Do a Dirty

Today, this Saturday, we WILL get ALOT done. Today, the schedule is wide open. Today is the exact type of day we shouldn't squander because we've got plenty coming up and I want to enjoy all of our activities, not stress about what work I need to do.

Today I get up, eat and head outside. I rake and rake and I get it all done. This is probably the 4th major raking attempt I've undertaken and well, I left the worst for last. I had to do the poop section. That's right, I gave up control of this issue months ago. I have plenty of other concerns and I just can't do EVERYTHING so the poop issue stopped being my issue. Now by poop issue I'm referring to the poop that the dog leaves behind in a designated area of the yard.

Got the section bagged and while it was probably one of the more disgusting experiences I’ve endured, it could have been worse. Most of it was not "fresh" so I was grateful for that.

Then to the side of the house, the last portion to do. Oh my, that is the NEW poopin' place. My gut is in knots, I'm totally grossed out. The anger is swelling, I don't want to do this, I don't want to be the ONLY one doing this. Oh well. I get through it.

Now for the fun. I get the shrub trimmer out. I go to town. All those nasty vines plaguing our fence are gone. Gone and bagged. I even sprayed the area to to ensure they don’t return. YIPPEE. But I'm not going to stop there- I want to trim to size those 4 six foot bushes along the fence. I do and they look so much better. Now to bag them.

Ahhh... but the kids are hungry and hubby's not back yet. I feed them and head to the bathroom. I notice the water level is not right. I flush the toilet and it fills to the top. I decide to checkout the other and while I'm gone, lil' guy lets out a blood curdling scream. What happened? Oh my. I RUN. The bathroom is flooding, big kid says he told lil' one not to flush but...

I get every towel, EVERY towel and get the situation under control. I make various attempts to contact hubby and finally he makes it home with the Drain-o. We do our best, the problem is not going away and is in fact coming out of the tub now. Drain-o is on all the toys in the tub- toys have to be thrown away, we make plans to sleep at my brother's and try to wrap things up.

But in the meantime I still had those branches, somewhere among all of that- I bagged all the shrub cuttings and cleaned-up the backyard. We still have to clean-up the house (the kids had free reign while I was working), cook the defrosted dinner, push through the load of laundry that was in process (praying that doesn't become something we regret plumbing-wise and then the phone rings). It is a trusted friend who knows a plumber. I call and get voice mail. We decide to head over to brother’s once a few more tasks were handled (vacuming, etc) and I feel awful. I stink and I don't want to do anything but crash in my bed. Gathering up all our necessisities, my allergies are kicking in and headache is ensuing (a headache that plagues me today).

Next day the problem resolved itself. Yeah. Then lil' one went and did a dirty after Church (when guests were over and right before we were heading out the door) and the problem reared its dirty face again. There are bigger problem now to fix- yuck. We call the contact again and find out we can save $100 if we wait for them to come the next day. Well.... $100 is $100. We continue to do our business in the yard (it was clean, was being the key word). Oh well, we bagged the gross stuff....

Would you have waited another day for a $100 savings? Would you have tried to resolve the issue yourself at the first sign of problems?

Not that it is all over with- I am happy and relieved that it only costs $100 (+ the drain-o) and that now our pipes are clean.