I Thought Monday's Were the Bad Days...

Sunday morning, 10:00am. Ryan decides to get her scooter and go outside to play. She runs to the garage and opens the door. I hear her 4 year old voice say "hmmm....?" to herself and then I hear her excited feet run down the hall, back to the kitchen.

"Um, mommy, there's a leak in the garage."

"What do you mean?" I ask as I look outside hoping it has started to rain and I just didn't notice even though our house is essentially one large window downstairs.

"It's wet everywhere. All over."

Now I'm running down the hall and opening the garage door, admittedly a lot less excited than she was. Sure enough, there is water everywhere, up to an inch thick in some places and it's hot water and it appears to be spraying out of the water heater. There's water on the ceiling which can't be good - I'm thinking major burst pipes and a minor home remodel to follow. Argh....

A quick call to a neighbor to help us turn off the water, a quicker call to a plumber to make a Sunday morning appearance and several laudatory pats on the back to Ryan for discovering the problem and we're making progress. Turns out the hot water heater has a 6-7 year lifespan and we're going on year 13. Turns out it was installed poorly and hadn't been "flushed" either. Turns out my bank account will be about $2,500 lighter come morning.

Sunday, 4:30pm. The plumber is back installing the new hot water heater and we've had intermittent running water all day, no hot water. Jim took a cold sponge bath before heading to the airport for a 5 hour flight to Miami. The girls went next door to play while I squeegeed out the rugs in the garage, which are now laying the driveway, trying to dry out. I'm going to have to go "borrow" a sauce pan full of water in order to cook our pasta. Ryan thinks it's all a big adventure and she's extremely proud of having been the one to discover the crisis. Sammie is as scared of the water in the garage as she is of ocean water. She refuses to walk through the garage, insisting that I carry her or use the front door. I'm just tired and giving the plumber carte blanche - I may have just purchased a new reverse osmosis system. Jim is flying to Miami, bienvenito a Miami. Thank God for neighbors who know how to turn off the water and others who let your kids play at their house and for plumbers who work on Sunday!