My mother

My mother excels at many things. She can get strangers to tell her their life stories within the first ten minutes of meeting her (and their deepest secrets within the first half hour). She can cook a perfect turkey (and makes an excellent gravy to which I aspire). She can parallel park going thirty. She can tell you the capital of any country in the world (and usually a piece of history or export). But the her gift that helped me tonight was much more mundane. Tonight, I used her easy on the pipes method for clearing clogged drains, with baking soda and white vinegar (both of which she has taught me to keep in mass quantities for this purpose).

I almost ran and got my camera to take pictures of her method in action, but it probably wouldn't have made such an exciting photo. You can't see the bubbles form when I pour the vinegar down. Plus my tub is in poor shape and I am embarassed to show it in its current state to the wilds of the internet. But I was excited. I could tell that there was a big clog, because no matter how much vinegar I poured down the drain after that baking soda, it kept bubbling like the first splash. It's incredibly satisfying to clear a drain, especially when you don't have to use Drano. I hate that stuff. Once I figured I had poured enough vinegar down the drain, I poured a tea kettle of boiling water to clear it. Now everything is draining perfectly!

Thanks Mom!

Comments

[Kate]

What is URL anyway? How nice to wake up and read something nice about myself! You should give the recipe for my drain cleaner: pour 1/2 cup baking soda down the drain, add a cup or more of white vinegar and watch and listen to it fizz, when the fizzing stops pour hot or boiling water down the drain. Voila! It won't clear a clog but is a fantastic way to prevent one. I try and do it at least once a month.