On the mend
Well I'm happy to report that the affliction phase of this stomach bug appears to be about two days, plus or minus a day or two. I stayed home from work today and feel fully functional now; Walt had it worse than me, but he's on the road to recovery. Devon also seems very chipper, and except for a relapse this evening, I think she's definitely in much better shape and will probably be back at 100% in a day or so.
She spent the day with my mom, which was a nice break for Walt and me and allowed us to get some much-needed rest. Last night Devon went to bed at around 8pm or so, and Walt and I followed shortly thereafter at about 8:30. It was absolutely fabulous to get that much sleep, and if you throw in the nap I had today, it was downright decadent. Ironically I had a physical this afternoon, but by the time that rolled around, I was feeling almost perky, so it all went pretty well.
My mom took Devon swimming today at the Claremont, which has a really nice, big pool that's just jammed with kids during the summer. She had also bought her one of those little baby "wetsuits" -- they're not actually wet suits, they're more like lycra shorts and a t-shirt (so no actual neoprene) -- but they provide a little more sun protection and (ostensibly) a bit more warmth. Turns out that Devon was totally enamored of this swim suit and the whole concept of swimming in general. When we dropped her off this morning, my mom mentioned that they might go swimming, and Devon started to say, "Poo, poo" (pool) until she got distracted by the balloons ("boon") that were on the trees leftover from the Pride Parade yesterday. When they actually went to the pool, she was emboldened by the other kids there and even told my mom that she wanted to go underwater. Of course she ended up swallowing some water, which dampened her enthusiasm for trying that a second time, but all in all a great time was had. Apparently the pool was so much fun that she refused to change out of her swimsuit; when I met my mom to pick Devon up, she was still wearing her swimsuit top because she wouldn't take it off.
We had the classic sick person's dinner tonight: chicken soup. Luckily I had made some chicken broth a few days before as part of my very slow plan to clear out the freezer before we move. This turned out to be very handy for all of us recovering from the stomach bug; even Devon managed to get some in her tummy, although she's not exactly facile with a spoon and bowl (but since she won't really let anyone feed her, I just have to hope that she gets enough in during one meal to hang on until the next). We had a little sickness relapse with her tonight when she threw up on my shirt, but I really do think she's recovering. She actually had some dinner followed by a bottle of milk and has kept it down so far -- and today all was fine except for tonight. So I think by tomorrow she'll be totally recovered.
I have to say, though, I've been daydreaming about moving to 8th Avenue, mainly because I am sick of toting laundry across town. The worst part of all of this -- after trying to clean the cloth upholstery in our car (which, clearly, will never be the same again) -- is having to do about 10x the normal amount of laundry in a washing machine that is a 15 minute drive across town, one-way. I've been driving from Russian Hill to the Richmond so much that I'm wearing grooves in the street.
[A quick side note on the apartment renovation, since it is, as you can tell, the other topic that is currently dominating my life... since I'm a perennial bargain-hunter, I've been scouring the web for bargains on some of the items we want, some of which I'm finding and many of which are still not so cheap online. One item that we did find for cheaper on the web than in any local place was our sink. I really wanted a really big, deep sink -- probably because this apartment in which I've been living for almost 10 years -- yes, I believe it will be 10 years in October -- has one of these miserly little sinks that's both narrow and shallow, so washing any halfway decent pot in it is a chore. And since we have no dishwasher, we've all become intimately familar with the constraints of this sink (Walt in particular, since he does the lion's share of the dishes).
So anyway, my mission became to get a really commodious sink, and after a lot of looking and some research on 1920s kitchens, I decided that I wanted a farmhouse sink. These are also called "apron front" sinks -- basically, you can see the front of the sink, so it's not inset into the counter. These are also, of course, quite expensive, both because they are big and because a lot of them (although not all) are not mass-produced because they're not exactly flying off the shelves at Home Depot. Walt and I usually buy our plumbing supplies (of which we have by now purchased many) at Chu's Supply, this little hole in the wall out in the Sunset district, which is frequented by what Walt calls "real plumbers." They also have rock-bottom prices; I have yet to find a place that can beat Chu's on pricing for fixtures, sinks and such. This time, however, the mighty Chu's was beaten by a combination of free shipping, $14 less in actual price and no sales tax on the internet, so I broke down and ordered online (even though Walt thought it was very cheap of me and that we should consider supporting our local vendors -- and I conceded that he pulled a few heartstrings even on this confirmed cheapskate -- but not enough to prevent me from saving the fifty bucks!).
The sink showed up last week while Walt was in Florida, and it weighs over 100 lbs, so I didn't even try to move in inside or open the box. Luckily both Aaron and my brother were home when it arrived, so they were able to muscle it up the stairs. It sat on the outside landing for the next few days, waiting (vainly, it turned out) for the floor refinisher. We finally opened the box this weekend only to find that it was cracked! And not only was it cracked, but there was a menacing little notice inside that said if we didn't inspect this within 24 hours of arrival, there would be no ability to return for damage, etc. I got quite panicked at this, since it was now about 4 days after actual delivery (even though we had just opened the box), and the thing was totally unusable -- it was cracked through (besides which, after buying an expensive sink, even if it had been usable, we still didn't want a cracked one!). I finally called the vendor today, and happily, they shipped out another sink with no hassle at all. Phew. We still have to get rid of the cracked one; the vendor wants us to keep it so they can inspect the box and make a claim with the frieght company, but I don't expect them to take it back. I'm not sure what we'll do with it; it's not exactly something we can just throw away. Maybe I can post it on craigslist and see if someone wants it for some esoteric project (or maybe as an outside sink -- the upper corner is cracked, but it's still usable on the bottom). I'm just happy that we're getting a replacement and I didn't have to put on my nasty "I learned how to argue in Israel" hat, which is not a nice hat to wear, I can assure you.]
