Two Adults, Three Children, Lots of Noise...
The verdict. We had no less than 2 cracked pipes directly underneath the upstairs bath, and one of them was not a 'sewage' pipe and would have had to have been replaced at some point anyway! So, we now have 2 new pipes, a new bathtub faucet and knobs (since they were leaking into the wall)....and a giant 3 foot by 1 foot hole in the ceiling of our living room!
Plumber repair completed - check!
Sheetrock repair / Painting - to be determined!
It's the little things that you learn to appreciate...like having a roof over your head that doesn't leak...or better yet, a ceiling that doesn't fall down on your head, or your electronic equipment! You see, we've been having an 'issue' with water randomly dripping from the ceiling in our living room, right in front of the area where our TV and stereo and gaming equipment sit. It started in October of 2006, and has randomly happened several times since then. We've alerted our landlords of this little problem several times, but each time, it's gone ignored, since the water would suddenly stop dripping. But, last night, about 45 minutes after baths had been taken, the drip started again. And, it continued for 2 hours, progressively getting worse, until we finally called the management company at 10:15PM! And, as I figured, they told us to turn the water off, and they would deal with it 'in the morning'. I was OK with that; did I have a choice really?
So, my morning started at 6:15 when I had to put shoes on to run outside, into the rain, to turn the water back on. Remember, its the little things...being able to flush a toilet, brush your teeth, take a shower... By 7:30, we were all racing around getting ready for school, work, etc., all the while thinking that we'd be getting a call at any moment that a plumber was enroute. But, by 11AM, I still had no call, and had to use the restroom badly :( Thankfully, after several attempts, I finally spoke with the landlord about our little situation, and she quickly apologized saying that she thought her hubby had forgotten to call a plumber this morning. You think?!?!?
So, here I sit, with no water, waiting on a plumber to check & diagnose the problem. Michael & I think it's a pipe, since we can hear water dripping upstairs, and the leak all but stops when the water is turned off. But, a repair, underneath an upstairs bathtub doesn't sound like any small feat! So, we're thinking that by nightfall, we will probably have, at the very least, a huge hole in the ceiling of our living room, and, I'm guessing, still no water! But, what do I know? I'm not a professional plumber...I'm just guessing...and I'm really, really hoping that my guess is completely wrong!!! Living with no water for even 1 more hour isn't my idea of fun!
Well, I have a cute picture and a post that I've been working on for like 4 days, but I can't seem to get the picture to upload properly. So, my post sits in the 'drafts folder' awaiting the picture. And I sit & ponder switching back to Blogger (gasp!) because I can't seem to get any of my pictures to post properly!!! I know how it's supposed to work, but it just doesn't, and that's the most exasperating thing in the world!!!!
So, what's stopping the switch? The templates! I can't stand the template choices that Blogger has. And since my hubby isn't a website designer, I can't just sit down and modify it at-will. So, I'm waiting on him to sit down with me to see if we can figure out how to make a new Blogger page look pretty and more "Me" :) A friend has given him some pointers, but finding the spare time to play around with it is a different story.
Which ultimately means that my unfinished blog post will sit in the drafts folder until I (1) get the stupid picture to post correctly, or (2) we design a pretty Blogger page and I switch back. I'll keep you posted...pun intended!
Yesterday, which happened to be a Sunday, we slept in. Our original plans included attending church for the first time in 2 months (the holidays, traveling, having visitors - they all wreak havoc on our getting to church on Sundays, so we usually take a break), but due to a funky cough that Morgann has, and knowing that the children's church ministry would more than likely call us out of service to take her, we decided not to even waste the energy of getting up & dressed, so...we slept in :) When we finally crawled out of bed around 9:45, we decided to go out for lunch, hitting a nearby park afterward. The kids love this particular park because the playground system is 3 stories tall! Even Ian will make the dangerous climb to the top to come flying down 1 of the 2 slides - and he's my cautious kiddo! Anyway, while at the park, I had the random desire to hit the library. Cori at Mommy Stories had suggested that I read the book The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, as it made her cry & cry - maybe she thinks I need to cry too? (Ok, so she said it was a really good story and a must read that she just knows that I will enjoy, but it's more fun to think that she just wants to make me cry!) Anyway, I've been pondering the need for a good book, so my 'random desire' actually had a motive behind it. And, since we haven't been to the library in a few months, we decided to make it a family trip!
