When we bought a house built in 1920, I knew it would cost us more than a new home. I spent most of my at-home life living in a house built in 1919 and knew the bills were higher, there were more repairs, etc. I knew it was something I could handle.
And my house has decided I need to do some handling this weekend. Friday, I was all set to get the boys up, go to the grocery store, and try a new recipe for dinner that night. (I hate cooking so that's a big deal). We're doing fantastically with potty training so I'm not afraid to go out with Asher anymore and Elijah's all better after his bout of whatever last week and I was feeling a bit stir crazy myself. I hadn't actually gotten to the getting dressed part of our day when someone knocked on our door.
I hate when people knock on my door and I'm not expecting them. I can see out though they can't see in through my glass door thanks to some lace curtains and I could see it was a man in work clothes. I was hesitant but went ahead and opened the door. He was from the City of Abilene water and wanted to let me know I have a leak in my backyard. Like standing water running into the neighbors yard.
So, I put on some shoes and a sweater over my sleep shirt and go investigate. Yep. There's a very large puddle of water in the back and the whole area around it is damp or sodden. I head back in and call a plumber.
Mom calls to check something with me and reminds me that Austin made a good choice in buying water line insurance sometime last year. So then I call Austin asking about it. He can't remember anything about it except that we purchased it. In case you were wondering, that's not super helpful. However, being the awesome wife that I am, I had filed that paperwork and was able to find it and contact the company to file a claim. At 11 am they told me I'd hear from their plumber soon. So now I wait.
I haven't showered. The dishes are washed but the boys are nearly out of clean clothes. The boys are boys and kind of need baths. Leaving the house is now WAY on the back burner. As are the rest of our plans for the day.
Around noon, the plumber calls and he's not sure when he'll be able to get to me, maybe 4 or 5 HOURS. Awesome, that's exactly what you want to hear when you've got a water leak.
They finally show around 3.30 and inform me that yes, I have a leak (thanks) and they'll need to shut off the water to let it soak in before they can dig up the line. So we have to vacate for the night.
So now I'm packing up the boys, trying to remember everything, packing up myself and going nuts because I can't find my favorite shoes or my belt or my ditty bag (we call toiletry bags ditty bags in my family) and calling Mom to make sure she's ok with us crashing and calling Austin to inform him of the current status. It's SO much fun (read that sarcastically).
The boys are excited to be at Oma's house which means it takes them a while to settle down for the night. Austin's congested which means he moves a lot in his sleep. The bed is smaller than ours at home and shakes like crazy when anyone moves which means I sleep very little. So we're all up about 7am.
My hope is that everything will be fixed today and I'll be back in my own bed. Sadly, I'm mistaken.
We're getting a whole new water line (yay!) but it might be MONDAY before they finish (the guys are coming to work after church on Sunday (awesome)) so we're at Mom's again in the rickety bed with the excitable children and the congested husband and the wife who's still having aches and pains from the dental work done 10 days ago.
And Austin had to go back to work for a few hours this evening for some stuff that needed fixing. And he's working from here, too.
And the toddler screamed all through his bath and insisted on having about 8 stories read to him at bedtime.
And then the baby ate so much he threw up. So now he's sleeping in the buff.
I tell ya, it's been a hell of a month!
The good part of everything is: we have a house to shelter us, we have family to take us in, we have food to eat (and eat and eat and eat...) and clothes to wear (most of us...I knew I should have packed extra pjs for Elijah) and access to medicines (when we remember to take them). We are so much more fortunate than so many people. It's not hard to get bogged down in all the junky stuff that's been going on around here for the past few weeks (dental work seriously started in mid-December and isn't done yet) that it's easy to forget to see the good parts of it. My boys are happy and healthy and warm and safe and loved and so am I. We have full bellies and warm beds tonight.
And a house that needs special handling. Constantly. Good thing we're here to take care of it.
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