She spent the day with my mom, which was a nice break for Walt and me and allowed us to get some much-needed rest. Last night Devon went to bed at around 8pm or so, and Walt and I followed shortly thereafter at about 8:30. It was absolutely fabulous to get that much sleep, and if you throw in the nap I had today, it was downright decadent. Ironically I had a physical this afternoon, but by the time that rolled around, I was feeling almost perky, so it all went pretty well.
My mom took Devon swimming today at the Claremont, which has a really nice, big pool that's just jammed with kids during the summer. She had also bought her one of those little baby "wetsuits" -- they're not actually wet suits, they're more like lycra shorts and a t-shirt (so no actual neoprene) -- but they provide a little more sun protection and (ostensibly) a bit more warmth. Turns out that Devon was totally enamored of this swim suit and the whole concept of swimming in general. When we dropped her off this morning, my mom mentioned that they might go swimming, and Devon started to say, "Poo, poo" (pool) until she got distracted by the balloons ("boon") that were on the trees leftover from the Pride Parade yesterday. When they actually went to the pool, she was emboldened by the other kids there and even told my mom that she wanted to go underwater. Of course she ended up swallowing some water, which dampened her enthusiasm for trying that a second time, but all in all a great time was had. Apparently the pool was so much fun that she refused to change out of her swimsuit; when I met my mom to pick Devon up, she was still wearing her swimsuit top because she wouldn't take it off.
We had the classic sick person's dinner tonight: chicken soup. Luckily I had made some chicken broth a few days before as part of my very slow plan to clear out the freezer before we move. This turned out to be very handy for all of us recovering from the stomach bug; even Devon managed to get some in her tummy, although she's not exactly facile with a spoon and bowl (but since she won't really let anyone feed her, I just have to hope that she gets enough in during one meal to hang on until the next). We had a little sickness relapse with her tonight when she threw up on my shirt, but I really do think she's recovering. She actually had some dinner followed by a bottle of milk and has kept it down so far -- and today all was fine except for tonight. So I think by tomorrow she'll be totally recovered.
I have to say, though, I've been daydreaming about moving to 8th Avenue, mainly because I am sick of toting laundry across town. The worst part of all of this -- after trying to clean the cloth upholstery in our car (which, clearly, will never be the same again) -- is having to do about 10x the normal amount of laundry in a washing machine that is a 15 minute drive across town, one-way. I've been driving from Russian Hill to the Richmond so much that I'm wearing grooves in the street.
[A quick side note on the apartment renovation, since it is, as you can tell, the other topic that is currently dominating my life... since I'm a perennial bargain-hunter, I've been scouring the web for bargains on some of the items we want, some of which I'm finding and many of which are still not so cheap online. One item that we did find for cheaper on the web than in any local place was our sink. I really wanted a really big, deep sink -- probably because this apartment in which I've been living for almost 10 years -- yes, I believe it will be 10 years in October -- has one of these miserly little sinks that's both narrow and shallow, so washing any halfway decent pot in it is a chore. And since we have no dishwasher, we've all become intimately familar with the constraints of this sink (Walt in particular, since he does the lion's share of the dishes).
So anyway, my mission became to get a really commodious sink, and after a lot of looking and some research on 1920s kitchens, I decided that I wanted a farmhouse sink. These are also called "apron front" sinks -- basically, you can see the front of the sink, so it's not inset into the counter. These are also, of course, quite expensive, both because they are big and because a lot of them (although not all) are not mass-produced because they're not exactly flying off the shelves at Home Depot. Walt and I usually buy our plumbing supplies (of which we have by now purchased many) at Chu's Supply, this little hole in the wall out in the Sunset district, which is frequented by what Walt calls "real plumbers." They also have rock-bottom prices; I have yet to find a place that can beat Chu's on pricing for fixtures, sinks and such. This time, however, the mighty Chu's was beaten by a combination of free shipping, $14 less in actual price and no sales tax on the internet, so I broke down and ordered online (even though Walt thought it was very cheap of me and that we should consider supporting our local vendors -- and I conceded that he pulled a few heartstrings even on this confirmed cheapskate -- but not enough to prevent me from saving the fifty bucks!).
The sink showed up last week while Walt was in Florida, and it weighs over 100 lbs, so I didn't even try to move in inside or open the box. Luckily both Aaron and my brother were home when it arrived, so they were able to muscle it up the stairs. It sat on the outside landing for the next few days, waiting (vainly, it turned out) for the floor refinisher. We finally opened the box this weekend only to find that it was cracked! And not only was it cracked, but there was a menacing little notice inside that said if we didn't inspect this within 24 hours of arrival, there would be no ability to return for damage, etc. I got quite panicked at this, since it was now about 4 days after actual delivery (even though we had just opened the box), and the thing was totally unusable -- it was cracked through (besides which, after buying an expensive sink, even if it had been usable, we still didn't want a cracked one!). I finally called the vendor today, and happily, they shipped out another sink with no hassle at all. Phew. We still have to get rid of the cracked one; the vendor wants us to keep it so they can inspect the box and make a claim with the frieght company, but I don't expect them to take it back. I'm not sure what we'll do with it; it's not exactly something we can just throw away. Maybe I can post it on craigslist and see if someone wants it for some esoteric project (or maybe as an outside sink -- the upper corner is cracked, but it's still usable on the bottom). I'm just happy that we're getting a replacement and I didn't have to put on my nasty "I learned how to argue in Israel" hat, which is not a nice hat to wear, I can assure you.]
posted by Devon Szalva at
9:22 PM
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