On Sunday, I arrived home after my son’s hockey team with the unfortunate desire to Get Something Done, Son. The time was 4:00 PM, the proper time for sitting on the couch doing nothing before marching head-on into the busy week ahead. Instead of sitting on the couch doing nothing, I chose to treat 4:00 PM Sunday like it was 10:00 AM Saturday (the proper time for doing things) and dove enthusiastically into Folding Laundry! Sewing a Button for Kyle! Cleaning Off My Desk! And then, when that wasn’t enough, I turned to Declogging My Bathroom Sink. (!)
There are two sinks in our master bathroom. One is designated to Kyle, the other to me. On Sunday at 4:55 PM, neither sink was clogged. However, I had turned on the water in my sink a few days prior and decided it was running slower than expected and had taken to using Kyle’s sink until I could find time to clear mine. That time was 4:55 PM on that exact Sunday.
“Whatcha doing?” Kyle, who was sitting on the bed using 4:00 PM on Sunday as it was meant to be, said as I walked with determination into the bathroom carrying a bottle of Liquid Plumber.
“Declogging my sink,” I said.
“Okay,” Kyle said. “Would you like some help?”
“No,” I, a person who has never done anything in my life without some help, said.
The instructions for Liquid Plumber were simple: pour half the bottle down the sink, wait thirty minutes, and then flush it with hot water. All of this was perfect timing because I needed forty minutes to cook dinner. I unscrewed the cap and Liquid Plumbered the sink. Surprisingly, the goop flowed straight down and didn’t linger as one would expect with a slow drain. Terrific, I thought – even if there hadn’t been a clog in the first place, now it would be doubly-clear. I set my phone timer to thirty minutes, and started my next activity, Making a Pot Roast Noodle Bake.
Thirty minutes later, I went back up and turned the hot water tap to full blast. I set my timer to ten minutes and went back downstairs to get dinner plated. See how I typed in those words about the steps I took to get to this point? That was 100% of the thought I put into the whole thing. At no point did I ask myself, “Hey, Amanda, since you’ve never Liquid Plumbered anything before, why don’t you ask Kyle if there is anything you should consider in your plan?” Or “Hey, Amanda, why did you set your clock for ten minutes? Did you come to that number arbitrarily?” Or “Hey, Amanda, since there’s always a slight chance that the clog was more than Liquid Plumber could handle, why didn’t you hang around a bit and make sure the water was able to go down the drain?”
We sat down for dinner.
“Is that noise the washing machine?” Thirteen asked, referencing the clear sound of running water.
“Yes,” I said, although it did sound a little different than our normal washing cycle.
Two minutes later, my phone timer went off, and I excused myself to run upstairs and shut off the sink.
Anyone want to guess what I found when I got upstairs? Anyone? Yep, you’re right – I flooded the bathroom.
I turned off the water and surveyed the damage. Fortunately, the drain had been flowing properly and so the overflowed water was only on my side of the bathroom; specifically, mostly pooled within the cabinetry below the sink. I considered calling Kyle for help (again, because I really shouldn’t do anything without assistance) but then decided I didn’t want the embarrassment of telling him what I did to disturb him while he was eating – and instead decided to clean it up myself.
The water on the floor soaked up really quickly since I had just finished washing 900 hockey towels and had them stacked neatly in the laundry room right next to our bedroom. The under-sink area, however, was a bit more of a challenge because of the items I had stored within: Cotton pads. Sanitary supplies. Tissue boxes. Extra toothbrushes in paper containers.
“Oh, that’s convenient, those things soaked up the water for you!” You may be thinking.
Nooooope.
I worked as quietly as possible so as not to draw attention from my boys (although at one point Kyle called, “You okay?” And I had to call back, “Yep, just going to the bathroom!” which was both a lie and the truth), glopping up soaking wet cotton pads, tampons, and the like. I also had a bunch of storage boxes and drawers in there, and got to dump those out one by one, dry out their contents, and put them back. As an aside, the only container which stayed 100% water-tight was my 1980s Caboodle; Long Live Caboodles. Also as an aside, I found a paper bag containing a bottle of leather cleaner I had been looking for, so all was not for naught.
Finally, I was done. I turned back on my faucet. The bowl, now empty of ten minutes worth of heavy water flow, drained normally.
“How’s the sink?” Kyle asked when I returned to my cold Pot Roast Noodle Bake.
“Right as rain,” I said.
“Maybe you can take a break for the rest of the night,” Kyle said.
“Good idea,” I said.
Since you guys liked my last high school picture, here’s another one. The photo above is of a page out of a scrapbook my mother made for me when I graduated. Felt appropriate to this story.
This week on North Dakota Today we talked about Zoey (and Andrea and Ariah), my Nice Person of the Week, as well as the Minot North High School Cheer Squad. (Valley News Live)
May-Port’s Kaden Hogfoss had 59 saves at a recent hockey game against West Fargo to advance in the playoffs – which, as the post notes, was the team’s first post-season win ever. (Facebook)
Looking for a little love? Listen to a group of Bismarck fifth graders perform “All My Love.” (KFYR TV)
This event is now over, but it was so cool (and free!) I wanted to share it: the Bismarck Historical Society gave a presentation on the archaeological history of the city. (KX Net)
Speaking of history, six teenagers are about to “take over” the art exhibits at the North Dakota Heritage Center. (Minot Daily News)
If you watched my North Dakota Today segment this week, you’ll know that I was a member of the Central High School Dance Team. One of my rival schools (but not really rivals since we’re all buddies here and, also, I’m 25 years out of high school) just won the National Championship in High Kick in Orlando, which is a big deal in the world of dance. (Valley News Live)
North Dakota Nice 
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