So I had my first meltdown about home repair issues on Friday. It wasn't a huge one - only lasted 5 min. or so - but tears were involved so it qualifies as a meltdown!
About two weeks ago my toilet lever in my upstairs bathroom had started to split and was not allowing the lever to do it's job of pulling up the chain, so that the chain could flush the toilet, allowing life to proceed as normal. Ugh...I'm not a real handy person when it comes to fixing things or putting things together - mechanical things that is. Give me an event to plan - I can do it. Give me a recipe to put together - I've got it covered. Give me a large cardboard box full of 100+ pieces, twice as many screws, nuts and washers - yeah, I'm lost. Give me a broken appliance or household fixture - I'm even more lost and probably stressed out. If you really want me to start to stress, send me by myself to Lowe's or Home Depot...I start to sweat and need to take frequent breaks! So needless to say I had no clue how to fix my toilet - I mean it took me a good 15 min. to locate the problem - that's 15 min. after I stood there for 5 min. trying to push the handle down, thinking each time the toilet would fix itself. This issue semi-stressed me out, but I was thankful that I could pull on on the chain myself to flush the toilet. While it wasn't the most ideal solution - it was a solution and the toilet was flushed. Life could proceed. So once I got the toilet flushed I do what I always do when something like that breaks...I called my dad and my brother. My brother told me he could get it fixed by the weekend, and that was fine by me. Since I had another toilet and I could pull the chain to flush the broken toilet - I was in now rush (meaning it didn't need to be done in the next 12-24 hours). Well that weekend came and went - life happened and the toilet was still injured. Oh well...refer to previous sentence about chain and other toilet. The following weekend I was out of town, so I went another weekend with a semi-functioning toilet. Then last week I reminded my brother of the toilet needing fixed. I was tired of removing the toilet lid each time I used that toilet, and I thought a loving reminder was needed. I was at his house and he had me show him, on one of his toilets, the part that needed fixed. He told me to take off the handle and the lever, go to the hardware store and ask them to show me where I could find a replacement part. I began to sweat and breathing became difficult - or so I thought. Me, go by myself to the hardware store - I've never had a good experience doing that.
Did you know that the hardware store doesn't have just a standard nail? They have like 8 trillion kinds of nails. Why? Why is that necessary? And if that is so necessary, why can't one just be called "The Standard Everyday Nail"?
Okay back to the story. I told Steve I could handle that and have the replacement for him so he could fix it for me on Friday evening - yippee house repairs on a Friday night! Friday as I was getting ready to get ready - I attempted the removal process. The lever completely broke and instantly sank to the bottom of the tank. And I was not able to remove the handle that Steve wanted me to remove, because I don't have any tools...oh crap. I proceeded to get ready and I was at the shower stage...which takes us to the tub portion.
About three weeks ago I realized I had a slow drain in my only tub. Oh!!! I knew the solution for that...get some drain cleaner and it will work like a charm. Well it did...for about a week and a half. Then the drain wasn't draining that well and water was collecting in the tub during my showers. Well last Monday the water was collecting quickly and by the time the shower ended the water was mid-calf. This wasn't good. So on Tuesday night I mentioned this to my Mom. She told me that something was probably trapped in my trap - well it was great to know that something was doing it's job! I asked her how to fix it and she said, "um...I'm not sure, your Dad handles those things. But usually when I tell him we have a slow drain, he gives me the answer I just gave you and then he fixes it." Oh great - we are both clueless about these situations! She told me to try to unscrew the stopper, and to see if I could see if anything was trapped. When I got home that night, I tried to unscrew the stopper...yeah, it didn't work - so frustrating. So Friday as I was getting ready, the bathtub was rapidly filling up and I was thinking of the lever that just broke...it all hit rock bottom. After finishing in the shower I called Steve to talk about the lever, he had to call me back. He called right back and I explained what had happened with the lever. He asked if I tried to use a wrench to remove the handle.
"Um no - I don't have any tools."
"You don't have any tools?"
"No, I've never needed them - I've always had a maintenance man to come fix the problem."
"Well I know what you get you for Christmas."
Then the meltdown began - As I was sitting on the toilet (fully dressed) and explaining the problem about the lever, I looked over to see the slow drain. I started to explain the tub issue, in meltdown language (hand movements and all!) and pretty soon my eyes were draining - faster than my tub. He couldn't understand a word I was saying when I was talking in meltdown lanugae, and of course this completely threw him off. We were just having a normal conversation, and bam it come from out in left field. He did the whole - what in the world is wrong? what has happened? Of course as I type I'm laughing uncontrollably, but it wasn't a laughing matter at that time. He quickly calmed me down and told me all would be fixed that evening.
Around 6:00 Hayden called and they (he and Steve) were on their way. YAHOO!!! Steve assessed the problems. He fixed the tub and showed me how to unclog it in the future - apparently I only get one free unclog from him. He then said he would go to Home Depot and would return quickly. In the mean time Hayden and I went to pick up Reece (Jenni's dog) from Daycare (yeah that is it's own story!) When we returned Steve wasn't back yet, but he arrived about 15 min. behind us. He walked in the backdoor with an arm load of bags - What in the world? I thought it was just the lever that needed fixed! He then said - Happy Sweetest Day and handed me two bags of tools. There was a hammer, 13 screw drivers and various sized plyers and wire cutters. I was so SUPER excited - not that I know how to use them, but I now have them! This will allow me to attempt to fix the issue next time, and allow me to have the independence that I love. I hate to rely on other people to do anything for me - I would just rather do it myself and get it over with. Which is why I guess I freak out so badly with home/car repairs (which we didn't even discuss today!). I love my tools and he even got me a little bag to put them in. He and Hayden laughed at me because I smelled the handle of the hammer and said how nice it smelled. I guess you aren't supposed to do that - I don't know! I had never had tools before and I had never received a Sweetest Day gift either.
When they left on Friday evening I was on cloud nine - my toilet was flushing as it was designed to do, my tub was unclogged and draining at the appropriate speed, and I had a set of tools that I knew very little how to operate them - but I had them. Smiles all the way around!
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