Today is January 8, 2010! A new year filled with new expectations that this year will be better than last year for many of us.

Do you remember life BC (before computers)? LOL! I do and believe it or not - it wasn't all bad.

Life seemed less stressful before the onslaught of "everything technology". Kids played in the yard. Parents weren't having to throw kids outside like they do these days.

Everywhere I turn, I see people linked to technology in some form or another. Steve had an eye exam the other day. While waiting for him, a woman and her three kids came in the doctor's office. One of the kids had some hand held game that is a form of technology these days. He would not put it down even when his mother told him to do so. He was "one with the game".

Computers, laptops, iPods, cell phones, Kindle, hand held games - the list goes on. Even our home appliances these days are filled with push button electronics.

What would happen if everything computerized and electronic suddenly stopped working for a week? Some people would be totally freaked out and others would simply go on with their life.

Technology has made life simpler in a lot of ways but it has started to fill the "human" connection. We get pre-recorded phone calls. Robots building our cars and sometimes being used for surgical procedures that need extreme exactness.

People have lost the ability to communicate. It has become about technology doing it for us.

Machines are taking over. Put down that cell phone! Instead of calling mom (who lives across town) - get in the car and go to see her face to face! Give her a hug and kiss her face. Look into her eyes and see that sparkle that is there from seeing her child.

Instead of sending an email to your child - sit down and write them a letter with your own handwriting. Take the time, spend the $.44 postage and make it really special.

Unplug technology and get connected again. Think of ways that you can use it less and begin to use more human communication.

Remember an email is nice but seeing a parent or child face to face is so much more - it's human contact!

Last Thursday was supposed to be an ordinary day. Suppose is the operative word.

Our hot water heater has been giving us cooler and cooler water. Steve had not noticed (his body temps run cold these days). I mentioned it  to him a couple of weeks ago that the water seemed cooler than normal when I took a shower. Then I mentioned it again last week. So Steve decides that it may be a good idea to replace the whole hot water heater (HWH) instead of the element. The old heater was 17 years old and a new one may be more energy efficient.

So he finds a HWH at Lowes (he looks online first) that will be suitable for our home.  He contacts a friend to install it. Then off we go to Lowes. We purchased the HWH. We head home again to find our friend waiting for us to install the HWH.

The ordeal begins. It turns out that the HWH is located behind the master bedroom closet door. This should be a clue that things would not go easy. Our friend disconnects the pipes and water goes everywhere (water has been shut off at the main and to the HWH but it still goes EVERYWHERE! I grab towels and run for a bucket. Our friend had not let the HWH drain completely. The cubby hole and the walls/carpet are major soaked. I am not a happy camper but manage to keep my mouth shut! A miracle of God took place in my closet - Barbara kept her mouth shut.

Then our friend and I (friend needed my help on some things) begin the task of trying to get the old HWH through the opening of the cubby hole for the HWH. BIG PROBLEM! It seems that the house was built around the area for the HWH. Mobile homes are built for the convenience of the manufacturer. (GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!) The floor is built then the carpet is put down then obviously the HWH then the walls! I could tell manufacturers something about how NOT to build a mobile home.

The HWH won't come through the opening in the wall! It's bigger in diameter than the opening in the wall. GRRRRRRRRRRR. So our friend has to take out part of the framing in the wall so the HWH will come out of the cubby hole. Our friend starts to move the old HWH out and all the sludge in the heater starts coming out of the pipes (calcium deposits, remaining water, etc). This takes the cake! I tell him to stop; that we need to plug the holes so the stuff won't get all over my house when he takes it through the living room to outside.

He gets it to the front door and as he crosses over the threshold all the sludge begins to come out of the holes again.

New HWH is installed. (It's ok but I am not happy about the mess in my closet from removing old HWH). After our friend leaves I look at the work and realize he used the old pipes that were fitted to the old heater which has a different setup (it was shorter and bigger in diameter).

I check the pipes for leaks. One pipe has moisture that I feel uncomfortable about. I leave a towel under it to make sure it's moisture and not condensation.

On Friday, I felt moisture again after Steve left for work. I had a super uneasy feeling. I called Steve and told him I wanted to call a plumber. Steve agreed. So I called Jim Bennett Plumbing. A little while later the manager at JBP came knocking on my door. JBP was slammed with work and issues so he came out. He asked about my problems and I told him my concerns. He told me a few minutes later that one of the pipes had not been glued together, that it was about to burst any minute from the water pressure. (The Holy Spirit was letting me know through my super uneasy feeling something was wrong with the HWH.) The Lord saved my house from being flooded with water!

He re-piped everything with new pipe. He moved my new HWH so that we can attach a water hose to the drain valve for proper drainage, if necessary for repairs. $90 later and I'm a happy camper.

We asked our friend to install it because we wanted to help him out financially but knew he wouldn't accept the money without doing something in return.

Sometimes a good intention cost more than what you plan. This was money well spent to our friend and the plumber. I now realize that our friend may not have known what to do about the hot water heater but didn't have the heart to tell us because he wanted to help US out.

God knows how everything will turn out. We just have to see the good in all of it (even my soaked closet). My closet is fine now - I used a fan to help the carpet dry faster and all is well. We have hot water. We reached the results we wanted.

Sam came and installed my new fixtures: a new kitchen faucet and new bathroom sinks. I love my new kitchen faucet with the high curved neck. Now I can wash pots and pans with ease.

The bathroom sinks are installed. They look nice too.

It appears that Steve was not paying attention when he bought the faucet for one of the sinks - it's a pewter color. He grabbed a box just like the last time he bought them at the same place. The other one is chrome just as it was before the new sinks.

Lol! Steve doesn't care. He says no one but us will see them. It bugs me but I will let it go until Sam comes again to do more repair work. I'll get a new chrome faucet and have it waiting for him. Then, I'll have him change the pewter faucet out.

Don't sweat the small stuff! The faucet works fine and the sinks don't leak - this is the important thing.

I spent most of the day putting back all the stuff under the kitchen and bathroom sinks. I bought crates to organize all the stuff/junk so that it look neater. I threw out half the stuff that was no good or not needed.

Now, maybe I can get back to my chaotic routine of doing housework and proofreading. I have a pile of close to 700 pages sitting on my desk that needs to be proofed. It's only half of the current module that I'm working on. The consultant that I work for tells me that it's the biggest module (I believe it. It has a 102 page Power Point presentation as well as others with varying amounts of pages).

After I proof the first half then I move on to the other half.