TDay Restrospection

You know those stories where the person begins "you're not gonna believe it even when I tell you..."

Well, that's how I feel I should begin this post. Wednesday morning I finally had my internet back, went for a great run,  finished all my grocery shopping, and was excited to get to work cooking, baking, cleaning, blogging, sewing, and listing!

Matt and I researched recipes together and decided on the ones we wanted to try and the ones we wanted to do just the same as always. I'd bought flowers for every room and had them in water. All our fine china and sterling silver was washed and dried and polished. I'd made my very own Turkey brine and had the bird chillin'. PW's Pumpkin Gingersnap Cheesecake was baking in the oven and I was peeling apples for my Caramel Apple Pie. Matt took a trip to Home Depot to get the last few things to finish up the "jobs" we wanted done around the house before hosting 15 people the next day....

And that's when it happened.

I was standing at the sink with a DULL silver peeler in one hand and a Granny Smith apple in the other when I thought to myself,

"I hear water running in the pipes."

"I hear A LOT of water running....fast!"

The sink wasn't on, no one was taking showers, I wasn't doing dishes our laundry. I walked out front where the kids were playing to see if a certain mischevious Munchie had turned on the hose, or possibly the spinklers....but he hadn't, so I went back to peeling my apples.

Now I'm no plumber, but even I know needless water doesn't just run through your pipes for long periods of time doing nothing. It has to be going SOMEWHERE. So as I peeled the rest of my apples, I got continually uneasy when the running water sound never subsided.

I walked out front about 10 minutes later to check on the kids again and I noticed a big puddle of water had collected on the concrete right under our kitchen window. Again, I wondered if the kids had used the hose or if the sprinklers had gone off at a random time, because there is also a big planter right in front of the concrete. But the water wasn't coming from the planter...as I looked closer, I could see the water was slowly seeping out of cracks in the rocks towards the base of the house.

UGH. Again...not a plumber, but this was not good.

That's when a giggle and huge grin came across my face. Because only just the day before my awesome, thurough, always thinking of me and the kids, Husband had lead me outside and shown me how and where to turn off the water to the house should I ever need to and he wasn't home. I marched over to the spot all official and proud and turned "Righty Tighty" as fast I could.

The running water sound stopped as did the pooling puddle of water and I had a momentary minute where I felt like Super Woman!

Then I felt sick, because 15 people were coming for Thanksgiving Dinnner in under 24 hours and I HAD NO RUNNING WATER! I called Matt, then the plumber, and to make a LONG story (kinda) short...

A pipe burst under the house and had flooded the foundation. Luckily it's a raised foundation....so 99% of the house was dry. We had water damage people here until 1AM Wednesday night pumping out the water. And then guys here at 8AM Thursday trying to find where the problem began and FIX it! We limped along on Wednesday with only cold water. But Thanksgiving preparation started to slow when I couldn't do dishes. At about 11PM, when one of the guys told Matt he had found a small leak in the cold water pipe too and we were going to have to be without water until everything was repaired, I knew hosting Dinner the next day was out of the question.

I'm crazy enough (some may call it stubborn) to have still made things work....washing dishes with boiled water and inviting the plumbers in for food. But when I knew we wouldn't have toilets...yeah, that killed my stubbornness. I called my Mom a little before 7AM yesterday and broke the news she was hosting Turkey Day. Both my parents were awesome about everything and we ended up having a great Thanksgiving.

Now we have 2 huge de-humidifiers running non-stop for the next 72 hours to suck everything bone dry and make sure we don't get any mold! One is in the middle of the kitchen and one is outside the girls bedroom window. Let me tell you, these things are LOUD! Luckily once you are in our bedrooms, they are loud only in a white noise sort of way. All 3 kids went to sleep without much trouble last night.

So THAT is why I haven't been back like I promised. I think I jinxed myself with the title of my last post. The "Almost" part was just too good for the universe to pass up, I guess. I'm finishing up some orders today that need to ship ASAP and then I'll be back to post "Thankful Thursdays!"

I can't end with out clarifying....despite all this craziness, I still LOVE our new home and have so much to be THANKFUL for! My kids are beautiful, healthy, happy, and smart. I have awesome friends and an over the top supportive family. My husband is not only HOT, but also my best friend who makes me laugh (when I want to scream) and above all else, a Heavenly Father that is in control and has me (and us...and our lives) exactly where he wants them to be!

I am actually a little "thankful" that all this happened just so these lessons could be reinforced for me right before the holidays!