I’ve done so much research about toilets in the last two years since I bought this place, it’s hard to believe it’s a reality now and decisions have to be made. I think this is going to be a learning curve - we’re going to try some things, and if they don’t work, pivot to other options. So what we try now may not stick. The current plan is this outhouse, which will drain into a container about five feet down. The idea is to keep as much urine out as possible, so we’re installing a urinal for the three penis-having people in the family that will drain into a jug that I’ll empty at the end of our visits, and I’ve bought myself another small flexible female urinal that I’ll use. I thought of getting a “urine diverter” but I’m afraid with the boys’ little bodies that they’d just end up pooping on it and making a mess. And the reality is most of us will just pee outside most of the time anyway. I’ve bought an ash can to collect wood ash to use as a composting element for the poo, and we also have cedar chips. The H is obsessively worried about the smell and bugs, but I’m not. I really think it’ll be just fine. And it’s going to be so nice to have a little room we can go to! I’m worried about people breaking into it because it’s not very strong of a building, but considering how few people we’ve seen even come on to the property since we installed the cameras last May, I feel like while there is a risk it’ll be vandalized or even outright stolen, the risk is somewhat minimal. I’m inordinately excited about this.
The bad news is what happened with our electrical this week - a guy came out and flipped a switch and the heat and lights came back on, which made us feel foolish, but then the circuit tripped again the next day. He came back out to do more research into it and discovered that the very expensive rewire I did about six years ago was done all wrong, and dangerously so - too many wires crammed into a small conduit, so much so that they were melted and burnt, which means at any time this house could have gone up like a tinderbox. I was absolutely horrified, angry, and scared. How…what…how did this even happen?!? We couldn’t wait to call the other company to come and make the work right - as of now they haven’t returned our calls at all - so we had this guy do the work instead to the tune of $2500 two days later, which meant more days of freezing and two nights of sleeping in a house that could have caught fire as we slept. The worst was that first night after he told us what danger we were in, the fucking burglar alarm decided to alert us at 4AM with a loud siren that its battery was low, which I of course thought was a smoke alarm and that we were already fully on fire. Seriously?!? I’m still recovering from the adrenaline rush of that. So now we have to confront this other company - which, I might add, was highly vetted through Yelp and Angie’s list and personal recommendations and even have their own building in eagle rock, so they’re not some fly by night bullshit artists. I am beside myself. You put your trust in these fucking people, you know?? They could have killed us all!!
So other than that life-and-death experience, week one of dieting has gone well. I opted for a 800:1500 plan this week, and it’s been really manageable. So much so that although the diet pills arrived yesterday I may not ever take them. Or I’ll take them later when I start to lose my resolve, which always happens. I’m down 3 lbs (water weight, but still). Useful techniques include delaying the first meal of the day as long as possible - I try not to eat until at least 1 or 2 pm, which allows for more calories late when I really need them (I find it easy to not eat early in the day but almost impossible later). I also have taken the tactic of not using up all the calories I’m allowed - if it’s past dinner time and I’ve only eaten 1200 calories and I’m not hungry, I don’t then eat just for the sake of it even if I could have 300 more calories. I just stop. This allows for enough of a deficit that I can eat more on another day if I need to. It’s all about spreading the calories out by week. Again I don’t know how long I can go like this; I’m just taking it a day at a time. And so far it’s been ok.
Kids have adjusted well to the return to school, even dealing with waking up to a freezing house every day. I mostly just stayed under the covers. This weekend I have a couple of high stress gigs - got through one last night, one more tonight - but other than that I plan to just read and watch Brazilian dating shows. It’s going to be so cold in the desert next weekend, I’m a little worried about our visit. We may just have to drive out Saturday & return Sunday. But at least we most likely will have a toilet when we do! Yay!
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