Flapper thingie

I walked into the kitchen tonight to find my husband standing by the microwave watching a little red plastic thing go round-and-round on the turntable. Turns out it's called a flapper and it's to fix the toilet. The toilet that's been sitting in our driveway for a month. Right next to a huge pile of tile, plaster, chicken wire and lath. I'm sure the neighbors have been having very interesting dinner-table conversations as they look out the kitchen window, at our lovely bathroom-in-a-driveway. It's kind of like bed-in-a-bag only not quite so small, and definitely not as pretty. Certainly just as practical. It's a good thing the social worker hasn't been around. I would have had quite a time explaining that we do have indoor plumbing and that we don't force any of our children to use the bathroom-in-a-driveway. I only wish I had thought of taking a picture of it all before the toilet (still unusable) was moved back into the bathroom.

It happened like this: While John and his cohort were studying away in Virginia, Isaac and I started to pull the tile off the bathroom wall. Then we found that underneath was plaster. Then my dad came and he got Andrew and Jesse to help him pull off the plaster and all the surprises that they found beneath that. By they time they were finished they were all sporting white hair. The new tub was installed. Then it leaked. Then John came back and Grandma and Grandpa decided to visit from Ohio. We thought they'd probably prefer indoor plumbing so John brought the toilet back into the house. He's not a plumber. It leaked, didn't work, and in the end needed to be flushed the old fashioned way - with a gallon jug. Did I mention it was leaking in the basement?

On a positive note, we have a great looking bathroom. It has everything it needs and is almost finished. Except for one small thing...

So back to the little red plastic flapper thingie that was in the microwave. Apparently it's the second one he's bought but can't get to work. He thinks it's a little bent so he's now trying to melt it enough to reshape it. Kind of like a football mouthpiece, he says. I'm not sure I'd compare something that goes in my mouth to something that helps eliminate bodily waste but if that suits him, who am I to complain? In the future, though, I think all plumbing in the King house is best left to the professionals - including the reshaping of flapper thingies.