Spelling is important.....

so, here's the latest.
i return from a great visit to newfoundland early in the new year. partner and i had been noticing some weird stuff about the upstairs bathroom  for a week or so before i left for the trip, but what the heck.... probably nothing to worry about.....
WRONG!
about a week after my return, i am up in my study working away, grading, doing email, whatever. i head down for a last cup of screaming hot tea before i turn out the lights and head off to sleep. i'm noodling around in the dining room, poking at the mail and other stuff i have on my table, and i hear this TAP TAP TAP  sound, although it's almost a  WET sounding tap, if you know what i mean.... kind of a  SLAP SLAP SLAP. or a  SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT..... so, i look left and right and finally ( !! ) up and there in all its soaking glory is a large flap of my dining room ceiling hanging in a surprisingly  symmetrical triangle ( tell me, how does this happen?? the triangle shape i mean.... i have a clue about the soaking part) and dripping with a remarkably regular rhythm. i gasp and curse and run to grab towels and buckets and plastic.....  first,  get a bucket under the damn leak and get the water that has accumulated  on the hardwood floor cleaned up asap..... then put a towel in the bucket because the SPLAT sound is even louder now..... sheesh.  i then go and  fill many containers with water and hurry downstairs to turn off the water valve in the basement. then i get plastic down under the bucket.... it's a good thing i am a flexible gal because i had to call on my best contortionist skills to get this task done without adding more water to the floor.

ok, immediate crisis averted, i settle down to sleep downstairs to monitor the situation after i have given the quick and dirty version to partner who has long since gone off to bed...... 

in the morning we call the plumber and i go to work.  partner and i text through the day.  plumber arrives and puts a new seal under the commode. flushes s dozen or so times and pronounces it ok.
i get home, the triangle is dripping again. partner is quite hard of hearing and cannot hear the SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT. we repeat the ritual of water containers and then turn off the valve again.
luckily, we left all the buckets and plastic in place..... aren't we proactive??
next day, plumber returns,  so, i guess it wasn't the seal on the toilet, heh heh heh..... 
he proceeds to go up through the ceiling and check out the bathtub drain. yup, that's it. he wrestles with that for an hour or so, replaces the gasket and now all is well again.
he does suggest that we make sure we have checked the bath for any leak areas.....
partner texts me.... "on your way home pick up some caulk ( spelling is important)"
funny. i text back and say i'd be happy to bring home some caulk. ha ha. i spend the evening caulking the seals on the tub. so far so good, although i have to say that this piecemeal approach to repair really vexes me....
i go to the basement and notice that the handle on the valve is now leaking. SIGH.
call again the next say. i decide to go with the distraught spouse routine which gets us a different plumber who tightens and adjusts the water shut off valve and says it's fine. no charge, thanks to  my distraught spouse performance on the phone before i left for work.

now, we await estimates from contractors both of whom have told us that the bathroom  floor is spongy and uneven,  the fan is not working, hence the mould on the celing in the bathroom, the vent will need to be replaced and redirected, obviously the  dining room ceiling will have to be fixed, and, oh by the way, that shut off valve?? that needs replacing too.
i am embracing this  as an opportunity for a long overdue bathroom renovation.
and i am hoping that i can learn to trust the wisdom of the specialists who do the job.
quite the intriguing beginning to this new year.
time to bow to the absurd.