By Small and Simple Things Are Great Things Brought to Pass...

You know that little hole in your sink?  It's called an overflow.  Obviously, to prevent overflow.  It's a small thing.  I find it annoying sometimes when I'm cleaning.  But whoever invented it was a genius.  And I'm positive they had children.  But they didn't have my children.  Because my small children, took this small hole, and did a simple thing, and made a really great (great as in huge, not as in wonderful) thing happen.

Right now we are sort of preparing for the next chapter of our lives.  Derrick will graduate in May.   We don't know where we are going yet, but it's becoming apparent that we won't be staying.  We've been getting our house ready to list on the market.  I mean I have been getting it ready myself.  Derrick is so close to finishing his thesis, but it's taking all his time and effort.  There aren't many big things, but there is a ton of organizing, de-cluttering, and cleaning before we feel ready to let people walk through. I've been plowing through my to do list.  Yesterday I decided it was time to go through the bathrooms and give them an amazing scrub.  I cleaned the kids bathroom, and then I had a great idea.  I locked it.  I would lock the half bath too. So everyone would have to go in our master bath.  That way I really only had one bathroom I had to keep up with while we were showing.  I started working on my bathroom.  Of course, Hayden came in needing to go. I sent him downstairs.  Halle followed him.  A while later they came back upstairs and started playing.   Normal stuff.

I did a few more things (laundry, etc.) and got on my computer for a bit.  I decided it was time to work on organizing my pantry so I went downstairs.  

I walked in the kitchen and my socks got wet.  Very wet.

A quick glance around told me that there was water all over the kitchen floor...Where was this coming from?  I looked down the hall to the garage, and it was soaked.  I opened the bathroom door, and saw it.  The sink was overflowing.  My dear dear children had plugged the drain, and then stuffed toilet paper in the overflow.  This means we had some overflow.  The water was turned on just enough to do some good damage, but low enough that I couldn't hear it from upstairs.  Oh, you're kidding.  I looked around and it really was not good.  1/4 inch of water covered everywhere there was linoleum.  The entire bathroom.

Down the hall to the garage.  The water is wall to wall people.

Here I am standing in it.  It's over my flip flops and the water is touching my feet here. (sidenote, do you love my nail polish?  It's left over from Christmas time.  Just one more evidence of my glamourous lifestyle.)

It didn't get the whole kitchen, but a big portion of it.  All under the table, and then it went diagonal to the bottom left corner of this picture.  All the way against the wall, under the fridge and stove, against the cupboards.

Here I am standing by the table in the sink.  that's a lot of water.

I would love to say that I stayed calm and knew just what to do.  That would be a lie.  I like to think I'm a pretty level headed person in these situations, but I think that might also be a lie.  I just let my inner pregnant lady out, and burst into tears.  It was the ugly cry.

My first thought: Call my husband.

My second thought:  That is not possible.  At this very moment he's on a plane to Connecticut.

Then I cried a little harder.  Do I get towels?  Towels won't cut it.  Get out the shop vac?  That's not going to cut it either.  Then I did what any girl would do, and called my mom.  My poor mother probably thought someone had died by the way I was sobbing.  You guys, I haven't had a good cry like that for a while.  She told me to call the insurance company.  I thought this was a bit of an over-reaction, but I was already on a roll with the sobbing, so I thought why not?  I had to go look in our files for the information, because insurance is my husband's domain and I had no idea who to call.  Again, my husband was on a plane with no way to get a hold of him and ask these questions.  Worst timing ever.  I called him anyway and left him a voicemail.  I was pretty distraught, but forced out, "Honey, I need you to call me as soon as you can. The kids flooded the house and it's bad.  My mom said to call the insurance or something, but I just don't know what to do and...just call me.  Love you."  I wasn't sure if he would be able to even understand me.

Later when he listened to it, he said he's never felt so bad for anyone in his life, and he wanted to just give me a hug.  Yeah, I know, I'm pathetic.  But I'll take that big hug.

I pulled myself together enough to make the phone call to our home owner's insurance.  I felt so dumb.  I was calling the lady who helped us set up our insurance, and I had no idea if it was the right department.  I said something like, "My kids flooded my house, and I have no idea what to do. Am I calling the right place?"  I am so grateful for our insurance company.  They were so nice to me.  I'm sure they could hear the tears in my voice and everyone I talked to was really sweet to me.  They gave me a phone number for Servicemaster. I could call them and have them come clean it up.  I called them and they said they would be over within two hours.  Also really nice people.

So during this time I tried to make myself look a little more presentable. (I'm a really ugly crier.)  My step-dad called, who has magical calming powers.  I felt much better after talking to him.  I knew help was coming, and I knew it would all be ok.

