Installing a Glacier Bay Dual Combo Showerhead

I grew up in a time where people were preached gender equality, and men were wearing t-shirts that said, "This dad changes diapers!"  Yet, I was a very traditional girl, even though I didn't like dolls and never had a desire to be a princess.  I liked dolls later as an adult when I had ideas on what to do with them, and as for being a princess...it didn't appeal to me because princesses had troubled lives where they were always being kidnapped by dragons and hounded by evil witches.

However, I embraced the traditional feminine role very young.  I learned about childbirth from one of my mom's nursing books and practiced the Lamaze technique when I was eight years old so I would be prepared.  I planned on how to decorate my house and how I would raise my children.

These dreams never came true despite my preparations.  It wasn't a lack of interest.  My mother married a terminally ill man that took a very long time to die from his illness, and I sacrificed many things to take care of him so she could work and deal with the doctors.

I never had any desire to compete with men.  I was satisfied with the gender roles.  However, I realized at some point that it is good for both sexes to be self-sufficient.  The fact is, sometimes you don't have someone you can rely on.  In my case, it was just me and my mom.  My stepfather was too ill to take on the physically challenging masculine role tasks.  You'd think you could pay people to do stuff, but oddly enough--that isn't easy either.  It isn't just because sometimes you don't have the money, but people don't always do things the way you want them done even if you pay them.  They cut corners.  They don't finish the job.  They want more than what the job is worth.  They inconvenience you greatly while doing the job.

For these reasons, as I've gotten older, I've decided to attempt many repairs myself.  It is rather scary, I admit.  However, when I succeed, it is an incredible high.  Don't get me wrong--if I ever find a man that is willing to do the job, I'll happily step aside (providing I think he is competent).  Until then, though, I plan to do as much as I physically can.

The biggest challenge, of course, is that you don't always have the equipment...and for women, we don't tend to have a lot of upper body strength.  Women can do a lot intellectually, but sometimes things just need brute strength.

Anyway, one of the things I recently attempted to do...and happily succeeded at...was replacing my shower head.  This was necessary because our plumber had originally cut corners in the first place.  The last time we had replaced it, he only changed one part.  Finally, the old piece he hadn't replaced broke--resulting in the shower head coming down and hitting us in the head.

Unfortunately, the lighting isn't optimum in the video, but I hope it is instructive enough.