As I stood quietly speaking with the hardware store’s counter clerk my son comes racing down the steps into the plumbing department where I had found my way to get “the right part” to fit the new valves I purchased days earlier. I needed another part to fix the leaking hot and cold water source for the sink in the ½ bathroom renovation.
“Mom, your car alarm is going off!”
Interrupting my informative conversation about copper pipes, soldering, and how I needed a totally different valve than the ones I purchased, I turned toward the red-faced out of breath fourteen year old.
“Why is the car alarm going off?” I managed to ask calmly, or somewhat calmly as I roll my eyes at the counter clerk.
“I tried to unlock the door through the window that was down a little and when I opened the door, it started going off.”
I don’t say anything more. I just handed my fourteen year old the keys and hoped he could figure it out from there as I continued where I left off in the conversation with the counter clerk.
Plumbing 101
After a detailed explanation of why my recent purchase wasn’t going to work, not without a great deal more work than what I nor Mr. M. wanted to encounter with soldering copper pipes and what not; he told me about a different kind of valve with a washer inside that would fit the pipe and screw into the sink’s water line without any additional effort. Bingo! Little effort is just what the doctor ordered. So the plumbing department guy handed me a valve, then asked do you want a 90 degree valve? "Sure," I said as if I understood what that meant. “That way when it goes in to the pipe the connection for the water line is going in the direction of the sink,” he said. That made sense to me – and so he handed me two of the 90 degree valves which I paid for and told the lady I knew I would be back. (I always have to go back for something during these house projects.)
Car Alarms 101
Heading outside to go home with my purchase, my son explained he had someone help him get the alarm to stop and went into an overly complex explanation of how the alarm went off in the first place, so I could learn something he said. My brain was at overload with my plumbing 101 lesson inside the hardware store. I don’t think I caught any of the enlightening information he was sharing about the car alarm. But the words, "I wanted a penny", "the car was locked", and "I thought I could get in through the window" were mixed in with the explanation.
After Mr. M. arrived at my house, I showed him my purchase and began to explain exactly why they convinced me I had to purchase these different valves. As I explained how the newly purchased valves worked, I noticed the piece that would clamp onto the copper pipe in the fitting wasn’t there. Taking a closer look Mr. M. noticed the two 90 degree valves I purchased were for iron, NOT COPPER. So when the clerk went back to get the 90 degree style of the same valves he had picked up ones for iron pipes (instead of copper)and didn’t realize it. Fifteen minutes till closing time, we head back to the store, and get the right parts. (I told them I’d be back.)
To Leak or Not to Leak
And it’s fixed. The parts worked just like the clerk said they would. Now I will just have to return the other valves I bought a few days ago and get my money back on them; but for now my sink is working and so far – NO LEAKS!
Sanity is on the verge of being questioned and nerve pills are on the shopping list, but leaks – I have no leaks… for now!
Find yourself… keeping it real.
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