Shower Me

You know how I was feeling rather trepidatious about all the things that could possibly go wrong for Jonna'svisit and our baby shower?  Yeah.  There was one thing I didn't think of:  a plumbing emergency.  A SEVERE plumbing emergency.

Fortunately, it happened on Friday, not Saturday, or we would have had to hold the baby shower in the sweltering expanse of Central Park.  Even so, it was not quite ideal for a day that was meant for party preparations.  Nor was it a great impression for a first-time visitor to our apartment (welcome to New York!  There's a toilet in our hallway!).

What happened was, on Friday morning, I got up and my husband told me that the tub was full of standing water.  As he hurried out the door to go to work, I called the super, who came immediately and tried to snake the drain, which resulted in the already dingy water becoming putrid and black, with large, unidentifiable clumps of detritus floating in it. 

When Jonna and my mom got up (shoehorning themselves out of the confines of our guest bedroom/nursery, where the air mattress took up every inch of available floor space, leaving the person in the real bed to climb over it in the dark, risking bodily harm to themself and the air bed's occupant during nighttime ventures to the loo -- again, welcome to our happy home!), they were greeted by my super, who stood tsking over the foul water.  We couldn't shower, of course, so we all took up posts in the living room while the super called a plumber, who said he would be there between 10 and 11 that morning.

Two and a half hours later, we were still in our PJs, still unshowered, with no plumber in sight.  Our to-do list for the party had not diminished, and, meanwhile, the dog was not himself and took care to vomit all over the floor, threaten explosive diarrhea, and/or dry heave at regular intervals.  Eventually, Jonna and I ventured out, unshowered, to the grocery store to get the food buying out of the way while Mom stayed behind to monitor the dog and hopefully let the plumber in.  We returned around one to find out that the plumber had arrived, dropped his tools in the hall, and headed out "to get a sandwich." 

He finally reappeared some 45 minutes later.  After over an hour of doing whatever it is plumbers do to try to dislodge tub clogs, he started emitting sounds of frustration and disgust.  We overheard him calling someone and telling them to bring "the big snake", pronto. He disappeared again, apparently to meet his big-snake-bearing colleague at the curb.  We peeked around the corner to find that the toilets from both bathrooms were sitting in the hall.  Not a good sign.

He returned after another hour, this time with backup and with a machine that looked like it could drill to the core of the earth.  Even with the heavy artillery, it took forever for them to dislodge the obstruction that had built up in our circa-1927 pipes.  You know what it was?  Paper towels.  Paper towels that had been FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET.  Clearly, we don't throw paper towels in our toilets, but it seems that our cleaning service does.  Thanks, cleaning service!  We'll send you the bill!  Also, it seems that a yeti had been showering in our bathroom without our knowledge, because the clump of black hair that they pulled out of the drain was approximately the size of an American bison.  (Note: neither of us has black hair.  IT WAS NOT OURS.) 

In any event, after seemingly ages more, the toilets were back in place and the tub had drained, so I donned a HazMat suit and scoured every surface of both bathrooms.  Finally released from the apartment, the three of us headed out to get some more errands done and to sit for pedicures and generally breathe a sigh of relief that all was back to normal and we could shower when we got back home. 

The day of the shower went remarkably smoothly; we went out first thing in the morning to buy the cupcakes, then scurried back inside to escape the crescendoing heat.  We fixed the food (a crudite platter with roasted red pepper and spinach dip; a cheese board with brie, comte and port salut; a selection of olives; cucumber and Boursin finger sandwiches; mixed berries) and got things set up for drinks (Bellinis and white cranberry/ginger ale punch) and generally prettied the place up.  And blasted the air. 

Then people started to arrive (including Cathy and Kathy and Adam and lots of other terrific friends who don't have blogs, for reasons that remain unclear (come on, you guys!  SHARE YOUR LIVES WITH THE INTERNET!  You know you want to.)) and it was big, big fun.  There were no shower games or anything, just conversation and company and Adam being an adorable flirt, and the dog showing himself to be pretty good at calming down and chilling out with a small person around (thankfully, the dog's gastrointestinal issues of Friday had abated).

