Thanksgiving in Frustration

Today started well. I got Michael off to his baseball work day by 9:00 am. He spent the morning and part of the afternoon painting around the little league ball fields with his team. I came home and got to work on a list of projects. The bathroom sink now drains immediately instead of taking 30-45 seconds. Unfortunately, I made a tactical error right there. I told Shari that project went off without a hitch, and without any surprises (especially surprise expenses). I should have kept my mouth shut, knocked on wood, or something.

The kitchen sprayer turns the faucet off. That's normal. Unfortunately, when you're done using the sprayer, sometimes the faucet stays turned off. In the process of trying to fix that, I discovered a slow, pinhole leak in the hot water valve. The cost for fixing the kitchen sink just went from $0.00 to about $20.00, and more time than I'd bargained for. I also cut my hand twice, significantly damaging a nerve on one finger, trying to open this stupid puddy stuff that I'm not convinced was necessary, but I followed directions. The sprayer's still not fixed. Couldn't figure out how.

Then came "The Project." Have I mentioned I don't like plumbing. Wonderful job for a plumber. I'm glad they enjoy it. I don't. Actually, the bigger issue is I don't like not knowing what I'm doing, as I tend to cause the price and time commitment of projects to go up because of my ignorance. This one was another one of those. The outside faucet had seized up over the winter. After a variety of methods to loosen it up, I finally got it loose... and it wouldn't shut off. That's a problem. So I take out the innards of the faucet (it's a frost free that wasn't frost free over the winter). Obviously, we had to turn the water off to fix this. So, the water is off to the entire house, making laundry, dishes, and bathrooms unusable, pretty much shooting Shari's projects down in flames. As I take these parts to different stores for hopes in fixing the innards instead of replacing the whole frost free faucet, the end result is it becomes even more broken (Is that proper english?), and now I have to replace it. I am not happy.

So, I cut into the ceiling of our basement (over by the alcove in the corner of the finished part, of course, for those who know our house). I now have a hole in my ceiling, and my knowledge of how to fix this thing has come to an end. We have two plumbers in our church. By this time it's 4:00 pm. Not only can I not find these guys, but I can't even find a plumber on call who will come within the next two hours, nor can I find anybody else around who might know how to solder. Finally, close to 5:30, Kirk, a contractor, says he's willing to come and have a look. He doesn't remember the last time he's done any solder, but he's more daring than I. I cancel the plumber from Missoula ($120/hr. minimum - Yikes!), and Kirk shows me how it's done. Actually, he makes me do most of the stuff I wasn't comfortable with. The end result is that we get the job done, with only a minor mess, and the burn spot on the floor above us isn't any bigger.

So, with all those frustrations, what are the silver linings? 1) All three projects cost a grand total of around $60.00 - considerably cheaper than having a plumber come out on a Saturday. 2) I got some great time with Kirk, one of our teen's parents. I enjoy that man, and I'm glad to spend time with him. 3) I gained valuable experience at soldering. I hope I never have to do it again, but at least I have a much better knowledge of it now... and Kirk was a much better teacher than my shop teacher in 8th grade. 4) Those projects are done. 5) We appreciate again running water. 6) We had a great excuse to have pizza for dinner.

So, it wasn't all bad. The grass will wait another week (which would be a number seven for Michael), and I did get the oil changed on the lawn mower. I also got the wiper fluid filled in the van. Yeah, not a fantastic day, but a good day of learning... learning patience with myself and life, and learning to be thankful for what God's given me.