busybee fluffy rambles

The plumber was correct to be concerned about the debris in the line (left over from the old shutoff valve); it turns out that the much lower water pressure on my kitchen faucet was because the diffuser inside got clogged, and unfortunately the design of the faucet makes the nozzle not particularly serviceable. So I bought another identical faucet so that I could swap out the spray head. (Without the spray head attached the pressure is totally fine.) It’s a shame given that I had just replaced the kitchen faucet a few months ago (it was one of the first improvements I made to the house, even) but whatever, it was only $60 which is tiny in the grand scheme of things. And maybe with a new spray head I can feel more comfortable experimenting with disassembling the old one to see if it can be salvaged (and the new one returned).

Meanwhile, the sliding glass door for my tub kept on getting delayed (due to, presumably, the supply chain issues that are affecting everything), and when I mentioned this to the contractor, he asked me if it would fit the tub. I was like, “It’s pretty standard,” and he pointed out that the new tub is curved, so unless the door is curved, it wouldn’t fit, and I should cancel the order.

Oops.

(I’d bought the door when I thought we’d be reusing my old tub, but it was no longer suitable for use; it didn’t have a flange around the top edge, and even worse, when they removed the tub to inspect the floor underneath it, the bottom shattered, so it can’t even be repurposed or anything. But I’m guessing that it shattered partially because of the cast iron being, y'know, corroded. Yet another subtle indication that things were going to go wrong anyway and it’s a good thing it got caught now. So I guess I’m going to go with a curved tension rod instead, and will have to figure out a different way of hanging my towel.)

At this point I’m back to thinking the contractor is doing good work, and that every setback has actually been a net positive in the long run. Yeah, it’s been frustrating that I can’t communicate with the other workers directly, and it’s annoying that things are taking a lot longer than originally expected (which obviously isn’t the contractor’s fault), but I think the end result will be much better for it.

Anyway. I guess it’s convenient that my condo didn’t sell since that made it easier for me to have a fallback plan, although that said I’d still much rather it had sold, since it’d have been way more cost-effective to stay in a hotel or AirBnB for this time if I weren’t already paying for this place for the last 6 heckin' months. (For that matter, renting a place for a month near White Center would have probably cost substantially less than my monthly outlay of the condo.) Oh well. Tomorrow I meet with the rental broker and will get a better idea of how things will go down the road.

Also, being back on Capitol Hill is making me realize just how noisy it is here, even with the relatively-quiet spot I’m in. It’s amazing how much noise I was tuning out after 9 years here.