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I woke a couple times naturally around my usual wake time only to realize/remember that I was off work. What a good feeling! And because I wouldn’t be going to work I tried sleeping as late as I could. However, with Mindy turning on the bathroom lights and starting the shower, there was little hope of undisturbed sleep. Consequently, I got up and moving around 6:30am. Mindy made the coffee.
While Mindy finished readying herself for work I completed my exercise regiment and took Ykraps on his morning walk. It was still warm but completely clouded over. It bothered me little after enjoying four gorgeous days in a row, and a day’s worth of indoor plumbing to complete. I sat at the PC enjoying my morning coffee and surfing the internet. I was motivated to do little else. I figured I’d hold off on my run until Jacob was off to school. That gave me a little over an hour to hang out.
Mindy & Bella left at their usual time. Bella was very excited about spending the day with Maw-maw. As usual, Jacob played in his room until bus stop time. I spent more time on the PC. We hung at the bus stop for a few short minutes before it pulled up to whisk the children off to school. Pat & I chatted briefly before I headed back home to do my run and eventually start my plumbing exercise.
Meanwhile, the threatening skies had so far held off. Around 8:15 I dressed and left for a run. As luck would have it, about a mile in, it began to rain. It never did rain too hard, however. I was thankful for that. I was home after my run before 9:00am. I decided to shower and relax before starting my plumbing work. It was almost 10am when I finally got started.
Thinking the entire project through, I decided to mount the sink drain baskets first. This I had never done before, so it frightened me the most. In the end, it was very simple – both the normal drain basket as well as the one made for mounting the garbage disposal. Next, I started on the faucet. I got the new faucet mounted in about 20 minutes. It didn’t take too long at all. Step four involved hanging the garbage disposal from the bracket. That was a snap. So far so good. About that same time my dad phoned to check to see if I still wanted his help. Absolutely! I was just beginning the drain system.
It was just about 11am, and I remembered our Wednesday staff meeting. I told my boss that I’d dial in from home. I was on the conference call for a little over an hour and a quarter. I felt terrible leaving my dad hanging while I attended the meeting but it was necessary. Finally, around 12:20pm we got started. The sink was not only deeper than the original, but also because of the 60/40 split, the drains were in a different location. That meant the drain feeds and trap would have to be reconfigured. I wasn’t sure if I’d need to make a Home Depot run or not. But lucky for me, I was able to move this and cut that, making use of all the old stuff. I was able to complete the project without needing any new parts. Dad proved to be a big help with a few little, but important tips. Finally, the true test was about to commence. While testing for drips I learned that I had the supply lines crossed. No biggie. I resolved that pronto. We had one drip. I snugged the culprit and we were totally dry. The next test was to fill the sinks and then allow them to drain with full pressure. Both sides passed the test. Aside from a little clean-up the job I’d been fearing for up to 6 weeks was done! In completing it myself, I saved $500. All totaled, tearing out the counter tops and redoing the plumbing, I probably had a total of 4 hours labor in it. Not bad!
Dad left not long after the last test. I spent the next hour cleaning up my mess and then doing some caulking and trimming. It was only 2pm, and by then the sun had come out and the temperature soared into the 70’s. Our cloudy, rainy day was no more. I ran the dishwasher and then dressed for some unexpected yard work. I decided to edge the front flower beds – a job I really didn’t expect to get to for another week and one half. It was perfect outdoors. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. By the time Jacob got off the bus and Mind got home, I had most of the front flower beds edged. Like Sunday, I used the edgings to fill in some low spots. In addition, the edgings with healthy turf were used to patch some brown spots in the lawn. I was going to call it a day, but decided to finish all the front beds. I spent another half hour closing out the job. During that same time window, Jimaken showed up to pick-up the kids.
Mindy & I opted to stay home rather than make a food run. I wasn’t all that hungry after eating some of my Ding-Ho leftovers just a couple hours earlier. We spent our time on the deck and inside talking. The kids returned home near 7pm. Mindy let them play outside for a short while before calling them in for jammies. After the kids were tucked into bed I spent the next hour updating my blog. I was getting very tired. I told Mindy that I was heading to bed at 9:15pm. She joined me less than two minutes later. But I was so sleepy that I was nearly already asleep.
