Since it’s almost Thanksgiving here in the U.S., and time is in short supply for me and possibly for you, I only have a very short post today. It’s a guessing game, really. I am going to post a photo with no commentary (aside from this commentary, which is getting long, but, eh, you know what you’re in for when you visit this blog) and you guess the story behind the photo. And then there will be a little giveaway for people who participate.
Here’s how the giveaway will work: You can guess until midnight Eastern Time Friday. At some point, probably in December, I will number all the guesses/comments chronologically and randomize them and choose one person, and then I will send that person a little giftie. A very little giftie, and I haven’t decided what it will be: maybe an assortment of little things from Michael’s or Target. Maybe something specific to the winner, if I have any ideas of what the winner might enjoy. Maybe something yummy, maybe something practical, I don’t know. A mystery giftie. I am going to limit the gift-sending to people who live in the U.S. and Canada, however; I’m sorry! I am not confident enough in my ability to mail something to/find an appropriate retailer in other countries.
If you don’t want to guess, you can still enter the giveaway. Just leave a comment of any sort. And if you want to guess and/or comment, but don’t want to enter the giveaway – which I understand, because the giveaway award is extremely vague even in my own mind – just let me know in your comment. The only stipulation to entering is that you must be willing to share your address with me.
Then, at some point in the (hopefully near) future, I will tell you the story behind the photo and choose a giveaway recipient.
Okay. Here’s the photo. And here’s a hint: I took this photo the day before my parents arrived for Thanksgiving.
Happy guessing!
It seems as though I am doing NaBloPoMo this month, which is 30 blog posts in 30 days. (Will I make it??? Only time will tell.) Details at San’s blog here.
life of a doctor's wife 
Oh, I am very much hoping for your sake that I’m wrong, but my guess is a leak under the kitchen sink! Please let that not be it.
A cleaning product showdown. Each cleaning product had to compete in a bracket style showdown, eventually leaving one winner to rule the rest until the end of time.
A cleaning frenzy before company arrives.
I’m guessing a leak under the kitchen sink (or a mystery smell that needed detection) that led to a giant reorganization of the contents under said sink. I hope I am wrong and you were just in a massive cleaning spree!
ANTS!! But not in your pants, under the sink.
Ooooh, did your waste pipe break and leak fetid wastewater into a set of drawers? That what happened in our house the morning we hosted a party of 70 people! Funsies! Hope you get it resolved and thank goodness it’s just your mom coming.
Looks like a sink leak – which would be awful to have. But maybe a mouse is in the house. But my official guess will be replacing the garbage disposal.
It looks like it could be a leak under the sink, or else your husband (or you, I suppose!) cleans for company like my partner does: a deep dive cleaning and organization of an area that said company will never, ever see. The last time we had people coming over, he rejiggered his side of the closet…
Doesn’t everyone show off all their cleaning supplies when they have visitors? It’s visual proof of cleanliness…
Oh, no! The dishwasher caused a leak, didn’t it?! Right before Thanksgiving! The stress! The annoyance!
Uh-oh. This looks to me like you discovered a leak in your below-the-sink cabinet and then had to replace the entire garbage disposal mechanism. (This happened at my house just a few months ago!)
Geez, I hope it’s not what everyone else is guessing. If it was here, it would be that I had asked my husband to wipe the kitchen counters and load the dishwasher, and then he used this as a jumping-off point to clean out all the cupboards and the fridge right before we were expecting people to arrive. At least this would only result in you possibly bludgeoning your husband, and not in ‘fetid wastewater’ *shudder*.
For the next few days, let me just remind you that posting a single photo counts as a post!
And Happy imminent Thanksgiving!
Unfortunately it seems like you have a plumbing issue based on taking EVERYTHING out from underneath the sink—the worst!
It has to be a leak?! Only because it takes one to know one and you know that I know too much about leaks.
But this is one time I’m really, really hoping that I’m a terrible guesser because I hate leaks and assume you would hate a leak in your house also (especially the day before company arrives).
