talesfrom thetundra: poop in the shower

Why yes friends, you read that right.
Jenny and I experienced something tonight that we have never experienced. ever. poop. in the shower. and we laughed.
So about a month ago our toilet broke. It was no fun at all... the toilet simply would not flush. When this happened tonight, I didn't think twice about it. Nothing to drastic was in the toilet, so we would just tell the maintenance guy Chester in the morning. We went about life as normal in the apartment until.....
I'm exhausted. I'm beyond exhausted and it's 9:15. I can barely stay awake so I decide to succumb to eyelid pressure and stop reading to wash my face. My face soap hangs out in the shower, so I pulled back the shower curtain to grab it and screamed. Needless to say I was no longer tired. There was water in there! And not just some water - A LOT of water. Like four or five inches of water. And it was not clear my friends. No not at all. It was not a pretty sight. So I started yelling for Jenny all while laughing. I mean seriously... who does this happen to?!
Great. So now not only do we not have a working toilet, our shower doesn't work either. Welcome to the village life my friends I keep repeating in my head. I try to think clearly... my old apartment - the one we're linked with - I still have keys and there is definitely a bathroom in there, so we're safe. So I find myself in my parka, pj bottoms and boots ready to take the 100 feet walk to the door next door in the 1 degree temperature. I'm in and I'm stoked. We're freeeeeeeeee!!! I turn on the light, turn the corner and scream again. The toilet is in the shower!!! How does this happen?!
How is there poop in one shower and a toilet in another??
And why do these things only happen to me?!?!??!
Jenny and I have not laughed like this in a really, really long time. I'm bent over cracking up. I call my native friend, Alice, who laughs a lot and says, "Oh, I guess your vacuum is frozen." Apparently this is a somewhat common problem out here. The good news: it can be fixed quite easily - and only takes about 30 minutes to 'thaw out.' The bad news: The high was 7 and the low was 1. There will be plenty of days when the high is -30. Not good if the thing's freezin' at 7. hmmmmmm....
So needless to say I called Chester who told me not to worry - we'll be shower clean and clear tomorrow. He'll contact the city guys and they'll take care of it.
Oh yeah - there's a toilet in the other shower because it was leaking and he had to order another. So apparently the shower is an ideal place to store it for now....
So I always have pictures that kind of go with the topic, but I figured you would be happy if I didn't take or share those. So I'll leave you pictures of the cutest Halloween kiddies ever:

and yes, I was a 'glowing pregnant mom-to-be.' The kids were stoked - I"m not sure if they were more excited about my make believe baby or my straight hair. Oh mom - you would be so proud!

Here's a picture of the class the day before Halloween. We're just precious I know!

Three scary witches proved to be quite the entertaining photo.

Yep.. that's me as an expecting mom. Looks realistic, right? Look - beggars can't be choosy out here in the bush!

So I'm the pregnant one, obviously.. and Jenny's the cat.. and apparently Michelle went as someone from Kiss. I don't know... I don't really ask to many questions when it comes to her... but it's Halloween and we look good. Right.....