The Misfortunes of 2008

My Hot Water Heater Broke!

This weekend was favorite Bro-in-law's wedding.  In Connecticut.  All Weekend.  We were going to leave Friday, but some unexpected work came dear hubby's way, so we rescheduled everything in order to go Saturday morning.  How strange the way things work out.  

Friday morning, littlest cherub and I hit the road to spend the day getting manicures and pedicures for the big event.  Four hours later, waxed, buffed and polished - we headed home.  When we pulled into the driveway, I asked littlest cherub to take in the trash cans so they wouldn't be sitting at the end of the driveway all weekend.

"Hey mom!"

"Ya!"

"Why's the garage all flooded!?"

"WWHHHAATT?!"

Down to the basement we go.  Wet nails and all.  Standing in a flood with water still gushing about, I call a dear friend who happens to be a plumber.  Call the office.  Call his cell.  Call his house.  No Answer.  Call his wife's cell.  

"Please tell me you are not in Florida."

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm standing in a flood."

"Hold on.  I'll get J."

"Hey, go shut off your water main."

"Where would that be?"

"You're kidding me.  OK, just go sit at your kitchen table and wait."

Now that, I can do.  But instead, I grab eldest cherub, we find the water main and shut it off and then start clearing out the various and sundry items of years past that have claimed the basement.  Then the thought arises - "Maybe I should check out the finished half of the basement to see if any of the water has made it's way into there."  Of course it has.  We clear out the various and sundry shoes, toys, etc . . . that claim all the closet space in this half of the basement.  We now have a nice large pile of miscellaneous goods ranging from baby carriages to a commode piled in a heap on the twin beds and the floor in the middle of the room.  We begin to rifle through the items and toss what does not seem to be salvageable from water.  

Shortly, the plumber arrives.  We discuss our options and off he goes to get me a new hot water heater.  Oh, how it pays to know someone in the business.  Meanwhile, I have called dear hubby and told him he needs to come home and oh, by the way, you need to stop and buy a wet-vac too.  (Yes, ours died a month ago)  I then go to turn on the dehumidifier to try to dry some of this mess up and I notice that it is FROZEN.  SOLID.  Does this actually happen?  How does a dehumidifier freeze?  When plumber comes back, I ask.  

"Oh, you're out of Frion"

"Do you happen to have any with you?"

"No, we don't do AC units anymore, and anyway, you can't refill them, you'll have to get a new one"

Of course I will.  Oh and did I mention that our dehumidifier is plumbed DIRECTLY INTO OUR HOUSE!  Yes, not a simple task to replace it!  So, in the name of THIS IS A HAPPY WEEKEND, I wet-vacced as much water out as I could, threw out most everything in sight.  Shut the dehumidifier off and shut the door.  Figured I would deal with it on Tuesday, only Tuesday has come and pretty much gone and guess what . . . the door is still shut waiting for me to deal with it.  Oh well, there's always tomorrow.  

You may wonder why I am putting off dealing with this dilemma that could possibly ruin the carpeting, create a toxic mold and at the very least, smell for years to come.  I will tell you.  Because I. AM. DONE.  The following is a rundown of everything that has broken in 2008:

My HUSBAND

The dishwasher (an 8 month ordeal)

The dryer - twice

A downspout on the house

The China Hutch (and all the China in it)

The mailbox (smashed)

The pool heater

The cell to the pool filter

We had termites

Our Truck

The kitchen cabinet

Three window screens (and one actual window)

The refrigerator

The hot water heater

The dehumidifier

Numerous cell phones, ipods and other unnecessary, but indispensable electronics

. . . and I am sure there are many other things that seem minute in comparison to the above, so need not even be mentioned here, but I assure you, there is always a large bill for fixing it attached.

So anyway, as I said above, I.  AM.  DONE.   So done in fact, that this year, instead of our usual goofy Holiday Photo, I have written a poem . . . about all the things that aggravated me in 2008.  A small sampling is as follows:

Because of misfortune

Bad luck and dread

This year brings no photo

But a poem instead

Late in month 1

Mr. P fell

His spill was quite bad

We thought he'd never get well

The dishwasher & dryer 

In month 2 they did break

The downspout was hanging

The rain made a lake

You will have to wait until December for the poem in its entirety, but I assure you, it is quite humorous and so creative if I do say so myself.  :)    It is entitled the 12 Months of Christmas and the funny part is that I have so many things that I could list, there were actually not enough months for everything.  (And it's only October!)

With all that has gone wrong, I find that this year has not only made good fodder for blogging, griping, groaning and getting much sympathy from family, friends and even casual acquaintances, but has definitely pushed the strength of Mr. P and my senses of humor, which ironically is quite strong now.  

Hey, you know what they say . . . "That which does not kill you, only makes you stronger" and ultimately helps you find humor in pretty much everything.  Not to mention, it could be so much worse.