flushed

Going through some video clips I took on my camera, I found one of the elder lad giving his Cub Scout popcorn spiel -- albeit rather reluctantly.  It reminded me of a funny story concerning his Cub Scout uniform, the sewing of patches thereon, and an unfortunate turn of events that transpired after I had (just barely) finished affixing the basic patches on the lad's uniform before his pack meeting...

Since I had left the patchin' until the last minute (10pm two nights before the evening meeting, so not exactly last minute I guess), I was looking for a speedy way to get the job done.  I hand-sewed the first patch, which took too long.  I then wasted a bunch of time reading about something called "Badge Magic", a no-iron adhesive specifically for Scout patches available at the Scout Store (a retail establishment heretofore unknown to me).  After considering a trip to the local Scout Store after school with four littles and the likelihood of getting the patches on with the adhesive that had mixed reviews, I decided to try instead two different iron-on fusible webs I had in my sewing stash.  Neither worked, so I had to resort to hand-sewing after all.

The elder lad didn't even end up wearing his uniform shirt to the meeting that night because it was covered in peanut butter from the dinner he inhaled before he had to go.  He and my beloved left for the meeting, and here is where things went downhill.

Let me just say this: four kids in this house and who flushes something inappropriate down the toilet?  Me.

The contraband?  Someone's soiled skivvies that I was trying to rinse out before washing as I had done many times before after accidents.  Sadly, I was distracted (imagine) by a screaming toddler confined to her high chair and still ruminating over the uniform fiasco, so I neglected to hold on to the undies while I flushed away the  mess.  Down they went.  Suddenly they were the wearer's favorites, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

My beloved is one handy fellow, fixing lots of things around the house that would otherwise cost us a pretty penny in labor fees and service calls (we know how those go: see my humdinger post 1.21 gigawatts). Although he was able to get the commode operational again, he could not retrieve the unmentionables with his plumber's snake.

I have yet to find a way around the hand-sewing of Scout patches that yields a better result.  I'm sure my beloved's grandmother has some pointers for me, though, she with several Eagle Scout sons ...