Oh, the Joy's of Owning a Home...

A few weeks ago, I was standing at the sink cutting a large carton of strawberries for my girls. We usually buy the large carton, I wash and cut them all up and store them in the fridge for easy access and availability later. We go through them so quickly, so it's just easier that way.

Anyways, so I had all the strawberry tips in the sink and washed them all down in the garbage disposal like I normally do. However, this time the water didn't seem to want to drain. The disposal was running and working fine, spinning and chopping up the leftover food, but it was clogged somehow, not allowing for the water to drain. I stuck my hand down there, moved things around and nothing. I used the drain plug to plunge the drain and it worked only to drain the water that was in there. If I turned the faucet on again, all the water would again pool in the sink. I turned the garbage disposal on again and all the water and leftover food mess shot up in the air like a blender without a lid. It was a MESS!

At our townhouse, all I would have to do is snap my fingers and say "Maintenance!!" and I would come home from work to a perfectly fixed sink/garbage disposal. It was like magic.

Unfortunately in this case, I was all on my own and I finally had to give up my dignity and just call Adam. No, texting is better, then I didn't have to hear his voice. So, I text him, plain and simple, "I think I broke the garbage disposal". He text back, "How?" So, I explained and he said, "Use the toilet plunger". I would do whatever it took to fix it by myself before he got home, so I used the toilet plunger on my sink. I plunged and plunged and plunged...I mean REALLY plunged and FINALLY the water drained. I tested the water, the disposal, everything a few times and it was good to go. Whew! I cleaned the kitchen and all was well. I managed to fix it all by myself before Adam got home. Yay Me!!

UNTIL, last night...

I was doing the dishes as normal after I fed the kids and when I was done I started draining the water and turned on the garbage disposal to eat up all the leftover food and mess. But, in the midst of my dirty water, I didn't notice the dish rag was still in the sink. The garbage disposal sucked it down the drain and tangled it all up in the motor. In a panic, I tried grabbing for the rag rather than shutting the disposal off first. It made some horrible noises and I realized I should probably shut it off before sticking my hands down there. The rag luckily came out just fine and only had a small tear on one of the corners, but the garbage disposal was shot. It wouldn't even turn on. I would flip the switch and nothing would happen. I put my hand back down there, hoping to move something around and get it to work, but nothing. No drain plug or toilet plunger was going to fix this. I completely broke it this time, I just knew that the motor was done for. I didn't even hesitate this time. I knew Adam was on his way home already and there was no way of hiding it. I called him and told him what happened. He yelled. I said it was an accident. He yelled some more. I said Sorry. And we hung up. A few minutes later he came home and stormed up the stairs, kicked the dog out of the way (poor Chip) and ran to the sink. He flipped the garbage disposal switch and again...nothing. He yelled some more and I apologized again. It really was an accident, what more could I say. He ran to the garage, got his tool box and was laying under the sink. I took the girls and walked over to the neighbors. It was best Adam be alone.

I told them what happened and they just laughed. They said, "All you have to do is hit the reset button". I was like, "I'm not going back over there, he can figure it out himself". A little while later, Adam wandered over with a stupid grin on his face like he was some sort of a hero or something for fixing the garbage disposal. He looked and acted like he had just performed open heart surgery or something - like it was so hard and he figured it out. Then, Grandma Debbie said, "You just hit the reset button, didn't you?" Adam hung his head like his ego was just deflated and said, "Yeah". We all laughed hysterically. It was that easy and he threw a fit for nothing. If you know Adam, it was one of those GOT YA moments that made us all laugh.

He apologized to me over and over later. He was just frustrated with the 'situation'. We both took a deep breath and enjoyed the evening with the neighbors.

They had just bought a trampoline, so the kids were jumping and playing. Lillian kept running up to me and saying, "Mommy, I'm having FUN". She loves to have friends to play with all the time. Even though she is the youngest, the older kids sure go out of their way to include her.

After making plans for the weekend with them, we took the girls home to watch Modern Family and then to off to bed.