The Toilet

The kids bathroom toilet had 3 strikes against it-so it was time to go. We were excited to teach the kids how to replace a toilet. I know that sounds funny-but we truly were. We had just pulled ours up and put it back down when we painted our bathroom and I learned that it really is not that hard to do and it's a skill they may need one day.
The day we got the new toilet the kids came home from school, saw it in the garage and were so excited. It was a new toilet and we had excitement!
Johann set to work with the kids to get the old toilet out. We had 1 hour before our next thing going on-enough time. We disconnected the hose, emptied the bowl and tank and were onto the bolts. The 1st one came off easy, the 2nd was was a different story. The kids all took a try, Johann took a try, I took a try-20 minutes later and the bolt hadn't moved. The kids were DONE with this toilet teaching time and were out the door playing.
We tried pliers and wrenches, hammers and saws. NOTHING WORKED-the bolt was so rusted (one of the strikes against the toilet to begin with).
We called a few people looking for a different type of saw. We got ahold of Mike who had one, but it was at his sons house and the blade was dull. Johann went back to work trying more things to get the rusted bolt off.
Half hour later Mike showed up with the saw, and a new blade. I love people like that who go out of their way to help someone.
Johann tried the saw-but it didn't work. So he went for a hammer. This time he was going to break the toilet base to free the bolt. But the porcelain was stronger then we thought and the hammer didn't make a mark.
At this point we were on the verge of calling a plumber. This was something we did not want to do because it was a simple toilet change, and we should be able to do it ourselves.
Johann went in one more time, and came out a few minutes later and said "It worked!" The rusty bolt was finally free!!!
By now it was past the hour we had to get it done and we had to rush out the door, so the toilet sat, unhooked from it's chains of rust.
The next day Johann and I, while the kids were at school, finished the toilet in no more then 20 minutes and called it done.

The old toilet-well it got sent to the garage to wait for it's ride to the dump.

Fast forward 3 to 4 weeks. The old toilet sits in our garage looking sad and out of place. It really needed a trip to the dump-but time wasn't on it's side.


A few weeks later our neighbors were having a garage sale. On Friday in the midst of talking with them we found out they had wanted to rent tables but the price to get them was too high and I offered our truck to them. They also told me they were renting a dumpster to get rid of the rest of the stuff. I told them I would gladly pay them to put our toilet in their dumpster.

Saturday afternoon our neighbors offered a deal. Use of our truck for space in their dumpster. WE JUMPED at the deal! They got to take some things to Goodwill, we got to get rid of the toilet without driving to the dump.

So now our old toilet is in it's final resting place-the Iowa City Landfill, and I can open our garage without a toilet looking out at me.

My sister told me an old toilet sitting in the garage is the stuff real life is made out of, and I think it's true. Real life isn't always full of charm and smooth sailing. It's also full of leaky toilets, rusted bolts, glad it's past moments, lessons learned and moments you want cemented in your brain, because you survived them. Life is full of these moments, and it's funny how it can take a toilet to make you see them.