Today, I'm writing for both yesterday and today. Yesterday, threw me off my game, but I'm back tonight.
Yesterday morning, we had cable installed in our home. We haven't had anything but local channels for several years, and really didn't mind, because we've had many other valuable things to spend our time on, but we were constantly having trouble with our TV reception in the middle of important sporting games and events, and Mike was ready to do something about it. It's through the same company we already have internet service with, so it was only a bit more money per month to add on some peace of mind and extra sports coverage for Mike. The benefit for me is that I will now have HGTV, which has most of my favorite shows.
The reason I'm sharing this is that I returned late Wednesday, and had to be ready for the cable guy to show up at 8:00 am the next morning. It all went fine, but I'm never in my normal routine when someone is working in my house, so I'm not as productive. He didn't leave until close to 11 (there were a few unexpected issues). So I was trying to keep Max entertained and quiet while he was here, and I didn't have time to shower after sleeping in a bit and getting Mason off to school. I was sure my day would get right back on track, maybe do someone laundry from my trip, go to the grocery store, etc. It was still very cold in the house, so I turned on the furnace for the first time this season and told Max we could check out some cartoon channels. He and I had barely sat down, when I heard a loud pop. Then I heard water gushing. And gushing. Then I realized it wasn't the dishwasher. I walked back to the mud/laundry/furnace room and there I saw a relief valve from the furnace pouring out, onto the floor, black, steaming fluid. And it was pouring, not dripping. Luckily, we have a drain in the center of the room, but it wasn't keeping up at the time and the watery liquid was starting to pool. I immediately flipped the switch on the furnace to "off", but the stuff kept coming. I picked up a few dry things I didn't want damaged and threw them on top of the dishwasher. Then, I remembered where the main water shut off was to the whole house and decided that was my best option to stop the fluid because it seemed to be mostly water. I turned the valve to "off", and waited while black water still filtered out, but at a slower pace. I moved a container underneath the stream of liquid, but that filled very quickly and was soon overflowing as we'll. Then, I ran around frantically, looking for my phone, wondering if I should call 911 (no, silly), but settled on the management company in charge of our rental. Mike had the only current contact number, so I called him about 6 times before he answered. He called them for me and within a few minutes, a never-looked-so-beautiful-to-me, Adventist Hinsdale Hospital (we rent our home from them) maintenance truck pulled in the driveway. The leak had now slowed down to a slow drip. The maintenance crew came in and assessed the problem right away, telling me I did the right thing by shutting the water off to stop the leak. They left to get the part they needed and came back with not only the part, but a wet vac to clean up the messy floor. I was especially glad to have our new cartoon channels to keep Max occupied and give me some time to relax. We enjoyed watching a few shows together. The maintenance crew finished, and if you didn't know what had just happened, you wouldn't even have suspected it! They left it that clean. Then I had just a little while before getting big M from school. What a day. I really thought our whole house might flood. I was pretty terrified for a few moments.
That was my yesterday. Today was much more relaxed. Max and I played with motorized trains and wooden trains. I did some cleaning and some catch-up after being gone for a whole week. Then for supper, we went to Sweet Tomatoes with our friends, Jake and Kelsey, which ended in lots of laughter and our kids running around in chaos and making friends with other kids at the restaurant. It was lovely.
I'm hoping for another lovely day tomorrow. Good night, friends. :)
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