Pipe dreams

A few days ago, I mentioned that Aaron was moving some pipes in the basement and redoing some connections for the washer. Well, this project has turned into a much bigger job than we expected. (You would think, that after all this time, we would have figured out that nothing is ever simple, and anything that can go wrong, will go wrong and require at least 3 more trips to HD or Lowes! You'd also be wrong.) Anyway, we're at 28 hrs and counting with the water turned off, we've fixed 3 leaks and are working on the 4th, and hope to shower tonight. And, I might also mention that today is Aaron's birthday. Poor guy has spent the entire day in the basement, sweating joints and getting burned by hot solder. We were going to go out to dinner, but that's before the weird double valve (that neither HD in town carries) under the kitchen sink started leaking (we didn't even do that one-- it was already here!). We are celebrating with pizza, beer, 22 man hours in the basement (I say man hours b/c my role in this project has been limited, I undecorated and cleaned today) and 4 trips to Home Depot instead.

Here is the birthday boy under the sink (at least he isn't in classic plumber's position):




And here is some of his amazing handiwork. There were no pipes here yesterday:





Here's to hoping that a little birthday magic (or some fairies, I hear that they've been working hard all over the place lately) will get this leak stopped before the pizza shows up!