Eureka!

It only took:

• 2 homeowners
• 10 assorted family and friends
• 6 or so little kids
• two wonderful contractors
• more than two years
• a stethoscope

but, we have found the water leak.  We homeowners were right in that we were sure it was somehow connected to the upstairs water supply, but wasn't all the way up there, since we didn't have any water damage in the walls or on the ceilings of the levels in between the bathrooms and the basement.  We were also right in that it wasn't coming from outside.  Even with the Biblical rain we had a couple of weeks ago, the basement stayed relatively dry.  Are you ready?  It was

a 1/4 inch plus sized break in the upstairs drain pipe, found by contractors listening to the wall with a stethoscope (knew that thing would come in handy someday), in the half-wall between my kitchen and my living room.

Wow.  Thankfully, it is in a spot that did NOT involve ripping out my cabinets, and was actually in a spot that was fairly easy to fix.  It is done, the basement is all patched up, the rest of my house is getting fixed up, so we can have the floor guy come in the next couple of months.

This place is gonna be too nice to leave.

Somewhat unrelated:  Thought we were out of the Bermuda Triangle, but my SIL came down with the chicken pox yesterday.  She is an EMT and got it from a patient she transported to the hospital.  She has two little girls who've had the vaccine, so here's a real test for it.  She's pretty sick, and I can't go help her because I'm pregnant.  Hope she gets better soon.

Completely unrelated:  Rainbow Trout's first loose tooth is really loose now, so I'd better get started on making a tooth fairy pillow soon.  She teethed late, so this is late to lose, too, so she's really excited to finally be loosing her teeth.  I'm dreading the orthodontic future.