I don't know about you guys, but after opening our most recent gas bill and nearly fainting, we were hoping that our other bills would be as close as possible to the normal range.
Our hopes were dashed as I opened our water bill and saw that it was quadruple what it was last month!
I scan through the bill and somehow we managed to use 12,000 more gallons of water than we did last month!
I immediately think that there is something wrong with our water meter, so I call the water company.
After a couple of calls and several minutes of waiting, the customer service agent picks up and first asks me if we had extra guests staying with us over the holidays and when I said no, she asks if I'm sure...well yes, I think I would know if we had people staying at our house!
Even if we did, I don't think a few guests would use an extra 12,000 gallons of water!
Next, she's tells me that they just replaced our water meter at the beginning of December, so there's NO way that the meter is wrong.
Then she proceeds to tell me that we need to put food coloring in each of our "commodes" then flush them because there's probably something wrong with the flappers in the toilet.
At this point I was getting pretty frustrated, so I give the phone to Ryan and he tells her than all of our toilets were replaced when we moved in a few months ago, so it's highly unlikely that our flappers are bad.
Ryan finally (and very nicely) asks for her manager
to call us back.
We never got a call back, but late Thursday morning some one from the water company shows up and rings the doorbell not one, but FOUR times in a row (needless to say he woke Aubrey up).
He takes one look at our water meter and says,
"Yup, you have a leak".
The meter was apparently spinning like crazy and we had no water running in the house, which also means that the leak is outside somewhere around the pipes and the
water company won't fix it.
At this point Ryan decides we need to turn off our water, so we aren't constantly being charged for the leak.
You never realize how convenient indoor plumbing is, until it's taken away or in our instance, turned off.
Ryan calls several plumbers trying to find one that can come out immediately and won't charge an arm and a leg to just see where the leak is.
Around 5:00 last night the plumber arrives and tells us that he thinks a pipe may have burst, but he can't tell exactly where the leak is, because the ground is wet from the recent rain, so he has to come back after we've had a few dry days.
The plumber also tells us that the water pipes are always placed in the most direct route to the house, which for us means under our driveway and
our concrete stairs & walkway.
While we still don't know exactly where the leak is, it's quite possible that either our driveway or stairs & walkway will have to be torn up to find and fix the leak.
After all the bad news of the day, we were really trying to keep a positive attitude, but it was getting
difficult to keep a smiling.
Thankfully, Thursday nights is when our small group meets and we can always find encouragement from our friends.
Shortly after we arrive, I was telling one of our friends the short version of what happened, she listens, says several times that she's so sorry and then she says,
"well it's just another adventure!".
I nodded and said, "yeah, you're right", and almost dismissed it, but then I really started thinking about what she said.
This particular friend has told us several stories about how she grew up with very little material things, and when times seemed to get hard her mother would always tell her and her siblings that they were on an adventure and try to make whatever they were going through fun.
It's all about your attitude and where you find your peace. If your peace comes from Christ then you can find joy in any circumstance that comes your way.
You have to train yourself to have a joyful attitude in all circumstances, and not to get down when things don't go according to your plans.
I fell asleep last night with this mindset and prayed that I would face tomorrow with a joyful attitude.
This morning when we turned the water back on for an hour.
In that hour we both had to take showers; I had to rinse dirty dishes, empty, reload and run the dishwasher; wash & boil the chicken for our casserole tonight; and fill our water pitchers and several bowls full of water for use
throughout the day.
While we were running around like crazy trying to complete all these tasks I started thinking...an adventure...
that's exactly what this is!
I was actually having fun scrambling to get everything done before we had to turn the water back off.
I'll keep you updated on our adventure as
new developments come in!
P.S. Did I mention that I decided to start potty training Luke this week, YESTERDAY to be exact.
We didn't quite get off to the start I was hoping for, but Luke has sat on the potty many times in the past two days.
Nothing has happened yet, but he does seem to think it's fun to sit and the potty (that might have something to do with the M & M's bribe).
You didn't think I would actually have a post
WITHOUT a picture, did you?
Our hopes were dashed as I opened our water bill and saw that it was quadruple what it was last month!
I scan through the bill and somehow we managed to use 12,000 more gallons of water than we did last month!
I immediately think that there is something wrong with our water meter, so I call the water company.
After a couple of calls and several minutes of waiting, the customer service agent picks up and first asks me if we had extra guests staying with us over the holidays and when I said no, she asks if I'm sure...well yes, I think I would know if we had people staying at our house!
Even if we did, I don't think a few guests would use an extra 12,000 gallons of water!
