After church Wednesday nights, I'm just ready to crash. I teach third grade in our TeamKid program and usually have between 23 and 26 in my class. I like the teaching, but the kids can get pretty unruly, so by the time I get home I just want to tuck the kiddos in and have some peace and quiet. Unfortunately, Jason gets home about an hour after I do on Wednesday nights, so I have to get all three of the younger kids ready for bed...which isn't a big deal except that I'm already stressed out and pushed to my limits.
Tonight was even worse than usual. We had our classroom awards. I wanted to give each child in the class an award (which is not an easy task unless your a large number of your awards are unkind, like: "Worst Body Odor" or "Most Consecutive Days in the Same Clothes"), so I came up with six different silly awards and let the kids nominate each other for them. It was utter chaos. The kids had a great time...I felt like I needed a straight jacket. During the most insane part of class, Hannah called needing a ride home from dance. Then, only a few minutes later, Addy called wondering if she should get a ride to church or if I was coming to get her. Gah! As soon as class was over I loaded everyone up and collected Hannah, then we headed for home sweet home.
I had everyone almost all ready for bed and was filling Haven's cool mist humidifier when it happened. As soon as I turned off the water, I heard loud, rushing water. I thought it was Haddon who was brushing his teeth and hollered for him to turn the water down, but didn't get a response and the water was still running very hard. So, I went in to rebuke him. I was passing my bathroom when I saw a geyser erupting from my toilet! Water was spraying 4-5 feet in the air. You've got it...that was the source of the sound of rushing water. As soon as it registered what was happening, I also noticed that the water was coursing through the bathroom and had almost reached the door. Of course, at that moment Haven decided that she should come in and investigate. I yelled for Hannah to call Dad and I yelled for Addy to get off the phone and get the baby. Then I held my breath, shielded my eyes and went for the shut off valve behind the stool. It didn't budge, at first, but in my fury I had near super-human strength and the valve couldn't withstand my power. Finally, I got it shut off, though it continued to leak it was manageable. My small triumph was short lived when I remembered all of the water on the floor of my second story bathroom. By now, the water had escaped the bathroom, soaking several feet of carpet in the bedroom and even running out into the hall. I yelled to Addy, "Get me that thing, Dad's big thing in the garage." Miraculously, Addy ran up the stairs a few seconds later with the shop-vac. (Poor kids, they're so used to me not being able to find the right words that they actually understand me now.)
Jason walked in as I was sucking up water from the bathroom floor and telling Hannah to try him on his cell again. He called Jeff (of Jeff's Plumbing) who came right over. He took one look under the toilet and said, "This old nut cracked."
Bet you thought the title was about me, didn't you?
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