“Let Me Call The…”

Ah…those are the four magic words that will get a husband off the comfy couch to do house repairs every time. Whenever I say to my husband, “Let me call the a) plumber b) electrician c) handyman etc.,” he suddenly finds the energy to take on whatever small house repair needs doing.

Such was the case this weekend. For quite some time now, the sink faucet in our small bathroom has been dripping. We have two bathrooms in the house and each of us uses one as our primary “get ready in the morning” place. The small bathroom is the one my husband uses and I use it occasionally when I’m on that side of the house. I noticed the faucet was dripping some time ago. It began as a slow intermittent drip and I tried to ignore it since I’m in that room so little. Recently, however, the drip has become a full blown leak and it began to worry me. I mentioned it to Hubby several times and he kept assuring me it was nothing to worry about and he would fix it soon. Sure…right…soon.

As you can tell by the countdown at the top of my blog, it’s less than a month before we leave on our Ireland trip. Now I'm absolutely paranoid about plumbing leaks turning into torrents of water while I’m on vacation. Granted it sounds silly but I’m always afraid the stopper in the sink will suddenly close, the leak will continue to fill up the sink and eventually it will overflow all over the floor causing great damage. Yes…I know it sounds ridiculous but it’s my little paranoia and Hubby knows this.

After waiting and waiting for Hubby to get around to fixing the leak, I decided it was time to get serious and so, this weekend, I finally said to Hubby, “Let me call the plumber this week and have him either fix or replace the faucet in the small bathroom.” Okay…I was using all my manipulative skills to get what I wanted but I’d been patient long enough! He’d had his chance at doing this on his own and he’d failed miserably. I had no choice…he forced me to rely on my secret wifely strategy.

And, as always, those four little words worked their magic. On Tuesday, I went to a meeting and, when I was done, I called Hubby to tell him I was on my way home. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me he’d gone to the store, bought a plumbing repair kit, and was in the process of tearing apart the faucet. By the time I got home, Hubby was proudly standing in the bathroom with the newly repaired faucet that no longer leaks. Of course I heaped loads of praise on him for his husbandly talents and thanked him profusely for fixing the faucet.

Now….here’s the problem. We still have two leaks (a backyard sprinkler valve and a front yard hose bib) that need to be repaired before we leave and I’m trying to figure out if I can use the “Let me call the…” tactic again so soon. Hmmm…maybe this time I will call the plumber.