Things I learned from my children

I wonder what  I will teach my children.  I have seen the quick to jump  to be fussy.  I wonder if that is learned from me or part of their personality.

Here are some things I learned from my children:
1)  It helps to have a little comfort.
2)  A little affirmation goes a long way.  Joy has to say often, "It fine, Daddy."
3) I have to remember that not everyone wants to do what I want to  do, when I want to do it.
4)  Sometimes a nap is in order.
5)  Things taste better when eaten with hands.

I am sure there are several more things that we will learn from one another.

Down the toilet

A couple of weeks ago I did some plumbing.  Sort of by choice, but more than I wanted.

Wendy's parents were in town and noticed that our toilet would not stop running after being flushed.  Our toilet has always been slow to stop.  Wendy's dad did not want to see out water bill  run up.  Neither do I.  When I get home from work, I hear about this exchange.  I tell Wendy let us see what can  be done about the toilet.  Joy was spending the weekend with Mimi and Papa.

So we go to the hardware store chain and get a toilet repair kit.  The flapper and flush valve.  After all I  have seen  my supervisor replace these things at work.  How difficult could it be?

We return home with the purchase around 8 pm Friday night.  I get the flapper positioned.  However, I cannot get the older flush valve out.  It will  not unscrew.  The whole unit turns, when  I only want the release to turn.  I separate the tank from the bowl to get better leverage.  It still takes me hours to get it off.  Finally around midnight I get it to come out.  I put in the new flush valve.  Now the supply line leaks.

So Saturday morning I have to get a new one.  Back to Lowes.  I  put in  the new supply line.  Once I could not water to flow to the tank.  That gets resolved.  The toilet stops like it supposed to.  Now the bolts leak where I separated the tank and bowl.  Back to Lowes.

I get the kit.  I try to save time and put the new bolts in without taking the tank off.  Mistake.  Water is just pouring out.  My supervisor comes over and  we realize that with that kit, it requires a nut to be seated against the tank and then put on the bowl to  be sealed.  Once we do that, it does not leak.

The only thing is that the handle now is a little difficult to flush.  You have to push it down with more force to get it to flush.  I think I can live with that for now.

It was a little more complicated than I thought.  3 trips to Lowes.  3 calls to people with more knowledge than me.  Into 2 days.  Multiple frustrations.  It was one thing that led to another.  Like a chain reaction, this affected that.

On Sunday, I asked Wendy what happened to the weekend.  She responded it went down the toilet...