My shower faucet broke three weeks ago. The plastic handle cracked in two and eventually fell apart, leaving a steady trickle of water pooling in the tub. I didn’t want to think about calling my handyman, but I knew something had to be done. There would be the $65 an hour he charges, plus the parts and the time off of work to be home so he could come over to fix it. I tried ignoring it as long as I could, but each night I could hear the water drip, drip, dripping in the bathroom and it was slowly but surely driving me nuts. Plus, as a Phoenician who tries to tread lightly, the dripping sounded like drought, drought, drought, with the ocassional splash of waste, waste waste.
Coincidentally, I was cleaning out my wallet one morning last week when I found a Home Depot gift card I’d forgotten. “What the hell!” I thought. Off I went to the giant orange box with the broken part in hand and a nice pair of jeans firmly in place. I’m no fool. If there is ever a time to use your feminine charm and a good lip gloss — Home Depot’s the spot. Forget your pride temporarily, play dumb and ask lots of questions. Soon enough, you’ll have the part you need and some advice on how to install it. You can pick your independent spirit up at the door on your way out.
For $5 (on the gift card no less) I got just that. And in a rare turn of home repair events around my house, I didn’t get in to a project way over my head. Viola — new faucet. Success!
In other “use what you have” news, my neighbor’s lemon tree is dripping in golden fruit at the moment. They keep asking me to take as many as I’d like. I’ve been in their backyard a couple times with my basket and this weekend was no exception. I’m not sure where I read about this trick, but it’s worth repeating.
When you find yourself with a crop of citrus and don’t have an immediate need for the fruit, the juice freezes nicely in ice cube trays. When a recipe calls for fresh lemon juice — voila. Each cube is about two tablespoons.
I never thought I’d get plumbing and juicing in the same post, but this year continues to surprise.
~K