Monday morning I was feeling pretty good about it. I loaded the dishwasher and washed the rest of the dishes, cleaned the front room (dusted and vacuumed!) swept the kitchen floor, cleaned and vacuumed the stairs and landing and was just getting ready to do a load of laundry when I noticed a puddle of water in front of my dryer. Uh-oh! I looked up at the ceiling and sure enough there was water dripping down in a nice steady downpour. I knew that it had to be either the dishwasher or the kitchen sink and I wasn't happy about either one. So, when Jason got home he called his dad to come and help us locate and solve the problem. Of course that meant that the ceiling had to come down along with a waterfall into one of my new rubbermaid tubs (better than the floor I guess.) After concluding that the dripping was definitely not coming from one of the pipes in the ceiling they went upstairs to check the sink and dishwasher. They pulled out the dishwasher and sure enough there was a little pond of water underneath it. My father in-law turned off the water that goes to the dishwasher and I added calling the repair man to my "to-do" list for Tuesday. I was now stuck without a dishwasher and a full load of dishes to be washed. I thought, "I have to hand wash my dishes?!? This is not what I meant by wanting to be like the pioneers!" I immediately went out for pizza and paper products to live off of until the dishwasher was fixed so I could minimize the amount of dishes I would have to wash.
Well, the repair man couldn't come until Wednesday which made my Tuesday not so happy. We went out to eat again because I didn't want to dirty dishes to make dinner. Wednesday came and not only was the repair man coming some time between 9 and noon, but I also had a Dr. appt. at 1 that I really needed to shower and shave my legs for. Since I didn't get my shower in before the kids woke up I had to wait until after the repair man came so I didn't miss his call. He didn't come until about 11:30 (don't you just love that!) and the result of his coming I certainly could have done without! Basically, because of the hard water we have, the dishwasher needed to be laid to rest. It would have cost more than half of a new one to fix it but with the hard water we would have had the same problem in a year or so. So not worth fixing. Before the repair man left he told me about a list of a million things I needed to make sure I needed to do to my new dishwasher with the hard water. I was only half listening because I was trying not to blow up with the rage I was feeling at that moment towards a certain someone who shall remain nameless. Hard water? Hard water! This whole thing could have been avoided 4 1/2 years ago when we moved into this house if that certain someone would have just bought the missing part we needed to hook up our WATER SOFTENER!!!!! I have repeatedly reminded him that this needs to be done but does he do it? Noooo, and now we have to buy a new dishwasher! When we moved in we had to buy a new front loader washing machine and if the hard water ruins that too I just may go postal! So, I called this certain someone to let him know what the repair guy said but conveniently (and lovingly) left out the "I told you so!" remark that was just bubbling up to come out. I did, however, tell him that there was no way that we were hooking up a new dishwasher until that blasted water softener was hooked up! And so for an entire week we have lived on paper products and food that does not require to many dishes to make. So, back to Wednesday when the repair guy left. By the time he left I was frantic because I still hadn't showered and the kids needed lunch before Emma had to go to school in twenty minutes. I quickly made sandwiches and gave instructions to the kids so I could go down and shower. I told Nathan that when Olivia was done to get her down from her chair and take her downstairs and put a movie on while I showered. I told Em to help out until her carpool came to take her to school. As I'm walking from my bedroom to the bathroom I hear the microwave door shut. I stop in my tracks. I remembered that Nathan had asked if he could finish Olivia's oatmeal from breakfast that morning and there was a spoon in the bowl. So I asked Emma if she had left the spoon in the bowl. She said no and told me that she was just helping Nate warm up the oatmeal. I told her to only do 10 seconds. Then I quickly got in the shower.
About 5 minutes into my shower Nate comes down and tells me that Livvy fell out of her chair and bonked her nose. I can hear her crying in the background before she comes into the bathroom so I can kiss her nose all better. Well, that's what I get for leaving the 3 year old in charge! Then a few minutes later, right after I put shaving cream all over my legs, Nate comes in again.
"Mom, there's a fire in the house."
"What? There's a fly in the house?"
