One of those, you know? 

It seems like the car, the house and my own forgetfulness take turns in giving me crappy days.  Some people scream obscenities, I blog and write emails about it.

Last month it was the car, another $200 in repairs and upkeep.  This beautiful July – the house.  It was a boring Sunday afternoon, the kind I like.  I was watching Costner’s Dances With Wolves, because yes, I had never seen it (you may commence gasping at this thought…okay, you done?).  I threw some bedding in the wash.  That’s when all hell (and by hell I mean tons of water) broke loose. 

The downstairs toilet starting talking in gurgling noises.  Sydney and I went to investigate.  By the time we got there, we heard the washing machine draining in the next room and then all that sudsy water came gushing up through the toilet.  It at first made a obnoxious tinkling noise as it hit the tile, then it sounded like Niagara Falls.  Water everywhere.  Having no heavy duty shop n’ vac, but rather a small Bissell wet/dry vac, I went to work.  Every swipe of the vacuum was followed by a trip to dump it out.  This took 45 minutes.  I had at least three inches of water in the bathroom, in the laundry room and in parts of the kitchen and hallway.  Just when the vacuum stopped making waves on my floor and I could see an end in sight, I heard the noise and remembered – large load, second rinse cycle.  Before I could even run the few steps back to the washing machine it did it again, and worse. 

Sydney sat in the corner of the kitchen on a dry patch staring in astonishment.  Dublin came in to see the commotion and started meowing about the state of his bathroom.  Then I started crying about the state of his bathroom, because the water hit the litter box this time.  Clean litter that Dublin had recently scooped out of his litter box in his fanaticism over cover up was now floating on top of another 3 to 4 inches of sudsy water in the laundry room.   I had to let it sink in, then went back to work.

Over an hour and a half later, only streaks of wet were visible on the floor and the laundry room couldn’t be cleaner if I had taken gallons of water and All laundry detergent and poured it over the floor and sucked it up. 

My day doesn’t end there!  After a quick rest, I hopped on the treadmill.  I felt something on my ankle and looked down to see water spurting up from the front of the belt!  Where was it coming from?!?  I had no water left in my tennis shoes!  Was this a flashback due to post-laundry flood stress disorder?  I looked behind me and saw that the leak had made a long streak down the belt of the treadmill and there was a puddle on the floor near the back of the treadmill.  Then I noticed this water had a pungent smell, not clean and sudsy at all!

Sydney rarely has accidents unless something frays her nerves.  She was the one with post-laundry flood stress disorder.  How did a female dog no taller than my knee successfully relieve herself on the back of a moving treadmill?  She must have lied on her back and let loose like a fountain figurine.  I’ve seen her do it.   She put on such a display at PetSmart when a German Shepherd gave her the evil eye. 

It was now the middle of the night and I was sweaty from cleanup with dry hands from all the cleaning solution.  Then yesterday I locked myself out of the office.

In case you wondering, the exact cause of the flood is yet unknown.  Professionals are working around the clock, in cooperation with homeowners and the HOA.  It doesn’t look good.  I have faith God will provide me a rainbow to this flood in the form of stress-free plumbing.