My Initials Should Be D.I.Y.

I know, I know, it has been a long time since I've blogged. Now I'm back and have a renewed commitment to my role as a blogger. The good news is that I have many months of things to blog about. This one had to be divided into two posts because it was way too long. I'll post the second part next Friday-ish. 


In the months since you last heard from me, one of the many things I've experienced is the fall of my refrigerator. The fridge was purchased when our house was built, sometime around 2002. It did its thing without any problems until a few months ago. My fridge slowly started freezing the items in the refrigerator. Eventually we called a repairman who came out, looked at the fridge, said he had to order a part, came back and installed the part, and $500 later the fridge was no longer freezing food. End of story? Nope. The next day I came home to Lake Villanueva in my kitchen. The fridge was leaking. Of course, like the freezing issue, it leaks slowly so once I clean up the water it appears the problem is fixed. Not so. Finally, my husband decides to just turn off the water that goes to the fridge. I ask him if he wouldn't mind looking inside the fridge and maybe at the back so it at least looks like he's trying to fix it. I even suggest he get a tape measure like he does when he's fixing things around the house. Then just tell me it's the mass spectrometer or flux capacitor or something technical-sounding and I'll feel much better. So he does those things and tells me the thing around the water filter cracked when everything froze and now it leaks. Makes sense to me so I suggest he call the repairman to fix it. Then comes the bad news – he tells me he doesn't want to spend any more money on the fridge and that we can do without filtered water and ice. What? I want filtered water and ice. I plead my case but he doesn't budge. So I decide to buy lots of bottled water. Expensive bottled water. I'm sure eventually he will figure out that it is less expensive in the long run to just get the fridge repaired. He doesn't. So weeks go by and I finally ask him what I can do to make sure I have nice cold, refreshing water to drink. He tells me I can turn on the faucet. Ugh. Then I get this brilliant idea to see if I can buy the replacement part. That way we only have to pay for the repairman to install it and not the extra amount they mark up the parts to make a bigger profit. Why didn't I think of this before? So I Google away and before long I have located the part. I can buy a brand new water filter housing and assembly for only $32 with shipping. Sold. At this point I'm feeling extremely proud of myself. When my husband arrives home that evening I mention that I ordered the part for the refrigerator. First he expresses doubt that I knew how to order the correct part and then he says "What are you going to do with it? You can't repair it yourself. You don't know how." Whoa. Did he just say I can't repair the fridge? True, I've never had the desire for major appliance repair, but that in no way means I don't have the capability. I have 5-7 business days to figure out what to do with a Frigidaire water filter housing and assembly, and boy am I thirsty.