DIY: toilet fill valve

We’ve been hearing disturbing sounds that reverberate throughout our ground floor / kitchen for a few weeks now. It was tied to our powder room and happens whenever the toilet tank fills up.

In the beginning, I attributed it to inconsistent water pressure caused by repairs being made to a large/major water main break a few streets away. The husband, however, thought it had to do with the fill valve - I wasn’t convinced. Whenever it happens, we turn off the supply valve, the noise stops, and we turn it on again. 

A couple of weeks later, I came across a set of reels in FB posted by a plumber content creator and got a name for what we have been experiencing, “water hammering”. And now that I have a name for it and have read / watched more posts, I realize it’s not a benign issue as it may cause joints inside walls to loosen up.

I gave husband the go signal and pushed him to order the replacement valve and we replaced it this weekend and we were able to replace it successfully, thanks to the internet.

It leaked a bit the first time we installed the new part but we redid it and pushed down slightly on the valve while we tightened the locknut underneath the tank. Teflon tape also helped prevent leaks.

So far so good.

Winter Storm Ember

 

This photo was the only photo I took of the aftermath of Winter Storm Ember. Found the footprints interesting, could they be rabbit prints ?

We have not had much snowfall in the recent years so I was so looking forward to this storm. Half of me was excited for the snow and the other half of me was anxious about the cleanup. 

As it turns out, we got around 2 inches of mixed rain/slush/snow and since it was wet slush, we skipped the snow blower and shoveled everything by hand. We got up (relatively) early on Sunday morning so that we can clean up our driveway & sidewalks before we leave for Swe-cha's swimming lessons. 

2023 - a year in review

2023 was a literal roller coaster.

Work: Started the year with a new manager at work which made me look forward to positive changes. Things were still toxic at first but slowly improved. By July, I was no longer the single person on call 24/7. Got promoted twice within several months. I am happy now. 

Family: Got to have a full vacation in California with my entire side of the family in June and also enjoyed Ahya & Family's visit to NJ in August. 

Health: Was normal most of the year but did visit the urgent care a lot towards the last quarter. Went for the first time in September for respiratory issues, followed by shoulder tendinitis in November (also follow ups with the orthopedic doctor). 

Swe-cha took his turn for the flu days 12/22, followed by me on 12/28 and lastly, the husband on 12/31. I am not sad to see the end of 2023 at all.

Here's to hoping and praying that 2024 will be a fruitful and healthy year!

Area rugs

The husband has been picking on our area rug in the dining room for weeks now and keeps talking about wanting to replace it. I wasn't opposed but didn't really feel that it was an urgent need so I didn't really pay attention and just left it to him to handle (and if you know us, this really means that nothing gets done because the husband just talks but doesn't really action on anything).

It wasn't until I sat down on the couch recently that I realized how shabby our living room rug had gotten. The edging on the back perimeter had been falling off but I figured I could glue that back on but I had not noticed until recently that there were areas that were already threadbare (i.e. the material had worn down). With this realization, I took another look at our dining area and agreed that yes, husband does have a point. 

Got a few rugs off of Amazon, these are made of synthetic materials that are non-shedding (for context, the previous living room rug shed A LOT). Not spectacular but not bad at the price-point and will be happy if they last us a few years. 

In retrospect, replacing these rugs is a no-brainer. The old rug in the dining area was from 2014/2015 and the rug in the living area was from 2018. 

Living room rug: 9x12 (next time, a 10x10 would probably be a better fit)

Dining room rug: 8x10

Ikea trip

Swe-cha had no classes today so we all decided to take a day off from work and go to Ikea for meatballs. We haven't been there in years. Husband and I had a plate of meatballs each, Swe-cha had chicken tenders and we shared a slice of chocolate cake.

The meatball entrees are served with peas now and not mixed veggies like last time. But the meatballs are still as good as I remembered.

Decided to walk around the showroom afterwards and boy, Swe-cha got so excited when he saw the beds. 

Every time he saw a bed that he liked, would plop down on it, "Mom, Dad, can I have this bed ?" He also got excited with the bedroom displays - "Mom, Dad, can I have a TV in my room ? Can I have this bed ?"

Sobrang excited.

And no, we didn't buy a bed yet but we did come home with an office chair. We told Swe-cha that we'd have to make plans to move things around before he can get a new (and bigger) bed. 

Dinnerware

Been giving away a lot of things to our local community and one "ISO" post caught my attention. It was a post soliciting everything - cookware, dinnerware, furniture (beds, etc)  - for a family who "literally has nothing at the moment". 

So I figure, we have a dinnerware set for 6 (dinner plates, saucers, soup bowls, coffee cups) that we've had stored in the basement for years. We haven't used them in a long time, husband wanted to keep it "just in case" and when I saw the post for a family who "literally has nothing", I convinced husband to just give it away. He agreed.

I reach out to the author of the post to ask if they are still looking for dinnerware and the response I got was "can you send photos ?" 

Hahanapin ko ba sa boxes, mag-u unpack pa ako. If they want photos, then they must not need it so much. Hindi na bale.

Swe Cha's Motivational Phrases

 3/7/2023 from class advisor, Mr S.

"Progress, not perfection."

3/23/2023 at home:

"We don't have to agree all the time. Let's agree to disagree, let us be kind to one another."