[2Jedismom]

It's going to be a mess, I can already tell. Steve tore up a big piece of the bottom of the cabinet in the kitchen and although it's very wet on the slab, the pipes are bone dry (dusty even). (They are about an inch and half off the slab, running along the length of the cabinets. It's gotta be coming from underneath.

When the plumber told me to contact my homeowner insurance, I knew it was bad. I felt sick.

[HairOfTheDog]

It will be a mess, but that is what homeowner's insurance is for. Good luck... I hope you get a good contractor to do the work! Take the bidder you feel confident in, not the lowest!

[Sam Cree]

I hope it won't be too bad, 2J.

I just started, for some reason, reading a book that I read and thought was stupid 10 years ago, Fallen Angels, by Niven, Pournelle and Flynn. But this time (in my old age) I am finding it, although still stupid, hilarious, smart and entertaining.

Here's a passage from page 27 that might cheer you up, 2J, as it's on a strangely familiar subject:

Thor carried an Irish tin whistle because, as he put it,you never knew when you might need one. After a few miles had passed and the talk had died down, he pulled it from his pocket and began playing. His fingers fluttered through a few traditional tunes: jigs and reels and such; then he started in on some serious filking. Sherrine joined in the singing. They played the "Friggin Falcon," "Banned from Argo," and the classic "Carmen Miranda's Ghost is Haunting Space Station Three."

"Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire"

But if it had to perish twice
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice."