Having fun today...

Stupid me... When I killed the plunger a few weeks ago, I didn't go and buy a new one, even though this has been an ongoing drainage issue for almost a year. Early on it was just the bathtub and sink that would clog. Easy enough to clear the drains, or to plunge them for clearance. Now however, when the bathtub and sink drain properly, the toilet for some reason gets backed up. When the showerhead runs for five minutes, or if there is a load of laundry on, the toilet drains quickly and starts gurgling. I think I've written about this a couple of times here before, but today was just... funner. Yesterday, it backed up again... and I didn't have a plunger. So I made do with running the water and letting the toilet drain that way, until I could pick up a plunger this morning. Having a shower this morning drained the toilet, but it still wouldn't flush properly, so it definitely needed assistance. Went to the cheapie store down the street and picked up the only plunger they had...  a rather flimsy looking thing for $2.00. Oh,.. fun... Flush the toilet and try to plunge it and the damn thing would flip inside out... every. time. So the only way to flip it back out was to ease it back into place by rubbing it against the edge of the toilet... This of course caused the excess water to slosh over the edge.  It seemed to work initially, but after a while, it was not emptying. Wet spots on floor, wet socks. Used wet wipes to clean the floor, dried it with rags, washed up, changed clothes and went out to run errands and go to the hardware store. Plungers? I asked. Down the stairs, first aisle to the left. I went down there and got side-tracked looking at shiny new kitchen faucets. The one I liked was ... $149.99...  Walked down the aisle... no plungers...  Walked back and nope... Walked to the other side of the aisle ... nope... Went up the next aisle... ah... there... The stick and plunger thingy sold separately. Two different types, as well as a plastic thing that looked like I could break it rather easily. Went with the heavy duty black plunger thing and the nice wooden dowel. No way I could break that. $6.15... 

Was going to walk home, but then decided to make a detour up the street to grab some snackfood. Tortilla chips, a chocolate bar and Chicken Bones (haven't had those in ages). Ate part of the chocolate bar on the way home. Got here, started to screw the dowel into the plunger, got it almost all the way in, but then not enough traction, so ended up using a rubber garden glove to tighten it all the way. I was hoping the toilet would just drain out upon flushing this time, but nope. Man, that thing was stiff, but it finally worked after a few gos. Exciting? You bet.

***

Was getting the garbage ready to take out and was going to throw out a brand new insulated glass mug that somehow managed to get water stuck in between the layers. I had had it sitting on the counter hoping the water would drain out, but it hadn't, so I gently tapped it on the edge of the sink and ... crack... shards of glass everywhere. Sigh. Was very careful, but managed to stab myself. Damn finger wouldn't stop bleeding even after I cleaned and dried it and put Polysporin on it... and held it up in the air. Finally stopped after a while. Glad it was a small puncture.

***

Still struggling with the disconnected floating feeling, and those two little bits of fun oddly enough made me chuckle and brought me back for a while.