Excited.

This is our last show on our NYC trip. Confirmed our tickets last week. Not to late to come...(but it will be next week).

Fix It Again

So the day after the great garbage disposal replacement, the toilet in the master bathroom was acting up. Now this toilet has always been what you might call, chatty, but now it just didn't shut up. So, Jackie turned off the water to it and we stopped using it.

On Saturday, we actually opened the tank and discovered some sort of red rubber ring had disintegrated. So, feeling flush with confidence after fixing the garbage disposal, I headed off to Home Depot to grab a new toilet thingy (I believe those were the exact words I used with the nice Home Depot gentleman).

I found a part that looked correct, went home, took the tank off the toilet and put it in the sink and realized that I did not have a big enough wrench to take the piece off.

Off I went to Walgreens. Bought the largest wrench they had. Took it home. Too small (but it was ok because that same wrench had been dropped into a hollow fence post by my brother never to be seen again). Off to Home Depot yet again. Grabbed the correct wrench (no roller blading brother-in-law this time!)

So about 40 minutes later, the part was replaced, the tank was back on- only to discover our old flusher was not compatible with this new part. Off to Home Depot yet again.

New flusher? Check. Tank back on? Check. Leaving for a birthday party in exactly one minute? Check.

I proceed to turn the water back on- the tank fills- hurray! no leaks so far. Everything looks good.

Jackie comes in. I, standing proudly by the commode, pronounce the toilet fixed and chatter free.

I flush.

And every ounce of water in the damn tank falls onto the floor out of the back of the tank.

Jackie and I frantically grab every towel in the house to stop the deluge.

There is no time to fix it, because we are late for a 1-year old's birthday party.

I enter the party angry at our toilet. Rollerblading brother-in-law's father (in town from California) and my dad are around for the party and agree to come back and look at it.

Long story short, I had ended up not putting on one of the tank seals (a very crucial part I discovered) and after a yet another trip to Home Depot (with roller blading brother in law's father), who, truth be told, just ended up fixing it himself while I nodded my head and pretended to know exactly what he was talking about.

But it's fixed! And no longer gurgles in the night.

Fix It

I am not handy. Despite the fact I teach 10-12 graders Stage Crew (set building, basic fix its and "that does not look how I described it, fix it now"), I call my dad, brother, cousin, neighbor or the Lord almighty when things break in our house.
Our house in Riverton is over 10 years old- which means everything is starting to break at once.
Monday was the disposal. I went to grab a garbage bag out from under the sink and noticed they were wet. I tried to pinpoint the leak and realized that water was running down the electric cord. This did not seem correct.
Jackie came in, took everything out from under the sink while I tried to tighten the screws that held the power cord. Luckily, I was not called home to heaven with a huge electrical shock, but since I had no idea what to do (and Jackie was weeping on the couch) I called my dad.
His advice? When water is leaking down the power cord, time for a new disposal. I asked if this was something I could do or is it best for a professional...he paused and said, "well, disposals can be tricky..." I took that for a yes, I could do it and off I went to Home Depot.
I chose the disposal that was in the middle of the range. I did not need one that could accommodate an entire chicken- bones and all. I also like the fact that the side of the box said it could be installed in 5 easy steps..
I got home and was ready to work. Until I realized I did not have a large enough plumbers wrench to take off the pipe that was keeping the disposal on.
Since my sister and her husband recently moved in down the street, I called them and my sister said Ben would check. Moments later, Ben was off on his roller blades wrench in hand.
2 hours later (with one trip for plumbers putty at Walgrens), thanks to Ben our rollerblading brother-in-law, the new disposal was in. Also- did you know that power cords are not included with disposals? So were learned basic wiring to remove the old one and install it in the new one.
The box the disposal came in neglected to say that the 5 easy steps were subdivided into 20 more complex steps.
So far we are leak free (although we haven't tried the whole chicken down it yet- it seems to be handling gravy and Jackie's tears quite well).