Bigger and Better

On Monday my Brother in law was taking a shower upstairs and I was in the basement sewing. Once out of the shower he came down to the kitchen and called me up there to take a look at a 'leak' there was shower water running down the walls of the kitchen. Awesome.
We have a burst/broken pipe of some sort. So we cleaned up the water and the maintenance guy comes over to check out the situation (it is nearly impossible to get a maintenance guy at your townhome where we live... so it was amazing when he showed up within 10 minutes!) He look one look at the tub and said-- well, there's a rotted hole in the side of your tub, it needs to be replaced. Yes, well, you knew about the hole-- i told them about it when i moved in, they said we weren't getting a new tub, deal with it. Whatever, the hole is near the top of the tub though, and not the cause for gallons and gallons of water in my kitchen, in my opinion, but they say the tub needs to go... so the tub is going.
And while he was there... we have this sink that we have been trying to get someone out there to look at for about a month. It doesn't drain. Like at all. We've tried chemicals and snakes and everything, won't budge. The guy says, yeah... I can fix that in the morning when I come back to tear out the tub.
We won't have a shower for a few days. I reminded the guy that this is our only bathroom in the house and our only shower... and we really enjoy showering regularly. Ugh. But we can deal, showering at my parents. Even still...
This is a BIG mess.
The guy comes back the next day to try to unplug our sink, no luck. They try to use a big high pressure something or other to blow out the lines... and blow out the seals instead. whatever is clogging the sink is stuck GOOD, and now that they have blown all the seals (and blown smelly, chemical, crusty water all over the room) they are going to have to tear out and replace the entire vanity and sink.
Oh, and also because our bathroom is completely tiled, they would have to tear all the tile out and re-tile the whole room.
They never got to the tub that day... so a few more days without a shower and...
The mess gets BIGGER.
We clean every item out of the bathroom. The shower curtain, the towels, the shelf, and every last hair product, cotton swab, and bobby pin. Empty bathrooms are loud, by the way. They come the next day to remove the vanity... only they can't remove it, so they break it in half to rip it off the wall. Awesome, right? Once the vanity is out they try again to clear whatever it is clogging the sink up... no luck. And the 60 yr old pipes are crumbling as they try to proceed. Okay, maintenance man decides they are just going to have to replace all the plumbing. ALL of it. They didn't get around to tearing out the tub again (which if you are adding like I am you are realizing that 'shower in my own house date' is just getting pushed further and further back...) I asked Z if he stressed that this is our only bathroom and we really enjoy showering. He said he did, but... ???
And now we need to clean out our pantry, and all our kitchen cabinets along that wall in the main level below the bathroom... as well as the spare bedroom next to the bathroom (where we had been storing all the bathroom stuff we removed from that room. When removing our dishes last night, we found many of them wet or holding dirty mildewy water from the leak on Monday. I didn't realize water had made it into the cabinets, but once empty, you could definitely see water damage, and lots of it in the cabinets in the kitchen. I am just praying... PRAYING that they don't have to tear out cabinets and the kitchen as well. But... after this thing is over we have to wash EVERY SINGLE DISH IN OUR KITCHEN.
This thing just keeps getting bigger and BIGGER.
Last night during the kitchen emptying experience I about lost it. This thing feels impossible. It's frustrating and it keeps getting worse every day. We have such a small house that every room seems to be affected by it. I can't keep living with every room in my home torn up and in disarray. I am overwhelmed and losing it.
My husband (sensitive to the subtle nuances of my emotions as he is...) realized I was at a breaking point when I snapped at him and then collapsed on the couch sobbing about my ruined kitchen. He tried to reassure me that when it all was finished we would have pretty much a completely remodeled bathroom and maybe a kitchen. And at someone else's expense. One of the pros of renting is things like this are someone else's financial responsibility. The major con is they work on their schedule. But Z assured me that it will all be taken care of, and when it is... Everything will be BETTER.
So it will be at least the weekend before we have a bathroom again. And maybe a kitchen. I am considering moving in with my parents for a few days so I am not there to witness the further heartbreaking destruction of my home... You know, that and I really enjoy showering. By next week our house should be back and then we are going to have a massive dish washing party (ugh, remember how much I loathe dishes???) that you are welcome to attend should you feel so inclined. By then things should be better.
Right now, I just hope the mess doesn't get any BIGGER before it gets BETTER.