After last night's blog entry, Ed and I were on a high because of Gavin's great news. Nothing, we thought, could have brought us down from our prideful perch.
But boy - God sure did try.
I was just pulling the covers up to my chin when Ed came busting into our room. "I need your help. The water heater burst." We went running down the basement to find our basement filled with water. Like - a river. Like I should have put on rain boots. Like - I thought I could cry. (For the record - neither of us cried.) My first destination was the spot where I stashed ALL of the Christmas presents. Most of them are salvageable, thankfully - there were a lot of soggy boxes. Then I spied a box sitting in water and my heart sank. The box was filled with books saved from my childhood. Many of them had to be tossed. And another box was filled with photos of my life before this overrated stage called "adulthood" with all this responsibility and boring home maintenance issues. Lucky for me (and all who love me) the photos were okay. I think that would have pushed me over the edge. Ed and I are exhausted today - we were up much of the night vacuuming water and bringing unsalvageable things to the curb for the trash men. I think Ed got about an hour's sleep - and I got about four. Sleepwalking was the word of the day today.
So, the bad news - our basement stinks to high Heaven, we lost a lot of items and Ed and I got each other a $2,500 water heater for Christmas. The good news is, we made a plumber rich just in time for the holidays. And we have a new water heater with an alarm that will go off if it ever starts leaking water. Just what I've always wanted.
This morning, Gavin and I (accompanied by copious amounts of caffeine) went to the hospital to pick up his new wheelchair!! (Ironic, right? The day after he takes independent steps?) As ususal, he was very patient as they took the time to adjust it for him.
I love how it turned out - I chose black and hunter green. The new chair feels about fifty pounds heavier than his old chair - it will definitely be a challenge for me. But as Gavin gets heavier, so do the chairs! I chose to donate his old chair to the hospital and they said it will definitely be put to good use.
My favorite part of the wheelchair is his name! I specifically asked for all lower case - and the vendor checked with me a few times just to make sure that it wasn't a mistake. Nope! I think it's unique and I love how it turned out!!
On the way out, Gavin got a little Christmas present - this big fluffy bear!
When Gavin and I turned onto our street, we were so excited to see Granny's car!! We had a date with her to bake Christmas cookies, but with a plumber in and out all day - and no water - we scrapped the plan. She'll be away at my brother's this weekend, so she brought Brian his birthday present a few days early. Lincoln Logs!!! My budding architect is very excited... and so am I. Who doesn't love Lincoln Logs?
Silly Granny also gave him the funniest face that has eyebrows that go up and down!
Another hit for my silly little boy!
We changed our cookie plans into Gingerbread House plans. A much easier task since the house is already made. All we had to do was ice it and decorate it. I know I make it look effortless (ha!) but it's not as easy as it looks!
Especially when you have a very serious supervisor who insisted we stick with his design.
Just kidding - he was super supportive of his bumbling, non-baking, sleep-walking Mommy.
We all had a lot of laughs.
At the end of the day, I proclaimed success. Gavin got his new chair... Granny came by for a fun visit... we finished decorating the tree finally... we got a new water heater and my photos were spared... and we made this beautiful Gingerbread Mansion...
I'm currently taking bets for how long the Gingerbread Mansion will last.
Life is good. Even on a crazy, unexpected, "should be a bad" day.
Please have a water abatement/cleanup specialist look at your basement. The last thing you want/need is mold!
ReplyDelete