How to Get Your Own Earring Out of the Trap

Okay, for all of my feminist girl powerness, there are somethings I really, really hate to do for myself. Home repairs totally fall into that category. A few days ago my brand new earring that I had only worn once fell down the drain in the bathroom sink. I begged and pleaded for my dad or brother to come over and retrieve it with no dice. My dad (kindly) told me, that this was something I could handle myself and walked me through the steps using his own bathroom sink as a visual model. So tonight I decided to tackle it. And, of course, blog about it. I think it falls under domesticity attempts. It was actually pretty easy and took less than five minutes. A definite success for my first venture into plumbing. To retrieve your earring out the trap you will need:

A bucket (cat walking into frame optional)

Open up that sink door and take a peek at what you see. It should hopefully look like this. If you have metally looking pipes instead of plastic ones, you might need a wrench of some kind. The little U shape is the trap where your earring should be. It is filled with water (and probably some other gross stuff, but try not to think about that).

Clear away all of the stuff under the sink and position the bucket under your pipes. There's a little ring on the back end of the U. Give it a twist. Mine was pretty easy to loosen. If it's tight you could probably use a wrench. As you can see in the picture the ring will slide up and the U will slide away.

From there you can just kind of tug the other end of the U off. Warning: it is filled with water and smells kind of gross. Another purpose of the U tube besides being a catch, is that it stays filled with water and keeps the sewery smell from coming up the pipes into your bathroom. Anyways, tug the whole U thing off.

And dump it into your bucket. The water was so gross I couldn't see the earring but I could hear a "plink" as it hit the bucket.

There it is!

Then just jam the U pipe back on and twist the ring over it. Keep the bucket there and do a little test run with the water to make sure everything is back in place.

Not too hard and kind of empowering. Go me!

We're old...

I was out for a birthday dinner with some friends last night. We ended up in a rather long conversation about ketchup.

"Gosh, we're so old, all being so into a conversation about ketchup" - Friend 1

All make agreeing noises and nod their heads.

"Let's talk about things young people like to talk about" - me

"Good idea" - Friend 2

"Um............ what do young people like to talk about?" Friend 3

*Very long silent pause*

".....Lady Gaga????" -- Friend 1

Not anymore...

six numbers, one more to dial

before I'm before you

I tried to call

been busy all night

gave up waiting at daylight

Excuse me Mrs. Busybody

could you pencil me in when you can

though we both know that the worst part about it

is I would be free when you wanted me

if you wanted me

ohhhhh...

I am the man on the side

hoping you'll make up your mind

I am the one who will swallow his pride

life as the man on the side

one of the many

one of the few

to stand back and wait for you

excuse me Mrs. Busybody

could you pencil me in when you can

though we both know that the worst part about it

is I would be free when you wanted me

if you wanted me, if you wanted me

ohhhh...I am the man on the side

hoping you'll make up your mind

I am the one who will swallow his pride

Life as the man on the side

Life as the man on the side

I fell in love with the dream that I built of

the part of the queen

taking my own advice

I'm giving up tonight

good luck to you and the king

excuse me Mrs. Busybody

could you pencil me in

though we both know that the worst part about it

is I would be free when you wanted me

if you wanted me, if you wanted me

ohhhhh....

I am the man on the side

hoping you'll make up your mind

I am the one who will swallow his pride

life as the man

you know life as the man

living life as the man on the side

Making books

Isaac's new thing is making books. They are quite adorable. He dictates the sentences to a grown up and the he does the pictures. Please enjoy his book:

"Isaac's Dinosaur Book"

The dinosaur is eating leaves.

The dinosaur scares other dinosaurs.

The dinosaur is sleeping.

The dinosaur is jumping.

Spring is Here~

Spring is here to stay! And it's so lovely!

Isaac and I planted a whole bunch of seeds. There are actually two tiny sprouts in there but they didn't photograph. We've had fun watering our seeds and checking for progress each day.

The beautiful Easter wreath I ordered from Amazon. The only thing is it came with no way to hang it up. Next year, I will have to figure out something a little more attractive.

Homemade Easter Card from the boy.

Picked this up for a few bucks. It's been sitting on the windowsill. Cute jar (bad lighting/photo). I think I have more spring/Easter decorations up tha I did for Christmas.

I've been leaving the "porch" door open and Cody has enjoyed tempting fate by dangling off the drop off of death. Sometimes I find him with more than half of his body dangling outside.

My neighbors (who actually have a small porch and not a sheer cliff outside of their sliding door) have put up a bird feeder. Of course there were no birds there when I went to take the picture, but Isaac and I have really enjoyed watching them. We have a clear view of their feeder from our kitchen table. Shorts, and new sandals! (Now I just need some time to work on the tan...)

Spring soccer starts next weekend, so I should be blogging about that soon. In the meantime,I am officially on spring break. I've been cleaning and cooking and baking and organizing. It's wonderful. What things are you doing to usher in spring?

Not Me Monday/Crafting FAIL

I did NOT decide yesterday that I need to be more domestic (getting back to the original roots of this blog!) and decide to try a simple quilted pot holder as a birthday present for my friend. Cutting out the fabric went well. Piecing it went reasonably well (this is usually my downfall for quilted projects of any kind so I was stoked). I went to the fabric store after work today to get some of the special heat resistant batting that does on the inside. I did NOT panic when the lady asked me how much I wanted and panic and say "Two yards". Two yards will NOT make approximately 28762 potholders. If you feel like making a quilted potholder, you should NOT stop by and help yourself to my special heat resistant batting. I came home and sewed the potholder together. I did NOT accidently sew the quilted top inside out so that all the seams are showing. I did NOT have to pick it all apart painstakingly. I did not NOT sew it all over again on to discover this time that the batting was now on the OUTSIDE and the blue fabric which was intended to be on the bottom was in the middle. I am NOT giving up for the evening. *Sigh* I'm so not domestic...

Some things never change

Overheard in first grade classroom: C: Hey, A. Spell ICUP. A: I-C-U-P C: You see me pee? Gross!!! I remember telling that joke myself. Glad it's still alive and kicking.