Last week, while showering, I noticed that I was taking a shath (shower/bath combo). Shaths are lovely sometimes, but in this case, it was not intentional and appeared to be the result of a clogged pipe. I made a mental note to call the plumber, but then I remembered that I’m not working and have no money. The only other option was to take the “do-it-yourself” route. How hard could plumbing really be?

My first step was to Google the subject of plumbing. The first page that I went to said, “DO NOT TRY TO FIX PLUMBING ISSUES YOURSELF.” Dear Google, don’t tell me how to live my life! You don’t know me.

A few minutes later, I found a couple of tips on a non-judgmental webpage for decloggifying (not a real word). I started with the old baking soda and vinegar trick, not because I thought it would be particularly effective but because I’m still a 10-year-old at heart. Needless to say, the reaction of those two ingredients never gets old, but it didn’t fix the clog.

My next trick was boiling water. Well, actually, first I took the lazy route and turned the faucet on really hot. It wasn’t hot enough though and my tub was almost overflowing. The actual boiling water right off the stove didn’t work either.

I then moved on to using the plunger on the drain. I did this for 30 minutes without any improvement. The good news is that I got quite the arm workout. I’m seriously considering marketing that whole activity as a legitimate new exercise model. I do need some help with a name for it though because the word “plunge” is used in many different ways and some of them are not appropriate.

Anyway, after the unsuccessful plunging attempt, I brought out the big guns (my arms after the workout), grabbed some of my husband’s tools and took apart the whole darn tub drain catchy thing on the bottom of the bath. I watched a video online to walk me through this process … one that didn’t tell me how to live my life!

The video explained that most clogs can be fixed by cleaning out the inside of the catchy thing. Mine was already clean so I went back to the plunging step. I thought that maybe, without the catchy thing, my plunging would be more effective.

It was not. Two hours in and I still had made no progress at all. By that time, my children were demanding to be fed so I had to end my plumbing work. While cooking, my husband came home. I informed him of the clog and my stressful hours of effort spent to fix the issue. He went into the bathroom and found the problem immediately; the water stopper was flipped on.

Water stopper as in the switch that one flips on when you DON’T want the water to drain out of the tub.

So that’s what it is like to be married to me.

Questions? Comments? Plumbing work needed? E-mail me at christyrasmussen@yahoo.com.