Water

Why can't I have simple, easily-fixed problems?

I waited all day for the plumber to get here. Finally, at 3:15, he showed up. Melting snow to have water to flush the toilet got really old, really fast. I had to restrain myself from hugging Greg, the plumber, when he knocked at my door.

After crawling under the trailer, he located the cause of my problem pretty quickly - 2 places in the water line that had frozen. He got them thawed out and added some heat tape. Problem solved, right? I wish.

While Greg was finishing up under the trailer, I went through the house turning all the taps off and on, flushing toilets, etc. I let the kitchen sink run for a while, rinsing out the mountain of coffee cups that had accumulated in the 3 days since I did dishes. I ran back to put something in the bathroom and discovered a minor disaster . . . water EVERYWHERE. It was coming from the bathroom sink, which was overflowing and dripping down the cabinets and flooding the bathroom. What. The. Fuck. I grabbed every towel I could find and just started flinging them everywhere. Where was this water coming from??? Through the process of elimination, I figured out it was water from the kitchen sink. Wait, what??? How does that happen???

These are the questions I asked Greg. He checked the sewer lines for both toilets, and they were empty - which is a good thing! That means they weren't frozen. Greg's best guess is that the kitchen and bathroom sinks dump into the same line, that eventually dumps into the main sewer line. He thinks there may be a frozen section that is preventing the sinks from dumping into the sewer line. He said the frozen bit may "break loose" on it's own as it warms up over the next few days. Given that he had already been here 2 hours and I was ready to cry with frustration, I didn't ask him to stay.

The good news is, I finally got to take a shower because I have water again. The bad news is I can't do dishes unless I wash them in the shower. I am praying (seriously praying) the sewer line thaws and fixes itself because I cannot afford to have the plumber come out again.

I'm ready for a problem that is easily solved. And doesn't cost anything.