Basement Adventures

Yesterday morning I woke up to the sound of our toilet bubbling and gurgling. I didn't think much of it.  A while later, I heard it again and decided to get up and investigate. For some strange reason, our toilet wouldn't drain, it appeared it was plugged, but we couldn't figure out by what. Mr. Stannix hopped in the shower when he woke up and found that the tub wasn't draining either and his shower was turning into a nasty bath. The people upstairs put a load of laundry through and we heard gurgling water again. We decided to call our landlord for some advice.  He said he would send his son-in-law over pronto to investigate, and asked us to move some stuff around in the store room so that they could snake the pipe in there. I opened the store room door and saw that the floor was COVERED in water that had backed up through the drain. Thankfully it didn't stink, but it looked like thick, slushy water with a combination of decomposed leaves, toilet paper, and tree bark. What a mess! Mr. Stannix and I proceeded to move the things from the floor out onto towels. This included a kitchen chair, my vacuum, a sewing machine, the broom, the tool kit, and one soggy Christmas tree box. I went to the bathroom to check if the shower had drained only to find it was worse looking then before with black gunk and hair floating in the water. The plumbers came and took off our toilet to check things out and discovered that with all the ground shifting, something happened to the older pipes, causing a tree root to block the way. They fixed the problem quickly and went on their way. Our awesome landlord stopped by with some paper towels and gloves. I spent the rest of my afternoon mopping up nasty water and bleaching my floor and everything that had touched the water. Then I disinfected our bathtub and toilet. Today, I still want to go over the floors one more time! Everything seems to be back to normal now.  Poor Mr. Stannix, his study time got cut short yesterday by the disaster. Today he is cramming like a mad man for his three mid-terms next week. We joked about how this had to happen just two weeks before we move, it couldn't have waited, just two more weeks. On the plus side, we were thankful it didn't happen while we were away last weekend, because it could have been a real mess to come home to! So in a way, I guess it was a blessing. 

Camilla is turning into such a little mommy. Her newest fetish is to wrap her baby in my tea-towels. She will bounce her baby to sleep, cuddle her, hug her, and kiss her. She's going to be such a fabulous big sister! Here's hoping for a quiet Saturday. Maybe some reading, playing with blocks, and an afternoon nap?