How Do You Like Them Potatoes?

Note to my children: if you think life as a toddler is tough, just wait until you're all grown up and expected to be able to manage a household while making sure no one gets seriously injured by a door frame or a staircase.  It blows your meltdown about not getting to play with your toothbrush for an extra minute right out of the water.  

So, this week we decided to have some sweet potatoes with our dinner.  We're trying to be healthy, keeping our eyes open for new dairy-free recipes, and thought this seemed like a good idea.  While the baby played in the exersaucer and Lincoln ran circles around her one afternoon, I hastily peeled several sweet potatoes and threw them in the oven so that they would be ready approximately by the time Daddy got home.  I piled dishes in the dishwasher, found at least part of the kitchen counter, and washed the peelings down the sink in an attempt to make the house look like it was not dwelt in by banshees.

And then I turned on the disposal.  It worked great...for like 5 seconds.  Then, suddenly - there was water spurting up all over the place, it was making weird gurgling sounds, and the kids both started to look like they were going to freak out.  I did what any clear-thinking woman would: turned it off and waited to tell Andrew about it when he came home.

As it turns out, you're not supposed to put potato peelings in the disposal....ever.  Apparently the magical combination of peelings + disposal + water turns it into some sort of lovely slushy mashed potato concoction, which sticks to your pipes and clogs up the sink.  Yay!!!

After much googling, a box and a half of baking soda, a half gallon of vinegar, and enough hot water to make me cringe thinking about next month's water bill - the aforementioned mashed potatoes nicely melted away and let my poor sink go about its business.

New method to catch potato peelings:
PAPER TOWEL.

Maybe this is a common knowledge type of thing that I should have been aware of, before something like this occurred.  But as far as I knew - a disposal exists so you can dispose of food scraps.  Am I right?!

I'm pretty sure when you buy a house, it should come with post-it notes stuck to every surface, letting you know the proper way to care for everything to avoid anything falling apart.  But regardless - lesson learned.  I'm just happy we didn't have to take the sink apart.

So, give me your knowledge. What else am I not supposed to put down my disposal?