But where to begin? With good news or with bad news?
Okay, we'll start with the bad. That way, the end of the post will be optimistic right? Right.
It all started when the kitchen faucet sprung a leak:
It's done this before. *drip* .... *drip* ... *driiiip* ...*drip* it's enough to drive you crazy. Previously, we've rebuilt the innards of the faucet itself as seen here on a previous LJ TBHpost. But this time, we thought it was as good an excuse as any to just get a new fixture.
Found this fella at costco for $60. So far, so good right? Yeah, Arnie thought so too
In the meantime we collected all of those drippings. (Because even if you turned off the water supply, it leaked. Turns out we the hot water valve also needs replaced ... good times, right?)
All of them.
We used the water for the fish tank, to fill up the dog bowls, to water plants, you name it.
But then it was time for the hard work, getting under there to get the old faucet off.
This part wasn't as easy as Dylan was hoping. After much elbow grease he was able to get the left side of the old faucet loose, but the right side didn't allow for any real leverage and thus it was pretty impossible to get the old corroded, calcified, stuck on nuts and bolts to let go.
Solution? Lift up the sink. Sure, because that gives access to the faucet, allows for us to reseal everything, and should let us make everything better than it was before! Boy, were we right.
Upon lifting the sink, we busted a couple tiles, not the end of the world, replacing a few tiles is easy. It's the reason why the tiles came off so easily that was the issue.
Water Damage!
Yep, after years of use, the grout gave out, let water in ... and well water just sat. So we peeled back the tile until we found dry parts, scraped off what we could, set up a fan and let it dry overnight. (AND we had to wake up to empty the pitchers that moved under the sink to continue collecting drippings, lets not forget that fun part!)
Today, here's how things are looking so far. We got a can of mildew resistant paint/primer that should be a barrier between damaged wood and new tiles (fingers crossed...) Tomorrow we'll be able to get the matching tiles, and then hopefully this week we'll be able to finish everything up. *cough* I said hopefully, okay?!
Alright, so - our kitchen is forcing us to pay attention to it. It'll all be better in the end, we just have to make it there. My next bit of update was not forced, but still very welcomed.
Shoes.
I decided to finally organize where my shoes live ... well, organize them again but finally try out a new idea.
Photo boxes.
What this enables me to to is label them and stack them. No more digging around for a pair, and making a little more room (or at least look that way) in the closet. Bonus - for pairs of shoes that don't get a lot of use, this keeps them clean and hair free until you do want to put them on.
I wear a 7.5 women's and every pair of shoes I tried to box up fit. So, there's that.
Now I've got space on the shoe rack for the ones I wear most, and an organized space saving way to house all the rest of them. Those photo boxes were $2 a piece during a sale at Michael's. That's a $10 project.
Whooo hoooo happy ending! Well, at least for my shoes.
Now, how will I be handling working 2 jobs, a busted kitchen, and even more lovely hurdles? (I didn't even tell ya'll about the tree out front, that'll be another post later!)
Coffee.
And lots of it.
See you guys later, it's due time I give Dylan a helping hand in the kitchen.
