Have you ever misplaced something and for the life of you, you could not find it? That's what happened to me several days ago. My son and I have been remodeling a very small bathroom. It involved painting, adding some additional tile, changing out a small vanity, adding some additional storage space, etc.
Well, one of the last steps was to replace a shower curtain that covered a very small shower with a glass shower door that pivots. I purchased this shower door at least five years ago, and it has been waiting to be installed for that length of time.
I have been patient because I did not want to hire someone to do the work. I wanted my son to do it because he has the skills. If you have ever had to do any construction work around the house, then you know that things get a bit messy and stuff is out of place. I had to make room for paint supplies, move things out of the way that I did not want to get damaged and/or ruined, etc.
When it was time to install the shower door, my son very politely tells me that a part is missing. He said that the uchannel was missing. I asked him what that was and he showed me a picture of it from the installation guide. I said, "That part is not missing. I saw that piece the other day." Then starts the hunt for a four inch piece of metal in the midst of confusion.
I knew that I had seen the part and placed it on my bed at some point. We looked under the bed, around the bed, near the bed, under the dresser, in the bathroom, and everywhere!!! 😔
After a while my son said, "Maybe the part was always missing." I told him again that I had seen, touched the part and placed it on my bed. The hunt for the elusive part took a couple of days while I kept going back to my bedroom.
I looked through freshly washed laundry that I had not yet folded and put away. Sometimes I use my bed as a folding area for laundry so that I can watch television while I work. No uchannel in the laundry. Then I went to my guest bedroom which has become my craft room until a guest visits. No uchannel in the guest/craft room. I started looking in the kitchen and in drawers where I would have never placed the object. No uchannel. I looked in my linen closet. No uchannel.😕
I finally admit defeat and tell my son that I will just buy the part so that we can finish the job. Well, . . . the second hunt began. I started with the Kohler website which was the manufacturere of the shower door. The website was no help. Then I conducted general searches online using the model number of the shower door and the part name. No luck.
I sent my son to Home Depot to get some help. They don't sell that part and referred him to the manufacturer. I called Lowes and spoke to a gentleman in the plumbing department who told me that they didn't have the part. Then I went to the Habitat Restore which has all sorts of building materials that are donated from builders. No uchannel.
I finally called Kohler directly and the representative told me that the part would have to be "made to order" but he could replace it. I held my breath and asked him how much that would cost me. He said, "Oh, we'll send it to you for free." Yay!!! (Begin Happy Dance) 😊 I asked how long it would take and he said seven days for production and another seven days for shipment. (Happy Dance Ends) 😧 I thanked the representative for his help and began to put the shower curtain back in place.
In the meantime, I had purchased some new towels to put in my newly remodeled bathroom. While I was decorating and placing towels around the bedroom, I needed a hand held screw driver to tighten a screw on a switch plate. As soon as I lifted the screwdriver, the uchannel was under it! I called my son and told him, "I told you that I am not crazy!" I knew that I had seen that part in my bedroom. I promise you that I had looked in that small area at least ten times. I had even picked up the four larger items on the surface.
How had that part eluded my search? It's like it had disappeared to taunt me and then re-appeared once it had me beat. I kept telling my son throughout this experience that you should always go back to the spot where you last saw the missing object. He kept telling me that I should look in places where I would never have put it and that is why it was lost. I looked all over the house, but my sixth sense kept telling me that there was no way that I would put that part in a freaking linen closet.
I knew that that part was somewhere in my bedroom or that I had accidentally thrown it away. That was another fear. I felt that I could have thrown it away when I was gathering up the paper on the floor that was used as drop cloth material.
I just wanted you guys to see the source of my frustration for the past several days. Don't let young people tell you that you might be getting forgetful, or that you are crazy. My son never called me crazy. He just looked at me like I was crazy because I kept going back to my bedroom over and over again.
One of the things that prohibited me from finding that part is that I thought that it was much larger. I was looking for something the size of the bottom frame for the shower door, but only four inches long. I did not remember the part being that small.
Well, I get my new shower door installed today, so I can take the shower curtain down again. Yay!!! Score another win for the do it yourself senior citizen. 😉