Thursday, February 24, 2011

What Do We Do?

We Swim! Just keep swimming...just keep swimming...what do we do? We swim!...Tra-la-la-la-la-LA! Yes, the Loose's swim quite literally; but this post refers to our resilient pioneering spirit. That "stick-to-it", "be calm through anything" attitude.

I am a child of parents who lived through the depression. They taught me not to waste anything and to be grateful for what I have. If something isn't broken you don't need a new one! Well, well. I think I need a new kitchen faucet! Saturday night our five year old faucet started acting up. If you pulled up on the lever the water came on but then it wouldn't turn off unless you wiggled it around and found the right spot on the way down. By Sunday evening the water just did not turn on. Monday was President's Day and none of the plumbing supply stores were open. Surely a store as BIG as Home Depot or Lowe's would have the part we needed? Wrong. Tuesday Dee called all of the suppliers in the area. Nobody carries the part. We have to wait a week to 10 days for it to come in an order. Sheesh!

Our only alternative to a waterless kitchen for 10 days is to fork out big bucks on a new faucet. I am well into day 4 and growing weary of my "can-do" "pioneer woman" attitude. The photo below shows my kitchen water source.
We have been hauling water storage bottles up from the basement for hand washing and dish rinsing. My cute Visiting Teacher brought over the gallon of drinking water yesterday. I nearly kissed her! Water in old soda bottles (with a drop of chlorine in there because the experts say to do that) does NOT taste good! Our bathroom water is on the water softener system so it's not the most flavorful either. I am going to buy more drinking water for our storage after this. The rest can be for cleaning.

We decided last night to go ahead and buy a new faucet. The "decent ones are at least $100. The 5 year old one above was $150! It's pretty and that's about it. The sprayer broke a year into our ownership. The soap dispenser failed us not long after that. I can hear my Dad in my head saying, "They just don't make 'em like they used to, Sis!". Ain't THAT the truth!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, this is an awful story! I'm impressed that you've lasted for four days! It really is a cute faucet though, I hope you can get one just as cute and maybe with some kind of warranty. We have a Moen, I think, and it had to be replaced a couple of years ago after over 10 years of service...it didn't cost us a cent! I really couldn't believe it. Your dad would be right, they really don't make things like they used to BUT I think many things today are waaaayyyyy cuter than in the "olden days" and your faucet is one of them. Good Luck!

URFAVE 5+A Few said...

Bless your heart! I so sympathize with this story right now! I have a faucet in my kitchen that has been leaking for a few weeks now. We can use the water in there but we have a towel wrapped around the faucet to help soak up all the water. It's the same ol' story, no one seems to have the part we need. I am SO ready for a new faucet. I think it's the style of faucets or something. Ours looks like yours! Forget that they look stylish and pretty, darn it, we need non-leaking, working, water. I'm a crossing my fingers that we either get this faucet of our fixed or a new one this week! It's driving me crazy!

Love Ya,
JoLynn

Anonymous said...

Hey Marianne, Can you get down to St. George? You can hop in the back seat of our car and we'll take you to AZ. Hurry...we're leaving soon.

Nancy Face said...

My parents raised me that way, too! I am very frugal compared to many other people, but compared to my parents I'm a reckless spender! Haha! :D

Nancy Face said...

Thanks so much for the birthday wishes!