After staring at worsening water stains on the ceiling near the kitchen, Jim lifted the upstairs toilet off the pipe, and what did he see?

A cracked base. He considered doing the repair job himself (he who often says he enjoys any home improvement job except plumbing), but realized the magnitude was too great and so called a plumber. When the plumber came, I couldn’t help but think It’s always darkest before the dawn, for now we had a hole in our ceiling.

With Christmas Eve a mere two days away, I was ready to live with a hole in the ceiling for the time being and just explain the craziness to our family. But Jim was not so willing to compromise. He can now add “drywall mud and tape” to his resume.

And wouldn’t you know it, just as things were beginning to look brighter, behold, the kitchen sink was leaking and had formed a puddle underneath. Ahh, more plumbing work for Jim. So he put the ceiling on hold in order to fix the kitchen sink.

And now? You’d never know there was a hole in the ceiling a week ago.

And the water from the kitchen sink (and toilet) is staying in the pipes, where it belongs.