If you give a mouse a cookie...

If you give a man a Lowe's gift card for Christmas, chances are, you're going to end up spending 4 Xs as much as the face value of the card and end up with something not quite as exciting as -insert exciting thing here-. Yes, the Canuck received his go-to gift from his in-laws this Christmas- a Lowe's gift card. I, of course, had immediate visions of a new kitchen faucet, maybe one of those goose-neck ones with the high arch and pull-down spout? Oooh! Pretty! Of course, the card was for $50 and the goose was over $200. SO I really just had visions of a new kitchen faucet that had a working pull-out hose and one that was maybe it's original color. Eric had other visions, it was HIS gift card after all... Or was it. Things didn't quite go as planned. The faucet was pretty much on-hold for the time being, when what to our wondering eyes should appear, but a toilet with leaks springing from the rear! We can't prove anything, but it is with a highly suspicious nature that the leak began. BOTH girls were in the bathroom, and while there, the mystery leak began. It was leaking from between the tank and the bowl. As if... AS IF someone may have "accidentally" shoved someone leaned against the tank too hard and broke the seal around the screw that holds the potty top to the potty bottom. Well thank Al Gore for the internet because momma looked up how to fix the problem on YouTube. AND a kindly plumber from the deep south had posted a loverly piece on how to fix tank ta bowl problems. Thank you kindly dear plumber. And thank you for givin' us a go-to accent to use while settin' about to get a fixin' that toilut. A TRIP TO LOWE'S ENSUED! Where, the repair kit was purchased, and in a moment of total financial responsibility, a new hose was purchased for the kitchen faucet. NOT a new faucet. New hose- $27, New faucet? Much more than that. Just the hose. O.K. fine. Amazingly, the toilet repair worked the first time. At least it's been working for 5 days... HOWEVER. The hose? A no go. Leaving us without water in the kitchen- the new hose didn't fit and the old hose wouldn't go back. Which is fine because the packing tape repair job wasn't meant to be long term anyways... SO back to Lowe's we went. AND bought a new faucet. Goose neck no, but new nonetheless. It was a "so quick and easy even a hoser could do it," kind. Only the hoses weren't long enough reach the valves where the water comes out. So... either they make those hoses way way too short, or our house was built with no consideration for things like plumbing standards or following the blue print or we were the hosers for thinking something might be easy... That reminds me of a funny story. Nevermind. BACK to the store for extension hose thingies. They were gender benders if that makes sense to anyone. It simply means that the ends of the extension had to be the same. It's legal in Utah, we checked. ANYWHO. THEY FIT! And we had water, and it came out of a lovely new faucet. AND now we had water under the sink too! Because the valve where the hot water comes out? It was leaking! We talked nice to it, gave it a little twist, patted it dry... BUT no. Valve incontinence. SO back to Lowe's once again for a new valve. AND secretly, at this point, I obtained the numbers of SEVERAL local plumbers. And secretly, right before the Canuck turned off the main water to the house, I filled up a tub with water... Call it a total lack of confidence in a back-up plan just in case. He did it! He replaced the hot water valve. Folks, we are 3 days in and the only water in the kitchen is coming from the faucet and the dog's feet. (Dang dogs, won't they ever learn to to wipe their paws before walking around the kitchen?) The moral of the story is, if you give a guy a Lowe's gift card for Christmas, chances are he's gonna use it to fix a toilet which may mean momma gets her new faucet, and a whole list of who to call should something happen like this happen again...