On Fixing a Sink

From My Journal Sept. 05

The phone rang just before 6 p.m. It was Rachel's mom calling to say Rachel would be unable to come baby-sit the kids tonight. I was not pleased and handed the phone to Andrew. She didn't give a reason why, but Andrew dealt with it better than I would have, considering my level of irritation and frustration left over from earlier that day. We were both very surprised and not a bit happy, since we were both very much looking forward to skating together and then getting Andrew a 'thunder' desert at The Outback for his birthday.

I tried calling Alison to see if she was available, but she had plans. She was very apologetic though and said to say 'Happy Birthday' to Andrew.

I hated to call her right back since she'd just left, but I hated more the idea of staying at home tonight if it could be helped. so I called Susan and left a message on her answering machine to see if she was interested in earning more money. She called back shortly. Unfortunately she already had plans too. Who would have thought that having one primary babysitter and two back ups wouldn't be enough?

The phone rang again closer to 7 and I let myself for a moment hope that it might be Rachel or Susan calling to change their mind. Turns out it was Andrew's dad. I know he's all into that kind of thing so I mentioned to him that I just fixed the leaky faucet in the master bathroom by replacing the rubber washer and spring in the knobs. I couldn't tell if he was impressed or not, since it's a relatively simple thing to do if you know how and you've done it before. It was my first time though, so undoubtedly it seemed like a bigger accomplishment to me.

Andrew wasn't pleased that I was donning or discarding rubber gloves from having repaired the faucet. But- it has been leaking for months- months, and from a financial standpoint, it will be helpful for us to not be paying anymore huge monthly water bills from a slow steady drizzle from the tap.

He turned downright peevish though when I decided to change out the throat of the sink, which has had a history of leaking into the under part of the sink and cabinet. It took a couple hours because I thoroughly cleaned everything before putting it back together, and it was a nasty dirty job, but I didn't mind so much and found it rather satisfying in lieu of the evening's disappointments.

Andrew claimed he would have preferred for us to take the kids with us to The Outback even if we couldn't skate, but he seemed to be able to find things to occupy him as well. Not to mention that when I suggested we leave doing the dishes and vacuuming until tomorrow- he protested adamantly stating I just didn't understand about him being a creature of habit. All I can say is he has in recent months become the personification of the classic Virgo- from the clear thinking, to the home-body-ishness, to the almost ritualistic clean-oholicism.

It was kinda fun to discover what exactly was causing the sink's problem(s), since it turns out there was more than one, and to rectify the situation. From a problem-solving-with-immediate-gratification standpoint- it was entirely therapeutic.

Unfortunately the problems were from not only erosion of the rubber seal, and excessive rusting of the throat tube, the sink basin its' self was rusted beyond repair and to the point of being unable to contain fluid or air even, and the new rubber seal was not able to stop the leak. The basin needs to be replaced, and I see now that it would actually be a really simple thing for me to do. Having taken out the old sink now- putting a new one in might take 20 minutes. Andrew seemed to think though, that we would be unable to find a new basin that would fit the old counter and that it would cost in excess of $300. I was disappointed.

Not only would it have been very satisfying to have replaced it myself, it would have been a constant source of endorphin releasing pleasure to see a brand new, shiny, clean basin and knobs in the bathroom. Seeing the old, corroded, dirty-beyond-cleaning ones, has a pessimistic influence on me- every time my brain registers their presence. It's like negatively charged Chi.

I think this is one more reason why buying a "fixer-upper" house would be in one way a fun challenge for me- one that could potentially bring me lots of satisfaction, but ultimately would preoccupy the majority of my time and energy and as the funding would be limited, would be conversely a constant source of frustration for me. Ultimately it would also be overwhelming and I would find myself more dissatisfied, than satisfied. I think it's good to know that about myself.

That being said, I almost wish I knew someone who needed something like that installed- because I would very much like to do it again. Holy-crap-stinky mess and all.

[MySpace Posted Wednesday, May 30,2007 ]