I got my new tool belt that I ordered off the "charm and hammer" website. It is thick suede and dyed bright pink. I wore it to a friend's house who asked if I could help her fix a leaky faucet. The belt felt a little stiff, but I'm sure it will break in. I can only imagine what the guys at work will say, but I don't care. It's a good tool belt and I get tired of "Has anyone seen my...?" No one will mistake it for theirs, that's for sure.

I'm not sure about which tools to put in it. I now have a portable tool box instead of a bucket and my tool collection is growing. Instead of lugging in the whole tool box, I tried to anticipate which tools I might need for faucet repair and loaded my belt. I did use most of the ones I brought up, but still needed to go back to the van for needle-nosed pliers. (That was after the textbook version of the repair didn't happen.) The other tool I wished I had put in the belt was the utility knife. I couldn't imagine why I would need it for plumbing, but here's why: those damn plastic boxes that seal in the little parts. I think I just always need the utility knife with me. I've started carrying a pocket knife too.

Anyway, about my friend's sink... I fixed two problems but created a new one. So I have to go back on Monday. It was left in a state that she could live with for the weekend. I felt a little defeated, but I'll take reinforcements with me on Monday.

I determined that the drip was from the hot water side. I pulled out the stem and went to two different hardware stores to find the right one. When I went to install it, all went well. The drip seemed to stop. (I thought that once before about my sister's sink, so I will see how I did on Monday.) But when I installed a new one on the cold water side, I could never turn the faucet off. So I took it back apart and examined it closely, reversed it, twisted it, took the other side apart and compared them. I even tried re-installing the original one but the cold water would not shut off. So annoying!

I did find a leak under the sink that I was able to fix with a few twists of a loose nut. She hadn't even noticed the leak because it only occurred when she used the sink and the leak had not dripped on any paper products.

But since my daughter had soccer and my friend was happy about my attempt to save her a hundred bucks, I was able to leave it half done (after two hours.) There's just so many variables in plumbing. I see why they pay those guys a lot. Napoleon Dynamite was right, girls like guys with skills. I'm going to see if the reverse is true.