I Suck At Fixing The Toilet

For the past few weeks, Fridays have been "Family Fun Night", only because Karen and I arbitrarily chose Fridays to give our newborn daughter (Briana) her bath. Today, however, we had to forgo giving Briana a bath because Karen was invited for a "chicks night out". Don't be alarmed that our loving daughter will be a stinky bundle of poo. We actually already gave her a bath a couple of days ago.

Anyway, I'm not sure what the evening entailed with our friends (Jen and Hot Amy). I'm actually happy that Karen got to go out by herself with some friends. I'm a big believer that everyone needs a break now and then when raising a newborn... just for sanity purposes. And luckily for me, with Karen out and about, I got to spend some quality father/daughter bonding time again.

So what does one do during quality father/daughter bonding time? Well, for today... absolutely nothing. Briana was pretty much fussy all while Karen was out. I fed her. An hour later, I fed Briana again. You would think that she would fall asleep after guzzling the baby equivalent of booze in such a short period of time. Nope, not Briana. She just stirred around, cried, and cried some more. And just when it appeared that she was going to fall asleep... I decided to put her in her bassinet. And then BAM! Briana's eyes shoot open and she cries again. That little stinky cuddle bug.

Anyway, my original plan tonight for father/daughter bonding time was to fix the toilet. And by fixing the toilet, I mean I would fix the toilet while Briana sat in the bathroom with me in her bouncy seat. At least, that is what I had envisioned for the night. It turns out, I suck at fixing the toilet... especially since I did not get to do it during quality father/daughter bonding time. I actually had to wait until Karen returned home.

For anyone curious, the toilet I had to fix was in our master bathroom, not to be confused with the toilet on our first floor... or the other toilet on the second floor. A couple of days ago, Karen had noticed that the base of the toilet was leaking water. (Better water than poop...) Concerned, we had shut the water supply to the toilet off so that I could work on it this weekend.

Truth be told, I was dreading having to fix the toilet. It was definitely not how I wanted to start my Memorial Day weekend. The main reason for my dread: plumbing. I am not a big fan of plumbing because it's just so dirty. I don't really like being wet... unless I'm in a wet t-shirt contest... and no one really wants to see that. Unfortunately, Karen and I need our toilet. Heck, if anyone knows me... they'd know that I definitely need my toilet.

Needless to say, I picked up some supplies from the local hardware store (Ace) and started to dismantle the toilet while Karen took care of Briana. For anyone curious, I think the problem of the leaky toilet base is a faulty wax ring. (There's a wax ring from the toilet to the drain. The ring is supposed to be airtight to keep the odors out and watertight... to keep the water out. Not so in this case.)

Remember how I said dislike plumbing? Well, where else can you scrape a bunch of waxy goo off a toilet than from a plumbing project? Yes, fun... and disgustingly dirty. Thankfully I had gloves on.

Anyway, I was surprised that the project of replacing the wax ring did not take that long to complete. As of right now, the toilet base appears to be fine. I don't see any water leaking from the base anymore. Yay! I'm so happy I could poop in the toilet. Just kidding. Of course, having completed the toilet repair only makes me ponder the possibilities of actually tackling the bathroom renovation project on our first floor now. Some day I'll revisit that project.