New faucet installed and working!, a photo by canarynoir on Flickr.

I've been ignoring my kitchen faucet for quite a long time, much as one ignores a spider in a corner of a room you don't use much in hopes it just goes away and you don't have to squish it.

The faucet was not in good shape and was clearly in need of replacing. The plumber I had to hire pretty much immediately after moving in over two years ago told me that much, but I replaced the sprayer myself and it's held in there ever since.

I actually had been planning on replacing it over Christmas and then pushed that back to the end of this month, but the faucet had other ideas. This morning when I went to make my life-giving cup of coffee, I turned on the faucet and the water poured out from where the faucet meets the sink plate.

It heard me, you see, telling the cats, "I don't have to go anywhere or do anything tomorrow!" with delight because it has been a really busy post-holiday week. It also seems to have been subtly aware of my "be less spendy" resolution (which was enacted at the New Year only because enacting it at Christmas is a recipe for misery) (I'm kind of allergic to claim anything as a New Year's resolution, aren't I?)

SOooooo, I went to the internet and looked for a new faucet. I'd looked at Ikea faucets before, and kind of thought I'd get one of those, but nothing struck me this time, so I went over to the place which has become my Big Stuff hardware store (my local shop Dresslers is my Everything Else hardware store): Home Depot.

I know, right? I used to HATE that place, but Menard's started failing me, and I still have never had a good experience at any Lowe's (plus they generally suck at things like not being huge cowards and de facto bigots on a corporate level), but especially after my whole bathroom redo, I now feel really comfortable there and I always find what I need. Weirdness.

So I found a faucet I loved which was more than I wanted to pay, but it was very well reviewed (and anything comparable but cheaper which I liked had substantial numbers of worrying reviews) and beautiful and I figured a faucet should last a long time so if I pay for one that should, I won't end up spending more + more time and effort replacing a cheaper one sooner.

Let's hope that works out, because while it was not really hard (that is, not tricky), it was exhausting installing the faucet. Part of that was that I was doing it alone so there was no one to hold the actual faucet in place while I tightened the screw. As I told my Dad, "So I got my ab workout in," from getting up to adjust the faucet and then getting back under the sink to work on the tightening it down -- back and forth, back and forth.

Faucets are like puzzles, but they're really easy to install. They really are -- do not fear the faucet -- especially if you're replacing one and not starting from scratch with a brand-new sink where you have to cut holes and all that.

Every thing I try here in Condo-land makes me feel more confident about whatever comes up next. I'm still going to leave the electrical stuff to the professionals and any really heavy work (like my dream redo of new counter tops), but the rest of it? I'm up for it!