My very first thought – you had a leak in the ceiling right where you had things patched and now you’ll need the chatty/borderline-inappropriate handyman to come back. But that would be too horrible to consider (this coming from a woman who had water leak all over wrapped Christmas gifts next year).
Please tell me it isn’t a leak?!!
Oof that’s exactly what my kitchen looked like this summer when we had a leak in the sink. Hopefully it was *just* a leak and not dishwasher drama or an extreme clog. I’m going to make leak my official answer and opt out of the giveaway.
Happy pre-T day! I’m trying to wrap up work so that I can take a cookie & pie making break.
Is it a sink leak? If it was my house I would assume mice, accompanied by a nervous breakdown. But you’ve never mentioned mice so I’m going to go with a sink leak. I HOPE IT’S NOT MICE OR SOME OTHER VERMIN.
Sink leak. Sink leak. The near-annual Thanksgiving sink leak. And, because of the plunger, I’m guessing sink-CLOG sink leak. If you have a garbage disposal, I’m guessing GARBAGE-DISPOSAL-CLOG/MALFUNCTION sink leak.
Looks suspiciously like a leaky sink, unless your are lucky enough to have a new faucet? That required you to take out all of the stuff under the sink for the plumber to fit under there to connect the new faucet? That would be vastly preferable to having a leaky sink and houseguests on the way.
I’d bet money that you were unfortunate enough to have a leak under your kitchen sink! This MUST always happen right before a holiday or visitors; it’s the law.
Unless, you found a mouse in the cabinet? *Shudder*
I guess garbage disposal problems….
Something broke under the sink – garbage disposal?
I’m going in a different direction altogether and saying you had a critter in a cabinet. I hope to GOD that isn’t the case, but I like to be different, so that is my answer.
Happy Thanksgiving! 😘
I guess there was a plumbing or garbage disposal malfunction and you had to take everything out from under the sink. Hope I am wrong!
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope it’s not a water leak under the kitchen sink!
I hate to say it since everyone else already has…but I’m going with a leak. Which, in my opinion, is preferable to vermin. Not by much though.
Happy Thanksgiving Suzanne & family!
Okay, since it’s the day before Thanksgiving, here’s my guess- you were peeling potatoes (for the mashed potatoes) and put the peels down the disposal, which jammed it up, and you had to take the whole thing apart. If this guess seems oddly detailed, it’s because it happened to us once, on Thanksgiving. Hope what ever it is, is resolved now!
I would also guess a leak and that you had to pull everything out from under the sink. If you are copying me, it would be a dishwasher hose. 🙂
Either a clog or a leak in your kitchen sink – that is awful! My mom had a clog in one of her main drain lines the day we were all coming over for hanukah, and she couldn’t run the sink at all until the emergency plumber got there.
Also, while its nice to get the cabinet cleaned out, it’s only nice when it’s on your schedule!!
Since almost everyone else guessed a leak I will go with a very thorough kitchen clean up. Or are you getting a new garbage disposal?
Hmmm…looks like the disposal might be clogged. It happened to me a few years ago. We have a really long run from the disposal to the pipe that runs out to the road and I have learned to run plenty of water after I grind something up. If that’s the issue, there is an inexpensive tool that you can buy at either Home Depot or Loews.
I think we’re all pretty much on the same page that SOMETHING happened below your sink… and I am taking a wild guess that you have shitty plumbing like we do in our duplex and the p-trap got cloggged and you had to replace it the night before Thanksgiving.
I am guessing there was some sort of catastrophe involving the sink or dishwasher. I am going to say you peeled a bunch of some vegetable and then used the disposal to get rid of said peelings and it got clogged. I can come up with the scenario because it happened at my brother’s on thanksgiving probably 10 years ago!!
I’m guessing a clog and/or leak under the sink, because that’s how my kitchen looks when that happens. My sincere sympathy on the timing, if so!!
I think the sink got backed up and clogged, and you all had to clean out the underneath and open the pipe and get all the junk out. (Don’t ask me how I would know this. lol)