drip drip drip little april showers

This is the first post that I’ll cross something off my 29 plus 1 list.  Lots of other items have been started but are hard to actually cross off.  For example, I have been meeting up with a good friend monthly for dinner and drinks but I don’t really think I can cross this off until close to if not a complete year has passed.  Also I’ve started up Winey Thoughts again, it’s a slow process to really get it going but I’m making lots of progress in sampling more wines lately.  (tonight getting together with friends to sample some more).  And not sure any one’s noticed but I have been making a strong effort to up date this blog twice weekly.  It’s been hard and it’s only been a month but it does make me happy that this is being updated once again.  Truly the hardest item on my list so far has been to tweet a happy thought a day.  So far I’ve missed 3 or 4 days but mostly b/c I fall asleep before finding my phone or computer and I have always made up for it the following morning.  Just sort of feels like cheating the next day though.

A few weeks back we received our water bill and realized that it was nearly doubling in price.  That was what kicked me into gear to take up #24 on my list: Get handy and fix our leaky sinks.  This happened over a couple weekends b/c so far Ryker isn’t a huge fan of home improvement.  First we decided to add the toilet to the list of leaky things to fix.  It had started running very regularly and we figure we’re probably wasting a lot of water that way.  I dug out our DIY home improvement book and read up on how the toilet works.  Then we went to the internet and found the suggestions on how to fix common reasons for the runny toilet.  Simple fix…we replaced the flap.  Technically they said we could take the old one off and clean it and that might fix the problem.  But when at the hardware store we found the flap is only like 4 bucks so we figured what the hell we’ll just buy new.  It’s a very easy install and now the toilet doesn’t run and waste water any longer.

Next we noticed the kitchen sink which has always had a drip had become more of a steam.  So back to the book which wasn’t very helpful but the internet was slightly better.  This was a bit bigger of a project simply because the simple things went wrong.  First the valve to turn off the water to the sink is stuck and most likely cemented in the open position.  So we had to turn off water to the entire house in order to work.  Second the screw which holds the faucet together and all the pieces that need replacing together was completely stripped smooth.  We were able to use pliers to get it the majority of the way off but in the end had to destroy the handle and some other goody pieces in order to get to another piece that could not be replaced as easily.  Destroying the handle may sound simple but we are not handy people and don’t have tons of tools.  I took a hack saw and went at it for a while.  We tried the dremel tool for a while.  (both recommendations from the hardware store guy) In the end we went across the street to a neighbor w/ lots of tools and he helped us out.  Then came the reconstruction part which wasn’t too bad.  We were mostly sick of being handy at this point in time and wished it was easier than it was.  The trick was to literally put each piece on one at a time, instead of assembling the handle parts and then trying to attach that to the faucet.  Once put together and the water was turned back on we celebrated.  Beers, happy dances, laughing at our handy frustrations.  Then drip….slow drip…..slow drip.  Damn thing still drips despite new washers and fittings.  At least the drip is a lot slower than it was.  So I’m considering this done.  I know when my handy limitations have been exceeded and I may not have won the battle w/ the drip but I haven’t quite lost it either.  Lets call it a draw and put the handyman belt back in the closet for a while.

Comments