While Mindy finished readying herself for work I completed my exercise regiment and took Ykraps on his morning walk. It was still warm but completely clouded over. It bothered me little after enjoying four gorgeous days in a row, and a day’s worth of indoor plumbing to complete. I sat at the PC enjoying my morning coffee and surfing the internet. I was motivated to do little else. I figured I’d hold off on my run until Jacob was off to school. That gave me a little over an hour to hang out.
Mindy & Bella left at their usual time. Bella was very excited about spending the day with Maw-maw. As usual, Jacob played in his room until bus stop time. I spent more time on the PC. We hung at the bus stop for a few short minutes before it pulled up to whisk the children off to school. Pat & I chatted briefly before I headed back home to do my run and eventually start my plumbing exercise.
Meanwhile, the threatening skies had so far held off. Around 8:15 I dressed and left for a run. As luck would have it, about a mile in, it began to rain. It never did rain too hard, however. I was thankful for that. I was home after my run before 9:00am. I decided to shower and relax before starting my plumbing work. It was almost 10am when I finally got started.
Thinking the entire project through, I decided to mount the sink drain baskets first. This I had never done before, so it frightened me the most. In the end, it was very simple – both the normal drain basket as well as the one made for mounting the garbage disposal. Next, I started on the faucet. I got the new faucet mounted in about 20 minutes. It didn’t take too long at all. Step four involved hanging the garbage disposal from the bracket. That was a snap. So far so good. About that same time my dad phoned to check to see if I still wanted his help. Absolutely! I was just beginning the drain system.
It was just about 11am, and I remembered our Wednesday staff meeting. I told my boss that I’d dial in from home. I was on the conference call for a little over an hour and a quarter. I felt terrible leaving my dad hanging while I attended the meeting but it was necessary. Finally, around 12:20pm we got started. The sink was not only deeper than the original, but also because of the 60/40 split, the drains were in a different location. That meant the drain feeds and trap would have to be reconfigured. I wasn’t sure if I’d need to make a Home Depot run or not. But lucky for me, I was able to move this and cut that, making use of all the old stuff. I was able to complete the project without needing any new parts. Dad proved to be a big help with a few little, but important tips. Finally, the true test was about to commence. While testing for drips I learned that I had the supply lines crossed. No biggie. I resolved that pronto. We had one drip. I snugged the culprit and we were totally dry. The next test was to fill the sinks and then allow them to drain with full pressure. Both sides passed the test. Aside from a little clean-up the job I’d been fearing for up to 6 weeks was done! In completing it myself, I saved $500. All totaled, tearing out the counter tops and redoing the plumbing, I probably had a total of 4 hours labor in it. Not bad!
Dad left not long after the last test. I spent the next hour cleaning up my mess and then doing some caulking and trimming. It was only 2pm, and by then the sun had come out and the temperature soared into the 70’s. Our cloudy, rainy day was no more. I ran the dishwasher and then dressed for some unexpected yard work. I decided to edge the front flower beds – a job I really didn’t expect to get to for another week and one half. It was perfect outdoors. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. By the time Jacob got off the bus and Mind got home, I had most of the front flower beds edged. Like Sunday, I used the edgings to fill in some low spots. In addition, the edgings with healthy turf were used to patch some brown spots in the lawn. I was going to call it a day, but decided to finish all the front beds. I spent another half hour closing out the job. During that same time window, Jimaken showed up to pick-up the kids.
Mindy & I opted to stay home rather than make a food run. I wasn’t all that hungry after eating some of my Ding-Ho leftovers just a couple hours earlier. We spent our time on the deck and inside talking. The kids returned home near 7pm. Mindy let them play outside for a short while before calling them in for jammies. After the kids were tucked into bed I spent the next hour updating my blog. I was getting very tired. I told Mindy that I was heading to bed at 9:15pm. She joined me less than two minutes later. But I was so sleepy that I was nearly already asleep.
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