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This morning as my son showered, we discovered that the same jerk that roofed our house incorrectly, also installed my son's shower using chrome plated plastic to hold the shower head in. It broke off at the pipe. DH is out of town for the day doing some work and my son had to go to work. He had visions of me having to call a plumber and spend every dime DH makes today...and then some. Not this little girl!
I don't know why my son and hubby can't get it thorugh their heads that my dad was an engineer with three daughters and no sons. So, he taught me to do all the things he would teach a son. After I finally got rid of the youngun, I headed to HD to pick up a few things. Fifty bucks later, I returned with all I needed to do a $200+ plumbing job. The hardest part was that I had to tear apart the shower and cut out a piece of wood...that and reassembling the shower. It took me a while, but the shower is now repaired...and it is better than it was before. Plus, while I was at it, I went ahead and recaulked both bathrooms. What the heck, I had the caulking gun out and had been planning to do it anyway.
When I got done, I called my son at work. He had been fretting all day...worrying that I'd have to call a plumber and his step dad would blame him, etc, etc. When I called and told him it was fixed, and it was better than original, but that I was leaving the mess for him to clean up (I mean it is only fair, right?) He told me that I rock.
Heck, I was doing it to save a buck...but I'd have done it just to hear my son tell me that I am the most awesome mom on the planet!
My first hubby couldn't fix a leaky toilet...much less rewire a bad light switch or put in a light kit on a fan, etc. This hubby took a while to break in, but after a couple of times, he statrted trusting me to repair his computer that his livlihood depends on...it was either that or be down for a week while the shop repaired it. Now I do all the computer repairs. But when it comes to heavy stuff, they are always pushing me out of the way. Granted, I am disabled and I'm not supposed to be dong heavy physical anything (I have a doctor's excuse NOT to so much as vacume or mop! Lucky me!) BUT...they can't fix anything...so they either need to let me tell them how to fix stuff, or they need to get out of my way and shut up. Better yet...stand behind me, hand me tools and learn from me...just like I did with Dad. Before cars became computer driven, I did my own car repairs, hung sheet rock with Dad, plumbed a dark room with him, put in basic household wiring for a store I used to work in, and erected a ham radio tower with Dad. I think I can handle most things around the house as long as they don't require me to use brute force or require specialty tools that I don't have.
DH came home from working and was wiped out. He took one look at me and said, "Oh no! What rboke today?" When you have a house that is 116 years old and the previous owners trie dto fis it themselves and didn't know what they were doing...you get taht a LOT. LOL! I rassured him taht it was fine...I'd fixed it. It took him a good two hours to de-stress from his day and to appreicate what I had done. Then he asked me to explain to him what I had done...when I got to the part abut taking the shower wall out, cutting out a piece of wood, and repalcing the shower wall, he reallys tarted freaking. Then I causally mentioned that while I was at it, I went ahead and recaulked our tub as well. He was amazed. He was teaching a seminar on Time managment and personal organization...and he comes home and finds tghat I have '"rebuilt" my son's shower, recaulked our tub, gone grocery shopping, gone to the hardware store twice, taken my son to work, and cooked dinner from scratch. He likes to use me as an example in his seminars...and he said he couldn't wait to each this same group again, so he could tell them waht I was up to while they were learning how to orgainize a filing cabinet. (tee hee)
Oh, I also had to water my garden by hand and tie up some supports one of my banana trees that is blooming...and is too weak to hold the bloom. Just for giggles, I made this sign and taped it to my son's bathroom mirror. I'm going to get a LOT of mileage out of this day. Especially after I pointed out how much a plumber would have cost to do the same job.
DH cracked up...even as exhausted as he was. He had to get up at 3 AM and drive to Georgia to give the seminar, teach the seminar, then drive all the way home...it is only an hour and 45 minutes...not too bad...but when you combine it with his having to get up so early...and the fact taht he is still recovering from cancer of the larynx this time last year...and that being in front of people wears him out in general, I'd say his reaction was quite admirable! LOL! Poor guy...he's already sound asleep...
Those plastic parts are common now on the cheaper faucets. I wouldn't doubt if it's a mobile home faucet. Next time buy it yourself, and make sure it's a name brand like Delta or Kohler.
Oh yeah...I only use better rpoducts. Plastic is not worth the amterial it is made out of when ti comes to plumbing! The problem is we bought this house as a foreclosure. It is 115 years old and the previous owners took a LOT of shortcuts that weren't obvious. We had expected to have soem work, but some fo the shortcuts ahve really caused headaches. The plastic shower part was a minor problem compared to the roof.
