Yesterday was one of those days that comes along and smacks you in the face and gives you a dose of reality. It's been a fun break so far with A. and Z. We have gone to H2O Brien's pool, Westlands Park, swimming at the Purcell's wonderful pool and walked the dogs to the park several times. While Stucco "slaves away" at work everyday, his family gets to enjoy all that free time has to offer. Then along comes a day like Wednesday! I delighted in the fact that we were going to get to visit Nancy and the boyos at their house. Oh! How mistaken I was! We came home from a last-minute visit to A.'s pediatrician for a well check to an awful smell in our house. I followed the smell down to the laundry room and found 2 puddles of water and a large wet area under the furnace. I called Nancy and told her we were unable to come over due to the small flood. She happens to be the kind of friend who not only offers to come over and help clean-up the mess, but brings Qdoba (my fav) for lunch! I called Stucco and we decided to call the AC folks. While waiting for them to show, Nancy and I cleaned the water and mess out of the affected area. Right before the AC guy showed, I tried to do a load of laundry and this time it COMPLETELY flooded the laundry area. I realized that the AC unit itself was not causing the flood but the main drain from the house to the sewer was blocked. Now, we have been having construction on our street for the past 3 weeks (they were supposed to be done in 10 days) and yesterday was the day they pulled the sewer lids up and supposedly flushed them "clean." Funny how the drain from our house to the sewer became completely blocked at almost the very same moment. The foreman denied having anything to do with it but said if we could prove that it was them they would take responsibility. PROVE is the key word there. While I am stewing about the drain, Sal decided to pee all over the carpet in our bedroom and halfway up the stairs. It honestly looked like he hadn't peed in days. I nearly started a nervous breakdown, and would have, if Nancy hadn't been there to console me! After cleaning up the pee, I called Roto-Rooter to come snake the drain. The woman on the line assured me her guy would be there "within the hour." Two-and-a-half hours later Stucco and I start calling around to other services to get someone out. The RR guy finally showed and the drain was fixed. So now we have a fixed air conditioner (needed some new insulation and cleaning), snaked drain, new refrigerator and new cable modem (other lengthy stories!) Now if we can go on vacation to San Francisco without having to fix anything else, I will feel very lucky. Thanks again, Nancy, for your unending support! And thanks to Stucco for being able to provide so well for us!