*Lyrics from Last Night a DJ Saved My Life by Indeep. You may think you know this song, but after you hear my tale you’ll forever hear this song differently. Plus, broken heart sort of sounds like dirty floor, if you’re singing along. Go ahead, put it on, and start reading. You’ll thank me. ‘Cause away goes trouble down the drain.

The laundry room, nearly besmirched by refuse, lives to see another clean day.

Want to hear a story? Of course you do. Tuck in, kids.

So, we’ve been backsie-forthsie since our move from our pied-à-terre to our pied-à-deux. More like I’ve been back, and Jeff has been forth. Just after our move (the next day, to be precise) I got a call for some potential design work with my favorite crew, Innovative Construction Solutions. Naturally I hopped on a train to make it back for the meeting. (I’d do pretty much anything for those guys, and I think they’ve shown that the feeling is mutual.) I joined my sister (who is watching the house for us) at home for the balance of the week, awaiting Jeff’s arrival on the weekend (we were meant to celebrate my mom’s birthday as a family on Saturday).

Well, full house Saturday (this time that meant four adults staying here), and a few loads of laundry, and several showers later and our plumbing main backed up. On a Saturday night. During one of the most stressful weekends we’ve had in years. We noticed as I was cooking dinner (our family dinner was postponed for various reasons, least of which were that Jeff was and is working non-stop on a project that NEEDS his attention in full), and I ran to the basement to grab a seltzer from our beverage fridge. I found myself suddenly asking: Why were my feet wet? Why was the slop sink completely full? Why did this happen during the tricky part of cooking risotto and while Jeff was completely busy? What caused all of this tomfoolery?

Well, long story short, it was a minor obstruction likely exacerbated by lack of use. Our sudden onslaught of water usage jammed up a minor problem into a major one. We had to limit our water usage for the rest of the night, which was tricky but not impossible. We had the weekend emergency crew from Fletcher Sewer & Drain return at the crack of dawn (or in this case 8am because of the time change) to use some sort of water-jet implement to release the blockage and get things working normally again. (And, full disclosure, our pipes are and were fine. Just a normal, can happen to anyone kind of thing. Luck of the draw.) And we were saved by a young man named DJ. Professional, courteous, clean (scrubbing the floor on his hands and knees with sanitizing solution!), and ever so nice.

Thanks, DJ. You saved me from the dirty floor. (Locals, if you need emergency service, and you’re vexed, ask for DJ. He’s worth every penny.)

We ended up with a puddle instead of a flood by calling in professionals right away. And we ended up with a minor and temporary inconvenience rather than a major issue thanks to good luck, and good cast iron pipes. And we ended up both completely stressed out and relieved by the end of the weekend. So, yeah. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks ’round these parts. I’ll get you some install pics of the Pied-à-deux as soon as I can. For now, let’s just all rejoice that we have working plumbing, ok?

xoxo