If you drove past my house last Friday this is what you would have seen. An All American truck in the driveway with my garage full of stuff drying out. Similar to what you would have seen a few months ago. Let me explain. (Like I said, this is going to be a long one!) A few months ago I went downstairs to go into one of the extra bedrooms and the carpet was wet. Upon further inspection we realized that the entire hallway was wet and the doorway of the extra bedroom and it was coming from the water heater closet where a pipe of some sort was leaking. We weren't sure how long it had been doing it but when we realized the walls were wet we had better call a professional. It ended up that it had been leaking for quite a while and it was into the family room, an extra bedroom and in the bathroom under the linoleum and in the padding under the carpets. Luckily (other than the flooring) nothing else was damaged and our house was in shambles for a while as we put in new flooring, painted,etc. etc.
Fast forward a few months. The second extra bedroom (the one that didn't get wet the first time) is where we stored everything while the other rooms were being refinished. Most of it was moved back to it's respective places except all of my scrapbooking things and some other misc. items.
It's Thursday night and Cody and I are watching a movie (it's like our Friday night because we have 3 day weekends). It's a little after ten when the movie gets over and the house is quiet and we heard a beep-beep-beep from somewhere so we sit and wait and again beep-beep-beep. It was coming from downstairs.
We head down there and when we walk into the family room (onto our new carpet) it's wet. At first I think "what did Gavin spill" but we soon realized it was much more that just a spill, it was everywhere. We go in the extra bedroom and EVERYTHING is wet. The outside faucet where the hose attaches to the outside of the house comes in that room through the wall and the wall is all wet and saggy. Cody went outside and turned the faucet on just to see what would happen and I got wet standing in the middle of the room. He had washed his truck earlier and had the hose on for about an hour not knowing that over the winter the pipe had apparently frozen and broke. So for an hour it was like everything in the room was in the shower because it was coming from overhead. And the beeping: it was our smoke alarm that was still sitting on my hope chest. We had taken it off the wall in the family room to paint and never put it back up. It was beeping because water was dripping on it.
I felt so overwhelmed. We have been trying to save money for another adoption and it seems like every time we get a good nest egg going something happens and we have to spend the money on something else! aaahhhggg! So what did I do? I did what any overwhelmed 31 year old would have done, I called my mom @ 10:30 at night crying. No matter what is going on if you call your mom suddenly everything is much better, and it was. We also called All American and the insurance company because that's what responsible adults do and we are responsible adults, right?
any way on with my ramblings. I am so thankful that we found it so soon and that no one was hurt and in the end it's just stuff and stuff can be replaced. There were only a few things that can't be, but what can you do? There is no use crying over spilled milk right? So all we can do is just chalk it up as a blessing in disguise and move forward.
Fast forward a few months. The second extra bedroom (the one that didn't get wet the first time) is where we stored everything while the other rooms were being refinished. Most of it was moved back to it's respective places except all of my scrapbooking things and some other misc. items.
It's Thursday night and Cody and I are watching a movie (it's like our Friday night because we have 3 day weekends). It's a little after ten when the movie gets over and the house is quiet and we heard a beep-beep-beep from somewhere so we sit and wait and again beep-beep-beep. It was coming from downstairs.
We head down there and when we walk into the family room (onto our new carpet) it's wet. At first I think "what did Gavin spill" but we soon realized it was much more that just a spill, it was everywhere. We go in the extra bedroom and EVERYTHING is wet. The outside faucet where the hose attaches to the outside of the house comes in that room through the wall and the wall is all wet and saggy. Cody went outside and turned the faucet on just to see what would happen and I got wet standing in the middle of the room. He had washed his truck earlier and had the hose on for about an hour not knowing that over the winter the pipe had apparently frozen and broke. So for an hour it was like everything in the room was in the shower because it was coming from overhead. And the beeping: it was our smoke alarm that was still sitting on my hope chest. We had taken it off the wall in the family room to paint and never put it back up. It was beeping because water was dripping on it.
I felt so overwhelmed. We have been trying to save money for another adoption and it seems like every time we get a good nest egg going something happens and we have to spend the money on something else! aaahhhggg! So what did I do? I did what any overwhelmed 31 year old would have done, I called my mom @ 10:30 at night crying. No matter what is going on if you call your mom suddenly everything is much better, and it was. We also called All American and the insurance company because that's what responsible adults do and we are responsible adults, right?
any way on with my ramblings. I am so thankful that we found it so soon and that no one was hurt and in the end it's just stuff and stuff can be replaced. There were only a few things that can't be, but what can you do? There is no use crying over spilled milk right? So all we can do is just chalk it up as a blessing in disguise and move forward.
This is the current condition of our family room. It's like a tornado when you go downstairs because of all the fans blowing and our downstairs bathroom is out of commission because all the hoses from the dehumidifiers and running in there, but we don't really want or need to be down there right now anyway.
Some of the "stuff" that was ruined. The scrapbooks were both done, but luckily I have all my pictures backed up on disks. All the wet stuff ended up in the garage where it wouldn't ruin anything else and it's easy access to the garbage cans.
This was Cody's train set from when he was a kid. Ironically we had it in a plastic garbage bag to "protect" it, but the very top of the bag was opened about 5 inches and the water was coming from above and there was about 3-4 inches of water in the bag
This is what upset me. Gavin's scapbook was partially ruined along with his baby book. I was able to salvage his blessing certificate and his Certificate of Birth out of it, but the rest was toast. I have a whole new respect for people that have to deal with floods, tornadoes and house fires. We only really lost a baby book and a scrapbook as far as things that really matter and it was a pretty emotional weekend. I have no right to complain about anything. It could have been so much worse and I could have lost so much more.Also, I want to say Thank You to all of you who offered to help and bring meals and those of you who brought meals, etc. etc. You are all so wonderful and we love you and we are so blessed to have you in our lives and I hope I can repay the favor someday.
P.S. Sorry I rambled and sorry I got so sappy. It's just been one of those weekends! The great news is this post is over! ; )
4 comments:
Teri, what a horrible day! I think you totally have a right to cry over those scrapbooks. They take so much work to do and they are so precious! However, you're right, at least you've got some pictures backed up somewhere.
i am sorry to hear your soggy story. I can relate a little to well. now nothing important sits on the floor and most of it is in a cubboard. Oh the lessons we learn, and what can you do now but laugh that the same thing happened twice. that is laugh after you call your mom and cry. I loved that because that is exactly what i do after a really crappy day. good luck with the clean up. that part tottally sucks as you already know.
Aw, Teri, that's awful! How horrible! I'm glad you had your mom to talk you down off the ledge. It's hard to lose things that are precious, even though they are just things. And it's such a blessing that you do have insurance! Oh, life...
I am so sad for you! I would cry too and be angry and cry some more and of course call my mom. I am so sorry. That is terrible! Maybe you can scan in your scrapbooks - at least what is salvageable?
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