Operation Kitchen Faucet: Before and After

Last night, as Josh rinsed his plate after dinner, he yelled, "MMMOOOOOOOMMMM!" And Andrea began yelling too. Don't know what your experience is, but two kids screaming for their mother isn't the best of signs around here. I rounded the corner to the kitchen to see the faucet handle out of place and water pouring into the sink.

Blessedly, I knew where the whole-house shut-off was in the garage. I ran out, flipped that, then turned the water off under the sink and restored water to the rest of the house.

The dilemma: do I leave the kids home for a few minutes until Daddy/Dave gets home from work while I run to the store OR do I stay home and try to catch up on the edit I had JUST opened when catastrophe struck? I wanted to edit, for sure, but how could we function without water in the kitchen? After a little sob on Dave's shoulder (after he got home) about breaking things--one of our expensive shower rings flew off and split in half AND our fruit drawer in our 8-month-old fridge cracked--I decided to stay home and deal with it in the morning.

Andrea helped cart water from the laundry room sink for us to finish the dishes and fill the teapot and coffeepot for the morning. She, in her delightedly optimistic manner, declared it like camping. :)

The Before:

Taking off the water filter was one of the hardest parts. I had no idea until I Googled the installation manual (to get a clue about uninstalling) that it was a $127 piece of kitchen help. We filter through our fridge and it the sink filter had been left by the previous owners, so we really didn't need it taking up precious sink space. Once I got that unit out, I focused on the actual faucet. The install of the new one went quickly, along with a providential donation from a plumber that I will discuss in a future post, and I felt very capable as I've never done any other kind of plumbing project.

The After:

The highlight: This week, I used The Oregonian's flour tortilla recipe and made my own. I never even considered that they could be made at home! Now, to add plumber to my resume ... pretty awesome feeling.

The lowlight: When the cat, who kept crawling in to the sink to keep me company, let a toot.