is that sewage on my head?

It's always something.

Monday night, Pat and I were cleaning up from dinner (isn't he wonderful?) and yelled out, "there's water dripping down the wall!"

I ran up stairs knowing full well that the water was coming from the girls' bathroom that is directly above the kitchen. There was water every where. It hadn't gotten to the point where it was spilling out of the doorway into the hall, but the entire area around the toilet and tub was about 1/2 to 3/4 inches deep in water. It didn't appear as though the toilet was overflowing from the bowl, but it was running and the tank was empty. I pulled up the float to stop the flow of water, while I looked below for the shut off valve.

Once the water was turned off, I called for the girls to get me towels & lots of them. After cleaning that mess up, I went back down to the kitchen to see how bad the damage was. As soon as I entered the room I saw the tell-tale wet spot on the ceiling. It wasn't huge, but it certainly was there. Pat was emptying out the cabinets above the stove as it seemed water was seeping in. Water was dripping out of the corners of the soffits above the cabinets as well. While cleaning some of this up, I realized the carpet in the threshold between the kitchen and the dining room was wet. I grabbed a towel to soak it up and headed downstairs to see how bad it may have gotten.

As soon as I turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs, I was greeted by a large puddle of water on the floor. I yelled up to Pat that we had a situation. I had Sarah bring me a few buckets and I began moving things out of the way. The water was coming down in a steady drip, but not a major stream. It appeared that the water was running along the sewage pipe from upstairs. As I'm placing buckets strategically on the floor, I get hit with numerous large drips. Pat asks me, "is that sewage, or clean water?"

We get a few more towels and mop up the mess. Meanwhile, the girls were getting madder and madder. Right before the water started flowing from the ceiling, the girls were getting ready to head to the pool for the swim team ice cream social and raft night. They were beginning to realize that they were not going to be able to go. I am sure they will remember this for the rest of their lives as the night the toilet ruined their whole existence!

The water was all cleaned up and the kids finally put to bed while Pat and I pondered what on earth we were supposed to do next. We speculated on the cause of the problem (busted wax seal under toilet, cracked pipe, broken toilet, clogged toilet) and then do we try and repair it ourselves, do we make a homeowners claim, or not? So much to decide. Pat goes to get himself a bowl of ice cream to help him think and realized the water spot on the ceiling has grown and brought a couple of friends to the party. The initial spot has now started to bubble. He grabed a knife and poked a hole and then the small drip we had, became a steady stream of water for about 5 minutes (I might be exaggerating-and I think I tweeted that it was 10 minutes- but it sure felt like it).

Yesterday morning, we contacted the insurance company. They suggested we call a restoration service to have the water damage cleaned up and informed Pat that the policy doesn't cover the actual plumbing repair. While I went to work, Pat got busy making phone calls. I came home to 7 industrial fans and 3 dehumidifiers set up in the house. Insulation along the pipes had gotten soaked, the wet carpet was worse than we thought and actually might need to be removed. The area rugs we had in the basement have been taken away to be cleaned. The plumber was on his way and the insurance adjuster is set to come out on Friday.

We were just debating getting estimates for finishing the basement. Thankfully, it is not finished, the damage would have been SO much worse.




I took these with my BlackBerry, so they aren't the best quality. Sorry!

Politics

While everyone in the country has been debating Obama vs McCain, there has been a different political discussion going on in my little slice of suburbia.

I happen to live under the fascist regime of a Homeowners Association (HOA). Actually, I am one of those people who see the merits of having a HOA that actually does something.

Two years ago we moved into our current development and were quickly ushered into the world of HOA's, covenants, architectural committees and the like. Evidently I hadn't read the rules and regulations thoroughly and we received a violation notice that we failed to get prior approval for our fence. We had put up the right style, but had not jumped through all the hoops.

Our neighborhood is small and most residents take great pride in maintaining the appearance of their home. Since the homes are starting to age, the HOA Board decided it was time for a "walk through" to see if all homes are in compliance with the rules and regulations. We didn't think much of it, knowing that we would probably get cited for our lawn (last year's drought and ant infestation wiped out most of the actual grass and left us with a yard full of weeds and bare spots).

Almost all the homeowners received some type of violation, including us. A number of homeowners took great offense with the violation notices that came out. Instead of discussing the violations with the board, or appealing the violation, one person in particular decided that it required taking action to actually re-call the board. She browbeat other neighbors into signing a petition and thus created a great deal of animosity among neighbors.

Being friends with the president of the board has given us a different view of the situation. I anxiously awaited the meeting where the vote would occur. I wanted to go and support the board, but I was also curious to hear the other side's argument. in the days leading up to the meeting, I watched as the leader of the disgruntled homeowners visited neighbors in an effort to sway them to her side. It even appeared as though she went door to door with proxies trying to round up votes in her favor (a clear violation of the bylaws). She even managed to corner Pat. She must have caught him on a good day since he was able to maintain composure and POLITELY tell her that though he was not pleased to receive our violations, he felt that she was going to extremes to kick out the current board. She ought to go through the process to appeal and/or get the rules changed. I guess she didn't like what he had to say since that was the last we saw of her.

The long awaited meeting was last week. The place was packed. More than one person commented that it was a shame that it took this issue to get so many bodies out to a meeting. The air in the room was warm and full of tension. Neighbor hesitating to talk to neighbor unless they were sure of what side the other was on. It was painful. It got ugly. The board managed to keep control, but at the expense of alienating a few (no one likes to have a gavel pounded to let you know your time is up, or that things are getting out of hand).

With the comment section over it was time for the vote. The board decided it would be an open vote where each household would declare their vote out loud, even all proxies would be read. This was akin to polling a jury to get a verdict. This angered the opposition greatly and only added to the tension in the room. the first task was to determine who could actually vote. Since there were about 3 proxies from people who were not in "good standing" (they owed some amount of money), their votes did not count. It was a close vote and it was not until the final count that it was determined that the vote to keep the board was 21 to 19.

Unfortunately it doesn't feel like a victory. It is clear that there is now a rift among the neighbors that is large. There is still talk of each side having played "dirty pool". There have been poor displays of behavior since, and speculation that the fight is not over.

We are supposed to have a neighborhood ice cream social to celebrate the start of school soon. I hope the hatchet can be buried, at least for the kid's sake.