Oh poo

So yesterday my husband was an E. coli nightmare for the better part of the day.

Two days ago I used the bathroom and then immediately got in the shower. When I got out, I noticed water leaking from the base of the toilet. The bowl was not overflowing, it was leaking from one small spot where the base meets the floor.

I quickly turned off the water, dried the standing water and then left it for like 30 minutes. Turned it back on, flushed with no problem, chalked it up to a clog in the line that dissolved given a little time.

Well the next day, the same thing happened to John. Only the bowl overflowed also. The dirty bowl. Eww.
He also was not as quick in turning off the water. So it took a couple towels to dry it up, and about a foot of carpet outside the door got wet. Then I thought my incident was worth mention. "What? Why didn't you tell me? I think we need a new toilet. It's leaking at the base." (Secret glee on my part.) I detest our current toilet. It's soooo low flow it's crazy. The bowl is constantly dirty. Paper gets stuck to the side requiring multiple flushes. The handle is over on the side. I have lots of reasons I dislike our toilet.

So after a call to his dad he decided that actually it was likely just a bad wax ring seal. Cheap to replace. But you do have to remove the toilet. Welllll, if you're going to have to take the toilet off anyway, maybe we could just replace it.

Que 2 hours later when I'm back from running an errand, and we're off to Lowes to get a new throne. After debate and research, we get the commode. I picked the model with the "Everclean" technology and the "Powerflush".

Two hours after that old john is out and new john is in. Lovely.

Until I took a shower in a our guest bathroom (our bathroom hadn't been decontaminated yet). A few minutes in my husband says- "You have to hurry- your shower is making our toilet back up." Oh I was done in less than a minute.

So we waited for the water to go down, then flushed. It seemed ok, but John knew something had to be wrong, so he called his dad. But first he took a shower in our bathroom to scrub off the excrement water he's built up a thin layer of. Well, that made our toilet bubble. Weird.

So he calls his dad, who tells him there has to be a clog somewhere, and that he can call a plumber for $200 or rent an "electric snake" from Home Depot and DIY it.

By this point it's like 4pm. Did I mention I was hosting the monthly church ladies get-together at my house tonight? My house that until this point was clean and running smoothly... Oh yeah, there's that too.

And then Sophia would not go down for her last nap. She's teething and congested and would scream every time I tried to lay her down, even though she would sleep fine when I held her. And my food need to be put on to warm. And she also probably couldn't sleep with the loud pneumatic sounds of a coil banging around in our plumbing pipes. Disaster was setting in.

I finally put Sophia down and had to just let her scream. It was nearly 6pm. I called Roto-Rooter. I walk in to the bathroom to tell John this and he's sweating and I see literally small waves of sewage flowing out of the hole in our bathroom floor where a commode belongs. "We need a plumber, this is sewage," he says. Grrrreat. Oh, and no one can use the bathrooms.

I call my good friend 4 doors down, panicking. Can I use your toilet, can my guests use your toilet, can my husband take a decon shower in your bathroom????

6:15 arrives and my first guest is here. I go and scoop up my screaming child and hand her off to be adored and entertained. I greet everyone with "If you need to use the restroom give me 5 minutes notice, my friend 4 doors down will let us use her bathroom." The Roto-Rooter truck prepared everyone for problems before they even knocked.

The gracious ladies took it all in stride. No one had to take a long trip to the potty. We visited, I heated my food in the microwave, and we had a good time. All the while John and a plumber are at work. Turns out we had a lot of roots in our pipes. He was surprised it was even flushing. Also we have some low spots in our plumbing. He recommended pouring a 5-gallon bucket of water in our toilet once a week to keep the system flowing. Apparently some of our pipes run straight when they should be angled downward.

So about an hour before everyone left, our plumbing was restored. To the tune of almost 200 bucks. Plus the new toilet. I gladly paid the bill. And at 9pm John finally ate dinner and showered. Apparently while he was trying to be the DIY roto-rooter he was sprayed in the face and just about everywhere else with poop water. Gross.

Today while I was at work John reinstalled the new toilet and coated the bathroom and carpet in a 10% bleach solution. I've actually yet to use the new porcelain god. But if TP sticks in the bowl, I'm gonna cry.

Front porch Facelift

So I gave the front of our house a little more personality. It was sorely needed.

Before

After

Since we purchased it a little over a year ago, we've:
Removed the antenna, removed and replaced the mailbox, removed the flag pole, painted the front door, painted the shutters and porch (the most recent change), painted and re-hung the house numbers, and ripped out all of the juniper. Since this photo was taken John has also pressure washed the sidewalks and I'm trying to train Morning Glory vines up the porch railings.

The accent color doesn't quite show up in the photos. It's a muddy grey-ish brown. Sounds ugly, I know. But I wanted something neutral-ish that would still give some personality. The creme is kinda hard to coordinate with. I didn't want to choose something ultra-modern that would clash with the feel of the house in general. An 80's house with brick and cream vinyl siding would probably not look great with school bus yellow.

Plus I've always been a fan of craftsman style architecture and it's not known for super bold colors. In hindsight, I probably could have selected a teal maybe a shade or two darker than the house numbers and that probably would have been cute too, but I was hesitant to do something too trendy that I would hate in a few years. It's tedious to repaint shutters and porches. Trim work is so time consuming. Especially when you dislike painting like I do. That's why I put it off so long.

So, I think it turned out pretty cute, especially in combination with the mailbox I did.

Oh, that post is painted the color of the house trim now :)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Weekend Update 05-05-12 The New House!

Hi everyone!

It's been a long and very productive week in The White House. Monday the 30th we closed on our home. Thankfully the evening of the 30th my midwife called in a script for Phenergan at my request, and it worked! Thank you Jesus! No really, there is no way I would have been able to do 1/4th of the things that needed to be done this past week.

