Knowing What to Do and Knowing What You’re Doing? Two Different Things

I know the mechanics of putting up a toilet paper holder and a towel rack. It’s just not something that I do all that often. Or, actually, ever. But when our house got painted, at the suggestion of the guy who wrote up the contract, I did remove all the door and drawer knobs and handles and took down the wall-mounted towel racks, hooks, and toilet paper holders. My doing that (and replacing them when the job was done), saved lots of time for the painters. So I very much understand about how those racks go up. There’s a metal plate that gets attached to the wall. Then, the arms of the racks are slipped over those plates. There’s a tiny little set screw that gets tightened up against the bottom of that plate, and that holds the ends in place.

I really have done this sort of thing before, and am accustomed to having a little guide like this to indicate where the holes should be drilled. This one was printed on the side of the box. Which meant that I had to rip the box apart to use it.

So, see. I know how to do this. I was at Home Depot one day and remembered that a friend needed a toilet paper holder and a towel rack. I got them and, a few days later, asked if she wanted them. She did, and I said I had them in my trunk, along with the things I needed to put them up (because I know how to do this), and I got to work. I had a hand drill, drill bits, and a Phillips screwdriver. I forgot to bring a level. After working for maaaaany minutes, trying to use the box the towel rack came in as a guide for deciding where to put the holes for the toilet paper holder, I determined that I needed to go back home and get our level. Before I left I asked if she had one. YES!!! She did. So back to work. (After asking for a pencil to mark where the holes went, which I had also neglected to bring. And then, later, a pencil with a good eraser, which the first pencil didn’t have.) I levelly marked the spots which would be the center of the metal plates. I marked the spots for the screws, drilled the holes, pounded in the plastic anchors (with the end of my drill, because I forgot to bring a hammer), used the Phillips screwdriver to insert the screws. Ta-dah!!

Then I placed one arm over one metal plate, and tried to tighten the tiny, tiny little set screw with a regular screwdriver. No luck at all. I went and asked my friend if she had a teeny tiny screwdriver, and amazingly, astonishingly, how-lucky-for-me!, she did. She had a whole set of teeny tiny screwdrivers that all fit together in a little container that looks like a pen. I tightened those little screws (which, I’m sad to report, required my getting down on the floor to be able to see underneath the arm to get the teeny tiny screwdriver into the head of the teeny tiny screws). And then I discovered that I had inadvertently attached the left-hand arm of the toilet paper holder, with its round opening, and the right-hand arm of the towel rack, with its square opening. Alas. That meant unscrewing the teeny tiny screw, removing the arm, replacing the arm, tightening the new teeny tiny screw, and then, another, much larger “Oh, no.” Despite my careful use of the little placement guide, the arms were just the smallest bit… too far apart. Which required:

1. getting back down on the floor and removing the small screw
2. getting back up and removing the screws and metal plate
3. digging the anchors out of the wall
4. re-marking the holes
5. drilling new holes
6. putting the anchors back in the wall
7. replacing the metal plate and screws
8. replacing the arm
9. getting back down on the floor and
10. screwing that teeny, tiny screw back in

And after all that–

SUCCESS!!

At that point, I was one step closer to “knowing what I’m doing,” and the towel bar took a fraction of the time, helped along by the fact that I was standing up to do the drilling (and my knees weren’t getting in the way), the wall was larger and so the work space was more spacious, and I did not have to get on the floor to tighten the teeny, tiny screws. The whole installation of  two wall-mounted bathroom things took 2 1/2 hours. I’m not exaggerating.

I said could I please borrow the teeny tiny screwdriver, as I had a loose set screw at my house and occasionally the right-hand arm of the toilet paper holder would pop off and everything would clatter to the floor. (The thing dates back to 1959 and is all metal.) She graciously allowed me to take it home with me, where I discovered this:

This is the under-side of the right-hand arm of my toilet paper holder. There is no set screw. Which explains why the problem keeps happening. I guess I’ll just have to continue trying to be careful when I change out rolls. But I did take the little screwdriver and went around tightening all the teeny tiny screws in both bathrooms’ racks, hooks, and holders. We should be okay for a while.

First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
    rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
    is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.

Proverbs 31: 17, 18 (The Message)

I would love to say that I’m always eager to get started at the beginning of the day and am in no hurry to call it quits at the end of the day. And sometimes I am. Sometimes–not so much. I’m trying to improve. (We can call it “goal-setting.”) In some situations, I “know what I’m doing.” In others, I just “know what to do”… sort of. And in others, people beg me to keep away while they’re working. I usually comply.