Drained

Am I a productive member of society? I'm not sure. Many things I'm trying to accomplish just don't seem to be headed in a positive direction. Come, let's explore the list ...

1. Getting pregnant. Well, of course you already know all about my inability to achieve this one. 'Nuf said.

2. Fixing my pipes. (No, this is not a reference to #1, my pipes aren't the problem there at all.) The pipes in my HOUSE, silly. My house was built in the 50s, thus we mostly have galvanized pipes. Which after almost 60 years begin to rust. Now I have a rusted, leaking hot water pipe in my basement, right at the junction to the feed upstairs for the bathroom. According to the plumber, this means if they try to just repair the leaky elbow, the pipe feeding upstairs will snap and we will need to open up the walls and replace those pipes too.
So, I went through several steps to try and arrange to fix this problem. I had the plumber give me a rough estimate. I contacted my contractor-neighbor to open up the walls for said plumber. I enlisted my husband to take out a home improvement loan. Then when all these tasks were completed, I return to the plumber to schedule the work while I am on vacation. He then informs me that he might not be able to do it then, despite allusions to the contrary at our first meeting. When I leave repeated messages asking a general time frame he might be able to do it, I get vague return messages. Finally, last Friday, he arrives at my house with his brother/partner and they again review the project with me. Promising to "check some numbers" and get back to me to schedule a time, they leave. What do I receive in the mail on Monday? An ESTIMATE. No phone call, no date, nothing.
I am done with them.
Now this project is back to square one. And I really never wanted to spend thousands of dollars on a house that I am SELLING in less than one year. I never wanted to open up the walls and ceiling of my kitchen, which I painted 2 years ago! I never really wanted to be doing any more painting, when all I have left of the entire interior is the living room (I have done all the trim, windows, ceilings and walls of virtually the entire house! Now I will have to start over again in the kitchen. UGH!)

3. Taking care of my dog, Lu Lu. Also known as my lack of a professional job. Today she came inside all squinty-eyed and painful looking in one eye. I suspect she either has a foreign body or corneal abrasion. Normally, when I was in practice, I could handle such a case with ease. Topical anesthetic, thorough exam, fluro stain for an ulcer, flush copiously, dispense topical antibiotics if needed. Wah La! But with no clinic at my disposal, I'm stuck. I may have to take her to the vet in the morning. Do you know how painful it is to have to make an appointment and PAY someone to do what you already know how to do? All because you don't have supplies? or an assistant? I feel like a complete loser.

4. Taking care of my family. Okay, as a SAHM I guess I'm sort of doing that. But today it was so hot, and no AC, so it was hard to be motivated. I'd like to be prep-ing to paint the living room, but with the pipes thing so up in the air, its hard to have 2 main rooms out of commission at the same time. Plus, we are leaving in 2 weeks to go visit my family and babysit my niece while my sister and hubby go to Italy. We will be gone 2 weeks, and I'm not sure I can complete the paint job before then anyway. That's when I wanted the pipes done. And my desk is a mess, bills everywhere etc. And the laundry isn't done. And there is a TON of ironing to do. And the garage is still full of the left-overs from the garage sale. And I have stuff to post on Ebay. And, and, and ...

Well you get the picture. I'm not sure I'm a contributor. I think I am just a taker, a parasite, whatever term works for you. I don't earn an income. I paid lots of money to put letters after my name, but don't use them. Oh wait, I haven't paid all that money yet; I'm still paying it. Oh wait, I'm not paying it, DH is paying it. Oh, and I didn't even cook dinner for him tonight. (Ok, before you think I'm too horrible, I did feed the kid, and DH is on-call and likely to be at the hospital all night, so ... it wasn't too lame of me)

Yup, that's right, just label me a drain on society. Now if I could only get the drains in my bathroom working ...