?#17 from My Sister’s Jar – 1st Morning Thoughts

What was the first thing you thought about when you woke up this morning?

I appreciate straight-up questions with easy answers… especially after the weaknesses question yesterday.  Brother. Last night bedtime was 12:15… so I’m still working at it.  0 for 2.

Tapping woke me up this morning.  LOUD tapping.  My first thought was, “What in the world is Austin building?”  He is our early riser and also our BUSY, almost-12-year-old son.  He could’ve been building a birdhouse on the table in the loft right outside our bedroom door.  He’s made bike ramps, chicken coops, a dog house and various shelves and boxes.  I assumed he was hammering something… which is also not unusual for him.  He has more power tools and projects going than Ty Pennington.  He’s currently building a walk-in shed for his tools.

As I lay there listening to the tapping I slowly realized it was coming from the window.  OK, our bedroom is on the second floor…  and in Arizona there are retarded woodpeckers that for some unknown reason like to peck the METAL frames of our windows.  So it wasn’t Austin, although he was already up.

Not part of the question, but my second thought of the morning was… “Oh yeah, the toilet!”  Which is also a retarded Arizona problem of a different sort.  We have lived in this house for three years.  It was brand spankin’ new upon our arrival.  I’m not sure if it is Arizona’s unnatural heat, the dryness, the lack of clear water, cheap deteriorating rubber rings, or what, but our toilet in the master bedroom started having issues about a month ago.  The magic flusher was becoming increasingly more difficult to use.  It got to the point where I was bracing one arm on the wall, using the heel of my hand and using force usually reserved for administering the Heimlich maneuver. 

My husband is a busy man. (Could be where we got the busy boy?!?) Since he also uses said commode, he was WELL aware of the need to be bionic to flush the toilet.  However, I, being the kind and supportive wife that I am, would remind him often of said commode’s issues….. silently.  Why state the obvious?  I would come out of the bathroom holding my flushing hand as if it were wounded… which could have easily happened.  I also started doing these made-up exercises with my hands and wrists… telling him that I was in training to flush the toilet.  Hubby did make a trip to the hardware store and purchased an “Easy to Install” toilet tank apparatus… that is still in a tidy green box on his dresser.

So two nights ago, the water in the toilet started running continuously.  Rick got up in the middle of the night and turned off the water line to the toilet… but did he TELL ME?  No.  So the next morning I am in bracing position to flush the toilet, arm on the opposite wall, knees bent, back straight, heel of my hand resting on the lever and I almost dove into the toilet as the handle flipped down with remarkable ease.  That’s when I discovered the water was missing from the tank. 

I’ve been in third world countries so I was prepared for this situation.  I emptied the powder room garbage into the bathroom sink garbage and filled it with tub water to manually flush without force.  Then being trained for this scenario in Kathmandu, Nepal in 1986, I again filled up the garbage can and set it in the bathroom for next time.  I’m hoping busy husband has time between 11:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. to install the easily installable dealie on his dresser.

All THAT from my first morning thoughts.  Wow.

Tags: broken toilet, family, flush, Heimlich, Kathmandu, mom, motherhood, nepal, power tools, raising boys, son, toilet, Ty Pennington, woodpecker