You see that?? DO YOU SEE THAT?!
Okay, I'll give you a break. You probably don't know what you are looking at.
What you are seeing is the hard work of a Navy wife and mother who managed to install a new light fixture in her kitchen ALL BY HERSELF!!!
Can ya tell I am proud of myself?!
See, the "E" in Kurt's job title (GSE) means "Electrical" (Gas Turbine Systems Electrical). This means that since we began co-habitating (such a lovely word) in May of 2001 (oh good lord, I have been living with him for four years?! Eeeep) he has been in charge of all things electrical.
Fair enough -- I do all his sewing. And re-sewing, like when I had his crows going the wrong way on two pairs of coveralls when I put his gold patches on. How was I supposed to know the the damn crows are supposed to face inward?!
Anyhow.
When we first moved into this house, Kurt labeled all the switches in the circuit box, thankfully because it really came in handy today. He's the one who set up our low-voltage lights out front, what we affectionately refer to as our landing strip because low-voltage lights are a million times brighter than the solar lights we had there originally. Any time there is an electrical issue, Kurt gets out his trusty voltimeter and goes to work.
Kurt's not here. Have you noticed that yet?! :o)
Well, this is what happened in a nutshell. As you can see, we have a dangling fixture above the sink. I love it because otherwise when I washed dishes or bathed Gracie (yes, I bathe Gracie in the sink... doesn't everyone?!) I'd be in shadow. The main light of the kitchen is this god-awful fluorescent light in the middle of the kitchen area, which is over my shoulder when I'm at the sink. So I really rely on the fixture above the sink.
I turned on the light a couple of days ago and the bulb blew. No biggie; I got out a new bulb. As I tried to remove the old bulb, it shattered. Finally I got the remnant out, as well as the ring that holds the shade to the fixture. I didn't realize at first I was pulling off the ring. Once it was off, I noticed the bulb had fused to the plastic ring. Not good. The bulb, as it blew, heated up so much that it rendered the plastic ring absolutely useless. A trip to Home Depot was deemed necessary.
This morning I asked the Home Depot guy if I could get a new ring. He told me that the only way to get one is to buy a new fixture. So for a $2 plastic ring I'd have to shell out enough money to buy a fixture. Fortunately, when our house was remodeled before we moved in, the previous owners had gotten 90% of their stuff from Home Depot, so the store still had my fixture. I figured I'd shell out the $25 for a new fixture and call it the most expensive plastic ring in the world.
When I got home, I broke open the box to realize that it wasn't the same fixture after all. The new one was better for a couple of reasons: (1) it takes a regular bulb, instead of a candelabra bulb like the old one, and (2) the ring that holds the shade to the fixture is metal, so it won't melt if another bulb blows. I had two choices; I could either take it back to Home Depot and get the right fixture (which involved ANOTHER trip to town) and spend $25 for a damn plastic ring, or install the light myself.
Off I went to the garage to shut off the power to the fixture and half the kitchen.
Once I got the wiring exposed, I got slightly cold feet as the grounding was done differently between the two fixture. I called J to see if her husband could come over and keep an eye on me, especially if I managed to electrocute myself. But he wasn't going to be home for another hour, and I couldn't wait. So I went ahead and installed the new fixture without adult supervision!!!
My very first electrical wiring job, and I couldn't be prouder of myself.
I received the following from Kurt after I emailed him the great news: "you are the awesomest ever. I am very proud of you. I'm glad you were able to fix it. As I was reading it, I said out loud...oh ya! At first I thought you would have just needed to replaced the light bulb but damn woman. I'm still needed right? :-( If I was home you would let me do it right? :-("
Poor guy. Like I would ever WANT to do all the manly chores around here. He needs to get his butt home and mow the damn lawn for me!!!