Falling Apart

I.

Drip. Drip. I was finally going to get to bed a little earlier (which isn't saying much, I know) when I heard it. Drip. Drip.

"How long has that been there?" I wondered, as I felt underneath my bathroom sink.

After several minutes of fiddling, I realized one of the parts of the cold water fixture had corroded. The more I fiddled, the worse things got.

DripDripDripDrip.

Panic.

It's not like I could do much in the early hours of a Sunday morning. I cleaned out the garbage that was under the sink (uh, am I the only one who never looks under their sinks?), put a little container under the leak, showered, and got ready for bed.

Plop. Plop.

The container was a third of the way full after an hour.

HOW LONG HAS THAT LEAK BEEN THERE?

More panic. I switched the little container out for a little garbage can. It was 3/4 full in a couple of days.

II.

I looked at the pile of dishes last nite, debating about whether to just put them off. I can't do it, I realized. I can't leave that mess for the fam to wake up to. For me to wake up to. Ignoring the deep pain in my head, I quickly emptied and reloaded the dishwasher, loaded the soap, closed the door, and pushed the button.

Silence.

III.

Even an hour or two before my appointment, I still at war with myself. But I don't feel that bad. I've never had strep. This is stupid. I need the rest anyway. I mean, really, when don't I have a sore throat lurking and a headache creeping into yet another day? They just sort of come with the territory with this whatever-it-is-that-I-have thing. But I figured I'd get the stupid strep test, get another 'normal' result, and be on my way (to get a new dishwasher, grumblegrumblegrumble). At least I could say that I did something, even if that little idea that popped into my head out of nowhere really was the Spirit. But I still felt like a fool as I sat in the doctor's office as I waited for the result.

The test was positive.

IV.
The quick email from the claims department really impressed me, but the message they sent sent my mind reeling. Your homeowner's insurance has expired. I checked with the underwriting department and they confirmed that no payment has been received. This will affect your claim of 1/9/2011. (That would be the possible lake effect we have sitting under my bathroom vanity from part I above.)

- - - - - - - -

Needless to say, it's been a long week. It started with the leak (and with me consequently not being able to get out of bed to make it even to my later schedule's sacrament meeting), was mixed in with a sick child (yet another reason why going to the doc for myself wasn't really on the radar screen), is complicated by a disaster zone in my house that has been exacerbated by the sickness we've had going on (now with piles of dishes I don't have the strength to do...and now hubby feels sick).... It just feels like things are falling apart around here. [Update: I forgot about the car repairs that hubby found out we needed this week, and I'll add the fact that hubby got a positive strep test on Friday.]

Truth be told, they kinda are.

(But here, I try to sort through some of the little tender mercies in the midst of the craziness.)

My favorite things

I have a goal to post more of the little day-to-day things of my life, so I can remember and cherish them. (My children are just growing too fast! I want to savor it all.)

It's already tomorrow (Wed) as I write this, but for me it's still today (Tues) so, today, some precious moments included:

Hearing my baby (age 9 now) singing some happy song. Can't even remember now (see why I need to write things down?)

Finally being able to take #2 to school. She's been sick. But wow, she's maturing a lot with how she deals with hard things. I'm so proud of her.

Watching #2 and #3 throw a bday party for their Build-a-Bears.

Making dinner according to what #3's Build-a-Bear's favorite food is. (Tacos, in case you were wondering.)

Bagging the Easy-Bake cake idea (why did I buy that thing in the first place?) and instead giving the girls each a little cup of fondue chocolate with some pretzels and mini-marshmallows. OH THE JOY that was on their faces.

Curling up with #2 to read her Revolutionary War stories. Really amazing to read about youths who did some amazing things. (Consequently, she couldn't sleep. Ah, well. I then got to cuddle with her while she read The Friend to get her mind off of the war track.)

Lest you think I forgot #1, I didn't. It was just one of those days when he was pretty much in his own world working on homework. But I was proud of him for the way he focused on it.

Sometimes I hate the whole homework thing, to be honest.

Fave other little thing -- at the store, hearing a child in the other aisle singing, the smiley-frowny face song from Primary.

And getting lots of healthy food from the bulk bins at WinCo. (WinCo, where have you been all of my life?)

I'm baaaaaack.

Well, maybe.

Life these past months came with enough of the usual and the unusual that blogging just sort of took a back seat. But I'm sort of feeling the bug again, so I may be back.

Holidays were good, but still busier than I would have liked. My health took a downturn during the break so that was a bummer (but it was going better before then, so that is good -- I just think I overdid it).

#3 got strep on Christmas day, which was a bummer, but truth be told, being able to lay low and take it slow on Christmas was good.We love being together. We had a fun make-up day with my side of the family last week, too.

Church schedule for our fam is back to the early schedule, which means I am back to not going to church with my family. Definitely a bummer. But I get to worship with some of my dear friends from our former ward, which is so very good. I call it a compensatory blessing in my life to have this strange opportunity to expand my circle of friends and associates at church. This will be the fourth ward I have attended in the last four years.

And since I'm on this bummer/good theme, just flip the two around in order and then go read this post. It may very well be my favorite post on motherhood. Ever. (Doesn't matter if you aren't a mother. You should read it.)

That's all for now. (Bummer? Or good?)