How many (Fill in the blank) does it take to change a light bulb?

With the recent Don Imus controversy, I'm afraid to insert any specific population group in the well known "How many...does it take to change a light bulb?" question. So, how's this as an alternate question?

Q: How many trips to the home improvement store does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Nineteen

Okay, so I did more than change a light bulb. I remodeled the bathroom. But I did change the light bulb!

Every weekend handyman knows that one trip to the hardware store results in another trip. As we know, something evil always lurks in a home improvement project. This one was no exception.

The man impetus for the remodeling was the counter top. We had decided to go with a counter with a molded sink. The old counter top came out with little problem. But we had discovered that they had feathered in up to about a half inch of drywall compound to make the wall come out to the edge of the counter. The wall bowed slightly. Well, the new counter top wouldn't fit in (or so I thought) with that drywall compound. So I removed the drywall compound. I still had trouble getting the counter top in. I had to remove part of the trim around the door to finally get the new counter top in. Now the back of the counter was too high for the mirror, so that had to be adjusted.

Next we replaced the light fixture only to find that there was just a hole in the wall and no junction box. Well, my new light fixture really needed a box to attach it self to. We started out thinking we would go with a "tumbled bronze" look and then changed to a "brushed nickel".

I removed the back of the toilet so that we could easily paint the wall behind it. While it was out, I removed the cabinet drawers to make it easier to install the counter top and paint. I should have remembered to put the drawers back in before putting the toilet back together. There wasn't enough space to put them back in with the toilet tank installed.

Well, nineteen trips, five stores, twenty one returned items later, the bathroom is finished.