Two Car Wash Tokens

Okay, I have a good story to tell! Grab a cup of coffee and sit back. Try to picture this as it is happening:

About 11 P.M. Monday night I went into the bathroom. I noticed that the toilet wasn't flushed so I flushed it. BIG mistake!! The water came centimeters from the top of the bowl. As I saw it rising, I was saying "Stop, stop, stop". So I grabbed the plunger and went to work. Nothing, not even a small piece of toilet paper came up. So I come into the TV room and tell Ryan what is happening. He goes in there with the plunger (like I don't know how to work a plunger!). He said our plunger is cheap and doesn't work. He gets dressed and runs to Walmart to get a "man plunger" and a toilet snake. He comes back with the "proper tools" and nothing. The water isn't bubbling or going down one little bit. He spends 20 minutes cranking the toilet snake down into the toilet. I suggest we turn the water off and unhook the toilet from the floor and try to see if we can see the problem. Ryan tries to turn the water off at the toilet and discoverers the shut-off value is rusted and won't budge. So he has to down to the cellar.

Now, I call it a cellar because it only runs under only about 1/4 the house. To get into the cellar you have to go outside and open doors that look like a tornado shelter from Wizard of Oz and walk down so scary stairs. I do not like to down there unless I have to!


So he goes downstairs and turns the water off to the whole house. Ryan comes back up to take the bolts holding the toilet off. He said they were put in upside down (?) and half "butted" like everything else in this house that the previous owner took care of. He goes back down into "creepy town" to find where the toilet would sit and even if he can access it.

Just another side note: Our house was built without plumbing. The bathroom was an afterthought. It is built right off of our kitchen. You have to go down 2 stairs to get into the bathroom. Why? Who knows!! So this means our bathroom floor is about 2 foot lower than the rest of the floors. Ryan is 6'2" and can barely stand up in the cellar as it is! Now imagine the ceiling 2 foot lower!

In this picture, the bottom of the silver wood is the tip of the celling of that part of the cellar. It comes to my chest. He had to be back into that corner!

He does end up find the bolts hanging down in the ceiling of the cellar. He gets his wrench and begins to loosen the nuts. The first one just spins. I have to hug the toilet and hold the tip of the bolt while he unscrews the nut. First one off!! He tries the second one. Ryan notices the floor is rotten where we had a slow leak this summer in the toilet and didn't discover it right away. The bolt start to pull through the floor. Well, more effort and the nut is off.

I get a cup and empty the toilet water in the bathtub so he can move it. Only one word, gross! Ryan beings to lift up the toilet to see where the clog is. We see nothing in the pipes. He lifts the lid to the toilet and notices the little bit of water is still in the toilet. This means the clog is in the toilet and not in the pipes! Yea!! No expensive repair costs!! He hoists the toilet up and begins to take it outside to see the clog. He looks like he is competing in the Worlds Strongest Man contest. He has this toilet in his arms and walks up the bathroom stairs, through the kitchen to the back patio.

I am inside taking the opportunity to sweep and mop the floor really well since the toilet is gone. He comes back in and says, "You'll never believe what was causing the clog!!" I was like "okay" Some little girl named Arya had dumped a whole box of tooth picks down the toilet!! He also found 2 car wash tokens and a big rock!!

So, just in case you were wondering, a rock and a box of tooth picks will create a dam in your toilet and cause a clog!

After all was said and done, we finally got into bed around 2 A.M.!