I am the WoMAN - 11/11/2007

My son tried to use his shower last night. Our tubs & showers only have one handle. They turn in an arc, the top of the arc being the hottest you can get. He got the handle mid-way....and it stuck. He called me, I tried, and could not get it to move. Afraid to yank too hard and break something, I had him use my shower and told myself I would check it out in the morning. I SO did not want to have to pay a plumber $90 an hour or so for something stupid.

This afternoon, I took a small led light and pulled off the handle. There's a....long metal stick? that is moved by the handle. It would not budge. There is also a black plastic piece, and behind it, I see white paper. Looks like the paper is stuck. I grab my tweezers and my hair-cutting scissors and I attempt to get at this piece of paper. As I am hacking away, I realize the plastic black piece comes out. I pull it out with the tweezers, remove the paper behind it (some plastic-coated paper with serial numbers and blah blah. I put the black plastic piece in and ...voila! I can turn the water al the way to hot! I take it off again, just to make sure this plastic paper is not vital to its inner workings, put the black piece in...and VOILA....It's STUCK AGAIN. What?

Turns out, the black piece is a guard of sorts. Depending on how you place it on the metal rod, you can get the knob to stop at certain points, thus ensuring your toddler won't accidentally turn the handle all the way to hot and scald themselves. I don't know how it got turned around, but I got it on correctly and we now have a working faucet.

I walk out of the bathroom and say loudly "Who's the man?!?!"

....which reminded me of my wedding and a funny back story.

My husband's uncle performed the ceremony. He gave a beautiful speech. At one point, he tells my husband "David...you're....THE MAN," and goes on to say how he will be the head of the household. Meanwhile, my sister the bridesmaid and one of my other bridesmaids are trying not to look at each other for fear of cracking up. Waaaaaay in the back of the courtyard, some of my co-worker friends who flew in from Boston, DC, Seattle & New Orleans are hanging out listening. The chick from Boston hears "David, you're the man," turns to the other girls and says "Has he MET Kaaren?"