No such thing as a simple job

Sometimes the simplest of jobs can come back and bite you.
Ever since we changed the sink in our downstairs bathroom, my wife has been after me to change the taps.
About two months ago, she found the perfect set. And they have rested on a shelf below the sink since.
About two weeks ago, I took the taps out of the box to determine what other pieces of plumbing I would need. I also examined the old taps to figure out how difficult it would be to take them off.
It wasn’t going to be easy. I’ve learned, as a homeowner, that there are no easy plumbing jobs.
My friend, Doug, tells me that any simple plumbing job will require at least two visits to the store. Very few get everything right on the first attempt.
At the cabin, I use the rule that one fitting might work, but you should have at least three of everything. It avoids that two-hour round trip to Fort Frances.
Early Saturday morning, my wife quietly suggested that if I didn’t have anything planned for the morning, the new set of taps would be really nice. She left the house to run some errands and I decided to surprise her by having them installed by the time she returned.
I was just beaming with energy and began tackling the job. I realized quickly that to take the taps off, I had to remove the sink.
I had run a bead of silicon just under the lip all the way around the bowl when it had been installed. The bead held firm to the laminate top and the bowl.
It had to be cut away—and thus began my troubles. Slowly I worked my way around the bowl but couldn’t cut at the very back where the taps were.
I tried to gently lift the bowl with a little leverage at the same time I was cutting.
A big crack of noise exploded, and I had a sinking feeling that maybe the sink had cracked. It hadn’t—but the laminate had broken free the moment the sink did.
Now not only were the taps going to be replaced, so was the vanity top.
I didn’t measure the width, believing that counter tops were counter tops. I was wrong and that resulted in the first of two trips to the lumber store Saturday afternoon.
Then I discovered they don’t carry formed vanity tops and that they would be a special order.
When the price was rung up for the flow from top, I looked at option #2—a one-piece unit with the sink molded in. It, too, was a special order.
Delivery was going to be two to three weeks for either.
I was no longer the hero. Since we couldn’t make up our mind about colours, we bought a tube of glue and came home. I glued the pieces of laminate back on the counter, put the old taps back on the sink, and installed the sink back into the vanity.
Six hours later, we had the sink working. It looks the same, except for the crack that my wife claims is hardly visible.
Meanwhile, we now have to make a decision about the colour of the new vanity top and the colour of the wallpaper.
If only I hadn’t taken her hint to change the taps, I wouldn’t have all this work ahead of me.