Way back in mid-February, on an already busy Saturday afternoon, as I got ready to go to our upcoming
Teams of Our Lady meeting, Tim decided to fix the bathroom faucet that had very
low water pressure.
Things didn’t go as
planned.
The valve broke off the pipe
and water gushed into our house at an alarmingly rapid rate. We had water pressure now- but now we couldn’t turn
it off. The water main shut off was
completely stuck. Water poured into our house for
about 45 minutes or so while we waited for a plumber to come and fix it. The whole house was flooded in the process.
We didn’t make it to our Teams meeting.
The insurance
claims process, the water mitigation, the clean up and put back together of our
soggy house has been long and exhausting.
Nothing has gone according to plan.
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| Not really a picture of our flood. This is from last summer at the local "spray ground." But it was cute and it fits the theme of water water everywhere. |
The chaos and unpredictability of it all started
almost immediately with four hours of ripping apart the wet mess of our home,
followed by four days of dodging huge dehumidifiers and fans all over. Followed by four five weeks of waiting…waiting…waiting
for the new flooring, painting, minor carpentry repairs, and new bathroom
vanity.
In the meantime- under our old laminate, the kitchen
floor was the most indescribably hideous, disgusting linoleum that was
covered in mismatched patches and textured with streaky stripes of old tile
glue. It wouldn't come clean- I know, I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed it with multiple cleaning
agents ending up with bruised knees and a floor that still left the bottom of our socks a dingy brown color.
This week, more
than a month since the flood, the contractors hired by the insurance company began the restoration work!!!!!
First thing, Monday morning, we got a call-
the flooring sub-contractor was coming to install the new laminate. I looked at our school work for the day and
planned out how to accomplish it all in the midst of workmen taking over our
kitchen. Then, an hour later, I got a call
from the flooring company again. They
weren’t coming after all, because of rain in the forecast. As we did our schoolwork, I watched out the
window as NO rain fell on our house.
Nothing was fixed on Monday.
Tuesday, we got
the same call again. The flooring men
were on their way. The kids and I went
to Mass for the Feast of the Annunciation assuming the workmen would arrive soon after we got home. Instead, we came home to a voice mail message-
the painters were coming. Long story
short—still no floors but the painters were at our house ALL day leaving at
5:30 with only one room completed!
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| Our leftover paint all lined up |
Wednesday, there
were paint cans, drop cloths, ladders, brushes, and baseboards stashed all over
my house, but the painters weren’t coming because FINALLY the flooring WOULD be
installed! One team of workers took on
the kitchen to install the laminate. Another
team tackled the bedrooms to put down new carpeting. We couldn’t get down the hall, had to
literally climb our way to the toilet, and had furniture and toys and stuff all over the
family room (and all the painting supplies too) because it was the one room that would not be getting new
flooring. What a mess of a day! The kids and I did about half of our planned
work and then gave up because the distractions were too overwhelming. When Tim got home from work the floors looked
AWESOME, the house was mostly put back together and the kids and I were having
trouble keeping our eyes open through dinner because we were so tired from all the
chaos of the day.
Thursday, the
painters came back. Another loooong day
of painting. Workers all over my
house. Paint fumes permeating the air around
us. Apologetically sneaking by the painters and all their supplies to go to the
bathroom. And seemingly endless phone
calls to figure out when the last of the work would be finished (our baseboards
were never finished and somehow in the craziness of Wednesday the pile of
uninstalled ones completely disappeared.
No one knew where they went. No
one was scheduled to finish them. And no
one would tell me when or IF they would ever be done. The new bathroom vanity has not come in yet. No word on an estimated date of arrival for that either. Oh and the family room carpet is supposed to be professionally cleaned for us. No one has even mentioned that. AUGHHHH!).
My kids have been amazing troopers and have kept up with their school
work as well as they possibly could. They
have stayed out of the workmen’s way and have not complained about the disruption
of our lives. We are hanging in there keeping our positive attitudes and our sense of humor about the whole situation- but just barely.
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| Our new kitchen flooring- still waiting for the baseboards. |
This morning it’s
Friday! We still have no baseboards. Still no official word on them even. Still no word on any of the other unfinished work either. But the kids and I have our co-op classes and
after not leaving the house all week because I had to be here to supervise the
workmen, we are all anxious to go see our friends and get some fresh air. But….a half hour before we were set to leave,
my four year old threw up ALL over the beautiful new laminate flooring. No
co-op for us….
Lent is all
about letting go of our will and submitting to God’s, right? I think I’m getting the message..… Can things
quiet down just A LITTLE NOW?!?!!?!?!?!