"No, there's a FIRE in the house!"
Holy crap! I quickly rinse off the shaving cream, turn off the water, jump out of the shower (literally) and throw my robe on my dripping wet body and run up the stairs. I am greeted by black smoke filling the air and the annoying loud beep of the smoke alarm (thank heavens for that!) I run to what I know has to be the source of this fire...the microwave. It has about 38 seconds left...I turn it off, throw it open and a black cloud of smoke and burnt plastic immediately fills my nostrils and my lungs. The oatmeal is blackened beyond recognition, the purple plastic bowl is now a permanent fixture to the microwave and the small flames that have started are still trying to survive. I figured that the kids must have put it in for 10 MINUTES instead of 10 SECONDS. I tell the kids to go downstairs where the smoke won't get them and then run around the house opening all the windows and doors to try and air out the smoke. Coughing up a lung in the process. I make sure to tell Nathan that he was a very good boy to come in and tell me about the fire and that he was a Hero! It is now 1pm and I still haven't shaved...I run down to the tub and do a really quick, cut up my legs, shave job and then get dressed and throw the kids in the car. On the way I call my husband and quickly tell him about the incident. I said, "well, we've had the flood and now the fire. If locusts or termites come I'm just gonna leave." So now I'm reduced to making everything the "long" way and defrosting my meat the night before. Once again I said to myself, "this was not what I meant by 'if the pioneers can do it then so can I!'" I decided not to do any laundry this week just in case one of those modern conveniences decided to put me to the test as well! We had to evacuate the house until later that night because the smoke caused the kids and I to cough and the smell was just unbearable.
Now, a week later, we have a new dishwasher...but the water softener is still not hooked up so that nice little $500 modern convenience is not being used yet. We are trying to decide what to do about the microwave. Buy a new over-the-stove microwave (that went out about a year and a half ago) or buy another little counter one (that came out of storage when the a-fore mentioned microwave went out). Tough call.
The past week and a half has made me realize how dependent we are on these little conveniences and that we live in a world and in a time when we really just cannot "live like the pioneers." I'm a little concerned about what would happen if there was a major disaster and we were reduced to living in tents and cooking over open fires for a while. But, do I really want to learn how to do my laundry in a stream beating my clothes over rocks and figuring out how long it takes to make mac n cheese in a dutch oven pot or if those "gourmet emergency food storage meals" are really as tasty as they perceive themselves to be? Haven't decided yet and I really hope the Lord doesn't throw another disaster my way to force me into a decision! Of course, I look back on it now and chuckle to myself about the adventures we had this past week. Actually, I chuckled about it while in the middle of it just to keep myself from bursting into tears and also to hold back the comment "can it get any worse?" because as we all know, the answer to that is , "why yes! Yes it can!" And then the Lord (who I know has a sense of humor!) shows you just how much worse it can be!
Just to prove my point, while at my appt. on Wednesday I unfortunately got the paranoid Dr. who found a suspicious lump in my breast and then I also had some blood work come back that was questionable as well. So, now I'm worrying about breast cancer and my imagination is going wild on what the other problems could be as well. I am so grateful that I do not live in the pioneer times and that when I went to the hospital to have all the other tests done that their "modern conveniences" were not on the fritz! I am happy to report that I do not have breast cancer and that the other "problems" are not serious enough to worry about...well they are but I can't do anything about them for about 7 or more months and so there's no need to worry myself about them now. I will take these little inconveniences of machines breaking down any day over having to deal with disease and life-threatening issues with myself, my husband or my children!
This experience has really made me look at what the important things are and what I can and cannot live without. I can live without a dishwasher and microwave. I cannot live without my children or my husband! I can handle doing the dishes every day by hand, but I cannot handle going every day without my most precious treasures! My family is my life...my dishwasher just makes my life a little easier. Without my family there would be no reason for me to do the dishes or make food or wash clothes. And so, I am grateful for this little lesson that the Lord has taught me and for the chance I have to live in such a world where things are easier, accessible, and for the modern medicine that helps to keep my children and husband healthy and alive a lot longer than the pioneers!
