Good ol' Murphy

You know Murphy. As in Murphy's Law.  Yeah, that Murphy.  I think he might be trying to kill my dream of a House on the Lane.  We made the decision to list the current house almost exactly 2 weeks ago.  We knew the water softener needed some repair--there was a salt bridge (kind of like a large clump of salt that hardened together), which took quite a lot of time and energy to fix.  So, Eric took on that monster task.

A couple of days after we listed, the water heater stopped working.  Called the plumber and he couldn't find anything wrong with it and said the water softener had fixed itself.  Out $100 for really nothing.

About the same time, I noticed a leak under the sink in the kids' bathroom.  Called the plumber again.  This time he had to replace a drain trap.  Out more than $100, but at least we had a good reason.

The night before (about 9pm) our open house last weekend, I discovered the basement toilet was leaking and had created a very large puddle on the bathroom floor.  This was at the same time Eric was laid up with food poisoning, and I'd gotten the whole house ready by myself for the open house (including pulling over 1,000 dandelion weeds.  No, really!) the following day.  I'd also watched not only my 2 kids, but also 2 of their friends all day.  Needless to say, I was not a happy camper when I discovered the toilet issue.  At least this one we could tackle on our own so no need to call a plumber. 

And finally, one evening earlier this week, after coming back from a meeting with one of the builders we're considering, I noticed a wet spot on the ceiling of the family room on the main level.  Seriously?!?!

 I investigated while Eric swore up and down and back and forth. I think it was his turn to not be a happy camper.  Another phone call to the plumber ensued with another empty result.  He couldn't find anything wrong and thinks it was somehow related to the earlier leak under the kids' bathroom sink. Cha-ching! Out another $100+.  I am seriously beginning to wonder if Murphy doesn't want us to move for some reason.

Tonight, I am tackling the stain left on the ceiling so we can be ready for our next open house this weekend.  After a super quick internet search to point me in the right direction, my littlest helper and I went to Menards and got this stuff:

After I tucked her in, I got to work.  Actually, it went pretty quickly.  And now the stain looks more like this (it's still a little wet and I've got one more coat to do, but already a huge improvement):

I'm happy with the result, but I'll be even happier if Murphy moves on to another house in another town far, far from here.