Kalhwa’7alap- hey everyone! Have you ever had one of “those” days where nothing goes right? Well, the past few MONTHS have been that way for us! If you read my post about my cancer scare (read it here), you probably already know how badly things have sucked lately. Well, I discovered that the littlest things really do matter…
Life has been so chaotic lately that I’ve started taking the greatest pleasure in the tiniest of things. I’m usually unavailable during the holidays (with the exception of 2018), as all my jobs revolve around sales & marketing, and during Q4 I work from the time I wake until the time I sleep, 7 days a week- that’s when I make most of my money for the year. This last Q4 was compounded by a terrifying cancer scare that pretty much ruined my entire holiday season.
After New Year’s, I decided I wanted to “check out” for a week, just to “be.” Not answer any messages, emails, phones, etc. I just wanted to BE. I desperately NEEDED this time to recover mentally, emotionally, and physically from the holiday season and health scare. I was going to work like heck the first part of January to make enough money for this break to happen. However, Mr. Murphy and his damn Law never fail to come into my life at the most inopportune times.
A few weeks ago, life pushed me FAR beyond my breaking point- which I was already at with work, then the Scare on top of it. I was laying in bed very early Friday morning, still had not slept. (Jerry snores; and it takes me a good while to get to sleep.) I was just about to finally fall asleep (about 8 am or so), and had acid reflux. I got up to get some antacids, walked down the hall, and noticed my feet were getting wet.
The laundry room, kitchen, living room, and part of the hall were all flooded with several inches of water. Stuff was FLOATING around. I started hollering for Jerry, who got up, and discovered the water was up to his ankles. Apparently the spigot near the bottom of the hot water heater decided to corrode and FALL OFF. As in the WHOLE thing- so there was no way to replace it, as there was nothing to attach a new spigot to. It was just a hole straight through the “wall” of the water heater!
He opened the sliding glass doors and water just started gushing out. He started using a push broom to push more out, but the water kept coming. Apparently the shut-off thingie at the top of the water heater wasn’t working right, and water kept pouring. Went to buy some Flex Seal tape for the hole left by the spigot falling out. In case you’re wondering, it actually WORKED- even with the water still flowing. (I will never again roll my eyes at their commercials!) We dealt with getting rid of water for so long, that I had gone over 24 hours without sleep.
As of now, we’ve gotten almost all the carpet torn out, still have to get rid of the tile in the kitchen and laundry room, and the last remaining bits of carpet. All of our stuff is in large plastic tubs all over the house right now while we sort through what can be saved and what cannot. We would have like to have had this done already, but work tends to “get in the way of life.” No way we can slack off with work, as we have many more expenses ahead.
We will have to put in new flooring, baseboards, etc. This will be, at MINIMUM, several weeks’ of work- so if you need anything, do NOT call us, call someone else…lol. Meanwhile, since the pipes had been leaking before when using the washing machine, Jerry decided while everything is a mess, might as well work on that, too. (It involved cutting out part of a wall, which is why we hadn’t done it yet.)
Culprit was apparently a clogged main water pipe- not even snaking it out took care of it. Since Jerry had done more work than me today, I took it upon myself to be the one to suit up with PPE and pour a quart of sulfuric acid down the pipe. Of course, some splattered on the pipes and (now concrete) floor.
Remember how I said it’s the little things? Jerry was worried about cleaning up the spilled acid. Fortunately, I not only finished my undergrad and grad degrees with 4.0 GPAs, but I also happened paid attention in junior high school science class (high school not so much…lol), and told him just to get me the baking soda. Let me just say- I took IMMENSE joy in neutralizing that acid. Sprinkling baking soda all over and watching it fizz REALLY, truly made my day better. Yes, the chaos and pressure have sucked so much out of me lately, that my emotional status has been reduced to getting excited and happy about watching the fizz reaction caused by neutralizing sulfuric acid with baking soda.
