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One morning, earlier this week, my husband came into our room to let me know that the showerhead was broken. He proceeded to tell me that I needed to be careful when taking a shower that morning because I needed to manage the shower nozzle with one hand, since it broke off of the wall.

Now, we have been planning on remodeling the bathroom at the end of February because the tub and shower are over 50 years old. This old plumbing is threatening my sanity by leaking into my kitchen. A few years back, one of the past residents put on a shower with a removable showerhead and a hose attachment. This was the guilty one that my husband was talking about.

My first reaction was, “Why were you playing with the showerhead?”

“I wasn’t, I was fixing it, “ was John’s reaction---his normal reaction to broken household objects that he was fiddling with in the morning.

Later that morning, I found out firsthand about the broken showerhead. But, I was going to prove John wrong. I managed to put the broken nozzle on the shampoo caddy to keep it upright. I amazed myself at my creativity.

“This won’t be as bad as what John said. I just solved my problem!” I smiled to myself.

But, I was shocked at the power that the water had coming out of the broken nozzle. It hit the back wall with such force that parts of tile chipped off into the tub.

“Ughhh,” I shouted. My oldest son came running in, leaving out all of the warm air in the bathroom, and proclaiming in his high pitched voice, “Are you alright, are you alright, are you alright,…” ad nauseum.

“Yes, yes, yes,” I hissed, “Your father and his playing around with the showerhead!”

I finally got the water under control and the flood cleaned up off the floor. After I got the kids situated in front of the TV again, I continued on with my shower, holding the nozzle with one hand, while trying to wash with my other hand. I don’t think I am that coordinated.

Later that night, my husband being ever so motivated by this new house project, while the playroom project in the basement has being lying dormant for about four weeks, bought himself a new showerhead.

After two trips to Wal-Mart and a lot of banging around in the bathroom, we had a brand new Waterpik showerhead. There were three different settings for how the water flowed out of it, promising many message-like showers every time you turned it on.

John announced after his shower the next morning that the showerhead was working great. But, I needed to be careful because the showerhead can’t be maneuvered past the point where he had it, or it would break again.

“Oh great!” I thought, “so much for solving this household problem.”

Later that morning, when I finally got the natives interested in Veggie Tales, I went in to take my shower. Again, I got everything organized, the water at the right temperature, and, then, I turned on the shower. BAMOO! Another monsoon! The water hit the back wall and I had to arrange the shower curtain so that it covered the back of the shower. Thus, leaving an opening in the front. So, the back of the bathroom is getting flooded, while I am shivering from the draft coming in the front of the shower.

After fighting with the shower curtain, I was finally finished in the shower. Another flood to clean up… like I needed one more chore to do…and then I was on my way to the rest of the things I had to accomplish that day.

Heck with the shower---I am going to stick with tub baths from now on!

Wendy Komancheck is a stay-at-home mom with her two sons, ages 3 and 20 months. Besides mothering, she is a private tutor and freelance business writer with many articles published in the Lancaster County daily newspapers.  http://www.writers.net/writers/wendywriter