Two weeks ago on Wednesday, my microwave quit working. I actually restarted the timer three times before I realized that my popcorn simply wasn't popping. I did what any quality overwhelmed mama did and ignored it. I literally pretended it wasn't broken. And I didn't heat up any leftovers either.
A day later, I went downstairs to get something from the tool bench and noticed a water stain on the basement ceiling. Upon closer investigation, I realized we had an active leak. I placed a bucket under the leak and put a call into the plumber. Plumber John came the next day. That pipe had been repaired before further down, so I asked him if he thought we had a problem with the pipe itself. He suggested we repair the section with the leak and watch the rest of the pipe over time. Replacing it's entire length would require tearing up the ceiling and he felt like the expense probably wasn't worth the risk. I agreed and had him fix one three foot section of copper pipe.
While he was there, I asked him to take a look at two temperamental toilets. One of them is the infamous powder room toilet which happens to be a ridiculously extravagant black electric flush toilet with a heated seat (The previous owner had a bathroom fetish, I think.)
This toilet has been a wonderful conversation piece at dinner parties and gatherings, but Plumber John explained that it would be more expensive to fix the motor in the toilet than it would be to replace the toilet with a "more standard" model. This is plumber code for, "This toilet is ridiculous, and I would never install one of these in my own home, even if it were free." Okay, so two new toilets. I can do that. But I would want them to be white and the sink in the powder room is black, so I would need to shop for a new sink as well. Ahhh. Too many decisions required for this battle-weary brain. I again decided to simply pretend that there wasn't anything wrong and wished him a good weekend.
None of these issues was a big deal in and of itself, but the combination of the nonworking 6 year old microwave, the leaky ceiling, two defective toilets along with a potential overhaul in decor of the powder room nearly put me over the edge. I walked across the street and announced to my neighbor that I was there for some sympathy. She obliged, we laughed together about it all, and she assured me that since things tend to come in threes, I was now safe.
Later that same night, Sticks ventured down to the basement to turn out the lights. He called, "Meliiiiiisssa, can you come here? Now?" Uh-oh. I ran down to see a nice puddle forming under a waterlogged drywall seam in the ceiling about four feet from the hole that had been cut for the repair earlier in the day. We grabbed a cooler to catch the water. I brought over a ladder and stuck my head up in the ceiling. I couldn't believe my eyes. There were three pinhole leaks, one of which was spraying sideways with pretty considerable force and volume! We drilled holes in the ceiling to help direct the water flow and placed buckets along the length of the pipe. I put another call in to the plumber. (And I texted my neighbor to let her know that the rule of 3's was apparently not in effect.)
Saturday morning, I realized that if the plumber wasn't able to make an emergency house call, we were going to need to turn off the water. We raced to get some laundry done, filled water bottles for drinking, and ran the dishwasher one more time before cutting off the water main.
I could no longer pretend that there was not anything wrong. Having no water was the straw that broke the camel's back. I was one little ball of stress most of the day on Saturday. My poor kids tolerated my short temper and did what they could to be helpful.
At one point, I put myself in time out and decided a little prayer time was in order. It was made abundantly clear to me that although I like to think I have things in control, the details of my life are not only not in my control, they need to be given over to the One who is in control. I prayed for the strength to make it through the weekend with a better attitude and felt comfort in knowing that my biggest problems were only related to household repairs. While annoying, these are minor issues in comparison to what many others are facing. An attitude of gratitude was just what the doctor ordered.
Plumber John returned to our rescue at 7:30 Monday morning. He decided it was now appropriate to replace the entire length of copper piping and set out to make this a permanent fix. I plan to pretend that the gigantic holes in my ceiling simply don't exist. :)
To provide some closure, I will say that a new microwave is now on order, toilets will be selected within a week, and the ceiling... that's just gonna stay that way for a while.
And while I really do feel like we are under a bit of attack (Sticks was home sick two days this week, Dr. Jiggles is pretty bummed about the broken finger that is keeping him from playing baseball, and my vacuum is about to bite the dust), we are truly thankful for all the smiles and fun and giggles that we're also having along the way.
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