When we entered the doors, Michael commented on how long it had been since he'd been to a library, then commented again when he saw all of the computers. He said the last time he went into a library, they had micro-phish...remember that? (Yeah, that's what I thought too...it's been wayyyyyy too long, honey!) Anyway, because I had an ulterior motive to this trip, I settled Michael into the children's department with all 3 kiddos, then made my way up the stairs to find my little treasure. Fortunately, it took only a few minutes to locate my book, so I headed back downstairs to relieve my hubby of his parenting duties, allowing him to browse the grown-ups section for a bit. After being gone for only a few minutes himself, he reappeared book-less, telling me that he really didn't need a book right now, since he'd just started reading Op Center by John Grisham. The kids were a different story.
Based on previous experience, I limited the kids to 2 books each, promising a return trip next week to get a few more. This ruling was met with utter dismay by Alex and Morgann who usually end up with no less than 10 books each, but they promptly agreed when given another option - they could leave with no books at all if they wanted to keep whining. Then something came over me...stupidity maybe? I decided to offer both Morgann & Ian the option of getting their very own library card. I can't imagine why I would suggest such a thing, but I did! I mean, don't I have enough stuff in my wallet without adding 2 more cards to the stack???? Can't all of the kids continue to just check-out their books using my card? Anyway, both kiddos became wiggly with excitement, so I quickly filled out the necessary forms and we headed to the Customer Service desk with books in-hand.
This is when Ian became maniac. Apparently 3 year old patience don't exist when at the mercy of a librarian (or, I guess, anyone for that matter!). I, of course, had chosen the librarian that had very limited knowledge of a keyboard, as it seemed to take her forever to type in our information. Ian started doing a little dance, all the while chanting, "I want it, I want it, I want it". Squatting down to his eye level, I explained to him that the nice lady was going to give him his card first, but he was going to have to be a little patient. Again with the patience, really? Yeah, he wasn't going to have it. His dancing & chanting because stomping and squealing, attracting way more attention than I felt was necessary. But, I figured this little episode might help the librarian to move a little faster...completely wrong assumption on my part! I think it made her more nervous because I think she actually slowed down! So, there we were, watching Ian begin what turned out to be a huge temper tantrum, simply because the poor lady behind the counter couldn't type well enough to suit his needs at that exact moment. And, while Ian did his 'thing' on one side of me, Morgann standing on my other side began continually asking me, "when will it be my turn, mommy?"
All I could do was to smile and simply say to both of my children, "When this nice lady is finished typing, you'll get your card and we will leave", secretly hoping that she would get the hint and HURRY!!! After no less than 2 or 3 minutes of screaming, crying, and begging - not me, the kids! - we were finally in possession of the cherished library cards. Next stop? The self-checkout - because the kids must do it themselves, you know!
And while all of this was taking place, all I could think was "This is why I don't come to the library with all 3 kids by myself!" Michael just smiled a knowing smile, grabbed my hand, and we left with no less than 11 books in hand :) Then another thought struck me - we should make this a weekly, family trip - and so it will be, for at least 1 more week.
What is a good day in my world? Here I will share...a day in which I get to sleep in just a bit (til 9:30AM thanks to kids that decide to play instead of fight), I wash/fold/put away 4 loads of laundry (and still counting), the kids are so quiet that we can go into James Avery and receive a compliment from the lady behind the counter that my "children are very well behaved" - a rarity to be honest! -, we hit a park that happens to be completely empty and play for a good 30 minutes (the longest I could stand the freezing, cold wind that was whipping around), followed by a quick trip to Starbucks for hot chocolates and a shared giant cookie, then home for more playtime in which my children continue to play well together with no tattling or melt-downs :) This, my friends, is a good day in the land of Jennifer!
So, here's wishing that all of your days in 2008 are just as good as mine was today. Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!
