How I Became a Plumber

The boyz and I had an exciting evening.

My kitchen faucet has been dripping nonstop for the past week or so, so I decided I would try and stop the leak. I got out my tools and removed the handle of the faucet. I thought I would just need to replace a washer, so I looked at all the pieces to find the faulty rubber piece.

The washer looked fine and further I looked at all the replacement washers I had and none of them were the same size. So I began reassembling the faucet. When I was done I noticed a spring lying in the sink. So I took everything apart again and tried to find where the spring was supposed to go. That's when I dropped the washer down the drain. Oops.

I got everything (sans washer) assembled only now the drip had turned into a healthy trickle. I had shut off the water to the kitchen sink so that I had any water coming up at all surprised me. I decided to go downstairs and shutoff all the water in the house. I did so and went back upstairs to the kitchen where I discovered the water still flowing from the faucet.

This water however was getting hot, so I went back downstairs and thought that maybe the source of this water was the water in the water heater reservoir. I shut the water heater off (bad move). After about twenty minutes I checked the kitchen faucet and it was still flowing water. So I decided I needed to find a washer and hoped that would take care of what was becoming a bigger issue.

I ran up to Target (about five minutes from my house), searched the home improvement section, but didn't see any washers. I called for help and the nice young woman who came over called someone else and it was determined they don't carry washers. So I drove on over to Home Depot (about 15 minutes from my house). I got there around 9:07, looked at their sign and found out they closed at 9:00.

So I drove on home not knowing what I was going to do. All this activity of course had the boyz wound up. Theo was pestering Thompson causing quite the demonstrative hissy fit. Diego was downstairs looking at all the valves I had played with. I turned on the bathroom sink and discovered I had no hot water (despite the fact the water flowing from the kitchen faucet was now very hot).

So I went back downstairs to the water heater and saw that the pilot light wasn't lit. Oops. I read the instructions on how to re-light the pilot light (all the while figuring I was about to blow up my house). I actually got it re-lit.

I decided my next step was to go to bed and deal with the water issue by buying a washer and praying that takes care of the problem. When Diego climbed into bed with me this morning I noticed his back legs were wet. I'm sure he checked out the flowing water in the kitchen sink.

I hope someone reminds me to have a backup plan next time I decide to tackle a home improvement project. All they'll have to do is remind me of this night.