IT has a shallow pitch over the back door. They should have used rubber under the shingles. They used felt. This caused the water to back up and leak under the felt. The wood rotted out. The entire back addition will have to be torn out and the wood replaced, rubber put on, then reshingled. Some people are just idiots and should not be allowed to use tools.
At least we didn't pay full price for the house. I'd be upset if I'd paid full price and run into all these problems. But as cheaply as we got the house, we really can't complain about the problems...after we get them all repaired, we will still have less in the house than it is worth.
I try. Cars are so computerized nowadays that there isn't much that the average car owner can do for themselves. But I do teach him to fix stuff around the house. He has a natural gift for it anyway.
When he was in the 3rd grade he decided that the oscialting fan in his bedroom wasn't putting out enough air. He took an old vacuume cleaner apart and replaced the fan motor with the vacuume motor. The vacuume motor overpowered the fan and it literally flew across the room like a helicopter till it ran out of cord and unplugged itself, at whch point it fell the the floor.
I used to come home to find my house wired up like a giant Rube Goldberg device (like the game mousetrap...where you have all these wacky things rigged to do simple tasks). One of them was a watering system for all my hosueplants that used tubing from his asthma nebulizer machine and went from the kitchen sink to every plant in the house...the only problem was that I couldn't use the kitchen tap when I cooked, so I had to take it apart.
Then, when he was in the fifth grade he was supposed to do a science project and write a report on it. While the other kids were building volcanoes, Bear built a burglar alarm from scratch, including making a wooden cabinet for it with a keyed lock. The other kids reports were just step by step insructions for making the volcano...stuff they read on the internet and copied. Bear had schematic diagrams of how his circuit boards would work...including using the proper icons for resistors, etc. His teacher called me in and asked me if I had done the work for him, and I don't think she believed me when I told her all I did was buy him the books on how to draw circuit board schematics... However, when he went to show teh class how the burlgar alarnm worked, it wouldn't go off, so he took it apart, found the bad connection and repaired it, then set it off...proving that, not only did he build the project hismelf, but htat he completly udnerstood how the circuits worked. He was the only student ever to get an A+ on that project.
When he was 14, he took a battery driven cat toy and wired it so he could plug it in the wall...that was the fastest toy mouse the cats ever saw! Forutantely it just went around in circles till the motor burned out.
He has good instincts, and he has learned important rudementary lessons like, just because you can wire something up , doesn't necessarily mean that you should, or that it is safe.
Can you tell that I am a really proud mom???? LOL!
Your son sounds a lot like my husband. DH is truly amazing, theperfect "service" man, if you will. The bigger the challenge, the better he likes it. He was a Union Electrician by trade,
but is so much more than that.
He's an electronic whiz, with an understanding of the mechanics and concepts that in no way can I begin to comprehend. An added bonus is his common sense. In my mind, those two go necessarily in hand!
He is excells in graphic design, as well as drafting, and is self taught in all these areas in computer design, even tho he never sat doen at one until 1999. His thirst for knowledge is unquenchable.
I could go on and on about his abilities, but don't want to bore anyone.
I guess the main point I'm trying to make here, is my immense appreciation for anyone like you and your son, who really grasp the basics of how things work, and how to fix them when they don't. It is such a gift, I think.
Deanna
Thanks so much! Bear inherited his sixth sense about these kinds of things from my dad...who had his own radio repair business when he was 12 years old. Dad went on to become an electircal engineer and a nuclear engineer. However, Bear has decided he doesn't want to be an engineer...turns out he is even better at chemistry. So, at this point, he is planning to be a compounding pharmacist.
Sounds like my man to a "T" as well! Even down to the electrician part. =) He's always been great at fixing things or taking things apart or rebuilding or building anything.
Bama,
I know what you mean about the cars being all computerized. It's the saddest turn of events for the handyman or handywoman. =) DH misses being able to work on and rebuild them...so he's just decided to buy older cars for himself so he can maintain them.
BamaBelle,
I'm truly impressed. You remind me of my MOM who was one of three daughters raised by an old school father, and all her shade-tree mechanic, we-don't-pay-anybody-to-do-what-we-can-do-ourselves UNCLES.
The best I've done so far is refinish an old desk a friend had parked outside her home after a fire. It was covered with soot, but otherwise in fine shape (by my eyes). I asked her if I could have it, took it home, stripped and sanded it, painted it high gloss fire engine red, replaced the drawer pulls with a matte black set, put a sheet of white laminate on the top and bordered it on three sides with 1/2 round molding so the papers would fly off the top.