Next, she's tells me that they just replaced our water meter at the beginning of December, so there's NO way that the meter is wrong.
Then she proceeds to tell me that we need to put food coloring in each of our "commodes" then flush them because there's probably something wrong with the flappers in the toilet.
At this point I was getting pretty frustrated, so I give the phone to Ryan and he tells her than all of our toilets were replaced when we moved in a few months ago, so it's highly unlikely that our flappers are bad.
Ryan finally (and very nicely) asks for her manager
to call us back.
We never got a call back, but late Thursday morning some one from the water company shows up and rings the doorbell not one, but FOUR times in a row (needless to say he woke Aubrey up).
He takes one look at our water meter and says,
"Yup, you have a leak".
The meter was apparently spinning like crazy and we had no water running in the house, which also means that the leak is outside somewhere around the pipes and the
water company won't fix it.
At this point Ryan decides we need to turn off our water, so we aren't constantly being charged for the leak.
You never realize how convenient indoor plumbing is, until it's taken away or in our instance, turned off.
Ryan calls several plumbers trying to find one that can come out immediately and won't charge an arm and a leg to just see where the leak is.
Around 5:00 last night the plumber arrives and tells us that he thinks a pipe may have burst, but he can't tell exactly where the leak is, because the ground is wet from the recent rain, so he has to come back after we've had a few dry days.
The plumber also tells us that the water pipes are always placed in the most direct route to the house, which for us means under our driveway and
our concrete stairs & walkway.
While we still don't know exactly where the leak is, it's quite possible that either our driveway or stairs & walkway will have to be torn up to find and fix the leak.
After all the bad news of the day, we were really trying to keep a positive attitude, but it was getting
difficult to keep a smiling.
Thankfully, Thursday nights is when our small group meets and we can always find encouragement from our friends.
Shortly after we arrive, I was telling one of our friends the short version of what happened, she listens, says several times that she's so sorry and then she says,
"well it's just another adventure!".
I nodded and said, "yeah, you're right", and almost dismissed it, but then I really started thinking about what she said.
This particular friend has told us several stories about how she grew up with very little material things, and when times seemed to get hard her mother would always tell her and her siblings that they were on an adventure and try to make whatever they were going through fun.
It's all about your attitude and where you find your peace. If your peace comes from Christ then you can find joy in any circumstance that comes your way.
You have to train yourself to have a joyful attitude in all circumstances, and not to get down when things don't go according to your plans.
I fell asleep last night with this mindset and prayed that I would face tomorrow with a joyful attitude.
This morning when we turned the water back on for an hour.
In that hour we both had to take showers; I had to rinse dirty dishes, empty, reload and run the dishwasher; wash & boil the chicken for our casserole tonight; and fill our water pitchers and several bowls full of water for use
throughout the day.
While we were running around like crazy trying to complete all these tasks I started thinking...an adventure...
that's exactly what this is!
I was actually having fun scrambling to get everything done before we had to turn the water back off.
I'll keep you updated on our adventure as
new developments come in!
P.S. Did I mention that I decided to start potty training Luke this week, YESTERDAY to be exact.
We didn't quite get off to the start I was hoping for, but Luke has sat on the potty many times in the past two days.
Nothing has happened yet, but he does seem to think it's fun to sit and the potty (that might have something to do with the M & M's bribe).
You didn't think I would actually have a postWITHOUT a picture, did you?
7 comments:
That has to be the sweetest picture ever! And the M&Ms arent bribes, they are positive reinforcers which are a critical part of successful parenting DUH :)And you should know all about "being on an adventure" im still on one! I have $20, 1 gallon of gas, half a loaf of bread (with sandwich meat/pb&j) to make it till next friday. Did i also mention i havent washed clothes since Christmas break bc i dont have quarters...
Oh Christen--so sorry. Yuck. But it sounds like you are having a great attitude. There would be weeping and gnashing of teeth over here.
The picture is adorable!
Oh my word, what a nightmare! I am so sorry! Good luck with potty training. You'll have to let me know how it goes...
Bless your hearts! It's great that you have such a positive attitude about the whole thing.
Great week to start potty-training!! If he DOES succeed, he'll get to see his product all day until the water is turned back on!! :)
I hope y'all are able to get it fixed very, very soon...did the plastic shovel come in handy?
Oh my! I am so sorry to hear about your bad luck. Oh, the joys of being a homeowner. I hope that it's fixed for you soon.
Oh my...that sounds frustrating!! I hope you get it fixed soon!
And best wishes with the potty training...it's a whole new world, LOL!!
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