Back to the Basics #2: Be Grateful for What You Have

It is amazing how much we take for granted in America. Sometime around 11:00 am, I was pondering how blessed we are to have a 2 bedroom apartment with 2 bathrooms so early in our marriage. To get a house that has any more than what we have now (that can support more people and guests), it’s going to take a house as nice as my family finally got after I was 16. Wow. Those thoughts quickly disappeared into how bad things can get in a flash.

Just after noon, one bathroom backed up, but not in any normal way I have ever seen. We’re talking major overflow and the toilet just would not stop. I had to tip-toe through 1/2″ of toilet water to get to the valve to shut off the water. Of course, this deeply disturbed upset my wife, and freaked me out, because I saw water seeping into the edge of the bedroom carpeting (no molding piece to keep water in the bathroom… brilliant!). We quickly got a towel (ineffective in every sense of your imagination) and our bucket and sponge mop. By the time I got half of the bucket full, there wasn’t any water left on the floor; it had all been absorbed by our master bedroom’s carpet!

Maintenance on-call said “ok” to my issue, but didn’t say anything more. An hour later, I went to the clubhouse to complain to a live person and the maintenance guy was there calling a “real plumber,” as he called them. As it turns out, my entire building was experiencing problems. I went back home and we waited and watched TV to take our minds off of the mess of towels and stuff everywhere.

Then the second bathroom did the same thing, but stopped at the top of the bowl. I turned off the valve there, and went to see if the plumber was there yet. Nope. Minutes later, we heard major plumbing gurgling, so I thought that things were moving again. Yes they were, but not in the right direction. Things were moving into our tubs, one clear and one… let’s say cloudy. Ewww. Both tubs were at least 10″ full and the water level was just below the drains in the sinks. Crap (no pun intended).

By then it was time to start a contingency plan for the night. We called K’s parents and they laughingly said to pack our bags for a couple of days (which may not end up being too far off the mark) and come on over for a lasagna dinner.

As we left, we asked the maintenance guy whether it was him or the plumber that was going to be him or the plumber that was going to clean our tubs. He (hopefully ignorantly) said, “Neither. As soon as it gets unclogged, the water will go down and all we have to do is rinse it with warm water.” Right. I love rinsing e-coli with water. We’ll see what the weekday maintenance guys and the property manager say today when I call.

Got a toilet that flushes and dry flooring? Enjoy it. I know we will when we get it again.

UPDATE: K stopped by on the way to work this morning and saw a carpet cleaning service business card in the door. It said “water extracted, carpet cleaned” in handwriting. She opened the door and saw a nicely cleaned carpet throughout the entire apartment (even the office) and the tubs were debris-free. She got new shower liners already and we’ll clean the tubs with bleach and vinegar when I get home.

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Back to the Basics #1: The Golden Rule