We were having leftovers for lunch, and so we dug out all the containers out of the fridge that had accumlated over the last week or two--some lasagne, a slice of pizza, some taco meat and shells, etc. Down at the bottom was a container that I didn't remember--full of chicken and dumplings. It was green and blue. It's been quite awhile since we've eaten chicken and dumplings! Bravely I opened it and dumped the contents down the garbage disposal, turned on the water, and flipped the switch. Nothing. Oh wonderful. I pushed the reset button on the bottom and tried again, still nothing. I even got out the plunger and tried using that, and it didn't do any good.
I decided I needed to call Erick. There was no way I was going to get this fixed, and didn't want to spend who-knows-how-long with a sinkful of rotten, wet food. So I called the cell phone, and I got voice mail. I left a message, and then proceeded to try and empty the sink as best I could. I used a strainer and dipped it out a scoop at a time, putting the garbage in the trash, until I had the sink emptied. I used a ladle to get down inside the disposal itself and emptied it out until I could put my hand down inside it (ewww!) and feel around. I finally felt something poking up from the side--a little wire. I pulled on it, and it wouldn't budge. As I felt around and got it cleaned out better, I realized it was the little metal piece to a clothespin. The spring part of it was down underneath, and the wire parts were sticking up. I tried putting some pliers down there and getting hold of it, but there just wasn't room enough in the hole for my hands and the pliers at the same time.
I happened to go into the bedroom (to look for a flashlight, I think) and happpened to notice the cell phone was sitting on the shelf, plugged in to the charger still. So I had no way of getting a hold of Erick. I knew the first name of the man who he was working for, and I hunted all over for a phone number with that name on it. It wasn't on the cell phone or in the address book. I finally found a piece of paper that had an address and phone number, and said something about delivering materials, so I called that number, and got voice mail again. <sigh> After awhile, the owner of that number called me back, but it wasn't the right person, so that did no good.
Finally, I took the unit apart myself, and unscrewed it, and was able to use the pliars to get the metal piece out. I was really proud of myself for figuring out how to get it off and fixing it. Then I went to screw it back together, and for some reason the screws wouldn't tighten down no matter how much I turned them. I reasoned that perhaps they never did tighten down, and tried to re-install it as it was, but it wouldn't go in no matter how much I tried. So I had to leave it under the sink for my husband to install. When I drained the other side of the sink I found four small nuts, and I didn't know where they went so I guess it's a good think I couldn't put them back in. They were the reason the screws wouldn't tighten down, but I didn't even see where they came off of.
So I didn't get it all taken care of by myself--I still needed my man to come rescue me at the end of the day. But I did do the gross part by myself, and I did take it apart by myself which is big for me (I'm usually terrified to take things like that apart) so I told my husband that I should get a gold medal anyway.
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