A funeral, a plumbing disaster, and a minor fire...

It's been a heck of a week. We had airport duty last weekend and spent some lovely time on the Parkway West, shuttling relatives who were in for Grandma's funeral. Soon after my sister arrived, so did the plumber, to unclog our bathroom sink. Unclog it he did, but the pipe broke in the process. Just to make sure that the pipe was really broken, he ran gallons and gallons of water into the sink, until it began pouring down through the living room ceiling, right on the head of my poor, jet-lagged sister, while I shrieked, "it's dripping, it's dripping!!!"

All week, we had to brush our teeth in the bathtub, because the plumber could not return until Friday. To fix the pipe, he had to cut through the living room ceiling and the bedroom wall. And plumbers only break walls, they don't fix them. All you experienced homeowners probably knew this already, but it was news to me. Once everything was hooked up again, he discovered that the pipe Was Still Clogged. He snaked the pipe again, luckily not busting anything in the process, but he did issue an ominous warning..."I got through this time, but I hit something that scares me." Hmmm. So, we might be going ahead and replacing that bathroom sooner rather than later.

After I let the plumber out, I heard Megan in the kitchen shouting "my toast is on fire!" Well, not really shouting, she was remarkably calm. However, her toast really was engulfed in flames. If you ever find yourself in this situation, do not blow on the toast, it will not make the flames go out. It is also not the best time to realize that you do not have a fire extinguisher. Luckily, Megan is brave, and she picked up the whole flaming unit and carried it outside into the driveway, where it would not catch anything else on fire. I have blackened many a piece of toast over the years, but never have I seen bread burn like this. Very strange.

Here's to hoping the next week is not as exciting.