What Drain-O doesn't power through

Lip liner pencils and nail clippers. And hair.

That's the beginning of what I'm sure would be a very long, smelly, gross list were I patient (and bored) enough to take the "experiment" further.

Two years (at least) and two bottles of Drain-O after I last saw those two items, I got fed up with my oh-so-sluggish bathroom sink and decided to tackle the U-bend in the pipes (I knew the nail clippers were there; I didn't know about anything else).

The nail clippers were now black with age and Drain-O affliction, but the lipliner pencil didn't look any different (save the grime that coated it). Both went promptly into the trash, and their emergence from the Bathroom Underworld was greeted with appropriate facial expressions of squicked-outedness and horror. Ick.

I decided there was no time like the present to tackle "cleaning" the rest of the drain (I still couldn't see through to the bottom of the pipe), and when a girl doesn't have the necessary tools to do as a plumber would, she improvises.

In this case, I improvised with a knitting needle which has now been washed and scrubbed at least three times, and I'm still not sure I can think of it as clean. The mess that it got out of the drain, though ... ick. ICK! It was nasty. It smelled nasty, too. I don't care what the commercials and labels promise - liquid drain cleaners do not get all the nasty stuff out of your drain. Oh, ick ...

I'll admit it - I raised my hands in victory when all was said and done. I felt as though I could tackle anything. It was 4 in the morning, so I may have been delirious, too, but I'll take success however it comes - including in my bathroom sink's U-bend. I have to thank the late-night episodes of "Ask This Old House" for some practical tips on taking apart any kind of plumbing - such as having a bowl or bucket ready underneath the pipe for the liquid grossness that's sure to come pouring out as soon as you've lefty-loosied the thingamajig.