Because We Classy

You might have wondered from that last post what I was talking about with the water heater and Green Monster and all. Well, I actually meant to schedule that post to occur AFTER this post, but with the amazing piles of dishes, laundry, and garage-clean-out leftovers, my brain was running on (all too typical) low neural density. Hopefully this post will give some clarity, you know, in case those details left you a bit perplexed. Of course, something tells me you don't read here to keep your rational/reasonable side satisfied.

Last Wednesday was a big day. No, not because we scandalized the neighborhood by chopping heads off chickens (by the way, I updated that to include pictures. Annie, don't look) (we did that on Saturday, again), but because one of those unexpected events needed tending to.

Our water heater went out Tuesday night. Hubby is the one who confirmed it, he being the only one around here who gets to bathe regularly. And by regularly I mean every single morning. I try not to be bitter. So, after his cold shower Wednesday morning, he asked me if I could, you know, pick up a water heater.

Now, to review, I am a homeschooling mother of three daughters (1, 4, 7) ALL of whom are in car- or booster-seats, and I drive a Toyota Camry.

But, as any regular readers know, there are (I'm told) other unnameable attributes about me. Certainly it was one of those that made me reply, "sure, Honey."

First I got online (duh) and checked out one of those oft-advertised Rinnai tankless water heaters. It looked good until I plugged in our average electricity cost (fairly low) and current propane cost (sweet mother-of-mercy, spare us [is that swearing? If so, forgive me. I didn't mean to. It's just that the propane, well, if I hadn't bought that this year I'd be using a mighty fine camera by now]), and then the graph turned upside down and the regular electric tank heater started looking much better.

I picked out one from Lowe's website that looked about right, rigged up the necessary accessories, and headed into town. I feel so capable when I can install the trailer hitch thingy, hook up the Green Monster, and get myself out of the driveway without doing (much) damage to the riding mower that is just a bit short to see in my mirrors. Ahem.

When the Lowe's lady was helping me load it into the Green Monster, I thought, who needs a van, anyway? And then I thought about carseat laws and how they probably don't permit you to secure your children in Green Monsters, welded in or not.

Hubby didn't get home until after 7 that night, but by 10 we had hot water. Of course, by the next night, something was wrong, and we discovered that a loose fitting had leaked water onto the little computerized control panel on top. *sigh* Hubby worked on it a bit, and we hope it has had a complete recovery.

And finally, because our bourgeois lifestyle has been so well documented on this site (see here, here, here, and here, for example) let's have a little quiz to see how well you know us:

Once the old water heater has been drained and drug upstairs (I expect somewhere in the neighborhood of 2012), it will:

1. be disposed of properly, in accordance with local laws and regulations
2. add to the classy yard-art our Fancy Neighbors get to view
3. have the top and bottom sawed off, and the middle turned into a tunnel for our classy playground
4. be cut in half lengthwise, creating two troughs and/or sleds
5. become a large-bird scalder
6. be turned into a six-at-once turkey fryer
7. all-but-one of the above

Any guesses?