I got up on Saturday morning with an idea on how I would spend the day. I come downstairs and my husband, Ron, comments that the kitchen sink is not draining properly, the water is going down the garbage disposal side and backing up into the other side. Definitely not a good sign.
Being the ever helpful person I ask if he has tried turning on the garbage disposal. My answer is “this is what happens” and he hits the switch, creating a fountain affect on the side I am standing on. Lovely — just what I want is a second shower with kitchen sink water.
Ron can fix most things, including plumbing issues. The first step, of course, is to empty out the area under the kitchen sink. Our sink is located in a corner, so the under sink area is deep and there is plenty of space behind the pipe area for things to get pushed. Ron gets down on his hands and knees and starts handing me items from the great dungeon called the under sink area.
The stuff up front is mostly expected. A box of kitchen garbage bags, a container that holds a few miscellaneous items such as sponges, ant traps, a kitchen brush we purchased and don’t like but can’t bring ourselves to throw away, and a container of brand new twist ties that, if we used them, would probably last us for the next 50 years.
We rarely do dishes by hand, so why does a home with only two people residing in it have two large bottles of dish detergent, each half full? Can’t even combine them, they are by two different manufacturers and two different colors of liquid. We also have two large bottles of Jet Dry, guess I can cross that off my shopping list.
I keep the cleaning supplies near the front and do use them regularly, but I have a better selection than I realized. With what I have under the cupboard you would expect my kitchen to be sparkling and spotless. Yep, not going to go there. However the collection is impressive. Windex, Bar Keepers Friend, Clorox Cleanup in both the spray bottle and the huge refill container, George Foreman Grill Cleaner, Soft Scrub, Kitchen Stove Top Cleaner, multi-surface cleaner, granite cleaner, and a bottle of ammonia Why the ammonia was down there I don’t know and moved it to the utility cupboard.
Used often is a large tub of dishwasher detergent tablets, but why do we have three containers of dishwasher cleaner? I didn’t even know they made such a thing. Apparently my husband, who does the majority of grocery shopping, saw and purchased it, twice. It is a bit disconcerting to realize that an appliance in which you put dishes to be cleaned with hot water would itself need a cleaner run through it, but apparently it does. 
Then Ron pulls out a small bottle and says “why is there brake fluid under the kitchen sink?” He’s asking me? I don’t even know where to put windshield washer fluid or oil in my car. Does he seriously think that bottle of brake fluid was placed there by me? Of course if Ron didn’t put it there, and I certainly didn’t, then who? Was it one of our kids, who have not lived at home for years? Why put it under the kitchen sink? Better yet, how old is it? Obviously the kitchen sink dungeon has not been thoroughly dug out in a considerable amount of time. But wait, there’s more.
Ever go to a festival and purchase the “homemade” old fashioned root beer that has no carbonation? You can purchase it in a reusable glass bottle with a cork on top. Then if you carry that bottle to a festival where that same vendor is set up, you can purchase your beverage at a reduced price for bringing along your own container. Yep, we had purchased those beverages six different times and had the bottles to prove it. Two large blue, two small blue and two medium size in brown. Who thinks about taking a glass bottle with them wherever they go just in case it is needed? The trash can was the happy recipient of those. It also received the two empty wine bottles. Those were nothing special, so why were they there?
If we filled all the vases that are stored under our sink with flowers we would look like a flower shop ready to open for business. Would you like a small display in a short, 4″ vase? Something a bit taller, in say a 6″ variety? How about a bud vase? We could go a bit wider, a nice medium size bouquet to spruce up the room. You need bigger? Not a problem, we have the perfect large wide mouth vases for your choosing, available in a variety of patterns and tinted or clear, perfect for holding large bouquets of lilacs, sunflowers, or glads. I’m sure you’ll find something to your liking, after all we have about four to choose from in each of the available sizes.
Ron tried to unclog the drain with a wire snake and hose because he couldn’t find the plumbing rooter, which is located somewhere in the garage or basement, two more areas of intense exploration. While he was attempting the plumbing repair I worked on organizing the under sink findings for placement back below when he was done. Unfortunately the clog was more severe than we anticipated and we ended up calling in a plumber to do the job.
The good news is that by 3:00 pm the drain was fully operational and the treasures of the sink dungeon had been placed back below in an organized fashion. Hopefully I have no need to explore that wonderful storage area again any time soon, but at least I now know what is under there. Gosh, some of those things may actually get used now that I know they exist!
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