And now, when you flush the toilet the shower comes on! Not really, but I probably need an electrician and a plumber at this point. This is a “bonus” post because today was one of those days that you just have to laugh at yourself.

About three months ago, I decided I was going to paint my bathroom. My very, very small bathroom. I’ve lived in my home for 12 years, and it’s been on my “to-do” list since I purchased the home. I decided it was finally time to check it off. So, me being me, the first step was to buy four different paint samples and come home and paint four different sections in those colors. I have to “live” with it for a minute to really decide. I can’t make that kind of commitment on a whim. Two of the colors failed immediately, but the other two were in the running for lifelong commitment.

Fast forward to today. Today I was going to paint. I went to find the spackle I knew I had so I could patch a few nail holes. When I finally found the spackle, I discovered the container had cracked, and the contents were one solidified brick of useless. Oh well. There are other things I can do. I can still get the bathroom ready to be painted. I set out with my bucket of cleaner and step stool, and I cleaned every wall ceiling to floor.

The only wall remaining after 90 minutes was the wall that contained the vanity and toilet. I did the upper part of the wall where the light fixture is being very careful to really clean the light fixture then got on the floor to do the lower part. My vanity does not have a back so I emptied the vanity and proceeded to clean the wall behind it. So far, so good. This isn’t hard. I’ve got it. Hmmm. Maybe if I just pull that vanity with no back that is not attached to the wall out a little bit, I can even clean the baseboard behind it and the tile under it. That’s a great idea! N O I T W A S N O T!!

I very gently pulled the vanity out just a little bit. Really. A little bit. Very gently. I hear a crack. I bet that’s not good! No big deal. Whatever it is, I can fix it. The first thing I do is turn on water to see if in fact the mysterious crack resulted in any kind of leak. It did! Oh my. Plumbing isn’t my thing, but why not give it a try? Why not? Because I have no clue what I am doing. At this point, I am sitting in the bathroom floor with a small puddle in the vanity staring at the “stuff” inside.

I reach up over the sink to pull the drain plug up, and it didn’t move. That’s not right. I know it works. So I crawl in the vanity and look around. I don’t know why. I had no idea what I was looking for, but I’m on this learn-by-doing kick for some unknown reason. I was going to figure this out. I finally decide what the problem is. When I slid the vanity it popped the pipe connected to the sink that houses the little thingy that controls the plugger thing and bent the metal piece with all the holes in it that goes up and down when you pull the plugger knob. That’s technical stuff only plumbers know so I hope you followed all that. 🙂 🙂 🙂

I can fix that. It can’t be hard. I’m not a complete idiot, so the first thing I did when I decided today I would become a plumber was turn off the water. I even knew that I may need a bucket as some water could be in the trap. Wow. Go me! So I start fiddling with metal thing with holes and realize that the piece it’s hooked to goes to the pipe that popped. Ok. Maybe that little attachment got jacked up. What do you think the best thing to do here would be? Don’t guess. I’ll tell you. It would be to take all those pipes apart and figure out how to get the ball thing reset in the hole with the small black screwy thing. So, that’s what I did. O M G. Why? At this point I don’t know why, but I can’t turn back. I gave myself a little pep talk, got the tools of choice (butter knife and hammer for those following along) and set out to “fix” this.

An hour in, I am laying under this vanity while Kinley steps over me repeatedly, and the dogs stare at me. I noodle around with some stuff, bend the piece back that I think should be straight, fight getting the little ball thingy back in the shorter pipe and reattached with the screw thingy that does not want to be a screw thingy. GOT IT! Now to reassemble the rest. I get the pieces all put back together, say a short prayer, and turn the water back on. SUCCESS! Kind of … I mean it all works and nothing leaks, but the drainy thing doesn’t come up as far as it used to. Oh well, the water drains a little slow. It drains though. I “fixed” it!

I got up and cleaned everything up including all the black crap that I don’t want to know about off the front of the white vanity in odd little Tonya’s fingerprint shapes. I get it all done and everything put away, and as I’m finishing up, I realize it’s darker in the bathroom than it should be. I look up to the lights, and one of the bulbs is blown. I get another bulb and put it in. Nothing. There are three bulbs in this wall fixture, so being smart I remove one of the ones that work and put it in where the blown one was to “test” it. Nothing. Ok. Somehow I jacked that up when I was carefully cleaning that fixture. You know what? You have water. You don’t need lights! LOL. Just kidding. I’ll get that fixed. Not by me. By someone who actually knows what they are doing.

No more DIY adventures for me! What has been your DIY fails?