You'll never believe this.

Well, if you've read my blog for any amount of time, maybe you will. It's raining cats and dogs outside. Tomorrow is Mother's Day, but since we know everything will be busy, we're doing it tonight. We ate Bandana's BBQ and are having movie night. So we put in the movie and before it starts, BBM goes downstairs to finish his cigar. I follow him to tell him something (exactly what escapes my mind now), and I find him with the flashlight, looking up at what I thought was the window next to our washing machine.

But oh no. It wasn't the window. It was water, pouring from our bathroom upstairs. Now, does everyone remember the little deal we had with our master bathroom? It made a great story, and it was the inaugural Whirlwind Lodge post. Well, we haven't used that bathroom since. I mean, the sink still works, and I still keep my contact stuff and hair stuff in there...but we never really used that bathroom. So what on earth would make it start leaking NOW?!?!

Well, I still don't have an answer to that question, other than God has a sense of humor. The tube running from our hot water supply to the hot water side of the faucet had completely busted loose. Just decided to break. It was time, and it had had enough abuse, and needed to let loose. And let loose it did, all over the floor, walls, two drawers full of nailpolish, hair ties, leg wax, tooth whiteners, etc. You name it, it was wet. And still is.

I go running back downstairs, talking excitedly about turning off the water supply, except that we don't know where the water supply is (they really should require classes before owning your own home). Turns out, there is no water shut-off valve to each sink in our home...just the main water supply. We found it and turned that off, which shortly stopped the spraying of water all over the contents of that corner of the basement. Now what?

We breathe.

For about 30 seconds.

When we go back upstairs, we find that the hot water line is still dripping...and not just your average, annoying "Drip.......drip.......drip......." but a steady I'm-going-to-flood-your-whole-house-if-you-don't-stop-me kind of drip. And we have no idea why. However, it's obvious that the water line will need replaced, so we unhook that from the hot water supply, and try to unhook it from the hot water faucet. However, we have children. Correction: we have Boys. And Boys like tools. And Boys like using tools without putting them back. So we couldn't find a wrench that was the right size to remove the hot water line from the faucet.

Cue Home Depot music.

Now I'll say I called first, because it's Saturday, and about 8:40pm and I have no idea what Home Depot's hours are...automated system says they're open 8am to 10pm Monday through Saturday...brilliant!! 'Splain this to me then...why is it when I finally get out the door, drive there (in the torrential downpour, let's not forget), run as fast as my little pregnant legs will get me from the door of our van to the door of the store, shake off like a wet dog, actually find the plumbing repair stuff, and all I hear is the customer service announcement: "Attention Home Depot customers: the time is now 9pm, and our store has closed. Please bring your selections to the registers and get the heck up outta here". (They didn't really say that, but they may as well have).

FortheloveofPete.

I scurry to find the right replacement tubing, and of course there are two sizes. And of course I have no idea which one is right, so I grab one of each, and run off to find an adjustable wrench. They are turning the lights off when I grab the cheapest wrench I can find. I finally check out, then walk the distance of the store to the other door (because I ain't walking my pregnant butt out in the rain from one door to where my van is parked, about 3 freaking miles away). On my way out the door, I corner the woman at the customer service desk and say "I just thought I'd let you know that your automated phone system says you're open until 10pm".

Blank stare.

Her: "Okay."

Me: "And it's 9pm, and you're closed already."

Her: "I thought that was taken care of. I'll let my manager know."

Sigh.

Now...I'm on my way home with what I think will completely fix our problem. I realize that I really have to pee, and we have no water in our home, so I stop at the Burger King on the way. I run inside and into the bathroom, fully intending to at least go buy a soda on my way out so I don't look like a complete dolt. So I'm in one of the bathroom stalls, and I hear lots of yelling and goofing around outside (I was the only customer in the restaurant), and suddenly someone comes into the bathroom. It's a public bathroom and there are employees there, so you know, whatever. Then someone else comes in, except this is a GUY, and he says "What the ____ is your problem?" Now I can't even repeat on this family blog the words he used. I guess the girl that had just come in gave him the look of death, because he shut the door faster than he opened it. I finish peeing and walk out into the restaurant where they are whooping and hollering and carrying on, cussing like there's no tomorrow. I glared at every single employee I could see and started walking out. One of the girls actually made a hissing sound at me, and when I made it through the first door, one of them yelled "Have a nice night, _____!"

I was, and still am, aghast. I've since looked up the corporate number for Burger King and will be writing a scathing letter to them come tomorrow.

Anyway, fast forward to when I get home. We take the wrench and unhook the other end of the water supply, only to discover that each end is a different size! Now I got one with 3/8" ends, and I got another with 1/2" ends, because I couldn't remember which was right. But I didn't get one with both! So now, we have no water to any location in the house, and no supplies with which to fix the problem. And to top it all off, the hot water fixture coming from the wall is still dripping like crazy, and we're having to empty out the bowl about every 5 minutes. How are we supposed to sleep like this???

Off to google again, and I read a woman's story that mirrors ours except it's her cold water line, not hot. Someone advises her to open the higest valve in her home and the lowest, because she needs air to displace the water. This makes complete sense, and I open our kitchen faucet. Then I grab my already-soaked shoes, run outside into the rain, and open the garden spigot.

Miracle of miracles - it worked!! No more dripping!!

So...we're off to bed now, with no water. When I wake tomorrow, I will trek back to Home Depot and purchse the correct size of supply line (and I'm going to take my own sweet time doing it too!). Hopefully, we will have full water function in the Lodge by tomorrow mid-morning.