Slice of Life: Day 7-- "Homeowner Beast-Mode"

This month I am participating in the Slice of Life challenge sponsored by the Two Writing Teachers website and blog. Join me!

Last night, I became a homeowner beast.

You need a little background...

Seven months ago I bought a house. It's lovely, but it's old...like 80 years old...with creaky hardwoods, a converted attic up a long staircase, a china cabinet built-in, and lots of little quirks that come with homes built in the 1940s. I adore it.

I got a great deal on it, but had to update some of the mechanicals. I'm on well water, so I have a water filter and softener, which were updated about 5 months ago. Unlike most of my appliances, I have literally no idea how it works. It's been explained to me like...oh...1000 times, but it's just never made sense. I add salt and I change the filter and it makes my water good. That's all I know.

Don't judge me. 

I knew the water filter needed to be changed and I had the directions from the installation folks. For 5 months I've dreaded it, not knowing exactly what to do, just knowing that if I tried, I was going to break my well or house or something.

Last night was the night I did all the little checklist things I do around the house each month: flush drains, garbage disposal, add salt to the softener, check on the furnace filter, and yes, check the water softener filter.

For 5 months, I've walked by it every time.

I've looked at it closely.

I've played with the plastic wrench thing-y.

I've opened the new filter......

BUT, I've never changed it.

Last night I did the same thing. I walked by it. And I went to bed.

I laid in bed wide awake, the filter on my mind. I couldn't shut my eyes. I could feel the water softener filter pulling me like a menacing magnet to the basement.

Maybe it was the full moon. Or the long week. Or the frustration...but...

I COULDN'T IGNORE IT ANYMORE.

I'd suddenly had enough. I charged down the steps to the first floor, rounded the corner and took the basement steps in what felt like one leap.

"If I break this, I'm not going to have water, a water softener, or clean hair tomorrow, but I'm SO SICK OF BEING SCARED OF A FILTER!!"

I. Was. DONE.

Like the wreckless homeowner non-pro that I am, I shut off the water, released the pressure, turned that wrench thing-y on the casing thing-y, and the rest is history.

I did it. I conquered the thing I feared the most in this house. 

And I won. Like a beast. 

The water is still working, it's soft, and I just washed my hair, so none of my "nightmares" came true. No plumbers were called on emergency hours, and no pipes were harmed in the writing of this slice.

But, I felt like a million dollars....so excited, in fact, that I impulsively ordered replacement filters for the reverse osmosis system under my sink. There are five filters hooked to that thing, and I'm a little intimidated, but, you know what?

I got this homeowner thing down.

--for now--

**Update on the 11th when Amazon delivers 5 filters, 3 "o" rings, and a half wrench thing-y. I don't even know what an "o" ring is, but it sounded important, so I got it....

Here's hoping homeowner beast-mode continues!!