I have had two things go wrong recently, and I actually fixed them all by myself like a big girl! I am Inept with a Capital I, so while this stuff is no big deal for someone else, it's like a miracle for me.
First thing...last week, the tv just stopped. I was uber bummed. But I read online, and decided that I could at least figure out if it was a bad lamp or not. So I took the lamp out, and saw that the filament was busted. I scored a major win the next day by finding a new-with-receipts Phillips lamp auction on ebay that was about to end for $50, and snagging it up. As a point of reference, off brand bulbs were selling for $75, and the bare bulb I got is $119 retail.
Yesterday, the garbage disposal would not work. I tried the two things I knew how to do, and determined that it was working, it was just not draining. So after I studied the pipes for a bit, I horrified the boy by telling him I was going to unhook a pipe from the bottom of the disposal. (He knows how incompetent I am when it comes to fixing stuff).
But I got the pipe off, cleaned out some gunk in it, put it back on, and the disposal worked again. I didn't have any leaks either.
Today the new bulb came. I had to take the old bulb out of the housing, put the new bulb in, then re-set the lamp into the tv. I was about sick when it came time to plug it in, but it worked!!
The boy had his laptop ready, and played "We Are the Champions" for me.
I can't believe how much of a difference a new bulb made. I thought it had a great picture before, but it is phenomenal now. I also had found some instructions online for how to re-set the lamp counter, and I did that. The old lamp had 13,300-some hours on it, according to the counter. I only hope this one lasts that long.
So that is my victory story. I can barely operate a screwdriver, so I am happy!!