The Toilet Saga and Why You Should Always Be Nice to Maintenance

Two weeks ago, when my toilet was overflowing all over the floor every time I flushed, maintenance came over and extracted a toothbrush from the depths of the pipes. Luckily, Denny the Maintenance Man knows us by name and calls Mason his "little buddy", so we didn't get charged for Mase's toothbrush/flushing experiment.

I swear, a toilet lock has been on my Walmart list for weeks.

Unfortunately, they don't have them. Neither does Target. Or Home Depot. I was still on the hunt for them when, last Wednesday, my toilet mysteriously stopped flushing again. I almost cried. God, Denny was going to think I was the worst, most inattentive mom in the world, and what's worse than people who are practically strangers thinking you can't even keep an eye on your own kid? I used the other bathroom for two days before I finally got up the courage to tell Denny my toilet was broken again (after I tried to reach into the pipes myself - seriously, I was up to my elbows in toilet water - I was that desperate). He said he'd be over after the weekend, so I put Mason's new bathtub crayons to use and didn't let that baby within ten feet of the toilet.


Well, except long enough to take this picture:

Denny arrived early this morning with the little snake tool that easily got the toothbrush out in five minutes last time. He went into the bathroom, and after about twenty-five minutes passed and I hadn't heard from him, I started to get worried. He came out looking slightly annoyed, and when he went out to his van, Mase and I took a peek at what was going on in the bathroom.

Oh. my. gosh.

In case you were wondering, the toilet doesn't usually sit in the middle of the room like that.

Ten minutes later, Denny reemerged with these:


Apparently there were about seven pennies and a nickel involved, too. I still don't think he charged us.

Someone please remind me to get Denny a Christmas present.