| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Clare |
Posted - Aug 16 2004 : 10:18:01 AM
Just curious if any of you farmgirls tackle plumbing situations that need attention? I live in an old house, and it seems that everything holds together pretty well, and things that need updating can wait... (ie.. I can cover the ugly linoleum with rugs). The one big exception is plumbing... ya just can't ignore that. I've been know to fix my own toilet and do sink repairs. I just buckle down and do it... since I don't have a live in handyman- I'm the "handymam"... But Friday night my bathtub plumbing sprung a leak... I took apart the faucet to see if I could determine anything, and could not. I enlisted my brother's help on Sunday, and together we tore into the wall... to find the source of the problem. It wasn't anything I probably couldn't have done myself (looking back on it), but it's sure nice to have a concensus of opionion before doing something so major. All is well again... the new grout sealer is curing and I'll be back in business soon.
I guess I've watched enough of those remodeling/fix-it shows on PBS to feel empowered. Am I a lone wolf in this regard, or do you other farmgirls "just do it" too? Maybe it's the TAWANDA factor??
Gardener, Stitcher, Spiritual Explorer and Appreciator of all Things Natural |
| 22 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| ladybugsmom6 |
Posted - Oct 09 2005 : 3:18:30 PM
Tawanda all the way around here! My husband locks up our sledge hammer. The year he gave me a cordless circular saw for my birthday I was so excited, I refused to let him borrow it for work, now around the house, he can use it anytime! He of course is in construction, and I was too until we were married and started having babies! Now we are all into something all the time. My kids like it when he takes on side work because he only agrees to take on the jobs if the kids can help. He has learned that they need him too, and they love to learn the trades. We figure that no matter what the economy, some one always needs a handy man or woman! And if they choose to not marry or marry a not so handy guy, they can do it themselves. We have taken on many a project just reading the box. His Dad always asks if he has done a thing before. He responds, "Oh....I made a video once." or my favorite, " oh yeah, I saw Tim Allen do it!"
Rambling now, but oh so funny... My hubby has been working out of town for the past few months so I am chief cook and bottle washer around here! Well this spring my 16 mo son learned how to flush! I cane up the stairs just in time to see him flush his new bottle of bubbles from the Easter Bunny. I yelled no, he grinned and... no more potty for the 5 little girls! I called my hubby that night and asked him who I could call. He laughed at me and told me there was no way he was spending good money on something he was sure I could do myself!  early the next am I took apart that old toilet and started digging. It was caught in the trap...well caught. I ended up going to the local mechanics shop to ask for a long firm tool! I offered each of my girls $2 to reach up the trap to pull it out. My 5 yo took the bait! We were quite the sight, but we got it out, and had a flushing party! We felt pretty good, until that little stinker flushed again on Thursday night when Daddy got home! Little show off!
My daughters will never forget how to take a toilet apart
-Tami
livin' right and loven' life! |
| greyghost |
Posted - Sep 25 2005 : 5:43:32 PM
I like Charmin, but it's too expensive. I keep buying the Sam's club brand - though this time my hubby said he hates it, so I guess we're changin! |
| owwlady |
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 10:28:58 AM
When the guys came out to cut the roots and everything else out of my pipes and get my plumbing going again, they asked if I use Charmin toilet paper. I had now and then but not regularly. They told me Charmin is the very worst to use. It's too thick, it doesn't break down like it should. The next worst is Northern. He told me I don't have to use the very cheapest, but the cheaper brands break down better. So ladies, if you have problems, get rid of the Charmin. Jan |
| Kim |
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 07:36:02 AM
Uh, oh. Wonder what's in my washer?!?!?!?! LOL! Good job Lynn!
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
| greyghost |
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 07:31:39 AM
I am woman, hear me roar!
The other day the drain line for my washing machine backed up. Water splashed back out everywhere! All over the laundry in piles I had around the machine, soaking the floor...
Anyway, I grabbed the snake, attached the drill to it and whaddaya know: there was a plastic fork, a metal fork, and a whole lot of linty goo down there! Gee, I wonder why it backed up? lol. |
| Kim |
Posted - Sep 16 2005 : 11:53:03 AM
Yeah!!!!
