After pictures are CURSED

So we were having our usual hectic dinnertime/bedtime/we're going to be late for basketball practice nightly ritual when there was a huge bang - crash - rattle somewhere near the front door of the house. I was the first to discover this clue:

It was on the living room floor at the base of the stairs - laying in a pool of a oily black goo. It seemed like some large and forgotten Christmas ornament - but I didn't recognize it... And I wasn't sure where it came from other than the fact that it had fallen from the sky.

Just then, Dave discovered the second clue at the front door:
I was becoming convinced that these were poltergeist-driven Christmas tree ornaments when Dave pointed out the pretty brass bell. This one had its own puddle of oily black goo -- but I thought ectoplasm was greenish.....

A few minutes later as I followed a trail of black goo along the floor of the foyer it all came together in a flash. I pointed up without looking (because I was afraid to).

Yep. The chandelier in our entryway just suddenly fell apart. Woo! As for the oily black ectoplasmic goo - our only explanation is also the explanation for the horrific corrosion on the base of this light fixture: water damage. Apparently when the sewer backed up and flooded the upstairs bath and this ceiling... and again when the water from the shower seeped through the ruined floor in that bathroom and flooded this ceiling... and again when the shower was leaking... and again when the roof was leaking.... The pretty brass ball that I found on the living room floor tonight had been filling up with water all along. Ewww.

So there it is. I finally take the time to post after pictures of one of our projects... while directly below our completed project - just a subfloor away, no less - something was teetering on the brink of disintegration. CRASH!

No, Virginia. There is no such thing as an after picture. There are only so far and at the moment pictures.

Unexpected addition to the to-do list: Shop for a chandelier.