One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I am constantly bemoaning my inability to ever actually accomplish anything.  Oh, sure-- I get laundry done.  And dishes.  But those odd little errands that force me to leave my house with two (or more) small children in tow and that shouldn't take more than one trip to the store-- those have a strange power to become major obstacles in my life that never quite get crossed off the To Do list.  I find it wildly frustrating, to the point that I need to blog about it here...


So.  At some point, a shower curtain liner gets gross enough that it's just not worth it to keep trying to scrub it clean.  It's a bit of a headache taking down the old one and hanging the new one, but as far as monetary price goes, replacing a shower curtain doesn't cost much.  Mine got to that point a couple weeks ago, so I dutifully picked out a new one at Target, washed the actual shower curtain*, scrubbed the shower floor clean, and then hung them both up, all ready to pat myself on the back for a job well done.

But then I discovered that the liner I'd bought was about three inches too short.  It didn't reach the shower pan, so water would end up dripping all outside, rendering it useless.  This seemed odd to me, since I thought liners came in a pretty standard size.  Target is a half hour away from me, though, so I couldn't drive back immediately to return it.  But I couldn't very well USE it, and I'd already thrown the old one away, so like anyone does when dealing with a store with a REALLY good return policy, I simply ordered another one, this time from Target.com.  And then Craig moved the shower rod down a few inches, leaving the curtain to drag all over the bathroom tiles.  Classy.

Shower curtain liner #2 arrived and I excitedly hung it up.  I'd splurged on a nicer, cloth one, figuring from here on out I'd just wash it rather than buying another new one every year or so.  The reviews had complained that it was a bit long, but I figured that should work out perfectly for my situation.

I was wrong.  Liner #2 was at least 8 inches longer than the short one.  Craig moved the curtain rod up so high up that I could no longer reach it and the actual shower curtain was dangling several inches above it (which sort of gave it a "your slip is showing" look that was NOT desirable).  And the blasted thing was STILL dragging all over the shower floor!  It was ridiculous!

I finally found a chunk of time when I could go back to Target and return both of them and try for a third time.  I even measured to figure out exactly the length I wanted (73 inches).  And as I stood in the aisle, contemplating all those shower curtain liners I discovered that I had been right all along: they do come in one standard size, despite the wildly different lengths of the ones I'd just purchased.

So this time I bought two more (yay for a good return policy!)-- another nicer cloth one, and the absolute cheapest one they make.  I figured this way, if neither was the right length, I could hold on to the cheap one until I could try out Bed, Bath, & Beyond or something.  Fortunately, the cloth one (Try #3) works fine.  I wish it were an inch longer, but it'll do.  And hopefully from here on out I can just wash it rather than having to go through this all over again.

Who knew stuff as dumb as this could be so complicated?  How many brain cells (of mine, but now of yours, too!) have been wasted on such a worthless endeavor??? 




*Funny story about my shower curtain: The previous owners left it hanging in the shower and I liked it, so I never bothered to replace it.  It took me a year to figure out that it's actually a REGULAR curtain, like you would hang in your window!   I'd thought it was odd that it had so many loops for hanging it that they'd tied them all together in knots to make it line up properly with the curtain liner...  Oh, well.  I think it works, so I'm sticking with it for now!