Hubby had an unexpected long weekend. Well, unexpected to me. He apparently knew for at least a week or so that he didn’t have to work on Monday, but it was news to me sometime around Saturday noon.
Anyway, Saturday and Sunday were rather strange days. Thought I’d indulge myself by sleeping in, but effectively just pulled a cloud over my head for a couple of days and somehow managed to just surf without indulging in much of anything. At some point I had a conversation with hubby about how TIRED I was of this never ending to-do list… that mostly has to do with stuff that needs to be done around or done TO the house. I love my house… but dang… sometimes I hate my house.
For instance, the bathroom faucet needed replaced when we moved in. I bought the replacement and then it just sat there on the floor beside the sink for probably 4 or 5 weeks before I finally got around to doing something about it. As if it was going to jump up and… I don’t know… switch itself out?
Anyway, I took care of it a couple of weeks ago. It was a fairly painless process. At least I didn’t wait, as I did with the kitchen sink, for it to blow a gasket and spew water endlessly all over the kitchen for a night before finally installing the new one.
Another item we’d had some issues with was the shower. The knobs were grimy when we moved in. We’d cleaned them and all, but every time I used them I just kept thinking of all the strangers that had used them before us, and one was cracked and in need of replacing. So I bought replacements and installed them a couple of months ago. Only, when I bought the replacements… and took the old knobs off… I quickly realized something wasn’t right. There was a lot of cracked plastic inside the old shower knobs. The new knobs (same size) clearly did not fit well. But, I’m a spit and baling twine kind of girl and I managed to get them on… and we had water in the shower… although it was a bit of a pain in the rear to stand there fiddling with the knobs (which would turn around and around and around) to try to find the exact spot where the water wouldn’t run.
I don’t know if you get the picture, but basically we had pretty shower knobs that didn’t work correctly. Getting the water off and on was… something of an adventure. But as the weeks passed, the adventure grew. As of last weekend, it was not unusual to walk in the bathroom to find the shower dripping steadily… sometimes streaming. I, myself, was guilty more than once of just throwing my hands up and declaring, “I’m done – let the darn thing run!” as I escaped the bathroom and the shower’s steady little waterfall which could not be turned off.
So anyway… where was I? Hubby and I had a conversation about this darned list and how I was so entirely capable of putting all these little chores off. On Monday morning, he got up and told me to make a list of things I wanted to do – TODAY. So I made my list. I broke it into “house chores” and just other stuff I thought would be nice to get accomplished. Then that sweet, wonderful man proceeded to hold man hand through a number of piddly little items I’d been procrastinating.
And it’s a good thing he did, because if I had tackled the whole shower knobs issue while he had been at work, we’d likely be without water still. Here’s the thing about a spit and baling twine kind of girl… sometimes it all comes together much easier than you had anticipated… and sometimes it’s your worst nightmare revisited a dozen times over.
Lesson number one, of course, was that simply replacing the old knobs with knobs of similar size and shape is not necessarily the best course of action. The originals (as existing when we moved in) were not made to fit our plumbing. Thus, the cracked and broken stuff I found when I removed the original pair.
Lesson number two, and this was the HARD part… when removing important features of your plumbing in order to find the correct additions, especially if you intend to REPLACE said features… HANG ON TO WHAT YOU’VE REMOVED!!! I can’t emphasize this point enough. See, I removed a stem from the shower handle, in order to make sure I was purchasing knobs that fit correctly. We bought said knobs, returned home to install them… and couldn’t find that darned stem ANYWHERE. I searched pockets. I sorted through trash cans. Hubby cleaned out the car. We retraced steps. We moved furniture. Hubby returned to the store to see if I had left the part there. Eventually, replacing the stem itself seemed to be the obvious answer. Only, our plumbing is old and not just any store carries the necessary pieces. Luckily, hubby found the three dollar item at the THIRD plumber he visited.
Meanwhile, I was banging my forgetful head against a dry shower door and thinking things like, “I truly AM losing my mind.”
Once past the shower knob dilemma, however, I had a wonderfully fruitful and productive day. My to-do list, which seemed daunting Monday morning, was entirely crossed off by 3pm and I was ready to call it a day. Honestly, was thinking of going to bed when I realized I STILL had almost half a day left!
Did I mention that we can now turn our shower on AND off without any circus tricks? Hubby took off on an amazing to-do list of his own. House still has items to be dealt with, but the place is looking better and without some of the more obvious complaints. I’m still waiting to discover that original stem I misplaced. I imagine it rolling off a shelf and bonking me on the head or showing up in my sock drawer any day now.
I’ll let you know if it ever turns up.
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