I Fixed Something!

Sorry to sound so excited, but I actually fixed something the other day instead of making it worse, and that is an extremely rare event here at Smoot Central. Our main toilet (I call him "Marvin") decided that it was no longer going to allow me to flush him late last week. Normally I would simply break into a sweat, say a couple bad words, panic, and call Hubert, a former neighbor who has the amazing ability to fix everything.

This time I simply said a few bad words, and decided to see if I could actually do something about the problem. I took the lid off of Marvin, and took a gander at all of the whacky parts that make up a toilet. Remarkably I was able to spot the problem, and I headed off to the hardware store to buy a new part.

Here's another miraculous thing: I only needed ONE visit to the hardware store! In most cases where I commit an act of manliness, I usually wear potholes into the street from making trips back and forth to the store to exchange things and buy new things to replace whatever additional stuff I break along the way.

But maybe this is a new turning point for me. The last time one of our toilets broke (it was Henry the last time), I immediately gave up on it and was determined to call the plumber. Embarrassingly, I walked by the bathroom a little later and Mrs. Smoot had the toilet completely dismantled and was fixing it, while giving me that look to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the "man" of the house should be doing this.

That was a bit of a blow to the ego. I was apparently absent from school on the day they taught us all of the guy things, like how to fix houses, cars, women, etc. Perhaps I have finally turned the corner and I can finally be Mr. Fix-it. For now, I think I'll go take Marvin on a test drive…