When it rains, the sh*#! hits the fan.

The kitchen remodeling is in its fourth week or so now. It got delayed a bit as we were waiting on an electrician. Our original estimate for the electrical work was $1600, which was about $1200 more than we had budgeted, so with some help, we got a deal from a friend of a friend and saved a lot of money.

In the meantime, “The Carpenter” (which is what I’m calling my brother Ted) discovered that our staircase to the basement was in rough shape, so he tore them out and rebuilt them.

Of course, everyone knows that house ownership works like that. You tear down a wall and you discover bad wiring, or water damage you didn’t know about. Which reminds me: last week, we had a significant leak in our basement, coming from the first floor bathroom. Plumber dude had told me a while ago that I needed to recaulk the tub, but since I’m partial to fun things, I put it off.

As The Carpenter has been installing the cabinets, he has discovered minor setbacks and surprises — a mismeasured cabinet, mysterious extra shelves, those sorts of things.

But nothing compares to the little surprise we discovered Wednesday afternoon. Our wasteline got backed up, thereby sending a few gallons of water out the lowest drain point in the house, which happened to be the basement toilet. I guess it wasn’t as disgusting as it could have been, but shit.