The Big Drip

When we opened our door after church Sunday, the big drip is exactly what we heard. A quick peek through the railings that seperate the foyer from our raised living room showed quite a sight. For the life of me, I just couldn't figure out why water was dripping from the ceiling fan in the kitchen. When Ned made sense of what he was looking at, he realized that the water line to the fridge had frozen and burst. The water line that runs across the ceiling of our kitchen. The water line that apparently froze alot and left us without water from the fridge on winter mornings. And yes, we now wonder why we didn't look into that more.

Upon further inspection, we discovered water coming from another kitchen light and down a kitchen cabinet in addition to the fan. Water covered the floor but luckily was not deep. Avery's lunch and naptime quickly approached, so I changed clothes, grabbed what I could, and left for my parents'. We had to have a few rousing renditions of "Old MacDonald" to keep Avery awake on the ride.

Ned turned off the water and started moving things out of the kitchen once we were gone. I had a few soggy Longaberger baskets and a wet can opener and coffee pot. It's always good to be married to your insurace agent, since he knew just what to do. He got Servpro on the way, moved everything out of the kitchen, and cut a hole in the ceiling to help the water drain.

Meanwhile, Avery and I had lunch then went to work on a nap. Halfway to my parents' house I remembered I had no pacifier but thought Avery would do ok without it after a busy morning in Sunday School. Wrong. She cried, played, talked, and kicked for about 40 minutes. Then, after all that work, the nap didn't quite make it to two hours because Molly the cat was trapped in Avery's room.

By this time, Servpro was working at the house, and Ned had water turned on to everything except that line. Avery and I headed home to see what was going on. Servpro was leaving just as we arrived. Here is a view of their handy work.

That's 6 fans and a humidifier, plus one hole in the ceiling. Needless to say, the kitchen is out of order as it closely resembles a wind tunnel now. My hair shot straight above my head as I tried to get a snack cup for Avery. Instead of Paula Deen's Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie, we visited Applebee's for dinner. It looks like eating out or take out will be happening alot this week.

It's just too loud to sit upstairs, so we are at least getting some use out of our downstairs room. We'll bring down some more toys, add a few layers of clothes, and make it work. If we can keep Avery and the pets out of the fans and cords, we'll be happy.

I was pretty sure we would be staying with my parents tonight, and all I could think this afternoon was that I just wanted to go home. Life with a child is easiest at home. Then, I checked the blog of someone who lost their home due to fire before Christmas, and I felt ashamed. This is just a hang nail compared to a loss as great as that. It IS an inconvenience, but I'll take some deep breaths, enjoy a few nights out thanks to our insurance, and pick out a few new things for our kitchen. The downside to being married to your insurance agent? They're a stickler for insurance fraud and won't let you slide a few extra items to the "water damage" pile.