Within the last week or so, our house has decided to start being a total brat. We have lived there for almost a year now, and have had no problems. We honestly have dream landlords, who check in a lot to make sure that things are going well. And things were — until a week or so ago. Okay, I’m being dramatic. Things are still going well. Just a little… discombobulated. And if there is one thing I have a REALLY hard time handling, it’s being discombobulated.
Short story? Here goes: (super deep breath) I ask David to hook up the VCR. He goes downstairs to do it. Comes back, says he has to change his socks because there is water all over our 4th bedroom that we use as storage. Lo and behold, he is correct. Lots of water soaking the carpet and it’s still coming in. Boxes of things are filled with water, one of which includes my first ever real camera, my baby Canon Rebel 2000 that saw me through so many fun times. That went into a pot of dry rice quickly. Landlord and maintenance guy come the next day to look at it, put up heaters, take away carpet. Maintenance guy finds black mold. Treats black mold. We sit carpetless now, with the contents of my 4th bedroom in my basement, waiting to find out if we are getting the old carpet, new carpet, or now maybe tile. I’d prefer a trampoline floor, personally, but that probably isn’t a choice. Okay – maybe not a short story. But what can you do?
Okay, so again – not a catastrophe. But it just threw me for a loop. And for those of you who know me, I’m somewhat of a control freak. Even if I’m silently being a control freak. I don’t like being thrown off my game.
And that’s also what happens when you’re in the middle of making a super yummy dinner, listening to a great podcast, feeling energetic and good, and then the stove makes a loud popping sound and shoots a blue flame out of the back. Yep. THAT happened. Have I mentioned that fire is one of my worst fears? Luckily nothing like that happened, and David came home right after to diagnose the problem…. which turned out to be a few days waiting period because a part had melted in the stove. We are so, so, SO lucky it didn’t turn into a fire. Because it so very easily could have. But still, threw me off my game.
Sometimes I feel as if life is a shopping cart. I navigate around, put things into it, take things out, pay for things, make arduous decisions about the contents. And sometimes you get the squeaky one that you have to tip on its side as you drive. And sometimes you get the one with the wobbly wheel, or the off balance one. And you have a few options. Either you switch it out and get a new one, or you just make do with what you’ve got. And I’m typically a person that tries to switch out carts as fast as I can. But I’m learning that sometimes you just have to put some more pressure on the handle, or tilt the cart a tiny bit in order to make things sail smoothly. And this house stuff has taught me that.
If I can say that those minor things are the biggest annoyances and frustrations in my life right now, I am doing pretty great. 🙂 My blessings significantly outweigh what I oftentimes determine (unjustly) to be disasters. If there was a queen of making mountains out of molehills, I have to say I would probably be in line for the throne. But at least I realize it, right? That’s something?
And now, for something completely different. 🙂 Have a great day!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D36JUfE1oYk (You will NOT regret watching this, I swear it to you.)
.mandyatory reading. 