Sunday, August 26, 2012

Weird Day

There are still many things I want to say about our trip to New York. However, I am going to interrupt the New York related posts to talk about the last few days. It all started on Thursday. 

Donnie has gymnastics on Thursday mornings. Myrian was off that Thursday, and I was proud of myself for getting both boys ready for our gym trip with enough time for Starbucks. When we got there, we found that there was a summer camp going on and classes were canceled. We missed this notification while we were all out of town last week. No biggie. We headed to Garden Ridge where I fed David and Donnie played on the stacks of rugs. Then we went to eat. Lunch was interesting. It was the first time David has ever been in one of those fast food play areas. He was inundated with new sights and sounds. Here is a little snippet: 




While we were enjoying the cacophony of the play area, the sweetest little brother and sister came up and were asking questions about David and saying hello to him. The little sister seemed especially concerned and said, "Well I hope he is going to be ok!" I just had to let their mom know she has some sweet kids. It means a lot to me when kids talk to David. I was still thinking about our interesting morning when I went to the back door of our house to open it. 

Then my thoughts rapidly shifted. Why is there a puddle of water on the floor? Oh, that is a BIG puddle. This is not good. Damn, it's that running toilet again. I opened the door. Water squished out of the cracks between the wood. I took a step, and the floor rippled like a giant wooden water bed. Did I just imagine that there was a wave in the floor? I promptly went to check the bathroom next to the kitchen. The toilet did not seem to be running. I walked to the kitchen sink. Under the water, the wood was really bulging in giant ripples. By this time, the entire floor to the kitchen, den, laundry room, bathroom and part of the garage was under about a half inch of water. Rugs, toys, curtains, furniture--drenched. 

I got the boys into the master bedroom and turned on the television, then returned to make further assessments. Our wonderful neighbor Colleen came over. She informed me that the water meter guy was in the neighborhood and brought him over. I called Jeremy. He said, "Just clean it up the best you can..." Um, no. I put the meter guy on the phone. You should have seen the look on his face. During the conversation, he tells Jeremy, "This is really bad. There's at least a hundred gallons of water on the floor." After removing hundreds of pounds of soaked rugs and chairs, I honestly tried to soak some of it up with towels. When I got to towel number four, I decided it was an exercise in futility. 


Donnie helped me get as many things out as possible. He's such a little man!

Myrian and Michelle arrived later as I was packing. So much for date night. The boys and I were headed to South Texas to stay with my parents. Four days out of suitcases, and we were packing them again. 


Silver lining? I saw this on our way out of Katy.

During the drive, I had time to think and plan. The boys' birthday party is scheduled for next week. A few days later, Donnie starts school on their actual birthday. I was going to do all the shopping and preparation for things like, now. Good thing I had a week's surplus of food stored for David. Then, the first week in October, David and I are scheduled to return to San Rafael for more ABM. I need to make more blends. I need to pack again. All of this, and I am wondering what is going on with the flood at home. Once I have the details, I can start rearranging the plans. 

Today is Sunday. Now we have the full picture. It was not the toilet as I originally suspected. When Donnie and I first saw the kitchen I told him, "You will probably never see a toilet over flow this much again in your life." No commode is capable of that amount of flooding. It was a busted water main under the kitchen floor. Totally explains the wooden water bed.  As of today, the floors and cabinets have been ripped out and the kitchen is almost dry. I am still getting details over the phone. In a nutshell, the kitchen will require new floors, new walls, cabinets, countertops and backsplash.  The bathroom next to it has to be redone as well. I'm not sure about the status of the laundry room and dining room, except that they are drying.

As for our whereabouts, Jeremy has stayed at home to work with the contractors and insurance people. In a few days he will have running water again. The boys and I are currently at my parents' house. It has been a nice impromptu visit. 


Tractor time with PawPaw!

BOTH my Wittles riding the tractor with their PawPaw. 

Donnie is a good driver. 

Today I am going grocery shopping to make blends for David and later this week I will go to Corpus Christi for school clothes. Jeremy is doing the birthday shopping in Katy, starting with acquiring a Darth Vader piƱata. We are still having the boys' birthday party in our backyard. I think our disaster area downstairs will be quite a conversation-starter. 

Although we are having the party at home, we will not be staying there. With all the noise, dust, people in and out and water on and off, it is just not the ideal environment for my little guys. So, we are staying in an apartment until the house is livable again. I am looking forward to seeing the progress. I am very thankful that we have reliable insurance and also thankful that we were not on one of our long trips out of town when this happened. Speaking of trips, it is pretty likely I will be packing for California from our apartment. Things continue to be in wild flux.



1 comment:

  1. Hi Shana,

    I have been looking for a contact email on this blog so I could send you a private email, but no such luck, so I will leave a post here.

    I came across your blog while doing research on Marcy Lindenheimer, as we will be doing some ABM lessons with her in a few weeks. While reading your blog, I was excited (not sure that is the right word!) to learn that you have taken the same route in researching and completing the same types of therapies that I plan or am doing with my son Colin.

    Here is a link to my blog where you can find out some info about our journey so far. If you are interested, I would LOVE to chat with you about what you have learned so far and maybe relate some of our experiences of raising a child with special needs.

    Otherwise, I enjoy learning more about the amazing progress your little boys are making each day! :)

    http://candidcampbell.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete