Plumber here, very productive

Today I was home and in my work clothes all day, and go SO MUCH done. I find that I am most productive on these days. Even running out for a quick errand slows me down a lot. I am trying to schedule myself so that if I go out to do errands (and there are a lot of errands when you have a fixer upper), that I do at least a few so that I can go out fewer times total.

I got 8 more brackets up on my shelves, so I have 12 of 35 up. I so wanted to put the first (top) shelf into place and start putting things away, but it will be much easier to get all the brackets up first and not be working under a shelf to install brackets. I can't wait to get the shelves up and do some unpacking and organizing. I am so tired of living in chaos! It disturbs my minimalist sensibilities.

I also finally got the trash can situation straightened out with the city. Only took several weeks and 5 phone calls.

I finally got the plumber here as well. We've had our water heater installed since June 2006, and it is supposed to have yearly maintenance including draining it and inspecting the pilot, flue, valves, etc. and I haven't done it yet. I called the plumber twice and he never called (and he's one of the better contractors). What recession? I got him on his cell today and he happened to be nearby and done for the day so he came over. Because of the way the old plumber put the water heater in, it is impossible to do the maintenance. It's one of the many things he screwed up. In talking to this plumber, I decided, at his suggestion, not to bother with the maintenance. He said most people never do it, and that he himself does not on his own water heater. He also pointed out that it can cause problems if for example, a particle of buildup lodges in one of the valves. We also discussed tankless options for when we have to upgrade. This water heater should last about 10-12 years so hopefully we have many years before we tackle that one. The plumber told me to look for water in the pan under the heater, and that way we will know it is leaking and that we have to replace it soon.

The plumber also showed me how to open and read the water meter. We got a huge water bill last month, and could not figure out why we would be using so much water. I wanted to check for leaks by turning everything off and watching the meter, but didn't know how. He showed me that and gave me a meter tutorial, including how to match the numbers on the meter to my bill - if they misread the numbers that would explain a wrong bill. I think we found our problem though - the guy who cuts the grass found a leak in one of our sprinkler pipes which could explain the high bill. He fixed it, and the meter now shows zero flow when everything is off.