And now for something completely different....not

Just in case anyone thinks I may make up the dramas in my life ('cause I know it's tempting), I took the little one to school this morning, left a note for my mother telling her how to work my treadmill, did a stint at the school's garage/jumble sale sorting room, and returned home at 10am. As I walked in the front door, I stepped back 30 years when my mum said "You might want to look at this". Even in your 40's, when you hear that maternal suggestion, your heart sinks, you fear you're in deep doo-doo then remember you're in your own home and you haven't done anything remotely shameless for about 20 years, - and then the real fear sets in - if it's not my hussy behaviour, what?
I slowly ascended the stairs to the guest room, where I was met with her pointing to the ceiling, and a rather long bulging line in the plaster which looked suspiciously like water damage. She then pointed to a few other spots in the ceiling and held out a dripping wet rag, which she had used to mop up "the puddle" on the floor.

I may have mentioned that we have a tall house. Our bathroom is above the guest bedroom, and the shower (my husband's dream, being an American) is bigger than many English 3rd bedrooms. It seems it has been leaking for some time, and the water is now collecting in secret places, ready to make itself well and truly known. I called out the plumbers who, last year, had to drill through over fifty feet of tree roots (planted by the city) in our underground sewage pipes, to stop it seeping into our basement family room, (which also occured when family was staying).

Plumber comes out, takes a look at the marks, tells me it's all been leaking for quite a while and we need to "have the ceiling opened up". It took me a few seconds to register; rather like the feeling I sometimes get when my blood sugar level drops and I start feeling shakey. (When you have done as many rehabs as we have, this type of news brings out the worst in me.)
He also said because there's probably mold in there, (a big allergen for me and one son) we need to get it done ASAP. The plan is to have "restoration specialists" (ie. water damage people) come in, cut a huge hole in the ceiling, and inspect and treat any possible mold, which, as I discovered on reading our policy today, isn't covered by insurance. Then we get the plumbers in to mend whatever is broken in our shower, then we get another company in to dry wall and plaster the ceiling over.
We have my mum staying for another 2 weeks!!!! The only other unused room is on the top floor - an unbelievable 70 stairs from our basement family room. Even I don't want to do that.

I can't even think about organising this till the weekend as we have a double bed, two night stands and a chest of drawers to relocate. I could totally implode over this but my husband keeps talking about how much worse it could have been etc. so I am trying to keep a persective - like having been in Hurricane Katrina. My English upbringing tends towards the "Woe is me" but really, apart from the fact that my in-laws are supposed to visiting in a month, and my mother has nowhere to sleep, everythings' fine and dandy.
Ho hum - just another boring day!
Oh yes, and hubby's going to be travelling a lot in the next few weeks so guess who has to deal with it all. Guess I won't be sending out my book proposal for a while eh?