To make a long story even longer, the first time was when we were installing a new over the stove microwave (on our own). We took extra caution in taking the measurements of the current brackets so that we could just buy a microwave and slip it on to the already existing brackets. That simple huh??? Not so fast.... So we get the microwave home, taking the old one down was difficult, but we did it, putting the new one up took a little more muscle and finesse. It was around Day 2 of the project (we ran out of time on Day 1, we had an infant in the house and energy was at an all time low), the old microwave was down and out of the way, but in the kitchen we had the new microwave and the box and all the tools/accessories. The kitchen was crowded. We had to clear out the cabinet above the stove in order to get the microwave screwed in, which meant that my counters were filled with "stuff". The kitchen was such a disaster, it could get any worse, or so I thought. Brad was working with the microwave, trying to manipulate a bracket or two, I went to get the flashlight from under the sink and that's when I saw it.... the water.... we had a leak... Oh Crap! Here we are 9:30 at night, on Day 2 of no microwave and now we don't have a sink. Brad drops everything and checks into the sink situation, knowing that Lowe's is closing in 30 minutes (thankfully there is one 5 minutes away). He diagnoses that our faucet is rusted beyond repair and is leaking so he heads off to Lowe's to purchase a new one. I am left cleaning out the cabinet under the sink so that he can work on it when he returns. NOW.... where to put all THIS stuff - my counters are full the kitchen is cluttered, AHHHH!!!! I really thought that I took a picture of our disaster zone, but I can't find it anywhere. I have a mental picture, it wasn't pretty, it brings back anxieties OR is that the anxieties from today????
Fast forward several months, put us in a foreign country where they speak a foreign language and they aren't so friendly on the nighttime shopping...... We had a BUSY week. It was one of those weeks where if we had been in The States, Brad would have been in Indianapolis in meetings from 8 - 5 Monday through Friday, but since we aren't he had to be on the phone for them. Since we are 3 hours ahead of The States, he was privileged to go to the field to do his Brazil work in the mornings, rush home and jump on the conference call until 8 at night. Oy Ve! And to make matters worse, Caden and I had to get registered at the Federal Police by FRIDAY. That is no easy task, it takes several steps, getting passport photos, making copies of every page of your passport and import documents, going to a notary, paying taxes, and then finally going to the Federal Police (every one of those is a separate office too). Well, since we can't get around except on our two feet, we have to rely on Brad to do most of these errands AND, we have to take his intern to do all the translating. I must say, this could have been done a week or two ago to minimize the stress of the already hectic week, but someone near and dear to me really likes to wait until the last minute - he must be an adrenaline junkie. ;) So, here we are, busy week, even busier getting registered at the Police and then this.... We had gotten back from the Police for the 2nd time that day (the first time they weren't ready to accept international paperwork - whatevs....) and Brad had to miss 2 of his important talks during the conference call. He runs back into the office to jump on the call and I begin cooking dinner. Caden and I sit down to eat and about 30 minutes later we get up to go clean-up. THERE IS WATER EVERYWHERE! Half the kitchen floor is covered in water. There isn't much that I can do with a 1 year old as a side kick, so of course, I go and get Brad off his phone call, one more time! He is exasperated. I really don't think he can take anymore. We clean up the floor with 2 our of the 3 towels that we have here, after all we needed one to dry off with after our shower. May I mention that these towels are not water absorbent at all (there will be another post soon about conveniences and how I miss them). So we start diagnosing the issue, there is a cabinet next to the sink that has 2 holes, like if we wanted to hook-up a dishwasher or something. Well, only one of those holes has a PVC cover and the other one is where the water is spilling out of. Brad gets on the phone promptly to his co-worker, asking if plumbers are working now, and how late these stores with pipe fittings stay open. Well, that co-worker has bad cell phone reception and he doesn't catch everything. So he just shows up at our door 10 minutes later thinking that our apartment was on fire. Ha - well that was kind of funny. So Jaedino starts looking into the issue and decides he'll just run and get this PVC fitting for us and bring it back - Nice Guy. Jaedino returns, puts the fitting on, ta-da no leak, BUT WAIT! NOW the water isn't draining from the sink! Ahhhh! So Jaedino fills the sink, it's a large sink, half full with water and uses his hand as a plunger. He tells Brad that the drain must be clogged. This all seems a little odd to me, being that 2 hours ago we didn't have an issue at all. Now some gremlin has run off with one of our PVC fittings and our drain has become clogged??? Jaedino starts to take apart the drain (we have no tools, just some 5-1 bottle opener that has some interesting pieces to it). Well, where do you think that all that water went??? Yep, right back onto the floor. The 2 out of 3 towels that we had already used were SOAKING WET, so we just had to use them as a levy to keep the water from spreading. He gets things apart and beats on them to get all the coffee grounds out (Brad swears that he can't empty them into the trash can and that they don't have filters here). It is getting late and Caden has to go to bed, so I slip away for a few minutes. When I return, Brad and Jaedino have left, the sink is in pieces, there is dirty water everywhere! Aye Yay Yay! I was pretty sure that they had just abandoned me. Brad came back shortly and informed me that Jaedino had broke a gasket putting the sink back together and that we needed to call a plumber, tomorrow. Jaedino was also leaving town the next morning, so he wasn't going to be any more "help"! (All joking aside, Jaedino is a great guy and really does help quite a bit!) What a day!
We get our sink back the next morning after Brad brought his intern to our house to help us call a plumber and to be a translator. There was a clog, and that clog was causing the water to drain in a manner that it never had before, which was through that hole with no PVC fitting. I think we are in business again! Wahhoooo! I believe the lesson here is that even when things are at their worst, keep in mind, when the water is pouring from under the sink, it's about time for them to get better! :)
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| Kitchen before Jaedino |
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| Kitchen after Jaedino |
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