Monthly Archives: June 2009

I normally don't write about my personal life, but this is an exception.One day last weekend I woke up with an overwhelming urge clean up the yarn storage area of the basement. This sounded like a bit of a task, but I was up for it. I picked a tote full of acrylic and started looking through it. My plan was to have three groups of yarn: one to keep; one to give to a friend and one that would go to a local charity. Many yarn bins, and several hours later I was finished. The bags destined were loaded into my vehicle for delivery to the charity at a later date. The bags for my friend are arranged neatly in the basement. There are now seven empty yarn bins stacked in the basement. The computer upstairs is much neater because some of my cotton yarn stash has been placed in the basement.At some time in the day, the dishwasher was run. Much to my dismay, the drain was clogged. Oh bother!! DH emptied the trap beneath the sink and did not find a problem. Due to the hour, he promised to use the snake on it Monday evening. That was fine. He kept his word the next day, but had no success. Tuesday he did more of the same….By Wednesday, the drain remained clogged and the pile of dirty dishes in the kitchen was growing. My frustration was increasing. One of the things I do not like at all is a messy kitchen that is not being cleaned. Taking the situation in my own hands, I called and arranged for a plumber to come out that evening. Making a long story very short, we were stood up by this company. They did send a person out at 1am on Thursday morning after DH called and complained to them. This person could not promise not to ruin our pipes to to the material out of which they are made and the size of the pipe. OH well!!By the time I woke up Thursday morning, I was not happy. I decided to try using a mixture of baking soda and water followed by vinegar in the drain. Three applications of this still did not clean out the drain. My kitchen was dirty. We were running out of dishes. I was bouncing!!DH and I made the decision that we would rent a drill with a snake on it from our local hardware store on Friday. He spent a lot of time working on the drain that evening with no success. By now we were getting desperate. It was time to consult the experts at the hardware store. After hearing part of our tale of woe, they suggested a drain cleaner for us to use. We brought it home and DH promptly used it after taking the necessary safety  precautions. Within an hour the drain was working much better. He did one more application of this chemical. By 11pm, the drain was back to normal. He ran the dishwasher without the drain clogging. It is now several hours and two more loads of the dishwasher later. The kitchen table is much cleaner than it has been in a week and  there are clean glasses and silverware. The kitchen is still not completely clean, but it is getting there.I am much more relaxed.What a difference a well flowing kitchen drain and clean dishes make.