A broom, a hanger, and some duct tape

Before I begin, let me just excuse myself a teensy bit and say: people--paper writing season is upon us, the beautiful, er--painful? time of year when things in this joint haven't been getting done as they usually are.  Laundry is in piles throughout the apartment, the kitchen is a disaster area, and I haven't put anything away from the party I had here a week ago.

A WEEK AGO.  Whatever.

Anyhow...I knew I hadn't been keeping up with my normal day-to-day tidying activities when I began to wonder what that gross smell was in my kitchen...and realized that it's the nasty water in the mixer bowl that's been sitting there for five days, waiting its good, sweet turn to be washed.  So instead of pouring the water down the sink (like a normal person would have done), I decided to be rid of the gaggy smell once and for all, and I took the bowl out on the balcony to chuck the filthy contents.

You know that saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater?"  I'm beginning to understand it more, because as I went to give that bowl a good hoist to dump out the water, I heard a clink and knew in my head it was too late.  Cue the slow motion, low-voiced "NOOOOOOO!" in my head.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my mixer whisk was a story below me, in the weeds.

What to do...what to do...?  I looked for access to the "side yard" of my apartment building only to be faced with this:

and this:

Ok, so I put on my thinking cap.  I could climb over my balcony.  YEAH!  Great idea!  I even got so far as getting one leg over as I was thinking, "Maybe this isn't the best course of action for one of the world's clumsiest girls ever..."  Then the next thought struck me, "Ok, so how will I get back UP once I've gotten the whisk?"  I quickly scrambled back onto the balcony and decided Plan B might need to be concocted on the double.

Plan B?  Going to talk to the downstairs neighbors and having them go out there and get it.  Hmmm...maybe I'll just go on Amazon and find out how much a replacement whisk would be instead...

Aha!  Then it hit me, ladies and gents: I remembered a time when I was little and we lost a baby toy down the sewer catchy thing on the street.  My mom got us all to chew bubblegum, and we put it on a long stick and snatched that thing up.  I also remembered an episode of Friends where they tape a lot of chopsticks together to poke their fat neighbor across the alley, just to make sure he's alive.  I could work with this...

This idea evolved into what I could find around the house.  And I'm pretty proud of the final contraption: a hanger duct taped to a paint stirrer stick, which was then duct taped to a broom handle.

Eh voila!  Mixer attachment: SAVED.