I had lots of plans for today.  Starting with putting a new faucet in the bathroom.  Should have been a one hour job.  Everything had 20 plus years of corrosion but after 2 hours all the parts were off.  There was a little leak on the hot water shut off value which had some black junk that oozed out of it when the water line was removed.  I figure a little sediment was stuck and cracked it open to was it out.  Wrong it was what was left of the 20 year old washer which totally dissolved and came shooting out of the now non-functional shut off valve.  I heard a loud pop as the water sprayed the clamp light.  I ran for the shut off valve and shut off all the water.  Turn off the electricity to remove the clamp light then started to mop up.  The water went down into the basement and stained about 8 ceiling tiles.   I was soaked.  So off to the hardware store to buy a new seal and some flex lines since I wasn't about to replace the solder joints.  The Mom and Pop store was fun but they didn't have what I needed so off to Lowes.  Of course this is a little bathroom with little cabinets so getting to things was a treat.  I finished at about 5:30pm so nothing else got done today.  My neck, shoulder (old torn rotator cuff from my fencing days-repaired but never as good as it was) and back hurt and I suspect it will be worse tomorrow.  Went downstairs to take a shower and noticed my sink started to leak.  Really!

Oh no!  Were any of your figs hurt?   :)

Sorry your day was so awful.

Sounds like you spent the day with Murphy. I've had my share of those days Sharon, you just have to take a step back, take a deep breath. ... and move on. I'm sure you will be sore tomorrow, but at least it's behind you.

oh man...
Sharon, I had a headache reading all this, what a pain...(for you that is...) bummers

What I want to know now is how those fat plumbers get into those itty bitty cabinets.

Look on the bright side - you caught the problem quickly and minimized the damage. Could have been worse, leaking for hours or days.
And your figs are still ok :)

Sorry to hear about your bad day Sharon but ,like Scott said, it's behind you and you got out of this mess all by yourself so well done. I would definitely take Rich's advice( actualy I am taking it) if I were you! As for the fat plumbers! Money make people shapeshift, didn't you know!
Hope tomorrow is a better day for you .

My policy now is:
If it is not yet-broken, do not (dare-touch) fix-it!

Being quite handy; many-many times, seeing some 'things' that can be improved, I did take the plunge ... then ...
Meet them (mischief) rusted broken-screws, hard-to-find parts, product id, manuals, you name it /etc.,
(good luck finding vintage parts).

It is like opening a can of squirming worms; unforeseen headaches/mischief/challenges seem to crawl from practically everywhere.
In the end, after some unexpected extra $$'s, the problem does get fixed.

I sympathize with you.  About 10 days ago I changed the faucets and spigot out in the kitchen.  The cabinet was raised up about 4" off the floor, apparently I didn't get one of the cut off valves in the basement totally closed so there was an intermittent drip on my head. 

Then those plastic whatchamacallits that are about 1 1/2" that hold the flexible lines in place didn't want to come off.  I was cussing and trying different size channel locks and broke one of the little wings that is suppose to help you get the darn thing off.  At that point I was ready to take a screwdriver and hammer and chip those plastic pieces off but I stopped cussing and started praying and things improved.  Got it done. 

The good thing is, hopefully, except for a little adjusting, maybe, neither one of us have to replace those faucets for a LONG time...  Also, I gained a new respect for plumbers.

I have learned the hard way that if the plumbing parts on your house are over 15 years old and you need to fix something that involves turning off a valve, your best bet is to turn off the main water supply and replace the valve every time. You get pretty good at it after doing it only one time and it only takes an extra 20 minutes, not to mention you now have a reliable shutoff valve at that point.

I initially misread your post and thought you said that the main shut off valve failed!  So I was picturing water spraying everywhere, your basement filling up and you make making frantic calls to the city to turn off your water!  I guess it can always be worse.  As a consolation I can help you with something on your wish list.  I'll send you a PM.