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
| owwlady |
Posted - Sep 15 2005 : 4:22:53 PM
Yea!! I finally have working plumbing!!!!! I told you on Sept 6th that my plumbing was out, well today, Sept 15th, it got fixed. I also got my electricity back on after being out for about 30hrs after a bad storm. Today is a good day, electricity and water, I'm back in the 21st century. |
| greyghost |
Posted - Sep 08 2005 : 06:03:32 AM
Hey Clare - that's the plan! We just got insurance through his work and I have to wait before I can go in for the MRI and whatnot else needs done so they don't call it a "pre-existing condition" and refuse to cover me for any of it. :P Dumb insurance companies. But yes, we plan on milking his insurance for all it's worth this year - I'll get my knees checked out, my back taken care of, get him to do an annual physical (which he has never done since I met him) and get new glasses. |
| owwlady |
Posted - Sep 07 2005 : 2:50:54 PM
Lynn, right now half the time sounds like heaven! I only have 4 more days until my friend gets here to help me out, so I guess a few extra trips to McDs won't hurt me. My,my, the things we take for granted! |
| Clare |
Posted - Sep 07 2005 : 08:34:40 AM
Lynn, maybe while your husband still is working and has health insurance would be a good time to consider surgery to correct your lumbar problem, as there are so many new options available now? My brother was dibiltated most of the spring and summer by horrendous pain caused by part of a disc slipping out and pinching his sciatic nerve, he was walking hunched over and could not lay down and barely sit. A quick day surgery correction and about a 3 week recovery period of taking it easy and walking has been a miracle for him. He's feeling 100% again. Something to consider.
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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| greyghost |
Posted - Sep 07 2005 : 07:05:02 AM
Oh Jan that's awful! Much as I complain about the bathroom here (lol) at least it flushes half the time without plunger persuasion. Sure you can't put up a tiny privacy fence and dig a hole? Bamboo fencing is cheap and lightweight... Subdivision/smudivision! j/k!
Part of my back problem is also cause by a birth defect, albeit a minor one. Lumbar #5 never fully developed - and many people have trouble with Ls 4 & 5 WITHOUT a defect like that. |
| owwlady |
Posted - Sep 06 2005 : 3:47:54 PM
Lynn, I know what you mean about not being able to lift. I've lived with a bad back all my life (birth defect) and it's frustrating. Right now I can't use anything in my bathroom because I have to remove the toilet and clear out the tree roots clogging up my pipes. That's not a job I can do alone.I can at least use the kitchen sink but I can't do everything I need to in a sink!!! McDonald's isn't too far for a potty trip I guess. I have to wait until next week when my friend is coming into town. He's done this for me before, but it makes me feel helpless. I would hire the work out, but I'm out of a job right now and out of money. I guess I'll just have to be resourceful. Maybe I'll go relax and crochet something and forget about plumbing for awhile. What's funny is that my friend doesn't even have indoor plumbing on his farm. Just a good old outhouse. I'm ready to start digging my own, expect I think the subdivision might frown on that! |
| greyghost |
Posted - Sep 06 2005 : 11:37:49 AM
I shall HAVE to see that movie then! I have heard of it - I'm just terrible in the movie-watching department!
20 pounds is pathetic. As my back gets better, I keep thinking I can go to the garden nursery and get some shrubs and bags of manure and potting soil (still too new at the house to have my compost ready). Then I remember I can't LIFT those 40lb bags of soil! So then I start thinking maybe I can work on the fence for a little while at a time. Um, no, I can't lift an 8ft fencepost... Maybe I can paint... no, I can't move a 5gal paint bucket, and if I ask my hubby to pour some into a 1 gallon bucket he'll pitch a fit saying I shouldn't be doing anything of the sort.
I'm bored & frustrated. I have no kitchen so I can't cook. My garden is tiny and I've trimmed already today. All the herbs I can hang are already hanging. I can't vaccuum (apparently that puts stress on the lower back and I have had THREE people tell me not to do that). Oh well, not forever. I think I'd rather have a broken foot or arm - the back is so central to everything we do - I can't even sit in a chair for more than 30 minutes!
I'll quit derailing the thread now. But all us handy girls I know would understand... |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Sep 06 2005 : 09:38:01 AM
Yep..you have the TAWANDA gene too, Lynn!!! It is from "Fried Green Tomatoes".
That is so neat that you are able to do all the stuff yourself like that!! I hope your back feels better soon..gosh, 20 lb isn't much to lift! Be careful!!
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things |
| greyghost |
Posted - Sep 06 2005 : 08:48:31 AM
I don't watch many movies so I've never head of this TAWANDA thing but...
I do a lot of repairs myself. My husband and I delight in buying beat-up old houses and turning them into beauties. I've resupported walls, floors, installed wiring, plumbing (I hate toilets, for the record, but do 'em anyway), roofing, drywall, beadboard, trim, cabinets, tubs, tile walls and floors, wood floors - it might be easier to say what I don't know how to do well yet: more complicated wiring and attatching to the panel. I can do plumbing but it isn't second-nature yet like most everything else is.
