Courting Disaster...

Well, actually, disaster appears to be courting me. Right now, I'm at home waiting for some help with heavy lifting.

What am I needing lifted, you ask? The water heater that blew yesterday evening and sent gallons of water all over our laundry room, kitchen, dining, and living rooms. Suffice it to say that I was not thrilled to arrive home to have to rescue our new furniture from the destructive water. We had to use bricks to elevate the sofas, tables, and chairs above the flood. If I weren't so upset about this event, I would have laughed at how our belongings are up on blocks, reminiscent of abandoned cars in a redneck's yard.

Luckily, we have some friends who knew what needed to be done and called them straightaway. They lent us their expertise, labor, and shop vac to get the water out of our house, and even assisted with taking out the old water heater. Thank the Lord for them, or we wouldn't have known where to start!

Unfortunately, this disaster has caused me to have to call in to work today. I feel pretty guilty about it, but we wouldn't be able to have hot water until this gets resolved. The positive thing about this is that the water heater is under warranty, and when I called GE, they advised us to take it back to Home Depot, where we will be issued a new one. A small victory. So, soon I will have help loading it into Matt's parents' truck, drive over to Port Charlotte, and exchange the faulty tank for a functioning one. Then, we will be able to have it installed, and I hope to be able to take a shower by 5pm....although it may be postponed a bit longer than that.

There is a great deal of cleaning to do, and moving items back to their original places. (We had moved everything that wasn't too big/heavy out of the water destruction zone.) I would start moving things back now and cleaning, but I'm not sure if the installation of the new water heater might result in more water leaks...Hey, I'm a rooky at this, and simply don't want to have to clean the same thing twice.

Oh, and I almost forgot about the battle with the ants this morning! As Matt was leaving for work, I heard a thumping noise from outside. I checked to see what was the source of this noise, and it was Matt, angrily stamping ants on our porch. They seemed poised to sneak inside the house through any opening or crack they might find. There were a lot of them, so I grabbed some shoes and began to help. A short while later, I checked to see if they were all gone, and there were more, lots more. I promptly grabbed my keys and drove to Winn Dixie, where I purchased the biggest can of ant spray I could find. By the time I arrived back at the house, there were even more of them! As in thousands! This is war, I grimly decided and began to spray everything that moved. It was a mass genocide of ants. About ten minutes later, my front porch was littered with the bodies of my enemies, so I grabbed a broom and sent them to a mass grave in the yard. A warning to my insect foes: Do not try to come into my house. I may not have hot water, but I do have bug spray.

I hope that the bugs stay away and that we have hot water and a clean house before the day is out.