Shrimpy McBaby & The (Unrelated) Bad Day

So, our day was a lot of fun. We always spend General Conference Sunday morning at Greg's parents house where an amazing breakfast is prepared and enjoyed, then we watch the first session of the day together. The kids are more entertained than they are at our own home, what with Grandparents and a variety of not-our-everyday toys. So, I actually get to listen to the speakers more than when we're home by ourselves with the crazy kids for Saturday's sessions.

Then we head to my Aunt Judy & Uncle Jerry's house, where we have a BBQ followed by a birthday celebration for my cousin Makayla. (Happy 21st Birthday Kayla!) Then we (attempt) to watch the second session as a large extended family (while eating cake), but usually end up needing to rewatch it on DVR later that evening.

These are tried and true family traditions, and I love them. I'm lucky to have so much family so close by to go and visit.

That was all great. But then we got home.

Only to find that several of our basement walls are seeping water, and the whole place smells like mildew, the carpets are drenched in two rooms, and we don't know when the leaking even started (we have since found the culprit though -- stupid ice maker hose sprang a leak, apparently sometime this week, and has been shooting water down through the wall into our basement ever since.) With our busy weekend, we haven't been downstairs in days, so didn't notice the problem 'til it had become a bit out of hand. We now have ceilings in two rooms, walls, molding, as well as a door frame, that need to be repaired (have I ever told y'all how much I hate painting. Sigh.) And we don't know what the damage is to the floor. My Dad and Greg took the wet vacs to it, then ripped it up and got fans on it, but we won't know what the full extent is 'til the insurance company comes and takes a look. When we get to find out how much this'll cost us, and debate amongst ourselves whether it's worth it to file a claim. And start figuring out where we want to pull money from. As Greg put it, "This is definitely the downside of homeownership."

I was so frustrated, and so upset by our torn apart basement that I was near tears and, honestly, starting to feel a little too much self-pity. I started to think about what a crappy month I'd had all the while trying to calculate the cost of sheetrock, and I have to admit, I was feeling a little sorry for myself. Earlier fun, enlightening, amusing, profound and touching moments from the day were weighed down by the dripping, stinky carpets pads in the basement. My basement is ripped apart and unusable for the kids. And my whole house kinda reeks now that we've put all the fans my parents own on full blast in our basement, circulating the rank air. I also had two fussy kids, apparently very miffed by their parents ignoring them while we hurridely tried to move everything out of the spare bedroom in the basement to the corner where it wouldn't get ruined. Meaning they were getting pissed and loudly letting us know. I was getting really emotionaly worked up.

Then, I decided to snap out of it. Seriously. It's just some water. Right now some smelly, costly water, but just water nonetheless. Nobody was hurt, not that much damage had been done, and our lives haven't really been affected. It's all repairable. The rest of our house, the parts we use the most, are perfectly livable.

So what, it was a bad day. But really, only the last couple hours of it. I'd had a great time for the majority of the day, and that should count for something. And most importantly, my family is healthy, happy and together. And at least we have a home. A mildly stinky one right now, but a home nonetheless. Sure, this'll be an unexpected and unwanted additional expense, but we are blessed with the means to scrap together the money and take care of it without it being a major financial disaster in our lives.

On the bright side, this is totally gonna force me to clean out that basement spare bedroom. And our carpets will get cleaned. Hey, we may even get new carpet out of this. While quickly chucking boxes into the corner of the room, away from the spreading wet puddle, I found a case of wipes down there! That's worth like fifteen bucks!

See, things aren't really that bad. :-)

And this all reminded me (in a roundabout way), that Ellie is freakishly teeny tiny. See, the spare bedroom houses all the totes full of 'clothing my children don't currently wear'. Which, is something I've been meaning to get downstairs and check out (would've been nice if I'd done this a few days ago when I'd been thinking about it, I may have caught the leak before it had done so much damage. Procrastination - 1, Hilary - 0.) Anyway, we don't have much that fits Ellie and is appropriate for the sudden and freakish cold weather. So today I dragged out some warmer clothes and sweaters that'll fit her from our flooded room. From the SIX TO NINE MONTH tote I put away LAST YEAR. That's right, my nearly 17 month old is wearing the same winter clothes she wore last year. The same stuff she started wearing at six months old. Most of them fit her really well, which isn't too surprising, as she is barely tipping the scales at 19 lbs, and most 6-9 month stuff is for up to 20 or 21 pounds. (She wore a 3-6 month dress to Church last Sunday . . . it still fits her so cute!) This shouldn't be too odd to me, as Annie totally wore the same stuff for a whole year at this age too, but it's still just weird to get out baby clothes I packed away last year for the same baby!

Later, right before bed, both kids decided to be freakishly cute. As if just willing me to forget all my troubles and just bask in the adorableness of my children. Not too much in life can't be wrong when you have a one year old propelling herself around the room on a tricycle way too big for her, all while wearing no pants:



Annie showing off her mad scootering skills:


She's such a little scooter dare devil :-)

Ellie riding the tricycle, Annie cheesing it up in the background trying to get into the picture. I have no idea where this kid gets that from :-)

My girls dancing and singing together: