Latest Adventures in Home Ownership

Today I had ambitious plans. I spent two hours doing yard work to get the front of the house looking normal-messy as opposed to absentee-landlord. I'd also hoped to get some cleaning done and to get done various errands, like buying more food, bringing things to Goodwill, picking up some stuff at Target.

On the bright side, I did sort through the cardboard box with seven weeks' worth of mail and dealt with everything except three stock statements (which can be ignored once moved to a different box). I also got a lot of unpacking done both from my six-and-a-half weeks in Cambridge and my five days in Pittsburgh.

Unfortunately, what kept me from leaving my house or cleaning anything involving water was that I spent the day with the plumber. Two problems with my plumbing were conspiring to make my toilet unwilling to flush. (Fortunately I suspected that it was up to something and tested it several times before attempting to use it.) Problem #1 is that the sewer pipe is old, as the house is old, and it is full of tree roots and such. Problem #2 was that the previous owners of this house were on the forefront of the mortgage crisis and ran out of money as they were renovating, so they cut some corners when they re-did the bathroom. The vent was installed incorrectly, so water backing up from Problem #1 caused an "air lock," preventing everything from draining properly.

I had Problem #2 fixed and now have 30 days in which to compare bids for fixing Problem #1. Because I didn't have enough to do?