(click the picture for more silly stuff from the failblog people)

No I’m not talking about the economy. We’re having plumbing problems again.

18’s BF re-caulked my bathtub this past weekend & somehow after he was through the tub wouldn’t drain. 18 used the plunger on it & it’s working now. Sunday night 18’s BF knocked a random key which had magically appeared in my medicine cabinet down the bathroom sink & took the bathroom sink drain apart. Cleaned it out- retrieved the key which no one knows what it’s for & then for some reason dumped what he’d cleaned out fo the bathroom sink into my kitchen sink!

So now the kitchen sink isn’t draining (It doesn’t help that ms 12 seems to have adopted a plan of incompetence setting her free when it comes to dish washing & I’ve been messing with the kitchen drain for weeks. I ran out of the draino crystals I had been using (with some success- although they’re so caustic they scare me to death every time I have to use them) So first thing this morning (ok- around 11- but I was writing checks out to pay my bills before that) 18 & I took a trip to town.

Originally it was going to be a quick grocery store trip- for draino & I was going to pick up my soda for the next two weeks (24 bottles of diet mountain dew) Then 18 pointed out we didn’t really have enough potatoes for the chicken roast I am planning for dinner.(why we need potatoes & stuffing is beyond me- but the kids insist- I’d rather just have the stuffing-not much of a potato fan)

So off we went to the grocery store. I decided since gas was down ($3.29 in my town- $2.89 at one place in Roanoke even!) to get some gas & a little cash so we could have lunch out. All the time I was putting gas in the tank there was this guy over by a truck- sitting on the ground working on the gas tanks in the ground & he was talking out loud-not like muttering to himself but having a conversation. I went in the store paid for the gas & got some cash & then back to the car. Looking at this guy & looking all around for who he was talking to. It didn’t dawn on me until I was back in the car that he must have been on a bluetooth headset!

I saw a cartoon a year or two ago with a guy in a cell phone store handing a t-shirt across the counter to a consumer & saying ‘It’s required that we give you one of these with your phone set’ the t-shirt said- I’m not crazy & talking to myself- I’m on my cell phone’ All too true. I use a corded head set while I’m walking around at work & in stores if I have a call I need to make & I always feel like everyone thinks I’m crazy.

So off to the grocery store where we spent actually less than I had planned (I also forgot the soda!) They didn’t have the draino crystals but I had to get something. We got potatoes & carrots to go with the chicken roast & a cake mix with a jar of cinamon applesauce to make this really good cake I hadn’t thought of in years (saw it on somebody’s blog again- I can’t think who’s though) You replace the oil in the recipe with applesauce & it’s really tasty. I frost mine with cream cheese frosting.

18 & I had subway for lunch because at work I got a $5. gift card in honor of having the best quality scores in my group in September. I was surprised- although I admit that things have been going much better now that I don’t talk on the phone at all ever. 2- 6 inch subs with chips & drinks was over $10. though! I was shocked & appalled. It was nice hanging out with ms 18 without her BF or other friends around.

She’s feeling guilty because she’s not in college yet & I feel like my preaching all the years before about not getting caught up in just living a life & having fun & wasting her time partying when she should be working to build a future for herself (in other words- don’t do what I did!) has contributed to her guilt feelings. With her typical candor she agreed with me that it probably was causing some of the guilt & we both comforted each other with the fact that she’s already approved for the financial aid for the semester beginning in January & so will start then.

I headed home & then turned around to go back to the library for a book on tape. I also got another awesome Halloween decorating book I am always on the look out for these as I love to get ideas from them. Last year things were going well enough that I actually bought myself 5 or 6 of these type books on Amazon (how could I resist when the used books are so cheap & the shipping is $3.99?) This year- not so good financially but at least the library had one I hadn’t seen before!

Back home ms 18 went to her room to try out her new candle she found at the grocery store & I bailed the sink – still full of water from last night- I used the turkey baster to get all the water out on the idea that it would allow the draino to work better- no such luck. It’s been an hour & a half & the draino is still standing in the drains- after 45 minutes I ran hot water & it’s now all in the sink too! More bailing in my future.