Code Orange Day

Code orange?!? As in a Motrin day, lots and lots of Motrin.

Why you ask? Great question...

We had a water pipe burst open at 1:30 am on Tuesday morning. Yeah, for those of you who have had that happen, it was the whole schlemiel. :(

Matt & I woke to Isabella yelling, "It's raining in here!!!!" Matt and I sprang into action when we realised that a water pipe in our new bathroom burst and it was raining over most of our house. Within the first five minutes, we got the kids into the living room where it was dry, shut off the water, and started to use every towel or container that can hold any water whatsoever to try and contain the damage.

From about 2-4am, we started to clear up stuff so we could at least get the kids back to sleep while we work, and I then called the insurance company (the reason I have time to write this is because I am waiting for them to get back to me -- the usual story, right? You pay your premiums on time, but you have to wait for them to get back to you for everything else). In the course of the action-filled night, we managed to get loads and loads of laundry started and get stuff out of the wet bedrooms.

Eventually, the service master guy got here around 10am and told us that we need to clear out the rooms because the ceilings need to come down! Yikes!! We work at a frantic pace, and eventually with the help of our Superbabysitter Katie, we manage to get the most of the furniture out of the bedrooms and into the living room. The second bunch of service master guys arrived in the early afternoon, and then began to demolish the house -- three plaster ceilings partially busted out, with insulation, splinters & all kinds of crap everywhere.

We are trying to find stuff to pack up and move out to a hotel for the duration of this unplanned "renovation," which I was told can be anywhere from 3 days to 6 months. :( This morning, we ventured back to the house to see how the rafters are drying, and to work toward our goal of finishing up our piles of laundry, so we don't have wet clothes sitting around in piles.

Thank heavens Matt's work load is light enough for the moment that we can take the time to do this, not what we had orignally planned on doing mind you. We were in the midst of planning a trip to Disneyworld, the happiest place on earth; I guess we missed the left turn at Albuquerque and ended up in "Renovation Hell-O-Rama," currently occupation 4. I'm sorry if this is sounding like a "Boo hoo is us," thing; "Grrrr" is more like it, because, as frustrating as it is, Matt & I refuse to let this complete pain-in-the-ass be anything more than an inconvenience. We're OK, the kids are OK, and the house will be OK once we get it back into fighting shape. Who knows, maybe we'll do a few minor upgrades we've been discussing while we've got the place under construction

More to follow, tune in next time when you'll hear Ushan say, "F*** this, let's head out to the Outer Banks!"