all backed up

The sewer backed up in our basement.

Go ahead, you can say it. Ewwwwwwwwwwww.

The real kicker is that this is the second time it's happened.

We kept noticing the house smelled bad. I went in the basement yesterday to get something and said out loud to myself, "It smells like...SEWER." I ran for the door that separates the new basement from the old (hard to explain but there is a cement knee wall on top of which sits a wooden wall because the old basement is half as high as the new basement and is mostly unusable) and turned the light onto every homeowner's worst nightmare. Raw sewage.

The upside of the poop in our basement...huh?? There is no upside! We tried to find one and all we could come up with was that we made fast work of cleaning out the new basement for the workers to come (because when you have sewage you will inevitably have workers) which meant we are now ready to start stacking some of the 3 cord of wood we have waiting in our driveway.

I'm sure I don't even have to go into the downside.

The plumber came and unplugged the drain (some roots had grown into the pipe 20 feet from the house) and charged us an exorbitant $619 for 2 hours of work. Perhaps I feel so bitter because he said, "We can justify the bill because I am working in sewage." I wanted to tell him to get lost, that we would find someone else, but that is like refusing to pay an outrageous $20 for a glass of water when you're dying of thirst.

"Sure! Charge us what you will! Fix our sewage drain so we can flush the toilet and shower!" (Those were not my exact words but you get the idea- our backs were up against a wall.)

Last time this happened we paid a crazy amount for cleaners to come and sanitize the basement. Tonight I decided that I would do it myself and save us hundreds more dollars.

I donned plastic bags secured with rubber bands around my old sneakers and trudged down with totes and garbage cans full of water, to which I then added bleach and slogged around in the mostly drained sewage for an hour, barely able to stand due to the low ceilings and never again wanting to consume food lest it make me poop, compelling me to flush the toilet into our basement.

The now bleached remainder of sewer water is currently sitting on top of the non-draining drain and I, showered and still shuddering, am wondering just how tough I want to be.