There was a void in our lives this weekend. Something was missing. Something we didn’t appreciate until it was gone… Last Thursday afternoon Addison informed me that our garage rug was wet. It took me about two seconds to realize that our hot water heater in the garage was leaking. This lead to a series of phone calls and visits. The husband, the plumber, the flood specialist, and the dry wall repair man. Long story short we have been without hot water for FOUR DAYS people! We’ve had a hole in our garage and fans blowing day and night to dry out the wall where the water heater once stood.
After taking the coldest bath of my life Thursday before my little presentation (shower wasn’t working at all) I realized I couldn’t put my kids through that kind of torture (I think I screamed when I rinsed my hair – no – I know I screamed when I rinsed my hair). Word around the hood had spread and multiple kind neighbors offered a warm shower, but I ended up boiling water instead. Six pans and six trips up and down my stairs did the trick. When mixed with the ice cold water that was still working just fine it made for a series of luke warm baths for the kiddos. Luckily Kenny could shower at work and luckily my hair looks better on day four than it does right after I wash it. True story. If only my head didn’t itch, I’d never wash my hair again.
The hardest part has been no dishwasher!! What!? Hand wash dishes! For four days!
Are you kidding me!?
I swear that’s all I did this weekend. Wash dishes. I could have taken ten pictures of the stacks and stacks of dishes I washed. And while I washed I thought about my sweet grandma who never had a dishwasher a day in her life. How did she manage? And then I thought about my kitchen plans for our new house which includes two dishwashers. And I wanted to weep for joy.
lt actually was a wonderful weekend, despite our water situation.
My new Project Life page protectors came in the mail. I ordered them in an attempt to motivate myself to scrapbook this summer. I don’t need new page protectors. But I do need some motivation. And some extra time would be a nice bonus.
My presentation went great last week – so much fun. (Thanks for all of your encouraging words!) It went so well in fact that I inspired myself to do a little organizing. ;)
A quick tidying up of the Tupperware drawer was just the fix I needed.
And dried more dishes.
And washed more dishes.
And dried more dishes.
What did my girls do while I organized and cooked and washed my life away?
They collected snails in the backyard of course. A whole family of them. They all have names. Brittney, Jeanette, Emily, Claire, Emma…the list goes on. The crazy (or should I say scary?) thing is that my girls can actually tell them apart.
True story.
Ellie decided that since I won’t let her get a pet, she’d take matters into her own hands and come up with a pet or two (or ten) on her own.
I am not a fan of snails.
Last night when Addison said her prayers she said “and please bless mommy that she will stop freaking out over our snails…”
HA! Keep praying Addie!
Aside from tending to their new “pets,” my girls also drew paper plate lions,
and had a picnic with their princess dolls. On a Charger blanket of course.
(It’s really the only way to dine…)
The Jasmine vines in our yard smell SO good right now.
Totally signals summertime in San Diego to me.
We were outside a lot this weekend. At the park, at our lot, on a walk, in our backyard.
The weather was so warm and sunny and beautiful that the girls tromped around in their rain boots just for the occasion.
And what was my little man up to?
Well, he was in absolute heaven being outside so much. Tending snails with his sisters,
pushing around his favorite Thomas choo choo train,
looking like he was straight out of the 1950’s wearing nothing but a white shirt and jeans,
stirring up dirt and all sorts of other mischief,
and completely getting away with it because all it takes is one flash of this smile and his mother is so smitten that all is immediately forgiven.
True story.
New water heater is coming tomorrow. Oh happy day!
I’m never hand washing another dish again.
At least for a week until I’ve recovered.
:)
xoxo, Erin
I feel your pain Erin. I was without a dishwasher for 5 days 2 weeks ago because the lock on the door broke. It is not a part that Home depot or Lowes sells. We had to order it. We don’t realize how easy we have it sometimes.