Adam and my husband became fast friends; at one point, my hubs had to go walk the dog, and Adam stood, stricken, in the foyer, going "Doe?  Doe?  Back?"  We reassured him that he'd be back, but Adam kept vigil in the foyer until, finally, the key turned in the lock and "Doe" had returned.

Here we are with Adam (look!  we can be parents, too!):

And then we opened presents.  Lots of very, very awesome presents (and lots of super-unflattering pictures of us were taken while opening the very, very awesome presents, so unfortunately you will only get to see a select few, which were pre-approved by my other half):

(My mom and Jonna have lots more shots, including one of me and Jonna, and hopefully some where my decision not to blow-dry my hair does not appear as misguided as it does here.)

I guess it's hard to have a bad time when people are giving you presents (and orphanage donations, woo!) and you're eating cupcakes and chattering with some of your best friends, but this was a particularly wonderful weekend and a great party, even WITH the overflowing bathtub and being trapped here for the better part of a day and it being eighty thousand degrees out.  It was a perfect reminder that, when you have the right people around you, the conditions don't much matter.  And I couldn't feel luckier to have the friends and family I do, and to be able -- one day soon -- to introduce Noelle to all of them. 

Comments

[Kelley O]

You made me laugh out loud! Sorry about the plumbing crisis. The shower looked lovely. So glad it all worked out!

[Dianna]

I am so so sad I couldn't have been there with you! How amazingly fun that Kathy and Adam were able to come! The bathtub/plumbing issue doesn't sound so fun, but at least it happened on Friday and not Saturday :) BTW, you should check my blog... hee hee.

[JP]

Has anyone ever told you that you and your husband look like you belong together? I think that's the first picture I've seen of him... you totally fit! :)

And I loooove your dress. Precious.

Glad you had a fabulous shower. Those cupcakes look yummy!

[jjm]

Can we talk about the last photo where your husband is surveying his domain in a totally super hero-esque manner? He even has super hero arms! Mer, is Joe a super? Don't lie. Your secret is safe with me.

Plumbing problems AND dog vomit. Wow.

The puppy was all snuggled up with Adam... adorable!

So glad that the shower went well. It looked lovely. You looked lovely too, blow dryer or no. : )

[-R-]

I love jjm's comment about the superhero stance! It is so true!

The party looks like it was fun, and I think you look very pretty!

I love children's books, and have not even realized that I get to go out and buy 100 for myself, I mean my baby, now. Yay!

[Leah]

You almost had a showerless shower! Crazy!

Glad everything worked out in time, that there were cupcakes, and that you are so freakin' adorable.

[Kelly]

The two of you look very ready to bring home a little one of your own and Adam is adorable. I hope your trip comes very quickly from here.

Kelly

[jonniker]

HAHA, Leah, that's what Adam said. He was exceedingly proud of himself for the pun.

[rachel]

Forget everything else...I love your dress!! Are those your new pearls? You're so beautiful!

Pretty dress, cupcakes, friends, gifts and your own personal superhero? You lucky, lucky girl. I'm so glad you had a wonderful shower.

[Becky]

And to think, I totally thought you would be posting that everything was just fine & you didn't have anything to worry about! :)

Our toilet broke on the Thursday night before our wedding - we had 12 people staying with us that night (two of whom were pregnant) and they all had to use the bathroom in our master bedroom - meaning I got ZERO sleep. It was awful!

Thankfully, it started working the next day.
Becky
http://www.stinkylemsky.typepad.com/

[Danielle-Lee]

Oh NO! paper towels in the toilet! And dog puke. Ugh!
I'm so glad you posted pictures from your shower. You look stunning!

[Jessica V]

Glad your shower went so well.

That last picture is a hilarious. betwen your superhero husband and you seeming to have nothing on behind that box. Too funny!