She came over and I told her I wanted her to see something. She took one look at the desk and then did a double-take. "You mean that's the same old desk that was on my trash?" Yep. One and the same! I'm so proud of that little desk. I still have it...maybe I'll post a pic someday.
Anyhow,
I moved into my new DH's home and need one small bedroom (approximately 10 x 11?) converted into an office/sewing room. I have lots of books so it'll need bookcases and/or shelving of some sort. We also need to confine the bill-paying and paperwork to this room, so we'll need file cabinet storage and a desk as well. Not my little red one, though. The room has a window looking out into the patio and the yard beyond (a lovely view with the fountain and tropical plants on the patio) so can't use that wall, except the sides that flank the window. I'm an avid HGTVer, and I'm envisioning some sort of flat top surface on one wall to make the desktop that could double as a cutting table for my sewing projects. It could be mounted to the wall or sit on top of several two draw file cabinets, leaving a space for the office chair. I think I'm getting tired of waiting for DH to do this project and want to know if you LADIES could give me any ideas on how to set this room up for maximum efficiency. DH has a smoked glass mirror on the wall opposite the patio window, but that can come down to use it for whatever makes the best use of that space, too. And, there's a closet in the room. I'd love to tear it open to expand the room, but we need it. Any schematic you could offer would be much appreciated.
And thanks for reaffirming the things women can do when we put our minds to it.
P.S. My DH is a welder and could probably build the house from the ground up. He has put crown moulding on every wall in the house. He puts crown moulding on anything standing still for more than 5 minutes! He also has every hydraulic and powertool known to man, so once I come up with a design, and make the first move toward one of those tools, I'm sure he'll move, too!
I think I would put the table thing in the center of the room so you can walk around it to cut out fabric...and if you are a quilter, to help you sandwich layers, etc. Just an idea...
Thanks Bama. That would be ideal, except the room is so small...and I have an industrial sewing machine to go in there too. AAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH.
Did I mention I had just bought my FIRST HOME in December of 2004 after living in an apartment for 20 years, and that I LOVE that house (still have it) because the rooms were much larger and there were THREE of them -- a huge master suite (bigger than ours), one for the sewing room (12 x 12) and one for an office (12 x 12)????? And that I married my DH in August of 2005 and moved into HIS house???
ACK! That stinks! My first husband owned a house when I married him and he always made a big deal about it being his house...told me what I could and couldn't do. Had to get his 'permission' to remodel anythign even though I had lived there for 18 years and I saved him thousnds of dollars in repair bills by fixing stuff for him. I'm remarried now and took a lesson from my grandmother's playbook this time. This is MY house...it is in MY name. Period. DH is going to start paying me rent (like my grandmother had my grandfather doing!) soon because he runs a home business...and that way he can claim the rent his business pays me as a deduction on his taxes...and it will give me a little bit of disposable income.
From my grandmother's Rules To Live By:
Rule 1) When you get married, keep your finances seperate
Rule 2) What's mine is mine...and what's his is mine also
Rule 3) Get him to pay all the bills
Rule 4) Get him to pay all the taxes
Rule 5) Get him to pay you rent
Rule 6) Invest every penny you can get your hands on
I just saw this thread and was so glad to see other women going out there and getting the job done! I've not had someone that I could count on to get those things done (specially if it needed to be right hehehe) and I don't do very well at being the "helpless female"! My BF now is still suprised at all the stuff I have that is used to work on house, car, etc...
Also, having been a ranch hand I learned how to do lots of things that would be in the typical "man's world". I like the feeling of being independant and knowing that if I don't know how to do something I can figure it out and learn. After all...I didn't start out in this world knowing how to do all the stuff I do now. I say "you go girl" to all you ladies that get in there and get your hands dirty takin care of yourselves and your families!!!
almost forgot...it's also way cool to hear your son tell you that you rock (or any equivalent). Mine told me that he thinks I'm pretty tough and that just makes all the challenges as a mother worth it!
I was impressed when my mother changed the gasket seals on the car. The ones where the lifters are. Those bolts looked to be about 7-8" long. She did have to ask a man to "break the bolts" but once they did, she knew the rest. If she had had a hydraulic wrench, the guys would still be sitting on the stoop scratching their heads! She learned to reupholster furniture and refinish it, and she made a fur jacket once out of $30.00 worth of remnant fabric. She wore it to her monthly "club" meeting, and all the ladies who had long since gotten furs and houses and cars from their husbands (my mother raised four BEAUTIFUL daughters as a single parent), just oohed and ahhed over her new fur coat. And then she told them she had made it that Saturday morning. They told her to stop joking and laughed until she turned it over and showed them she had only had time to finish one of the pockets! Of course, they had paid thousands of $$ for their coats, and couldn't tell the diff from theirs and a $30.00 homemade one!
