Household Flub

So you know, when starting a houshold project, you should think it through all the way, or read the documentation.

For example:

The clocks were changing, so it was time to change the filter in our water filter for the kitchen. As an aside, I recommend these under sink filtration systems over those carafe-based ones (read Britta) or faucet mounted ones. They are cheaper over the long run, and the filters last longer since you only use them when you want, and the filters are larger and hopefully more efficient.

Anyway, the filters are in big cartridges, kind of like a very long oil filter. There are 2 of them, a particulate filter and a charcoal filter. To change the filter, you unscrew the holder for them, take them out of the holder, drop in a new one and screw the holder back into the unit.

So I grabbed the wrench, grabbed a towel to catch and drips and reached under there and started unscrewing. The astute handyman will notice that I skipped a step - I should have known better. I forgot to shut off the water supply to the sink. What ensued was just what you imagine - the water started to drip as I loosened the holders, then it became a stream and then a torrent of water spurting from the joints. It was like a Three Stooges episode, except I was playing Curly.

I squawked for my beloved to bring another towel and to quickly reach under there and turn off the valve at the angle stop.

Fortunately, it worked, and with no more Stooges moments.

The moral is, before you start mucking around on a home task, or any task, either read the documentation, look it up on a reputable online site, or site back for a moment and go through the process and see if you can find any flaws in your plan.

Or else you might be going, "Oh, a wise guy, eh?" and getting poked in the eye.

Locks of Love

I've decided to give a try to growing out my hair and giving it to Locks of Love.

Now let me preface this by saying that I have never had my hair over my collar, so growing a 10-inch ponytail is quite a change.

But hell, I am 46 and I still have a great head of thick hair, only a little gray here and there, and I mostly work from home and my hair is not going to get any better. So why not? It will be a change, and I can be a bit of a rebel for once.

I went to the LoL website to see what was up. COntrary to popular belief, most of the kids getting wigs from LoL do not have Cancer, but rather have Alopecia Areata (sp?) - which is a disease where the body's white cells attack the hair follicles and cause hair loss.

Imagine being a kid or a teen and having all those body image issues and then losing all your hair. Devastating! I know that my daughter who has tons of lovely hair is always fussing with hers, and if she lost it, I would do whatever I could to make her comfortable.

So I am going for it. We'll see if I can really make this happen - I am in the annoying hair length now.