lot of friends. We packed the things and bid tearful goodbyes to the friends and by June 1, 2004 we were living in a small, very small, rental in Washington.
BY JUNE 1!
GUESS WHERE WE’RE STILL LIVING??!? You bet. In the small, very small rental with two dogs and not enough room to snap a towel without rattling the blinds.
The house was supposed to be finished by June 1. In fact, I invited friends to visit in June. Susan Sizemore, author of I THIRST FOR YOU and a dear friend, will be here this weekend. She’s staying in the B&B down the road. Jerry and Donna, friends we’ve known forever, are going to be here the weekend of June 25 & 26. They’re staying at the B&B down the road, too, BECAUSE WE DON’T KNOW WHEN THE HOUSE WILL BE DONE!!!
Today was the final straw. Four months ago — FOUR MONTHS AGO! — we went and picked out our plumbing fixtures. Sinks, faucets, toilets … mind you, we did NOT pick out the $5,000 toilet, the one that has a bidet, an auto-flush, and recognizes the gender of the person who walks in and raises and lowers the seat accordingly. No, we got a plain ordinary toilet that requires hand- flushing, lifting and lowering. I did choose the one that looked as if it was easy to clean (easy to clean has been the #1 requirement for everything in the house.) Today, FOUR MONTHS LATER, we were told we had to go pick out new toilets because the manufacturer doesn’t make the ones I picked out anymore.
Most of our things are in storage, a storage we’re losing on July 1. That means whether or not the house is ready, we’re moving out of the small, very small rental and into our beautiful new house on July 1 (see photos on my website at http://www.christinadodd.com/ritter.htm .) But how long will it take to ship the toilets we’re picking out tomorrow? One week? Two weeks? Four weeks? When we move in, will we have toilets at all?
In the end (ha!), that leaves only one question to be answered — what kind of seat do we want in the outhouse? Pine or cedar?
It started innocently enough. We were living in Houston and wanted to get a little closer to our parents in Idaho without actually living in Idaho. Two years ago, in Washington state, we found a beautiful spot to build and bought our ground the day before our anniversary, thus making the appropriate gift, “real estate.” My husband designed our dream home (he ran a design department for a structural engineer and we’ve been married for two million years making him the expert on both Home Design and What I Want.) We got ready to move, a grueling process since we a) loved Houston and b) we’d lived there long enough to accrue a lot of things and a lot of friends. We packed the things and bid tearful goodbyes to the friends and by June 1, 2004 we were living in a small, very small, rental in Washington.
BY JUNE 1!
GUESS WHERE WE’RE STILL LIVING??!? You bet. In the small, very small rental with two dogs and not enough room to snap a towel without rattling the blinds.
The house was supposed to be finished by June 1. In fact, I invited friends to visit in June. Susan Sizemore, author of I THIRST FOR YOU and a dear friend, will be here this weekend. She’s staying in the B&B down the road. Jerry and Donna, friends we’ve known forever, are going to be here the weekend of June 25 & 26. They’re staying at the B&B down the road, too, BECAUSE WE DON’T KNOW WHEN THE HOUSE WILL BE DONE!!!
Today was the final straw. Four months ago — FOUR MONTHS AGO! — we went and picked out our plumbing fixtures. Sinks, faucets, toilets … mind you, we did NOT pick out the $5,000 toilet, the one that has a bidet, an auto-flush, and recognizes the gender of the person who walks in and raises and lowers the seat accordingly. No, we got a plain ordinary toilet that requires hand- flushing, lifting and lowering. I did choose the one that looked as if it was easy to clean (easy to clean has been the #1 requirement for everything in the house.) Today, FOUR MONTHS LATER, we were told we had to go pick out new toilets because the manufacturer doesn’t make the ones I picked out anymore.
Most of our things are in storage, a storage we’re losing on July 1. That means whether or not the house is ready, we’re moving out of the small, very small rental and into our beautiful new house on July 1 (see photos on my website at http://www.christinadodd.com/ritter.htm .) But how long will it take to ship the toilets we’re picking out tomorrow? One week? Two weeks? Four weeks? When we move in, will we have toilets at all?
In the end (ha!), that leaves only one question to be answered — what kind of seat do we want in the outhouse? Pine or cedar?
Christina Dodd, 5:35 PM
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