And then I set about to make sure that nothing was damaged.  I had to pull the van out of the garage so I could move some things over.  It had started going through the wall of the kitchen and into the garage.  I moved some shoes, which were fine.  There was a laundry basked of dirty rags, so I took it upstairs and threw it in the washer.  We had all our food storage in that hall, but luckily it was up on the shelf so nothing was damaged.

This is when my mom called and reminded me to take pictures.

And here is what my kids were doing while I was running around like a crazy person...playing with toys. I've been asked what I did with them...and the answer is nothing.  I tried to explain to them what they did by leaving the water on, but they thought it was pretty cool.  They have no concept of what they did, so I just decided to not focus on them.  I called a neighbor and took them over for the rest of the night.

The guy who came to help was really great.  They've cleaned up all the water and put in their machines.  We now have a dehumidifier, and a bunch of big fans blowing constantly. 

 I didn't have much access to the kitchen.  They had to take out part of our carpet padding, because it leaked through the closet into the living room too.  I picked up my kids and put them to bed.  

(And wouldn't you know that at 3 am a fire alarm started chirping loudly to signal that I needed to change the battery RIGHT THEN.  They are demanding little things, that wake up Hayden and terrify him if they aren't immediately taken care of.  Where is my husband when these things happen?  He's the tall one!)

So today has been...well, how do you describe it?  Great and dreadful. :)  I was glad that I had been planning on going to a friend's house because I needed to keep the kids away from playing with the fans, and just get out and talk to someone.  On the way there, Halle puked in the car.  So fabulous.  So I hurried and turned right to take us on a detour back home to get cleaned up.  And there was a dang train, STOPPED on the road.  I know this train enough to know it was going to be a while. Cue more sobbing.  Ever feel like the whole world is against you?

So at this point it was my stress building from getting the house ready to list, being alone with the kids and no Derrick for 2 days, a flood, let's not forget I am 5 months pregnant, a pukey baby, and now this! I know it was a very small thing, but come on!  Little things were bound to set me off.  When I got home to call my friend and tell her I wasn't coming, she could sense my stress and told me to come over anyway.  I was so grateful. I didn't even have a kitchen to use to make food for us.  This is when my day started turning around.  My friends was my angel. She took care of me.  She fed me some delicious food and I had a listening ear. I fell asleep on her couch. (That's how you know you have a good friend!  You are comfortable enough at their house to fall asleep.)  She watched my kids while I went back to the house for the Servicemaster people to come back and check things out again.  Then another friend invited us over for dinner after that.  What would I do without such wonderful people in my life?  I also had some talks with my insurance company which were good news.  Right now my kids are in bed and I can expect Derrick home within the next two hours, so I don't have to do any of the rest myself, and I can get that big hug he promised me.  It's looking like there wasn't damage in the walls (HUGE blessing) but we will probably need to replace the linoleum and move the cupboards around to dry them underneath, or there could be mold problems.  Whatever. It really could be so much worse!

I hate being a big whiner (even though I'm really good at it) so I can't leave you with just a sob story.  You  have to know that this has been an experience that isn't even over yet, but I can already see the blessings.  It really could be so much worse than it was.  We are lucky we picked this insurance, because we have a good deductible that takes most of the worry away.  Everyone has been so great to work with.  I've been able to have a clear head to ask the right questions and know what's going on.  I've discovered that I am a lot stronger than I thought.  Maybe I was a complete drama queen sometimes, but I also just plowed through and did what I had to do when I was faced with a tough situation.  I have angels around me who take care of me. It means more to me than they will ever know.  (Thank you Heidi, Nicole, and Brielle for being my angels.)  I have to also say a big thank you to my mom, my step-dad, and my dad for being a listening ear, for helping me understand, giving me guidance, and giving me the right perspective, and helping me calm down.  Also to my husband for appreciating everything I do, for treating me like he knew I could handle all this, and mostly for coming home soon! (And shall we just add in a future thanks for all the future pampering I will get?)  Mostly, I have to thank my Savior for knowing how I feel.  I have felt His hand in all of this, and I have felt so much love, even when the only prayer I could seem to muster went something like, "Help! Please!"  I know this is just a little bump in my road.  Some people would be grateful for such a small trial.(like thousands of people in Japan for example... I'm sure they would take a little kitchen flood any day.)  We are all healthy and together.  We are blessed, and I know it.  So sorry for being all dramatic on you.  I had to record it for posterity's sake. (and maybe for hanging over the heads of my children when they try to put me in a nursing home. hehe)