Mountains and roots

A funny thing happened… Well, it’s not that funny…

2 weeks ago, about halfway through mommy-palooza, I discovered that using the washing machine also created an indoor wading pool… Flowing from a utility room to the den which, well, is less than ideal.

So 2 boys… One of which still hasn’t grown into his bladder (I’m sure if he ever reads this, he’ll LOVE that I threw THAT out there) so we have night-time accidents on occasion and no washer… Well it turns into this…

Scary isn’t it?  Yes, that’s all laundry… and yes, I ran out of baskets so some of said laundry is actually in a trash bag.

Normally, a clogged drain is no reason to panic.  In the grand scheme of things, it’s one issue I can handle… except that this time, the pipes are configured in such a way that my snake won’t work…the p-trap is too shallow for the auger to make the turn. (impressed that I haven’t used thinga-ma-jig once yet?)

Never fear – I have “people” and I call my plumber, optimistic that he will wave his magic auger and clear whatever nastiness is blocking the drain.  I’m also counting my blessings because at least it’s ONLY affecting the washer drain and not every other drain in the house.  THAT would have been wayyyyyy worse.

The plumber is a family friend, which means he’s usually very flexible in schedule and this is a huge plus.  The downside, when I call him 2 weeks ago about the situation, he had the flu.  Fast forward a week and he’s better, but playing catch-up with his other clients.  Finally he can come out on a Saturday.

Day 1 – he looks everything over and basically tells me “Yep, you are right.  Everything you said was happening is happening.  I don’t have what I need to actually fix it.  I’ll have to come back tomorrow.” *sigh* 

Day 2 – I get a text message – Something came up.  Won’t be able to make it until tomorrow. Ugh.  Ok, What’s one more night sans washer?

Day 3 – He shows up.  Spends a good 3 hours working on trying to clear the line.  Nothing.  That’s when the power saws come out… to cut through walls… and then, it became too late to actually finish.  So he’ll be back tomorrow… *sigh*

Day 4 – I’ve stayed home from work sick with fever and chills – good times.  He shows up with a more powerful auger… and FINALLY we are able to reach the blockage… unfortunately, it’s NOT lint… or cat hair… or even a G.I. Joe figurine that has been flushed… nope, we are dealing with tree roots in the pipes.  Yay… {/sarcasm}

Not only is it a much bigger issue than planned, not only are the mountains of laundry about to grow legs and walk on their own, but there’s nothing he can do.  It’s time to call a larger outfit.

and in the meantime?  I’ve got to handle the laundry situation.  Stat.

I have several friends offering their washers… little do they know JUST how much laundry I have.  I know a laundromat is a much better option, but honestly can’t remember the last time I went to one.  In fact, I had to Google it just to figure out where the nearest one was.

So, I loaded up the expedition with my haul… made it to the laundromat with enough time to do the laundry, although folding would have to occur at home.

Here’s the beauty of a laundromat – they have 8-load washers.

That’s right people… you can fit up to 8 full loads in ONE WASHER!!!  Screw the whole seperate your lights and darks bullshit – cram it allllll in there all at once, and let that bad boy just spin and tumble for the next 31 minutes.

when it came time to dry, I did separate it into 2 loads… but mostly because I wanted to be sure they were good and dry…

And once I got everything back home, it was time to fold… and it was in THAT moment that I realized I should have waited until the boys were back so I had extra hands to help with the folding and putting away part…

In other news, we have Roto-Rooter headed out tonight to take a look at the pipes to really fix the issue.  That may be a whole ‘nother blog post in and of itself.