Your girls are so cute with their snails. My daughter always collected caterpillars. I always felt bad because they would die and never turn into butterflies. Not to mention how sad she would be. Glad to hear that your organizing class at your Ward went well.
Kole is getting so big and that smile would melt me too.
Have a fun week,
Cathy
My dishwasher takes cold water only and then heats it in the cycle….. Just saying, ‘cos I hate to think you might be putting yourself through unnecessary pain!
i hate washing dishes too my wonderful mum bought me a dishwasher for my engagement when we moved into our home as she was sick of seeing me stuck in the kitchen when she and dad came over for dinner (plus she said they are a necessity not luxury) God bless mothers!
oh no! no hot water is terrible cold showers are the worst!
i love all the photos of your kids playing and having fun outside (in Brisbane Australia we have begun winter and are having a cold snap!)
i dont want to scare you but i saw a documentary about how deadly snails are, be careful that kole doesn’t put one in his mouth the documentary said they eat away at your nervous system :-s sorry to be so graphic but i had no idea and hei asked my gp doctor and he said yes snails are very deadly
Oh no, no hot water is horrible.
But most dishwashers heat their own water, at least in Australia. I found that out when our hot water broke and I was washing by hand and my mum said, ‘but dishwashers have their own heating element!’
Guess what? I don’t have a dishwasher – we’ve been married 17 years now….
But he does the dishes because I cook!
I love that pic of Kole – it’s my favourite one of him yet.
Like the other commenter, I’m in South Africa and we’re also in the midst of a cold front at the moment. I am freezing my butt off. I also think we’re spoilt because we have 3 months of “winter” and the rest of the year it’s LOVELY!
I have to second (or third) what has been said above: most/all dishwashers here in Australia heat their own water. But I’m sure you’ve tested yours and it’s not working.
Those snails would freak me out too ! LOL
We had no electricity for a week in Sept & I hated it!
I wash my dishes by hand everyday. I have a perfectly good dishwasher but I use it to store all those odd size cups that make my cabinets look unorganized. To me it’s just faster. I can was dry and put away my dishes before I can even prerinse a load for the dishwasher.
Kole is looking soooo big! S grown up
You are better than I am…We would’ve been either eating out or eating on paper plates until the water heater was fixed. I HATE hand-washing dishes!! Glad you had a good weekend despite it though; that last picture of your baby is adorable!
I love your posts! So fun yet real. You definitely provide inspiration to keep things fun and organized in my own life.
Kole’s sweet smile made my day!!
Holy COW; I cannot imagine no hot water – you are a stronger woman than me (who would have certainly kindly and calmly asked Will to TAKE ME TO A HOTEL NOW!!!). I had to laugh at the dishwashing though; Frances told me the other day that my job must be washing the dishes, ‘because you do that all the time, Mommy.’ Glamorous.
Wishing you well on the water front! Thankfully the kids seem to be handling it very well : )
Awe! Sorry to hear about all of the hand dishwashing. I totally understand. Quick question. Do you have any bedtime suggestions for a kid around Kole’s age? If I give my son a bath he always gets more entergetic than when I give him a bath in the morning. For some reason it doesn’t calm him down at all. Does Kole sleep through the night now? You are such a great inspiration! Thank you for taking time out of your day to answer my question!
Thanks everyone! Dishwasher will run cold water, but it isn’t opening the soap dispenser and actually getting things cleaned. Oh yes! I tried! :)
Anonymous – regarding your sleep question, I’ll answer it in my next Q & A. :)
Have a good Monday everyone!
I’ve been reading your blog for a while, but I rarely comment. I hate hand washing dishes too. We are without a dishwasher right now because ours also broke and we had order a new one. :( My husband and I were just discussing out dishwashers are definitely necessities. I’m so sick of spending my evenings washing dishes I could scream! And I’m right there with you about the snails. We actually just talked about those too. Random.
