............was the day that I re-discovered my best friend - my wife. Also happens to be the day that we began the transformation of our house into our very own SPATOPIA!
Although we had ordered our tub some 6 weeks prior to this day, we had to wait until the frost came out of he ground somewhat so that we could prepare the surface. The electrician had just been by and done his thing, all that needed now was for our dealer to arrive, very much like Santa Claus, with one hellofatoy, in his sleigh, 'xcept that this sleigh also came with a crane to hoist the toy over the house.
Well, after nearly a year, some feedback. Next to finding each other and making our kids, this decision is bar none one of the best ones. With the exception of one thing there have been zero problems with our tub. The one thing was dealt with by yours truly. I know that some will say that the dealer should've dealt with it but in all fairness this was so friggin' minor that I had my son do the work (I was drinking a beer). This was to glue the O-ring holding the extended pipe for the cross bar supporting the cover. It had come unglued and hey I had the construction adhesive and voila, son learned something and I----was drinking beer, so everyone was happy.
Management of the water and the tub itself is quite easy. It is now a routine. Have had 4 water changes over the past year.
I am compliling a report on the consumption for the past year. I have the advantage of working in the residential energy efficiency field and so have had engineering staff install a meter to the tub to track it's consumption. This is also an advanced meter so I have daily consumption tracking which should be very interesting. The meter will be taken off shortly and the information downloaded. But judging from my electrical bill, the year to year comparison is fairly accurate to what industry has been saying when we bought the tub. On average a $30 increase in my monthly bill or a dollar a day. Once I get the report compiled, I'll make it available. Note that it will be in CND $$ and based on the actual costs here in Ottawa. But I will leave the fields open in the excell spread sheet if you want to play with it for your own actual costs.
As some of you know, New Years was a party that will live on in ours and some of our friends' memories.
We have many more visits that we used to have from friends. We've also gotten very adept at discouraging some 'friends' to show up as much as they would like, while encouraging others to come as often as they would.
Some are forbidden in the tub due to their lack of hiegene (my brother in-law is a mechanic) or the ladies that wear a ton of make-up unless they shower before getting in the tub. I'm very upfront with this. (bad experience last February meant an earlier water change than expected)
Extra equipment that we had not thought of like plastic champagne flutes. Glass is the last thing you want in the tub. And I've found this little bubbly that is simply delicious and priced very well within a frequently used budget.
I know that I've not been frequenting this board as much as I used to, Change in work has meant a big change in time management. All that is now addressed and will make certain that I return on a more regular basis as I have found this forum to be an excellent source of information.
But the saving grace has been the almost daily soak in our tub in the evening to take the daily stress all away and meet my best friend.