My mom kept the Christmas tree up year round and people would travel to our home year round to see it. Because after the Christmas decorations came off she put on the Mardi Gras decorations for Carnival (New Orleans), then it was the pink, blue and yellow Bunnies, chicks and flowers for Easter, then it was the miniature footballs, helmets and fleur de lis for Saints football season, then the turkeys and cornucopia for Thanksgiving, and "ooops, there is is" Christmas again!
I miss my do-it-all-better-than-any-man-I-know mother!
Just Halloween night my cousin and I were reminscing about a house that we used to apss between my grandparents' house up here and the house I grew up in NW Florida. This house kept a Christams tree in the frotn window all year long. Lookign back on it, they kept the tree up for a couple of years and it was during the late 60s...so it was proabbly there for a Vietnam era soldier for whom they were wiating. (I sure hoe he made it home to celebrate with them at the end of his tour). Anyway, my cousin, who is several years yougner than I am, even rememebred that tree. As we were talking, she was tellign me that the lst year my grandfather was alive, he got so much enjoyment out of the Christams tree, he didn't want her to take it down. It was in the front window, so she just changed out the deocrations...she had a Valentine's Day tree, an Easter tree, a 4th of July tree, a summer fun tree...she was planning a Halloween tree and a Thanksgiving teee as well, but he passd on in September.
So, I did my plumbing thing again the other day. DH woke me up to tell me that the kitchen sink was leaking like a sieve. Didn't take me long to figure out what was wrong. He'd had the kitchen window open the day before and it got chilly, so I tried to close it. It was kind of sticking and I had to climb on the cabinet to get enough leverage to close it, and when I did, I heard a little noise in the sink area. Sure enough, when I crawled up under the sink, the seal on the bottom of the sink was broken. Instead of using a ready made nut, they had tried to engineer one and the weld didn't hold. I was still half asleep so I told DH I'd call a plumber when I got up.
Well, of course, as I lay there, I couldn't get back to sleep for thinking about it. Finally I got up and looked at it again. Saw that all that was wrong was the lock nut. Pulled out my trusty pipe wrench and took it apart then headed to the hardware store with the piece of pipe to buy the proper size fitting. I went ahead and bought new washers while I was at it...as long as I'm going to fix it, I might as well do it right. It cost me a total of $3 for parts...as opposed to $100-$150 for a plumber. DH kept making snide comments about how I was 'in my elemenat', etc. Finally I confronted him about it. He denied meaning to be sarcastic...but I know the truth...it makes him feel like 'less of a man' that he can't fix stuff. All the guys in his family are handy and they look down their noses at him because he is not. Never mind that he put himself through college and has a Master's degree; and, when things are going well, earns three times as much sitting in a chair as the guys in his family earn by the sweat of their brow... The fact is, he feels emasculated by the fact that his wife can fix stuff and he can't. Finally I laid it out for him...either you pay a stranger a ton of money to fix something...or you get over this silly attitude and let me fix it and save a lot of money. (He's ben ill the last 3-4 years, so he hasn't been earning as much money as he normally does, and things have been really tight.) He still swears he wasn't being scarcastic...but I'm not dumb...I know sarcasm when I hear it. I guess time will tell as to whether he gets over it or not... Men, can't live with 'em...etc, etc, etc...
I think you hit the nail on the head (no pun intended :-) ) Belle. Specially since he's been ill lately and not making as much as he's used to. Before, even if he couldn't fix it himself he had the option of paying someone to do it so you wouldn't have to. It is true that he probably feels bad even if he's not conscience of why he feels bad...it's something ingrained in them. Keep on goin though and letting him know you love him anyway for a bunch of other reasons. He'll probably still hate it when you fix the stuff, but hearing that you still love and value him will help reduce the amount of time he's in his "funk". And if it happens again...just ignore it (except for maybe a glance) but you've already told him you're aware of his feelings. They will still be there and there's no sense in argueing over that stuff...just give him a big ol kiss and hug! :-)
Yep, you are so rigth...I'll just roll my eyes behind his back...LOL! Or I'll fix it when he's gone and tell him the plumber fixed it for free...LOL! Yeah, like he'll believe that one...
