Door Knobs and Running Toilets

So... as some of you may know, my wife and I recently purchased our first home. It was built in 1940, but it's in pretty solid shape (knock on wood). We had an inspection done before we bought it. We made the previous owner fix a few things. My wife is a spectacular interior decorator. So, all-in-all, it looks and feels pretty darn solid.

This house is one of the first things we've ever owned. My wife once owned a 1997 Honda Civic. Which, by the way, she still becomes saddened at the mention of it. I say it was like driving a tuna can down the road, but darnit, she loved that car. I've never owned a car. I've paid many banks a monthly installment to drive one, but I've never fully owned one. So owning our home is a pretty big deal to us. It's fun, but sometimes it's frustrating.

There are two things that constantly nag at us. No, no... I'm not talking about the big things. I'm not all that upset that our kitchen sink got clogged on Christmas morning and caused the dishwasher to spill nasty water all over the kitchen floor. I'm not even all that upset that we had to replace our hot water heater the first day my wife moved in. And the ghost in the attic? Heck, he doesn't bother us as much as he bothers our two cats. It's the little things...

I HATE OUR DOORKNOBS! Each knob is very easily stripped. Meaning when you turn the knob, nothing happens. The little piece in the wall doesn't retract and the door doesn't open. Seems like an easy enough solution, right? "Go out and buy new knobs," you say. Well, we've done that. However our inside doors are only about an inch thick. This, in turn, makes the door frame an inch wide. So, in order to get a different type of doorknob, we'd have to replace the doors and the frames. And I just don't see that happenin'. The only doorknob made for this type of door are 7 dollar, easily stripped pieces of dookey. I have given up on happy door opening in our home. There is a bright spot, however. About 25% of our doors never fully close. So we never have to turn the knobs!

My other annoyance is brought to us by avenue of the bathrooms... the toilets. My wife may have nipped this problem in the bud, but I'm not sure and I'm definitely not holding my breath. When you flush, sometimes the water doesn't stop running. It doesn't overflow or anything like that, thank god. It just runs and runs. To fix it, you have to take the back off the toilet and stick your hand or a waterproof object in the water so that the water raises to a certain point and turns off. Gross, right? The amusing part about this is that it doesn't do it every time you flush. We can go two weeks without it giving us a single hassle. By that time, we think the problem is cured and we don't call a plumber. But, as sure as the sun rises, the problem always comes back... usually at 3 AM.

I guess it could be worse. I'm waiting for the day that the toilet won't stop running and I can't get into the bathroom because the doorknob is stripped.