I bathe. I know, I know...you're all thinking, "Thank goodness!" But what I mean is, I'm not the shower-girl, I'm the girl who likes to submerge in the hottest bubble-filled, aroma-therapeutic, quiet-in-the-bathroom, classical music playing softly, glass of red on the edge - bathtub. Now, in the real every-day world, I don't get to do the aforementioned type of bath, but I still prefer bath over shower for the daily hygiene routine.

We have a great tub. It's a large garden tub with a big iceberg window that lets in sunlight (which is super-helpful when it comes to seeing it is time to clean it). We have a stained-glass window in front of it that makes for an even more soothing mood. All good stuff.

Soooo...why am I talking about my bathtub and bathing practices today? Well, I've noticed lately that when it's time to let the water out so I can wash my hair (I'm a germ-a-phobe so there is no WAY I'm washing my hair in the water I just bathed in) it drains slower and slowwer, and slowwwer every time. Man, I've got stuff to do and do not have time to watch water drain!! I make a mental note to add this to Adrian's list of honey-do's, but my mental note never makes it to the list, as I get distracted easily by the other to-do thoughts running through my head.

Yesterday...I am rinsing the tub and getting it ready for mamma (that's me) so's I can take my epsom-salts-fix-muh-bones-if-you-please bath and I notice the water isn't going down at all though the stopper is not in. I am taking it pretty personally because I want to take advantage of the rare quiet time that existed in my house at that moment. Do I take the plunger (that's been in my TOILET) to it? Only if I want to ruin bath time for the rest of my life. Do I take a wire hanger and try to scoop out the clog? Well, A) that would make me throw up and 2) my hangers are plastic, thank God. Ahhhhh, Drano, perhaps? I scour the house, looking for the chemical nectar that is going to give me my (now-cut-in-half) bath time. But alas, I made the vow to try to stop using chemicals in my home whenever possible. It's amazing how your belief system flies out the window when all you want to do is take a freaking bath, because I found myself praying for God to allow me to find some forgotten-about Drano way in the back of the cabinet under the sink. I suppose there were other, more important prayers going on in the world because there was no Drano to be found.

I went to the Googla...(Translation: I Googled it) and typed in: (I know. You think I'm going to tell you I typed in "How to pray properly so that the Lord answers your prayer to find some stinkin' Drano in the house so a person can take a bath...but I didn't) "how to unclog a drain without Drano". Apparently I'm not the only one who suffers the clogged bathtub plight because there were many great links and conversation threads regarding the subject.

There was one method in particular that kept coming up that was fast and easy. It costs only pennies to do and I was able to use items I already had in my pantry! I will share this method with you, but before I do, I think it's important to tell you that the method worked, I got to take my bath, and I got some good material to use in my post in the process! I think I'm going to invest in a rubber duckie...

CHEMICAL-FREE WAY TO UNCLOG A DRAIN:

1/2 cup baking soda

1 cup vinegar

1 gallon boiling water

Carefully pour all the baking soda down the drain. Pour in 1/2 of the vinegar, covering the hole with a towel or stopper so the fizz is forced down, not up. Add the second half of the vinegar, following the same procedure. Allow to sit for 15 minutes or so, and then flush with an entire gallon of boiling water.

For particularly troublesome stoppage, multiple applications may be in order, but it WILL WORK so hang in there.

Follow up with a smile.