A Game of Thrones and a Land of Discovery

I knew one of the first things I needed to get done in the house was to install a toilet and get the water turned on.  Grandpa made very sure to remind me that I needed one and to get a good one, not a short one either (he was very concerned about those points).  With a working toilet and running water, I would be able to stay the whole day and work:  wash my hands when they got dirty, go the the bathroom when I needed to, and so on.  I went back and forth on whether to bring in a plumber or try it myself.  I watched how-to videos and read some articles and decided to try it myself.  If anything seemed weird, I would stop and call in a pro.  I bought the toilet, wax ring, water connection, and all that I would need for installation and drove to the house, where my friends Diana and Ashley agreed to come by and help. 

None of us had ever installed a toilet before, and I'm pretty sure their husbands were not sure we could do it.  It took a bit of work getting the thing into the house and out of the box.  I cleaned off the old wax and made sure the flange wasn't cracked. 

Everything looked good, so I screwed in the bolts, laid down the wax and we set the bowl gently in place.  Attaching the tank took two of us, but we got it done.

I was a bit nervous at the end, as we did wind up having extra pieces--another set of tank screws and another tank gasket--but everything appeared to be in order, so we went with it.

Just before we started installation, the water guy had come and turned on the water. Perfect timing, since I wanted to make sure the toilet was installed properly and wasn't leaking.  I hooked the toilet up the water supply and turned it on.  The tank slowly began to fill as we nervously watched, looking everywhere for leaks.  There were none.  Tentatively I pressed the flush button.  It didn't leak.  I tried the second flush button (it's a dual flush).  Still it didn't leak.  At this point, I may have done a bit of a happy dance.  Maybe that could have happened.

After the toilet installation,  I wanted to change the locks on the back doors and add hardware to the front.  While I switched the back locks, Diana and Ashley grabbed some gloves and a trash bag and started collecting things in the yard. 

 There were all sorts of things,

 toys, hand tools, whatever that long handled pan thing is, broken glass, wood scraps, bits of metal and all sorts of other trash.  We even found what I really hope was a child's wooden sword.  I really hope it was a sword, and not the only other alternative we could think of.  See it here sticking out of the trash bag.

 

Still, I don't think I'll be digging around were we found it any time soon.  Just in case.

Diana was particularly excited about a huge collection of barrettes she found in the lower part of the yard.

There were a ton of them.  Cleaning out that yard is really going to be an adventure.  Anyone interested in joining me in the adventure?  I'll provide the gloves and you can keep what you find!

After a bit of fun in the yard, we went to try and install my front door hardware.  After getting all the pieces out of the box (thanks Di) and removing part of the latch for the padlock, we discovered that the holes cut in the door didn't match the hardware I bought.  I was really confused, since there was only one type available at both Home Depot and Lowe's.  I thought that was standard and would fit my door, but I was mistaken.  Frustrated, I boxed up the incorrect hardware, reinstalled the latch for the padlock, and we went out to lunch, leaving the front door for another day.