And The Banjo Played On

What's your song?"

I can't tell you how many times Current Husband and I have been asked that question when we're with other couples.  Usually these are outings where the men are wearing khakis and button-downs and the women are in some civilized garb, and glasses of wine or Maker's are being sipped discreetly.  Some people chime in with "At Last" by Etta James, or "Isn't She Lovely?" by Stevie Wonder, or "You've Got a Friend" by JT.  Current Husband and I have a soundtrack to our slightly odd and Funyun flavored life together - it's the banjo song from Deliverance.  We're usually met with an awkward silence before someone changes the subject.  And then one of us farts.  And then we aren't asked back.

This weekend, the banjo tunes again wafted through our home sweet home.

First, I'd like to say that the damn basement is finally about 93% done, which means an A-, so I'm sure it will stay that way for the next 3 years.  Here is where we started:

This picture was taken waaaay back last summer, when we started tearing down walls and tearing out the ceiling and before the basement waterproofing system was put in, etc, etc etc.  Gross, no??

And here is what it looked like in the middle of construction - walls going up, lighting going in....

And here is what it looks like tonight:

Behind the white door with the glass is an office for CH, complete with an egress window so this is all actual square footage on the house.  There is also a new full bath, and a new and improved laundry area with my custom cubbies.  Yay for cubbies!  Then, facing from this lovely IKEA sofa bed is this music area for the kids:

Please note:  Steps getting painted is in the 7%

of things that need to get done. 

So. Sick. Of. Painting.

So, after about seven months and countless thousands of dollars, one would think, "Hey, that place is really shaping up!"  Until the pipes under the kitchen sink break.

So CH decides to "fix" them. 

See the pipes laying on the floor?  Here's a closeup:

Yeah.  It turns out those were rusted through. 

And broke off in CH's hands.  Oops.

So we found out that for the weekend, we couldn't use the kitchen sink.  We told the kids, and as we're telling them, The Son walks up to the sink, dumps the milk from his cereal bowl in it, and then we watch as a bowl of milk pours through the hole and all over underneath the bottom of the sink.  Yay for listening skills!

So the sink is out of commission.  Okay, we'll just use our entire month's carryout budget in three days.  The kids have various friends coming over for the weekend.  Oldest Daughter decides to split and stays at someone else's house.  When she gets home on Sunday, she comes upstairs and says, "Hey, I was going to use the bathroom downstairs but the toilet is plugged.  Can I use yours?"  What!?!  Why has no one told us this?

(I should take a moment to point out that when The Son was 3, he plugged a toilet, and it overflowed all over the second floor.  No one told us, and soon I noticed water dripping from the kitchen ceiling.  We ran upstairs, and sure enough, flood.  We sort of came unhinged with the yelling, and The Son would not flush a toilet for a FULL YEAR.  Seriously.  So we kind of tread carefully in this department.)

CH and I got the plunger, and spent the next two effing hours trying to unplug this toilet.  Seriously, WTF are kids eating these days?  Oh yeah, fast food!  If you haven't done it for a while, plunging is hard work:

About midway through plunging, I looked at CH, and said, "We just put all kinds of money into improvements in this house, and here we are with a broken sink upstairs and a plugged toilet downstairs.  Will the banjo music never end?"

"Nope," CH said.  "But you got a purdy mouth."

And the banjo played on.

p.s. The toilet is now flushing properly, and a plumber came this morning and fixed the sink.  But where's the fun in that?