A Slow Trickle of Frustration

Anyone who reads this is going to have a much better idea of what I hate than of what I love. Writing is a natural venue for venting frustration, and frustration leads to action much more than a positive experience typically does.

Take this morning. Please.

We bought a new kitchen faucet, and like most home improvement projects for couples with kids things didn't really get started until the kids were in bed. I was working late, so Stef and Sheena fought with it for a while, then determined that they didn't have the right tool. Stef took off early in the morning to get the correct tool at Lowe's, but when they didn't have it she returned with something that the person there was sure would work. It didn't. So, back to Lowe's to return it and over to Home Depot to get the correct part.

With the correct tool, the job went much smoother. There is no substitute for understanding or the right tool. When we went to turn the water back on, things went considerable south. In the two places that we had shut water off between the water heater and the kitchen sink, both are leaking like crazy. I am at my wits' end. I hate home improvement projects as it is (see, told ya. Something I hate) and I've already missed half a day or work for this project, and now this. I launch into a temper tantrum (probably mild as far as temper tantrums go, but walking around muttering about how much I hate houses is a tantrum for me.) The irritating part is the change of state of the valves. In the past, just turning them on really hard has stopped any leakage. Now that leak when completely on or completely off, and practically gush in between. These are old metal valves on 3/4" pipes, and I'm thinking I'm going to have to take the rest of the day to solder new valves in place. While I'm struggling with figuring out how the things work (and more to the point, how I can affect them without removing and replacing them) I hear Stef on the phone. Stef has called the local Aco hardware store for advice, and a fellow there named Eric told her to tighten the nut between the valve twisty handle thing and the actual valva body. Guess what? It worked! Aco has won some serious points today.