Believe it or not, I'm not a fan of celebrations or national holidays. I know that in the history of this blog, I've shared my disdain for many holidays, but have I whined about the 4th of July yet? Who cares, I'll whine now.
Here's the deal. As a kid (I mean, oh, 15 years old until...um, now), the 4th of Joo-lie has always stressed me out. With parades, and luncheons, and barbeque's, and all family tugging in every direction at the same time, the day is just one that I try to skip. There are too many places to be at the same time and it stresses me out (because I'm that kind of person) and I do my best to avoid the 4th. The first year Ross and I were married, we went backpacking. The second year of our marriage we stayed and though I can't really remember, I'm pretty sure I was grouchy and not too much fun to be around. The last two fourths, we've been in California, San Francisco and San Diego, respectively.
This year, with this whole baby thing, we stayed. I wanted to go to Yellowstone but we're going to do that over labor day. We decided that this year, we'd do the Petersen barbecue in Ogden and that I'd be grouch free.
The morning got off to a little bit of a rocky start with some timing problems, car problems, work problems for Ross and Annie almost breaking her grouch free oath problems. But, we pulled through and eventually, got things rolling and had a great day. Don't believe me? Look at these pictures to prove it!
Pleasantness abounds, right? I mean come on, we even did a group photo to commemorate the day. My little family and I had a beautiful, leisurely drive home and things seemed to be ending on a high note. The timing problems, car problems, work problems and Annie the Grouch problems all seemed to dissolve. That is, until we got home.
You see, Ross bought this thing called a soaker hose. And, well, to make a long story short, it does what it claims to do. The water running down the alley could have been my first clue that something was amiss, but you see, I didn't know that Ross had turned the soaker hose on at 7 am. So there was no reason to think that all the water was mine. Even when I saw it running down the driveway, and storming out of the garage where it leaked through, I said nothing. However, once I got into the basement and sloshed through enough water that it hit the bottom of my ankle, I realized that something was amiss.
Our basement was flooded. The whole basement. It is a disaster. Hundreds upon hundreds of gallons of water sloshing around on the basement floor. We now know where the high spots are, and unfortunately, where the low spots are. The TV and play station? Safe! My precious school files, books and important documents? Gone to soggy paper heaven. It's amazing sometimes how, when stuff that you haven't looked at for years gets ruined, that you cry. Yes, I know it was just stuff, and that I have electronic copies of a few things, but holy cow, it's pretty rough to see things you've collected and used over the years totally destroyed.
We wet vac'd as much water out last night as possible. I owe my parents a lot (you guys name your price) for rushing to our rescue last night and helping us with the monkey and the bailing. Good thing we're all strong swimmers, because we came close to putting our skills to the test!
This morning, the basement had filled again, but this time just with about half an inch. Dad, thank you for spending your day with the swimming pool pump cleaning out the water while Ross was at work and I was playing at the zoo. You are a lifesaver and a wonderful dad.
You ask, what lessons have I learned from all of this? Several:
Here's the deal. As a kid (I mean, oh, 15 years old until...um, now), the 4th of Joo-lie has always stressed me out. With parades, and luncheons, and barbeque's, and all family tugging in every direction at the same time, the day is just one that I try to skip. There are too many places to be at the same time and it stresses me out (because I'm that kind of person) and I do my best to avoid the 4th. The first year Ross and I were married, we went backpacking. The second year of our marriage we stayed and though I can't really remember, I'm pretty sure I was grouchy and not too much fun to be around. The last two fourths, we've been in California, San Francisco and San Diego, respectively.
This year, with this whole baby thing, we stayed. I wanted to go to Yellowstone but we're going to do that over labor day. We decided that this year, we'd do the Petersen barbecue in Ogden and that I'd be grouch free.
The morning got off to a little bit of a rocky start with some timing problems, car problems, work problems for Ross and Annie almost breaking her grouch free oath problems. But, we pulled through and eventually, got things rolling and had a great day. Don't believe me? Look at these pictures to prove it!
Pleasantness abounds, right? I mean come on, we even did a group photo to commemorate the day. My little family and I had a beautiful, leisurely drive home and things seemed to be ending on a high note. The timing problems, car problems, work problems and Annie the Grouch problems all seemed to dissolve. That is, until we got home.
You see, Ross bought this thing called a soaker hose. And, well, to make a long story short, it does what it claims to do. The water running down the alley could have been my first clue that something was amiss, but you see, I didn't know that Ross had turned the soaker hose on at 7 am. So there was no reason to think that all the water was mine. Even when I saw it running down the driveway, and storming out of the garage where it leaked through, I said nothing. However, once I got into the basement and sloshed through enough water that it hit the bottom of my ankle, I realized that something was amiss.
Our basement was flooded. The whole basement. It is a disaster. Hundreds upon hundreds of gallons of water sloshing around on the basement floor. We now know where the high spots are, and unfortunately, where the low spots are. The TV and play station? Safe! My precious school files, books and important documents? Gone to soggy paper heaven. It's amazing sometimes how, when stuff that you haven't looked at for years gets ruined, that you cry. Yes, I know it was just stuff, and that I have electronic copies of a few things, but holy cow, it's pretty rough to see things you've collected and used over the years totally destroyed.
We wet vac'd as much water out last night as possible. I owe my parents a lot (you guys name your price) for rushing to our rescue last night and helping us with the monkey and the bailing. Good thing we're all strong swimmers, because we came close to putting our skills to the test!
This morning, the basement had filled again, but this time just with about half an inch. Dad, thank you for spending your day with the swimming pool pump cleaning out the water while Ross was at work and I was playing at the zoo. You are a lifesaver and a wonderful dad.
You ask, what lessons have I learned from all of this? Several:
- The fourth of Joo-lie is cursed and never to be celebrated again. We are going back to running away!
- Flooding your own basement is a great way to motivate cleaning and reorganization in a hurry. Everyone should do it.
- Cardboard is absolutely disgusting when it has been soaking in water for 12 hours.
- My window sills are full of giant wolf spiders.
- You don't have to say a word to your husband after something like this happens. Staying quiet and keeping your mouth shut seems to inspire more guilt than yelling and carrying on like a fool.
- I still LOVE Ross, even after he flooded my basement and even though he is turning into an absent minded professor.
- My family is wonderful and oh so helpful! Cookies for a year won't even begin to repay them for all the help and support. I am offering cookies for a year though.
- Once things get cleaned up, it's really not a big deal and I'm happy that I showed some self-restraint and didn't get mad.
1 comment:
you have a dad? i have been reading your blog for quite some time now. you seem to worship your mother. she is mentioned and praised over and over. what about daddy? does he not inspire you like your mother?
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