That Time My House Was Mostly Clean and the One Time it WASN'T

Out house is mostly put together and it was super clean after having Jeff's family come visit, so I documented the brief clean moment. Come along for a house tour! 

This is our front door which opens up to our office/sitting area. There is a bathroom in that little nook to the right. 

You know, I didn't think I'd begin our house tour with this story, but we're here, so let's go there. Remember that bathroom I mentioned in the picture above. Quietly tucked away in a discreet corner of the house? When we were about three weeks into our time in this house, we made the regretful decision to fill both of our upstairs baths at the same time so the older boys and younger boys could clean up after dinner with minimal quarreling. 

I was downstairs finishing up the dishes while Jeff was on bath supervision. I heard Jeff tell the boys it was time to get out and I heard the water begin to drain after they had pulled the plugs. I had never been downstairs when the drains were pulled in the bath, but it sounded like a loud burst of water was falling right onto our main level. I didn't immediately think too much of it because the house was new to us and we were still getting used to the different sounds and way things work. 

I kept hearing it and it seemed to be getting louder. I stopped doing the dishes and realized it sounded like there was an active waterfall in the downstairs bathroom. I rounded the corner and saw water seeping out from the bathroom, into our office/sitting area. 

Worse yet, not only did I see water, I could see clear evidence that this wasn't just water, but toilet water all over our floors and making its way towards my two brand new rugs. 

In shock and confusion, I trudged through the toilet water to peek inside the bathroom where I found our toilet spewing water without any hint of slowing down. I screamed up at Jeff but he couldn't hear me, so I ran over to turn the water off on the toilet. That did nothing. Water was still practically shooting out of the toilet, making its way all the way into our living room and kitchen now. 

Jeff finally heard my screams and the boys started throwing every towel we've ever owned down into the flood, with water still coming. The water made it all the way into our kitchen, and wrapped around to the other side of our house INTO THE PANTRY! 

Finally the water stopped and we were able to begin damage control. With the help of every single one of our towels, two sopping wet rugs that soaked up most of the water, and bucket after bucket of mopped up water, we finally hit dry land again. It was the grossest thing I have ever dealt with. Our house smelled like a port-a-potty for 3 solid days after (maybe more, we may have just gotten used to the smell). 

Come to find out, our main line had a clog in it, so when we emptied both the bathtubs, the water had no where to go except for up the toilet that was closest to the main line. So basically two full tubs of water plus a bowl of clogged toilet remnants were emptied straight onto the main floor of our house. Right after I had cleaned all the grout on our main level, mind you. It was tragic. 

I'll have you know the rugs have been shampooed 4 times, pressure washed, pressure washed with shampoo, and then shampooed 2 more times before they were returned to their rightful locations. Though I still cringe a little bit whenever I happen to lay down on one of the toilet rugs. 

So look at these pictures and imagine the scene covered in toilet water, and then appreciate with me the fact that it no longer is a toilet overflow. 

 Here we have the living room in its natural habitat a.k.a. supporting budding Minecraft addictions.

The pantry is in the nook to the right. Toilet water was all in here all the way around the corner into the pantry. Disgusting!!

Now we can leave the horror of the toilet story as we escpae to the upstairs. Here are the beginning workings of our playroom/guest loft. Come sleep on an air mattress at our house! :)

My crowning achievement is Jeff and my bedroom. I love, love, love the way it turned out! 

The boys' rooms are still unorganized and undecorated but we have a blue wall and an orange wall to get us started. 

It's hard work to put a house together! Even harder work to put it together, have it flood, and then have to deep clean everything and put it together again!