I needed a win.

It's been a rough week. And an even rougher day. The kind of rough that I want to write about but can't bring myself to write about publicly, since it's the complicated sort of story that's not really mine and involves health which never seems like a good thing to write about publicly on the internet and oh man my head hurts. You get my drift.

So I could really have used a victory today. I would have taken just about anything. So I decided to reinstall our bathroom cabinet doors, which I removed three weeks ago when I spontaneously decided to stain them. The idea came to my head on a Sunday and I started making it a reality on a Monday. And then didn't reattach them for three weeks. ANYWAY. Reinstalling them should have been an easy win, especially since I was obnoxiously detailed about putting each hinge in its own little labeled baggie, "Left Cabinet, Right Door, Bottom Hinge." I am not joking. I was a cabinet door newbie.

Can't say that anymore! Because when I went to reattach the doors, I got to the very last hinge...

And a spring popped off just as I was about to screw it in.

Are you kidding me!?! Where's my easy win?!?

In case you want to see the ridiculously tiny piece that popped off, here, let me show you:



See it?



Here, this should help:



Yeah, that spring. Popped off. So I did what I know best, googled it. This part hasn't existed for a long time. So long, that the manufacture doesn't even list it on the discontinued parts section of their website.

Then I thought, well, it's not broken broken. Maybe I can fix it. Hah! That spring needed to not only be wedged in a tiny spot, but it also needed this little metal dowel-like thing that was already attached to the other side forced under it as well. To make a long story short, picture me 1) fighting with my needle nose pliers and all these teeny tiny metal bits and realizing I need another set of pliers, 2) not being able to find my other pliers in our sty of a garage, 3) running to the grocery store 10 minutes before it closes to buy another pair because THAT'S HOW MESSY OUR GARAGE IS, 4) wrestling with these little parts and two pliers and cursing and agonizing and then winning. Yes, that is the short version of the story. I didn't include part 2.5 which is when mentally seething at an unnamed individual who treats the garage like a dumping ground. Now you know the long version too!

The most important part of all of this is that I won. I fixed the hinge. I have beautiful stained cabinets with doors actually attached to them that I may someday post photos of when the bathroom a mess. I didn't get my easy win, but I got the win I needed.