Once in a while there are those days when something happens that turn out to be a blessing and a curse.

I was sitting in the bedroom this evening, surfing the net with the tv on in the background. As I sat there I heard a strange noise. Now we've had a mouse problem of and on lately, especially when the weather gets really cold. I started to listen more closely...it almost sounded like dripping water. I was too far away from the kitchen or bathroom to hear a sound like this. It's not like the tinkling noise you hear in the pipes when the heat comes up. This sounded like a drip, drip, drip. I'm looking around - I don't see water anywhere. Then I looked up at the ceiling in the corner by the closet. Is that a stain on the ceiling? I got up to get a closer look - it looks like the ceiling is wet but no water dripping. Then I noticed the ceiling starting to buckle. Crap! There must be a leak in the apartment above.

I know work was being done in the apartment above me today. Maybe someone left the water running. I sent one of my kids upstairs - no water running and none on the floor. Great! It's in between the floors. I called the landlord who came running up the stairs to take a look. As soon as he saw the ceiling he ran to get the tall ladder to get up closer to the ceiling (I have very high ceilings). He felt the ceiling - yup, it was soft and mushy. We had to get a bucket and then he poked his finger through the ceiling when all this water came out...whoosh! It took several minutes for the water to drain. Then he started to pull the ceiling down. Eventually he had to cut a large square out.

You can guess this was the cursed part but here's the blessing; if the leak had been a few inches further to the left, it would have started to leak in the closet, all over clothes. I'm not usually home on Saturday evenings - here I was, home, in the bedroom so I could hear it before it burst through the ceiling. Last but not least, the leak could have started in the middle of the night - over the bed. Thank god it wasn't over the bed! I can just imagine being woken up with the ceiling haven fallen on me, soaking wet.

So you see, sometimes things turn out to be a blessing AND a curse. Now I just need to get the big hole in my ceiling repaired...

As always,
TOO