A DIY Sunday or, Hell Yeah, I'm a Badass!

I've been on a kick of home decoration and home improvement since about mid-December 2014.

But I'm going to start with my accomplishments from this weekend, because today's work is what makes me feel extra, super fricken awesome.

Yesterday, I decided to take out the shower door in the master bathroom and put in a curtain. The door hasn't closed properly in a long time, and attempted hacks to make it stay shut had failed. I took out all the screws, but I could NOT get one of the screws out, even with things jammed under the door to attempt to give me proper leverage. I figured, well, I'll just put some of the screws back in and wait until I can get someone to hold the door for me. But, lo and behold, the door stayed shut! 

I never use the shower in there, but it was irritating to try and open the door to the bathroom at 3 am and have it slam into the shower door that's hanging open. So, BAM problem solved. The magnet on the door realigned with the magnet on the frame and it stays shut. Excellent.

That was it for yesterday's DIY home improvement, but this morning I woke up and after lazing in bed for a couple hours (be jealous) I kicked into action and headed out to Home Depot. Today is the day that I would change a shower head for the first time, put in a shower caddy, and replace the garbage disposal (also for the first time). 

First up, the shower caddy. Super easy, but pro-tip: read the directions all the way. I didn't read all the directions, and was super pissed when the pole kept slipping off the spring. Had I put the little caps on both ends of the smaller pole before sliding into the pole with the spring in it the first time, it would have worked the first time. Figured that out fairly quickly, fortunately, but much cursing.  

Next: the shower head. (dun dun dun!)  The old shower head came off super easy, didn't have to use the pipe wrench at this point, just used my hand - awesome! I put the plumber's tape on the threads to help prevent leaks, and was ready to go.

I followed the directions to get the shower head on - again - easy. Turned on the faucet, pull the shower trap, aaaaaand.... nothing. Nothing would come out of the shower head, at all. Turned it off, turned it on again, off, on, off, on, off. Nothing. Whaaaaaaat?! I take off the shower head, but leave the pivot joint on. Try again. Nothing. The mystery deepens!

I took the pivot joint off. Turned the shower on again, still nothing. Called my dad to ask him if he had any ideas. He had me check for leaks behind the pipes, feel to see if there was any air coming out of the shower arm when I had the shower on, and a couple other things. Nothing.

It turned out to be something super small.

See this?

Welp. That was from the old shower head and it needed to go. Yanked that bad motor scooter out of the shower arm, and VICTORY! Water came out of the shower arm, so I could put the shower head back on and revel in my glorious success. And I totally did NOT put the pivot joint back on before the washer, then have to take it off to put it on right. Ok, maybe I did. But then I got it on and it works perfectly, I love it! First thing I did with it was to clean the shower, but my shower tonight was spectacular. Brilliant!

I took a break on the home improvement to do an art project I'll post about later before tackling the garbage disposal. 

After that break I *almost* didn't get off my tush and take care of the disposal, but I started looking at it, and it didn't seem that bad. 

Hoo boy. It really wasn't that bad, but it took a lot of time to figure out. First up, the old disposal had a threading that stuck out about an inch, inch and a half or so, to meet up with the drain pipe.

Crap. So, I had to make another trip to Home Depot to get a replacement pipe.  While I was there, I also needed to get some wire cutters/strippers to do the electronics. I was so focused on the pipe, I forgot to get the wire cutters. At least I remembered halfway across the parking lot, instead of after I got home!

A quick saw job, a little snip snip with the kitchen scissors, hooking up the power cord, trading the battery between the light and the drill, and I had successfully installed my garbage disposal. It works! I feel so accomplished!

Now I sit here, sipping my wine, watching How I Met Your Mother, and writing this up, I feel exhausted in the best way. 

I'm such a bad ass.