Well, our life has been distracted with plumbing issues. On Tuesday morning James took a shower and the water decided not to go down the drain. It was weird because our drain hadn't even been slow before this. So, James plunged for a while....we tried
drano...looking for the hair clog....nothing. So, I stayed home from work and called one of those plumbers that advertise on
tv--same day, $99, any drain clog. While I was waiting for him I realized the sink wasn't draining either. Now our sink has been slow for a long time. So, I went around checking the other drains, toilets, basement, etc...all else appeared fine.
So, the plumber showed up and looked at things. He said I have a clog in between my sink and tub before it connects to the toilet and he would snake through the pipes under the sink. So, he did that for like 25 minutes and then came down stairs and told me that he keeps hitting something and believes that one of my pipes must have rusted through. He said the ceiling under the bathroom (which is my dining room) would need to be torn down to get a better look and find the pipe. When I asked him how much that would be. He said $422 to tear down the ceiling
and then he could give an estimate on the pipe. I then sent him away. I was pretty sure I could tear down a ceiling myself if I needed to.
So, called my mom--whose boyfriend is a contractor to see if he could help. He seemed convinced it was a drum trap issue which older houses have. From all we looked at online, that did appear to be the likely culprit. So, he couldn't make it over until about 9:30pm that night. James and he worked until past midnight....cleaning out the trap (didn't work) and then running to Home Depot to get a snake....then snaking...pulling out all sorts of gunk (I don't think any of the previous owners ever used like hair traps on their drains)....but still the tub won't drain.
So, we got our 4 hours of sleep or so and then headed over to my grandmother's to shower in the morning. Being pregnant on no sleep is like the worst thing ever. I was pretty convinced I was going to throw up all morning....I felt worse then I did with first trimester morning sickness.
We then get my uncle to run out a rent this super powerful snake thing. I called home depot rentals and the man I spoke to was amazingly unhelpful and first claimed to not know what I was talking about even though I was looking at the website and calling it exactly what the web site called it. Then he didn't tell me it came in different sizes or anything and only quoted one price. So, we ended up with one that was too big for the job. So, at 9:30pm again....James and mom's bf start working away...with the too big snake and then one that my
uncle brought over that belonged to my grandfather. So, they were able to snake the complete way from the tub to the sink....but still no clog can be found....and still the water won't go down.
So, again we were in bed after midnight--yawn. But, my handy husband did manage to turn the water on for an old shower in the basement. It's sort of just in the middle of the basement wall and right in front of washed and dryer. But, we put a tarp over the washer and dryer and showered in the middle of the basement this morning. Since it is summer, not too bad. I would freeze in the winter though. So, I was able to get more sleep since no 5am grandma's house trip.
So, tonight is the next installment of the late night plumbing work at the Cooper house. My mom's bf may be trying a forced air thing to see if that
gets the clog moving--no one thinks that will work though (well, maybe he does). Then we start to open up my dining room ceiling.
I'm so praying that it is just a clogged pipe and can be found and replaced quickly. My fear is that we open everything up and still cannot find the issue.
I think my tiredness is causing my stress. I'm so exhausted and just want this over so I can go back to concentrating on getting Grace's room together and preparing for her. God has blessed us so much with this pregnancy, it's hard to be too upset about a plumbing issue....but yes, I am stressed about it :-/
PLEASE LET IT JUST BE A CLOG!!
I did have a mini panic attack when we realized that the decal company sent us the branch going in the wrong direction. Even the invoice that came with the decal has it correct, but the decal itself is wrong. We just decided to hang it upside down and I don't think you can tell. It worked out fine :-)
and here is our arrival. A church friend, Kathy Adams, is sort of our church photographer and she acted as the paparazzi for the event. I still need to download the photos from my camera.
My mom competing in one of the shower games. James took a crack at this too, but Arielle came out the winner (you can see she was watching closely for strategy).
Then there was present time. James was very handy to pile all of the gifts on as a I opened them :-) Thank you so much to all of our super generous family and friends! We have so much stuff to organize now and I'm sure Grace could feel the love...she was kicking me all day!
I don't think the wall colors showed up well in this photo. They aren't as pastel as they look in this photo. Once we get the room more together, I'll post photos.
and the finished product!