Been there done that. So not fun! Luckily my hubby is the son of a plumber (he learned early on how to fix all things related to plumbing). You are better than me girl. The paper plates, solo cups and plastic utensils would have come out first thing! LOL
Dishwashers are brilliant:). Even tho I live on my own I still use a dishwasher – a slim-line one.
We’ve got heavy rain here in the UK, which is causing flooding in some areas.
I love the picture of Kole with Thomas. I’m always amazed by how children can recognise all the different characters, such as Thomas & James. They all look the same to me:)
Ugh! I feel for you having to go without hot water! Cold showers would be brutal!!
Kole is so stinkin cute in a white tee and jeans!!
Have a good week!
I have so much sympathy for you and your situation! We had the same thing last month…but for SEVEN DAYS and with new electricity in the kitchen. Thankfully we could go to our gym around the corner for showers, but that mean’t I actually had to go to the gym ;)
But the handwashing of the dishes and no stove or fridge was just too much. I don’t know how they did it in the olden days before all these lovely inventions were made. We pretty much lived off of BBQ and cut veggies. I’d be fine if I didn’t see another piece of BBQ chicken until next summer.
I hate washing dishes so what a miserable way to spend the last few days! I could not imagine adding 3 kids and a husband in the mix! You are a brave woman for having to take all of that on! Thoughts of warm showers and clean dishes sent your way!
Erin, why on earth did you not go to Vons and stock up on paper plates etc????????? You are a trooper doing all that washing. The landfill thanks you.
That boy of yours is gonna be a ladies man. He is so dang cute!
P.S. I hate snails.
oh my, i think i would not have survive all of that. Glad you made it, and im inspired now to work on my Tupperware drawer, and maybe sometime I get inspired to scrapbook and do crafts again.
Hi Erin
I don’t want to freak you out either but I agree with Sarah. Snails and slugs can be host to a tiny parasite that is highly toxic to humans. The parasite affects your nervous system and can be deadly (you get what’s called Eosinophilic Meningitis). The problem arises when kids eat snails/slugs or their snail/slug slime (including the trail they leave behind) – this is where they pick up the parasite.
Sorry! I know that is all a bit alarmist. It’s rare and a worse case scenario. But good to know if you have kids that are still putting things in their mouths!
Thanks for the sympathy everyone! I’m proud to announce that we now have hot water And I couldn’t be happier about it. :)
Also thanks for the heads up about snails being not so safe – just the leverage I need to get rid of those slimy suckers!
Thank goodness for a sense of humor! Hope life and hot water get back to normal soon! XoXo*S
Kole is starting to look more like a little boy now. Man does he look sooo much like Kenny!
Too cute!
Our dishwasher is very temperamental …(must be female). It works fine and then goes on hiatus for days at a time. Drives me crazy!
Two dishwashers sounds like heaven!
o mine.
We have been married 7years. So far we have 4kids. We have lived in 5different houses and none of them had a dishwasher. I still don’t own one!I WISH TO HAVE ONE! But, I have decided that when we do our kitchen reno, then I will have dishwasher!!!!All the luxury in once :)!
I feel ya! Our dishwasher was broken and I was doing dishes by hand for like two months! Ugh. I so don’t miss that!
Oh Erin, I too feel your pain.
Our dishwasher is currently broken and I seem to be spending every minute of the day washing dishes, drying dishes or changing water (I’m obsessive with changing the water every few plates!)
Hope everything is under control now. We lived in our old house for about a year before our dishwasher went out. Hubby took it out and never replaced it with hopes of someday replacing it when we remodel our kitchen. That hole has turned into a snazzy (not really) storage space that resembles a doggy door and guess what? I’m still washing dishes in our sink. True story :(
Erin, did it ever cross your mind that you could have just used paper plates and cups?! Glad all is well again!
Kole is looking gigantic! What happened to him?! He is so not a baby anymore.
Girls crack me up. I can’t believe they even wanted to touch the snails. Ew. So, so gross.