Sometimes Home Improvements Are Just Stupid

Time Log -
12:45 am - turned off the light, and went to bed
6:10 am - Emma woke up, gave her a bottle, & put us both back to bed
8:30 am - woke up, thought about my day, got up & dressed to go to the rec center, started my time log blog post for the day, helped the kids
9:15 am - got to the rec center, did my workout on the elliptical today, 30 min., 2.36 miles (I think), 3880 strides, 336 calories, crossramp level 1, did resistance 5 for a while, then resistance 7.
10:00 am - back home, Foofie was still asleep, decided she needed to wake up, so we opened her door, helped kids, I changed & dressed her, fed her, ate breakfast, played with Connor, started & switched some laundry ("Saturday is a Special Day..."), studied programming on my laptop, put my foot down hard on Dani, who wanted to go shopping for new clothes. Apparently, the stuff we bought three or four months ago doesn't "look good" on her anymore, and she only wears about three different outfits these days. While she washes them frequently, I'm surprised she hasn't complained about being mocked at school for wearing the same thing all the time. She moped around excessively, begging to have some of my craft supplies, so I decided to do something nice for her, and I helped Dani set up a card table in her room so she could have a crafting space of her own. She learned how to braid friendship bracelets this week at Activity Days, so she set to work on that project.
12:00 pm - put Emma down for a nap, more laptop, laundry
12:30 pm - showered, dressed, got Connor ready to go to a Barnyard birthday party, where the kids were invited to wear cowboy boots:

No cowboy boots, but this did pretty well. This was something I picked up at the Factory Outlet Mall in Park City at our last Girl's Weekend. It was on clearance, and I bought it, thinking it would be great for playclothes, or a Halloween costume.

1:10 pm - got to the party, stayed for a while, then I went to Home Depot. I had this bright idea that I was going to install a hose with some kind of sprayer attachment for our shower, so it would be way easier to clean the shower. I bought the right attachment for $19, then went home to install it. It was supposed to be EASY. Just unscrew the showerhead, screw on the adapter, then screw the showerhead back on. Wah-lah! But no, I BROKE the shower head trying to get it off because I turned it too hard the wrong way, and because it was plastic, it snapped in half. Aaarrgghhhh!!! !*@#*#^% Monkeys! I took the pieces back to Home Depot, hoping to salvage it. Home Depot plumbing specialist said I could try this epoxy stuff, but it was going to be iffy. Bought it, then went to get Connor.
2:45 pm - I picked up Connor from the party, and went home to apply the epoxy. It's like playdough, you mush the two colors together, and press it on the broken parts. It set up fast. The adapter piece that came with my hose kit was too short on the end for the showerhead, so while the epoxy set up, I went back to Home Depot to get something that would extend the length of the 1/2" male-end pipe fitting coming off the adapter. Connor had lots of fun riding the trolley cart around Home Depot, but when it was time to go, he wanted to stay, and he tried to hide in the shelves. Here are some pics with my ancient cell phone:

Connor is hiding in the shelves.

"No, I don't want to go home, I want to live at Home Depot!" He didn't say that, but I know it's what he was thinking.

When I got back home, and put everything together, the showerhead snapped right off. Now I have to throw in the towel, and just pony up for a new shower head. Darn it! I really liked that wide showerhead, it made for very nice showers. I'm not looking forward to telling Zen I broke the shower. I thought I was going to be so clever, and show him the new hose attachment when he got back from Man Camp tonight. "See, look what I installed all by myself!" Now I have to say, "See, look what I broke all by myself!" A new showerhead like the one I broke is going to cost about $35. My $20 home improvement has turned into a $60 home improvement:

This was before I messed with it.

This is the broken piece, which the epoxy couldn't hold. Pooh!

Here's the new hose & sprayer attachment, waiting for a new showerhead.

4:40 pm - back at the laptop, Where has my day gone? It's almost 5pm, and I was going to spend ALL DAY on updating my website programming skills. Stupid shower! Stupid me!!
5:55 pm - done writing my blog post up to this point, now I'll go back to studying website programming. I'm not going to bed tonight until I have something to show for it.
6:50 pm - after much nagging from kids, I made dinner, - Philly Steak & Cheese Paninis


8:00 pm - back on my laptop, checking out website templates at www.dreamtemplate.com. Check 'em out, there's some pretty cool stuff on there!
8:30 pm - Zen came home and after asking why I messed with the shower, he said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" But I'm still glad I have a hose to help me clean the shower, so "Thppppttt!!!" He didn't care about picking out a new showerhead, so I ran to Home Depot and picked out a new one. After his shower, he said, "Well, I declare it okay. In fact, it's as good, if not better, than the old one." Gilean took a shower, too, before bedtime, and he concurred. I feel vindicated, sort of.

Showerhead installed. The valve on the side is where I can attach the hose sprayer to clean the shower stall. Why didn't I just purchase a showerhead/hose combo? 'Cause I don't like 'em. The showerhead I picked is sexier, and more awesome. Now don't bug me about it.

Front view of new showerhead. It's a full-body output of water. Refreshing!

9:25 pm - read scriptures with kids, put everyone to bed, back on my laptop looking at more templates
10:55 pm - go to bed, but will watch one episode of Supernatural

End Post #32, 2009