The Un-Post

Warning: This is not really a post. It is a little blurb informing you that I will try to actually post something later this week. I have lots and lots to write about, some things that are very happy, some things that are not so happy, but there will be a post!

Since you last heard from me, I have lived a very eventful existence. :-) If you know me at all, and I think most of you do, you know I can be prone to somewhat clutzy moments... Okay, I can be VERY clutzy! (As those of you who fished my phone out of the toilet can verify). Since my last post, I burned myself on the oven rack (If there is a hole in a pot holder, I will find it), severely sliced my finger on glass (thought it was paper and grabbed it really firmly), caught a towel on fire (I set it too close to the electric burner. I hate electric burners. I'm ready to get back to a gas stove, though it may be a long time), and glued my finger to a toilet, and that was just in one week! Umm, yes, I did say that I glued my finger to a toilet. It is a sad strange story. Lest you all go crazy with curiousity, I guess I'd better explain that one now.

Our toilet handle was broken. To be more specific, the rod running from the toilet handle to the internal flushing mechanism thingy was broken. Did I just use "mechanism" and "thingy" in the same sentence??? Anyways, while Arthur was at work, I got very tired of dealing with the lid to the tank sitting on the counter, and I was tired of having to stick my hand in the tank to flush. I understand that the tank is filled with only clean water, but I still don't like it. Anyways, I thought, hey I have had to be more creative with scraping together crafty teacher projects at the last minute than this job will require, so I scoured the house for something with which I might temporarily repair the rod until our landlord supplied us with a replacement. I found toothpicks and electrical tape. Seemed like a good idea. It would have been if the break had been on the straight part of the rod, but it was right on the bend where the rod and the handle connect. (If you will lift the lid on your toilet tank, you will see what I mean :-) ) Anyways, the toothpicks and tape did not keep it solid enough. It would bend when I pushed the handle, so it was not going to work. Just then, I remembered that I had some superglue. Again, it seemed like a good idea. It was not. It might have been if I had taken into account that the nice runny superglue runs down hill very quickly and is not very visible on a damp, white, plastic rod. I applied the glue, put the two pieces together, and held them very tightly for a long time to make sure it would stick very well. It did. I had been careful to hold the rod far from where I applied the glue, but as I said, it was very runny. My thumb and first two fingers were stuck VERY tight. I could just barely reach the sink from where I was stuck, and I got the soap and wet a washrag. I spent a full half an hour soaking and gently pulling with my left over toothpicks. I couldn't reach any phones, so I was pretty well on my own. 30 minutes of my day, gone, but boy was I happy to be free to move! I was really happy that I didn't damage much skin too. Just a tiny spot on my thumb. The handle worked really well, though..... for 6 or 8 flushes.

That was a long un-post. In case you were wondering, our landlord came by on Tuesday with our new part, and the toilet flushes better than ever! Yippee! Anyways, hopefully you will hear more from me next week, and I hope to have pictures!