I think it's fun. These past few months where my back has been so bad have been hard for me, because I am used to being able to do just about anything. Suddenly being told not to lift anything heavier than 20 pounds is tough. But I'll bounce back! |
| asnedecor |
Posted - Aug 31 2005 : 8:04:27 PM
I am liking this line of thinking in this particular forum. My name is Anne and I guess you could say I have a bit of TAWANDA in me (by the way I love that movie). My parents had an old house on the farm when I was a kid and every wall in that house was touched by my parents in some way, whether it was tore down, moved, re-plastered etc. All of us kids were involved in ripping old crumbly lath & plaster, to hauling brick so my dad could build a fireplace and brick the front of the house. When my husband and I bought our current home (our first house) we knew this was a "fixer Upper". However my husband did not grow up with remodeling at all and on top of that he is pure city kid. So when I initially broke open one entrance from the front hall to our living room that was boarded up and tore down another wall to enlarge the living room - his first response was "Do you have to be so aggressive?" From there it was a training and remodeling project - my Dad & Mom would come up on weekends and help us with stripping paint to hanging wall board - in the process training my husband to remodel. When it came time to plaster our newly hung and taped wall board walls I went out and purchased a plaster bucket with gun to hook up to the compressor. Again, my husband with the great comments, "Don't you have to take a class in plastering?". I replied "No, I read the instructions on the back of the box, I can do this" Over a week I plastered our new dining room walls and living room walls along with plastering our new living room ceiling and feathering it into an existing ceiling to make it all look the same. Turned out pretty good. I believe you can do almost anything if you put your mind to it. By the way, when we bought the house, my dad gave me a great book called "The Renovating Woman" |
| JoyIowa |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 4:29:20 PM
Me too! My father had one sibling growing up-a sister 11 years younger. My earliest childhood memories are going with my dad (who was an electrician by trade)on service calls, fixing the vehicles, helping to fix whatever needed to be done. I always loved it, and was especially proud when I could do something to help that my dad couldn't. (ie-crawl in a crawlspace that wasn't well thought out) I had always assumed he taught me all this stuff because he wanted me to be a boy, but in discussing my American Minorities class with my mom I mentioned this and she started laughing. She was quick to explain that the reason my dad made sure I knew how to fix virtually everything was so that I wouldn't end up helpless like his sister when something went wrong. I still laugh about my misperception and thank my lucky stars my dad had the forsight to teach me! I would hate to add up the $$ we would have spent on fix-its over the years. Hey, maybe I should put the money in a special account each time, then do something fun with it! There's an idea.
To live without farm life is merely existing, to live with farm life is living life to it very last experience. |
| sleepless reader |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 1:44:24 PM
Clare, it seems my son has found himself a "tawanda" girlfriend...she's coming over today to teach me how to resurface the walls in his bedroom. Then we are going to paint and put in new bedding too. (It's a surprize for when he returns from camp!) It's good to know there's a new crop of do-it-herselfers out there :)
Sharon |
| Clare |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 09:12:03 AM
I'm not alone.... here are other TAWANDA girls...
"A common thread among many female do-it-yourselfers is that as children they watched - and helped- their fathers, brothers, uncles or grandfathers make home repairs."
That describes me exactly!
Be empowered, girls!
http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/home_garden/v-print/story/13073911p-13919107c.html
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Jul 24 2005 : 6:48:56 PM
My husband works at a plumbing supply store now..and says hardly any women come in to buy stuff unless it is to deliver it to their plumber husbands...sad, huh?
Congrats on your latest redo Clare!!!
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things! |
| Clare |
Posted - Jul 24 2005 : 4:55:38 PM
Had another TAWANDA moment today! I had to redo an outdoor vent pipe because the original got sawed off when a window was moved.(I live in a veerrry old house.) The guy at the hardware store wasn't too sure about me when I was asking questions, but when I told him I needed 4 elbows and 10' of pipe, his attitude sure changed... guess he figured I might know what I was doing after all. Project is done, mission accomplished, now it's time for a nice cold shower! (it's kinda hot to be doing those projects outside today.)
Any other TAWANDA girls out there besides Aunt Jenny and myself? 
Just realized that my original post was almost one year ago. I guess I ration my TAWANA plumbing accomplishments to once a year!! haha
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Aug 16 2004 : 11:15:51 PM
I think I have the "Tawanda gene"....and can't resist trying to do it myself. Sometimes that works and alot of times I screw it up even worse...I just can't resist trying. When I was single and lived with my two oldest sons (who are grown now, but were busy teenagers then) I lived in a little rental house with bad plumbing and the bathroom faucet ran..didn't drip constantly with me paying for city water on a waitress' salary!! I went to the bookstore and bought a book called "Anything He can Do I can Do Better". It shows from a woman's viewpoint how to fix things and it helped me alot. I felt like when I went to the hardware store to get the stuff and borrow the tool to fix it I knew what I was talking about...I felt so good when I took that puppy apart and fixed it and put it back together. I guess I could have called the landlord..but I am just not like that. It is more fun to fix stuff!! But, like I said I have screwed things up too. And I don't mess with the car!!! I am not THAT brave!!
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
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