Just Keep Swimming...

I finally have my pool going.  I mean it has been running on and off for the past month, but then the pump died, or rather was in the process of suffering a slow painful death.  So I ordered a new pump, added the salt for the saltwater system, killed the algae that was making it a strange greenish gray color and now we are good to go... Well as soon as I buy a handle for the vacuum that seems to disappear over the winter, and buy the stuff that reduces cloudiness, and add some more water, and...

It seems that all the things we have added to our lives become bigger responsibilities than we expect when we get them.  Obviously I knew that a pool was work, but I thought once you got it running you could enjoy it and check the chemicals every few days.  I didn't factor in the work required when something goes wrong. And of course things do go wrong.

My house is not that big, and yet it seems as if I am always cleaning or fixing something.  It's partially my fault for taking on the project of my grandparent's house, but even my friends who bought new houses have lots of maintenance issues.  Also, we got this house when I was in my mid twenties, so we have lived here for 12 years.  We did a bunch of repairs to the house then, but of course I didn't really know what I was doing so some of them were cheap shotted.  Also, it was 12 years ago so even the things that were done well need to be updated.

Sometimes, I dream of having a little condo where I can pay a set fee and they take care of everything.  Hell, maybe I can even have a cleaning lady come in every week to scrub the toilet and sink.  I wonder what that would cost.  Surely it would be less than what we spend maintaining this place...

But of course that won't be happening any time soon.  Can you imagine the complaints from the neighbors about how noisy we are.  Bear is constantly tumbling around the house, Curly is practicing her tween door slamming, and of course there are the endless screaming matches.  Yeah, I think we would be kicked out in record time.  So for now I guess I will have to follow the immortal words of Dory in Finding Nemo and "Just keep swimming, swimming swimming..."