Minor Accomplishments About Which You Are Inordinately Proud

I managed to remember to replace my car battery *before* it died.

A week or two ago, my 1982 S 10 pickup truck started acting really weird. It ran fine when I parked it, but when I went to start it, it was missing on at least 2 cylinders (out of six) and smoking badly.  With 42 years and almost 300K miles on it, I feared the worst. I let it sit until we got back from vacation.  Today I pulled, cleaned and reinserted the spark plugs, re-terminated one plug wire, and found one plug loose in the head and tightened it, and now it is running beautifully again.

FINALLY replaced a hinge on the cabinet under the sink, which I accidentally broke in December. Half the holdup was that I couldn’t find a replacement hinge of the same type - many close, but none that would fit. Also I am not a really good driller in small areas like that & I didn’t want to fuck up the (cheap) wood, so I just, y’know, rearranged the stuff I need to get to, propped it shut, and ignored it, cause it wasn’t really a major inconvenience. 

The other half of the holdup is that the vibes were off, & I couldn’t make myself do it.  BUT I realized I could take the bottom hinge off one of those narrow little doors on a cabinet I never use, and ta-da! SUCCESS.  It is indeed much nicer to have the trashcan within reach instead of in another room. I will learn nothing from this.

Is it a Hot Rod Lincoln?

 My dryer stopped heating, the internet’s first suggestion was “hey clean the outside vent”, so I did and it’s working again! 
It was nasty af too; swear to god I thought there was a bird nest in there. So gross.

  I had an interesting trip to Champaign today,  Traffic was all kinds of screwed up both on the interstate, and US 45, which more or less parallels it, but I missed the 8 mile traffic jam.  Anyway, I am almost ready to start home, when I lose my brakes.  I mean, the pedal went clear to the floor, and the car barely stopped.  Turned out I had blown a brake line (that stuff is going to happen on a 25 year old car sometimes).
  I am approximately 100 miles from home, and have practically no brakes.  My options are 1. find a local garage and have them fix it.  No.  This exact same scenario happened to be in Champaign before, and the dealership I had the truck towed to charged me out the ass and didn't even bleed the brakes.  Not again.   2. Have the car towed home to my local guy who I can trust.  Even with our really good roadside assistance package we have, I expect the trip would cost a couple hundred dollars. I'd rather not.  3.Bring the car trailer up there from home and haul to home myself.  There are so many logistical problems with this right now that it just isn't practical.
   Then I recalled the time I was on a service call in Iowa and that work blew a brake line.  I had studied up after the previous Champaign fiasco, and learned of a workaround for this situation.
   I put my flashers on and eased it a few blocks to the nearest auto parts store.  The car I was driving has splices in the brake lines from previous work. I bought a cap that fit the splice (only one they had) plugged the broken line with it, added some brake fluid, and suddenly had 3 out of 4 brakes working properly.  The car pulled very slightly to the right when I applied the brakes, but nothing dangerous or difficult to compensate for.  I spent about $14 and was able to drive it home.
  Driving old, less than pristine cars and trucks for the last 50 years has provided a few benefits.
  

I am proud of this joke.

I used to do that in one of my first cars, but that was mostly because the gas gauge was broken and I needed to keep track of how far I'd gone so I could fill up after 200 miles. Never did run out of gas. I am still mildly proud of that.

Our house is about 30 years old and looks it in parts. While it’s in need of a refresh on the first floor - carpet/flooring, cabinets and countertops are all showing their age - I’m really proud of myself for getting lots of small cosmetic and quality of life things done. I’ve gotten 5 new light fixtures, had broken things fixed, replaced a faucet and garbage disposal, new front door, new doorbell, fresh paint in two spaces, updated the guest room… it’s not new flooring, but it’s breathed new life into some dated spaces. And yes I hired someone to do most of the work but man - we could afford it! I know it was done well!

I have five pill containers and generally fill four of them up at a time, with the fifth as a spare or for when I'll be traveling the weekend I'd normally do the pills. It only takes marginally longer to do four at a time than it takes to do one, since more than half the effort is simply getting everything set up for the refills in the first place.

I won my fantasy baseball league.