The Shiny Silver Lining

Oh, what a week it has been.

It started on Saturday. I noticed a rather icky smell coming from under the house. Ducky had been talking for a few weeks about needing to crawl under the house to look for water. So down he went. I went about my business and washed my hands in the kitchen sink. He sees water flowing quite freely into the crawl space.

Shiny Silver Lining: My bionic sense of smell caused by migraines prompted him to go look that day. Hence allowing us to discover the leak sooner rather than later.

Shiny Silver Lining: My need for clean hands made the leak so glaringly obvious that he couldn't miss it, even though he was several feet from the problem area.

So we call the plumber and they can come out on Monday morning. Not an emergency, but it should be taken care of soon. So come Monday, our friendly plumber shows up and takes a look. It is a cracked pipe. The pipes will either be running up the wall on the left or the right of the sink. If on the left, it will be behind cabinets. If on the right, it will be behind the dishwasher. He recommends a company to come clean up the grey water mess that is residing under our house.

Shiny Silver Lining: It runs behind the dishwasher! Much cheaper and easier. I want a kitchen remodel, but not on credit.

We schedule the grey water clean up for Wednesday night and plumbing for Thursday morning.

Shiny Silver Lining: I can't cook dinner without a kitchen sink, so McDonald's drive thru here I come. I have a migraine and don't want to cook anyway.

The plumbers and clean up guys all agree that the leak started about a week ago. So we are really lucky to have found it so soon.

Shiny Silver Lining: That means no maggots or mold or other nastiness under my house! And the clean up was much cheaper that way too.

The plumber came Thursday morning and got right to work. Ducky had pulled out the dishwasher and cut a hole in the drywall to expose the problem area. They found the offending pipe right away and made some startling observations. It appeared that the pipe had been crushed. Most likely stepped on when the house was being built, 13 years ago. Arghhh.

Shiny Silver Lining: Did I mention we found the leak quickly?

I have been known to be a friendly, chatty sort of person. So I am chatting away with the plumbers and mention that I want a tankless hot water heater. And that ours will most likely need to be replaced soon. I share how our neighbors had replaced the pipe/tube in theirs and we just haven't gotten around to it yet. So we strike a deal. They will flush my hot water heater and put in a new pipe/tube thing and they'll call it even with the money I am saving from Ducky doing prep work the night before.

Shiny Silver Lining: They discover that the pipe/tube thing that is supposed to be about 5 feet long is only one inch. It is a miracle I was getting any hot water at all.

Shiny Silver Lining: Now we can turn down our hot water heater and lower our gas bill.

So our house is all fixed now. And it cost us much less than it could have.

I had two migraines this week.

Shiny Silver Lining: I saw the headache specialist this week. So I might be on the road to a pain free existence. I have enjoyed two headache free days, and I am thankful.

I got to experience the great smooshing as I dubbed my first mammogram.

Shiny Silver Lining: Results are normal.

So all in all, there has been a bunch of not so great stuff this week. But everything has turned out okay.