household adventures

This is for ABBY

It guess it is a good thing that people were honking their horns, yelling, and playing loud music non-stop up and down the highway last night until 3:30am.  Otherwise I would be sleeping but now my sleep patterns are off....it is 2am.  If I wasn't wide awake I wouldn't have been able to get this stuff done.

First thing's first- our housing is not wonderful, but I like it.  Mostly I like the landlord.  Mamma Tovey is so good to us and I know we take that for granted.  People have horror stories.
If we use too many of the kitchen appliances simultaneously it trips the circuit (fun fact: 'short the circuit' is kindof the catch phrase that we use whenever something goes wrong in the electrical department but that isn't actually what it means.  However, 'trip the circuit' is the proper term for this electrical issue.)  This happens fairly often.  The first time was during the Tovey's yard sale.  I went downstairs and Sarah didn't know how to fix it, so she shut off all of the power and then turned it all back on.  Since then I've taken care of it without bothering anybody else because I know how and turning all of the power off is unnecessary.

I came home to this note from Abby at 11:30.  Oooops! 
One of  those times that I feel bad I didn't have my phone.
I hope it wasn't too much trouble.  :(

So you know, this is how you re-set the breaker.

Find your electrical box thingy. 

A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage.....(thanks wikipedia)

Open it up.  TADA!  lots of switches

Find the switch that is neither 'on' nor 'off',
the one that is stuck in the middle.  See it?

Step...whatever step this is.  Have I even been doing steps?
Anyway
Turn that switch all the way OFF.
AAAAAAAll the way.  Like this.

Lastly- After waiting a few seconds, turn it all the
way back on.  So it looks (hopefully) just like all
the other switches.

 TADA!!!  And the kitchen power is back on!
but wait, there's more!
I go to leave a note on Abby and Nagila's door saying "Sorry I didn't have my phone.  I fixed it.  <3 Aria"....and there is a ton of water on the floor.
Not a big deal usually.  I cleaned it up with a rag and done, right?  Nope.  You see, when we leave the glass door to the kitchen open and it rains we get a bit of water on the ground.  Well, it hadn't rained all night and the glass door was closed.  So I tried to find the source of the water.

This is what I thought it was.

DO NOT read the rest of this post if you cannot handle muck.  

This gets mucky.  But if you ever need to clean out the drain

in your sink...this could be helpful. Fair warning.

STEP 1- find a leaky pipe

LOTS of water.  The pipe was leaking a bit
and so I figured this was it.

STEP 2- get a bowl for the water to drain into and take the pipes apart.  

This bowl resides under the sink area for this specific purpose.  I promise I have never and will never use this bowl for any type of kitchen use.

These pipes are really nice.  User friendly I guess.  These pipes you can just grab and twist to take apart.  It takes some muscle but you don't need other tools.  Nice if you loose something.  The pipes under sinks are J shaped so that you can retrieve lost...earrings, teeth, rings...you name it.

Do not let anyone use the sink when the pipes aren't connected.

maybe I shouldn't point out the mess of hair
stuck between the pip and the part I took off
....too late.

STEP 3- Clean the pipes.  I suggest using a hose outside.  However, I don't know where an available hose is here.  I thought of going to Hukilau and using the beach showers...but as I walked out the door I decided that it was midnight and I was alone (I did have my whistle and a flashlight with me....but still).  Not a good idea.  I used the tub.  Sub-optimal but it worked.  I kept all the nasty stuff in the bowl so that I wasn't transferring gunk from one set of pipes to another.  When I was done I took the bowl outside and dumped it, then washed the tub.

Sorry if you're squeamish.

Tada!  Minimal nastiness in the tub

STEP 4- put it back together.  Use muscle.  Get the pipes as tight as you can.  Use a wrench if you have one on hand.  Get one to use later if you don't.  

BUT if you were paying attention, you would realize that I said I thought  this was the problem.  This was a problem, but when I was done, there was more water on the floor.

I tried to get it to splash so you could see the water...
I didn't try very hard.

The water was actually coming from the Kitchen sink.
One of the valves was leaking.  Not turned off all the way or something.  I don't know why it is a problem all of the sudden.  It's never been a problem before, but whatever.  I turned it off so it didn't leak anymore.  I cleaned out the cupboard under the sink, used a rag to soak up the excess water.  Cleaned up the kitchen puddles again. 

This is how I left it.  I left the doors open so
it will dry out a bit.  Maybe.

Everyone else is asleep.  I don't know how.  Then again, I haven't been making much noise.  I feel pretty productive.  I got a ton of homework done in the wee hours of the morning. I slept until 10. I went snorkeling.  Spent all day with my fantastic roommate.  I restocked the toilet paper for the house.  I got rid of a bunch of that curry left over from Thanksgiving.  I learned a new card game.  Met new people.  Ran into people I knew.  I cleaned the sink, the tub, the floor, a few pipes, and the cupboards.  I reset the breaker for our kitchen.  I got a package from home. I got a letter from my cousin Aaron who says that he loves me :D..

I am so wide awake.  This is not going to be good for my sleep pattern.  Adventures come in all shapes and sizes.  I hope this one was informative.