I'd like to take a moment out to personally thank the researchers, test subjects, manufacturers, marketers, prescribers and dispensers of Phenergan. For reals. Thank ya'll. I have my life back.

So of course Monday evening also meant a trip to Lowe's. One of about 6 we've made in the last week. We got paint, light fixtures, ceiling fans...the works.

Tuesday through Friday at 2am we worked almost non-stop. And that was including help from my mom and her friend Andy. Literally every inch of the house needs painting. We've gotten about 75% of it done. I certainly flexed some muscles that are not often used. They did not like it, and they let me know! But I am so happy with the results. Our house has gone from the land of off-white and almond to the land of crisp, bright white and colors.

I can see that there are literally years worth of projects ahead of us. It's very hard for me to be patient about these things. I want it all done and perfect now. But, limitations of time, money and physical endurance will keep me waiting.

So, let me get on to the real reason you are here: pictures!

Left side, my garage

Right side, John's garage. The flagpole, antiquated monstrous TV antenna and mailbox are going, eventually. I'd also like to paint the front door a color.

Back porch

Back yard, full of sand burs. Good thing they're still green. Those suckers are getting mowed tomorrow!

Foyer/entry area. The door was almond, now white. The walls are now "Sand Trap" and "Lettuce Alone" New flooring will be laid at the end of the month.

Before- from the MLS listing. Cabinets were ecru.

Before, living room. Can you say 80's!!!

After- colors are now white, Lettuce Alone and Fudge Truffle. Ceiling fans to be replaced in a few weeks. All the common areas are going to be tile. You can't tell in the photos, but the carpet is in pretty bad shape.

Living room view from dining room.

Back  porch from MLS photos. Hate the color of the carpet. It's going!

And it's now a project area. Lol. Small dining area but we found a great fitting table. This tile will also be replaced.

Got this table and chairs for $20! All I had to do was recover the seats.

Kitchen- the white patch is where we had to repair a large hole in the wall from where a stupid small tilted TV stand was bonded to the wall. Short term plans include sanding and painting the cabinets, which have a nice thick coat of shellac. What fun that will be. Long term plans include new counter tops and appliances.

Laundry room. These built in cabinets really are nice. To the left is the washer and dryer area.

Our "new to us" front loaders from Craigslist. They have a good bit of cosmetic wear and tear, but I am still thrilled to have them!

Hallway

Guest bath before. Man, it was filthy! The patches in the wall are from where towel bars, cup holders and toothbrush holders were mounted to custom wooden plaques and then mounted to the wall. Ick!

Imagine this wooden plaque behind every fixture in the bathrooms. These light fixtures are going in a couple weeks.

Nice, clean and bright

Wooden toilet seat replaced. Flooring going in a month. Light fixture in a few weeks. Long term plans- new counter top, mirror and faucet, paint cabinets.

2nd bedroom- will be the nursery. Leaving it untouched until we know the gender. Will be getting new carpet.

Our few baby things!

Master- hard to tell in photos but the walls are a light grey called "Whispering Wind". I have a wall cling quote that says "Always Kiss Me Goodnight" that I'll be putting above the bed.

View from the bathroom

View from the hall door.

View from the bed. John's chest of drawers is now in the office. He was willing to do that to keep a king size bed :)

The baths were pretty much the same. Nasty toilets and floor. He actually had custom made rugs that covered all the vinyl in the bathrooms. And they were white! (or used to be). Those things went ASAP. But the floor has a funny smell and I can't wait for it to go!

Now it's a sunny yellow! I have a white tiered ruffles shower curtain on the way! Plans for this bath are the same as the hall bath. Except some day I'd also like to move the left recessed medicine cabinet. It's placed really awkwardly. Like between the vanity and toilet. It should have been centered over the toilet for pete's sake!!!

And tonight, floor demolition began!

So we are very glad to be in our first place. I'm happy with what it is now and excited for how it will be even better someday!

Now pray for John, because the honey-do list is very long! And for future reference, if you ever want to get us anything at all, we want Lowe's gift cards! Lol

The House Reveal!!!!

As of today the house is as done as it's going to be, with the exception of the dog door, for now. Today the fence was officially finished! It looks very nice! Also our last blind was installed!

Now don't judge the decor too thoroughly. We are mashing two kinda opposite styles since we have my mom's and our furniture. And I did not want to put too many holes in the wall or buy extra decor since we don't know how long we will be here for certain and it's not really our house. It only seems right to leave the owner some room for decorating :)

Last night the house had it's official first non-family gathering. I hosted our ladies small group. I snapped a few pics before:

The front, before I added some hanging flower baskets

The front door with the new light fixture

Entry hall, complete with pets, lol

Mom's super comfy sofa from mom. I decided to put clashing pillows together and call it "eclectic"

View from the living room into the dining room

The kitchen with our mismatched cups on the counter :)

 

A little cleaner view :) With the nice new light fixture

Front bedroom

Backyard swing and the lovely shadowbox fence. The tarp was from the fence man.

Another view of the living room. Love mom's floral print on the right.

Master bedroom. We are getting a king size bed from my grandma next week!

Huge closet!

Guest bath

Before the blinds were in

The flower baskets I added and the lily in bloom

So there you have it! Tonight was really nice. I'm finally starting to relax now that everything is taken care of. It was really nice tonight to sit on the swing in the back yard in my "bum" clothes while John grilled and the dogs sniffed around the yard. They can now stay out as long as they like. And soon they'll also be able to go in and out as they please! I am feeling like I'm in a blessed time in life. As an evangelist I heard say "a place of open space". We can now have more than 3 people over without it feeling crowded.

And of course we are debt free! A little more on that will come in another post.

Hope this post quenches everyone's picture thirst! :)