Compulsive hoarding is a mental disorder that is just beginning to be understood. As a hoarder, I have acquired things over the years with a specific purpose in mind at the time of the acquisition, used some of those items for their intended purposes, forgotten the goal for different objects, but now that I find that they have outlived their purpose in my life I am struggling to rid myself of those same things.

You can read the start of my journey here.

Friday, February 1, 2013

When toilet paper sticking to your shoe takes on a whole new meaning.

I'm feeling cooped up and I've got a bit of Spring Fever, even though we're nowhere close to Spring. 

I was supposed to have my tonsils removed a couple of weeks ago, but because of a medical condition I have they had to reschedule it. Apparently I will never be allowed to have surgery at a surgery center and instead this and any future surgeries need to be performed at the hospital. I go in next week to have the work done, and I'm just ready to get it over with.

I've been trying to stay away from the germs that are in public places as much as possible, because I didn't want to come down with anything that would stop me from going in.  For the most part it's been easy, but I have to admit the last couple of weeks have dragged on. The day before I was scheduled to go in, they broke the news to me that it needed to be done in the hospital. So just when I was just about to see the light of day I had 2 weeks added to my sentence. I'm ready to be paroled! I want to take the girls shopping and not be concerned that I'll catch something that will postpone the surgery once again, if I run to the store for a gallon of milk.

I have to admit that things haven't been exactly boring here at home while waiting though. Last week when I was getting ready for a doctor's appointment, things got a little exciting. Have  I mentioned that not all excitement is the same? If not, let me tell you now that excitement is not necessarily a good thing...

After giving Hopper her shower, I jumped in, so I'd be ready for my doctor's appointment. I'd been shaving my legs and was finishing up when I noticed the shower drain cover was starting to float. I was immediately filled with a sense of dread. The dread turned to horror, as I was scrambling to rinse off my legs and noticed black stuff coming back up through the drain. 

Crap.

Literally and figuratively both. 

I jumped out as fast as I could and stretched each foot up to the sink and washed them as best I could before drying off and getting dressed. I slathered my feet with hand sanitizer before putting on my socks and shoes. It was the best I could do under the circumstances, and it made me feel marginally better, but I was still grossed out.

Thankfully, we didn't have to leave for the appointment for a couple of hours, so Hubster got the snake out and snaked the drain. The water in the shower and on the floor of the laundry room subsided, and he did get a small clump of roots out, so we were hopeful all was well. It wasn't. As soon as I flushed the toilet upstairs, the toilet downstairs started backing up. In the split moment confusion of watching the toilet water rise, Hubster flushed it hoping it would go down. It did. All over the floor. 

We were back to square one, but it was time to head out the door for the appointments at this point, so Hubster and Scooter had to skip their showers. We called the plumbers on the way to the car and asked, if they could meet us back at the house once we were done across town. Thankfully, it all worked out, and the drain was snaked once again with a gigantic snake that is much more powerful than our industrial one. The roots he got out of the drain looked like a small volleyball in the plastic bag. 

Gross.

But at least we don't have to worry about black stuff floating up through the shower drain when we're showering again. The bad thing is that we do have things to worry about.

A few years ago, we were told we needed to replace the drain outside from the outside of the house all the way to the street. We put it off, because it was going to cost anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000. We're now wishing we had done it. The price has gone up to almost 25 grand! Apparently one of the permits that is needed is almost $6,000, and there is more than one permit needed in order to complete the work.

Crap.

If we couldn't afford $10,000 a few years ago, I can absolutely promise we can't afford $25,000 today. 

Crap. 

So we're looking into a different solution. It involves putting in a 'clean out'. They can replace about 10 feet of the outside drain and put two pipes shaped like a U. If they use the side of the U that is closest to the street, the can snake things out into the house, and if they use the part of the U that is closest to the house, they can clean everything out toward the street, and they never have to bring the filthy snake down our stairs again.  So it's definitely an option. It's a $7,000 to $10,000 option, but at least it isn't $25,000. And at this point, we need to get it done, so we don't keep having these horrible sewer problems. 

Crap.

On a good note, I got the router replaced the other day, so I'll be able to finally get online and write a blog post without being bumped. 

I'll take it. 

8 comments:

  1. Oh yuck!!! How awful!!Hope the surgery goes well and you are out and about soon

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  2. Oh dear. That's awful. I know we're 'supposed' to want to own our own homes, but it would be nice in times like these to call the landlord to have it fixed.
    (((Hugs)))

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    1. Isn't that the truth!! That's okay. I'd still rather have the problems and have them be ours than have some of the crazy, unstable landlords we've had over the years. It would be nice to have anonymous benefactor take care of it for us, though. But since that will not be happening, we'll deal with it the best we can.

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  3. I don't know how I just found your blog but reading this story gave me the chills. I HATE when things like that happen..I just happen to have OCD and my biggest challenges are when drains clog up and toilets overflow. I think you did good with the whole experiance. I always thought that houses on public sewer, that system is taken care of by the city but I guess you as the homeowner are responsible for the portion that goes out to the street? That is alot of money to pay out on a repair or fix all
    at once. Would love you to see my blog someday so come over if you want.

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    1. Hi Krystal Lynn!

      It's nice to meet you! :)

      Unfortunately, and I think this is the case in most cities now, the sewer line is the city's responsibility, if it's in the street. Anything from the street to the house or in the house is the home owner's responsibility. And to make matters worse, the city won't even take responsibility if the sewer backs up into your house, and it's their fault! We found that out the hard way a couple of years ago, when thick black sewage covered our laundry room floor. We now have insurance to cover such a backup, and we will never be without it again. Sadly, several of our neighbors had such a back up a couple of years ago, and we saw dumpster after dumpster backed up to their homes, so they could throw stuff away. There were close to a dozen homes affected at the time, and the city did nothing to help them. It's so frustrating.

      I will definitely pop on over to your blog! Thanks for the invite! :)

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  4. THIS...is a Horror Story! So sorry. Some people think that they have problems. They pale compared to this.
    (((hugs)))

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    1. Yeah. It's a bit of a horror story, but there is no doubt that we don't have it bad in life. This is just a bump in the road, and we'll get through it together. :)

      Thanks for the hugs, Pat! :)

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