I woke up early this morning this morning to do some work. Kids didn’t have school this morning, but they had dentist checkup appointments at 11:00 am. After they finished, I took them to lunch. They wanted soul food; therefore, we went to Milk & Honey. After lunch, we went to the park until around 3:30 pm.

I decided to go back home so I could replace the flush and fill valves in the master bedroom, which I had been putting off for a few weeks. The entire job took about half an hour. Then I also changed the shower head. Even though the tasks were trivial, they made me feel good. For someone who is not that great at doing handyman work, I had accomplished something.

I don’t want to ask people to help me all the time. I am sure handymen wouldn’t do these kinds of job; therefore; I try to do as many as I can on my own.

The nice thing about this blog is that I can document these kinds of trivial things that no one else cared but me. Whenever I needed to know what I had done in the past, I just have to refer back to this blog. This is why I love blogging all these years. OK, enough rambling.

Only after 2 years of replacement, the heating surface element on our Whirlpool’s stove burnt out. The issue was that one of the female disconnects burned out. I replaced it with Utilitech Fully Insulated Female Disconnects (16-14). The heating surface element also needed to be replaced. It cost $107 (tax and shipped included). Let’s hope this will last for a while. This YouTube video was a refresher to open up the top.

I used to change oil in high school, which was more than 20 years ago. Today, I changed oil for our 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE at 210,000 miles. The last time I took it to the dealership, they charged me almost $150. When did oil change had become so expansive?

Of course I watched some YouTube videos to refresh myself. Here are the parts:

• Oil Filter Wrench for Toyota: $30 (It’s a great tool for removing the oil filter)
• Toyota OE Engine Oil Filter 04152-YZZA1: $8
• Kirkland Signature 0W-20 Full Synthetic Motor Oil 5-quart, 2-pack: $30 (Only 6.5 quartz are needed)

Without the oil filter wrench, the parts cost less than $40. It saved $100 and 3 hours waiting time. I spent about an hour on it, but it will be faster the next time because I will know exactly what to do.

Nowadays, I have to do as many things as I can. Everything is so damn expensive.

Last night, my wife broke the chain when she tried to turn off the ceiling fan. We bought a new switch at Lowe’s for about $7. The replacement process takes 10 to 15 minutes. We use these fans in our bedrooms a lot because our second floor is always hot. Our AC unit doesn’t work too well. I am not sure how long we can ride it out before we have to spend about $15k. I just don’t want to think about it. Being a homeowner comes with too many responsibilities and I have very little skills to fix them. Oh well!

As I was debating whether I should spent over $50K to buy a new Toyota Sienna or fixing our 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE, I chose the latter. This time I chose the Auto Team in Manassas. One of the co-owners is a friend’s uncle. Even though it was my first time, I could trust him. He’s an honest mechanic. He replaced the front struts and sway bar links.

Parts

• Struts: $190 (2x)
• Sway bar links: $48 (2x)

Labors: $400

Total with discounts: $850

The AC is still not working. The sliding doors are still not fixed. Nevertheless, I can still use in in the winter to drive to Whitetail for work.

Last night, the second automatic sliding door from our 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE broke. The first one broke about six months ago, but I hadn’t fixed it. One auto shop quoted about $2,000 to replace. That would cost $4,000 for both. Obviously, I am not going to replace them. I have no problem with using the manual sliding doors. My only concern is that the kids my get their fingers jam or their face smashed since the doors would slide very fast with the cables to hold them.

In addition, the back lift gate has no hydraulic. It keeps falling down and hit my head. The interiors are falling apart. The shock front driver side is gone. The steering post makes clicking noise every time I made a turn. The AC is out. The milage is about 210,000 miles. The only thing that still works well is the engine—for now.

Since I will be driving an hour and a half each Saturday and Sunday this winter to work, I will need a reliable car. I am not sure if it is worth it to fix the issues and keep it or buy a brand new Sienna. The price tag for 2025 hybrid Sienna XLE is around $50,000. I don’t want to spend that much money on a car. I want to see how much it will cost to fix the shock and the steering post. If it costs too much then I might need to get a new car.

First world problem, I know. Nevertheless, I still hate owning a car, but I need it.

The front holes in the toilet on the first floor kept leaking water. I decided to replace the old one with Everbilt’s 2 in. Universal Complete Toilet Flush Valve Repair Kit. It was a quick job even though I had to remove the tank. For my future self, unscrew the two nuts from the bottom of the tank first in order to remove the tank.

Even with a brand new flush valve, the holes were still leaking water, not as much as before. I am just going to leave it like that for now. I’ll deal with it later.

Update: no more leaking. Yay!

Sáng nay mở máy rửa chén ra thấy chén bát đã rửa tối hôm qua mà vẫn chưa sạch. Thôi thì chạy lại lần nữa. Khi máy chạy, tôi nghe tiếng nước lẫn tiếng gì đó rất lạ. Để ý nghe kỹ hơn thì ra là tiếng, “Ti… Ti… Tiền…”

After a few days of heavy rain, I needed to climb up to the roof to clean the gutters. I always dreaded going up to the roof and I didn’t go up last summer.

This morning, the weather was cleared; therefore, I decided to go up. Sure enough one of the gutters was clogged. I just had to clear it. I also hammered in the nails and tightened up the screws. The strong wind made them loose.

I wondered if anyone else was doing these. I haven’t seen any of my neighbors up on their roof to hammer in the nails.

At one point the sun hit me hard. I was sweating profusely. I was hoping I was not getting dehydrated.

Earlier today, I flushed our water heater. It was the second time I did the flushing based on the instructions I wrote for myself last year. Everything went well, except when I opened the valve at the bottom of the tank to drain the water. All I had to do was turning the big plastic knob to the left to open up the line, but I couldn’t remember. I tried to force it. Luckily I didn’t break it yet. It would have been a nightmare if that valve broke. I wanted to keep a note here so I can remember next year.