One of Those Days

Friday night after Garbanzo and I had good sex in front of the fire, I heard water.  At first I wondered who left water on – was a kid actually awake playing in the upstairs bathroom?  I walked through the kitchen and heard it coming from the basement. Oh, shit, I thought as I walked down the stairs.

Then, it was an “oh, fuck” as I saw the water sitting near the outside access door to our basement.  It meant that the frozen pipes going to the mudroom had burst.  I yelled for Garbanzo who threw on a robe and some shoes.  We shut off the water going out there but could still hear water, so Garbanzo opened the door to have a huge amount of water rush into the basement.  There had been about 6 inches of standing water outside of the door – from the broken pipes – and it was now in our basement.

Before I go on, I must say that I’ve thought about this decision to open the door a couple of times.  Should we have done that versus go outside to look down the steps into the access area just to see what we were in for?  (It is about four steps down to the door.) I’ve decided opening the door was the best course of action. I mean, had we seen that much water, we would have debated about what to do to drain it. Opening the door made that decision for us – and the water just drained through one of the two drains in our basement.  I doubt I would have gone for that option if we had the choice – but it was the best option.

We discovered that the break wasn’t actually a break – more of a separation of the pipe from the joint.  It just was another quality project of the previous owners. It meant they put the pipe in to see if it all fit – but neglected to go back and actually install it properly. Figures.

We fixed it first thing this morning and had water going out to the mudroom without issue.  As we were getting ready to turn the water back on, I cleaned out the mudroom which is our laundry room. A massive undertaking given the fact I had just done a ton of laundry over the past few days but hadn’t folded it yet.  Once everything got pulled out, we started the washer and crossed our fingers.  (We learned last year when this happened to get everything out of the mudroom just in case there is another leak.  Last year we flooded the mudroom by accident.)  Everything worked fine – no leaks.

While I was folding laundry and there was laundry going, Garbanzo was cleaning the kitchen when we heard it.  The huge crash upstairs followed by two pairs of feet running from the bathroom.  Garbanzo went upstairs, then I heard the shouts.

The upstairs bathroom had this funky sink.  It is a glass bowl that sits in a pedestal. Or I should say it was one.  Somehow, and the story varies by kid, this sink shattered.  Of course, one blames the other.  It was an accident – it was on purpose.  Who fucking knows.  All I know is that the bathroom upstairs no longer has a sink.  The funky one is now gone. Their punishment – to clean their fucking room.

Anyone who has boys and thinks that having girls would be a) cleaner and b)less stinky and c)cheaper (less destruction) has no idea how untrue those assumptions are.  My girls are messy and smelly and destructive.  And, Garbanzo and I are done “helping” them keep their room clean, thus the punishment too.  What’s funny about this – they know they are in trouble and are actually cleaning their room versus pretending to clean it.  I think they are hoping to see the light of day.

Soon after this occurred, Derek dropped by for a visit. He and his boyfriend were in town before their trip to Australia – a celebration of the holidays with his boyfriend’s parents.  It was so great to see him.  I totally miss him being around.  We talked for a couple of hours until his boyfriend came to pick him up. 

Oh, and my brother is in town this weekend.  Have I seen him? Nope. He clearly had no intention of seeing me given he sent me an email letting me know he and the family would be in town.  I replied mentioning he should look at the weather given they were forecasting freezing rain and ice and snow for the weekend.  There are three ways to get from here to where they live – and I knew all three ways could be problematic if not impossible to get to if the weather came they were predicting.  His response was pretty much it was now or never.  It’s his choice, but his response was just odd.  That was the last I heard from them.  I guess they came into town Friday sometime.  I found this out via Facebook when my SIL made a comment about how everyone was freaking out about the weather like idiots.  Part of me hopes that it does freeze overnight like its supposed to.  Yeah, I’m a bitch….and I’m good with it.

We’ll have to see how things are for Christmas. I have been guilted by my mom to come down for a day or so.  We have a date chosen before Christmas….and I’m hoping to get down there a bit early to hook up with TL.  I figure starting the stressful days down there with a smile on my face would be a good idea.  Though it could cause me to get struck by lightening when I go to church with my parents the next night – but I think I’ll risk it.

10 Comments Add yours

  1. Hubman says:

    How long have you owned this house? You know, one of these days, you’ll have to stop blaming the previous owners for their retarded workmanship and just fix their mistakes 😉

    About your brother and his visit- I wonder if your reply to about the weather being bad and perhaps he shouldn’t make the trip was interpreted as “we don’t want to see you”? Just a thought…

    I’m glad you got to see Derek!

  2. So sorry to hear about the flood and the broken sink. That’s so frustrating. I hope some peaceful days are ahead. 🙂

  3. Just me... says:

    The tweet (re: weekends like rainbows; looking good at a distance) is sooo true.. We just end up working at a different job on the weekends!! :):)

  4. Secretia says:

    We had a pipe break inside a wall while we were sleeping once. It was watery smelling for over a year after that.

  5. frances says:

    what a weekend. ugh! sending happy vibes your way!

  6. OMG, you’ve had a weekend! Sorry it was rough.

    I know all about raising girls. Thankfully, mine are just about grown (well, one of mine is grown). Hang in there, if you can get through the teen years with them, you’ll have it made. 😉

    Christmas…yikes. I know being guilted too well. I’ve been guilted this year as well. I stressed at T’giving and I’ll stress at Christmas. I am sure we’ll all have lots to share afterward. 🙂

  7. Cheeks says:

    Oy – not cool. But I will confess that I giggled a lot reading about The Mystery of The Shattered Sink. Sounds like something that would’ve happened with me and my sisters. One day they’ll fess up… once they’re old enough to laugh about it over a beer with you guys. =)

  8. ShellSpann says:

    Sorry about the flood in the basement. We just dealt with that last week and it ruined brand new carpet and furniture. I was not a happy camper.

    And I agree, girls are stinky and destructive just like boys. I have one of each, and I think my daughter might be worse than my son.

  9. Vixen says:

    I hit the button too soon.

    What I wanted to add was that all but one of the houses I’ve lived in was old old old and I’ve had to deal with my share of broken pipes. NO fun.

    ((((you guys))))

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