What I've been up to...

It's been a crazy summer week. With most of the Benz maintenance complete, I've spent much more time driving it than working on it. That's a good thing, but I don't have any cool pictures of the car in disrepair, or stories of multiple trips to auto parts stores. However, since this is a blog that highlights some of my do-it-yourself escapades, here are some pictures of other things I've been doing lately:

Here is my new walkway, that I did while Kim and the kids were away...


My latest handyman snafu happened yesterday. Our faucet in the bathroom was starting to drip. Usually, this is a pretty straightforward repair. You pop off the handles, take out the faucet stems, and there is usually some sort of washer that has worn out. I had trouble getting the stems off for some reason, and probably even broke them while trying to remove them. So, I ran over the to the store and picked up the cheapest replacement faucet I could find. I got it mostly installed, except that one of the supply lines snapped when I reinstalled it (It was old, I swear). I ran to the store (again), and got a replacement shutoff valve and supply line and returned home.

Keep in mind at this point, with the shutoff valve disassembled, the water supply to the whole house needs to be off. Of course, there are 4 loads of laundry, a full dishwasher and a large pile of dirty dishes on the counter. I had faith that I would be able to fix this and get to these chores before too long, but it was not to be. When I reassembled the shutoff valve and supply line and turned the water back on, water started to spray from behind the fitting.

We now have no water.

One important skill of a good do-it-yourselfer is recognizing your limitations. I have reached mine. I called a plumber this morning, and asked for a service call around noon. No problem, they said. It's now 3:51, and according to the receptionist, they are still an hour out. I am a bit of a control freak, so you can imagine that this is really ticking me off. I feel like I'm in that Seinfeld episode where Kramer keeps scheduling then blowing off the cable guy. I'm tempted to go for a run, then leave a note for the plumber that says 'back in 5 minutes' then return an hour later. Ha.

With regards to the Benz, while I was waiting for the plumber to call, I did go through and do an interior detail. Every now and then, I like to pick an area that doesn't normally get cleaned and go for it. Today, it was the convertible top boot. It was really disgusting in there.


That's all for now.