The Water Shut-Off

At the complete risk of completely humiliating myself, just to entertain my Big Sister and a few others who actually enjoy reading this blog…

Yesterday, our water was shut off. Not because the construction workers building the home across the street hit some sort of water line, not because I had a plumbing problem, but...for non-payment.

Yep. It turns out, if you owe the water company money, they can choose to cut your water off. Even if you only owe them $27.

Look, it wasn’t that I didn’t have the $27 in the bank to pay the bill. I most certainly did and the minute I realized my oversight, I obviously paid the bill.

It’s just that in a world where I’m trying to juggle a 3rd grader, a 6th grader, a crazy fireman husband, additional graduate classes, a full time job and an obsession with songwriting and performing, some things get forgotten. Sadly, the water bill was at the absolute dead-last-bottom of my priority list.

Thankfully, Hubbit, who has been telling me for about two weeks to “slow it down” and “you’re doing WAY too much these days”, was completely asleep during the entire fiasco. I have to admit, I did breathe a sigh of relief when after I humbly called to admit my oversight and pay the bill, they turned the water back on...before Hubbit woke from his nap.

Little did I realize, since Flea was home sick from school and witnessed the “Water Shut-Off”, after we picked up Bug from school, he revealed our little dirty secret. Flea also felt inclined to tell my parents, who then quickly called me to be sure I didn’t need money. Not a bad problem to have really...parents who are forever trying to give me cash! But, since I’m the world’s best daughter, I did not take their cash and simply admitted to my mistake. ;)

While we’re a family who likes to have no secrets, the problem with telling Bug ANYTHING is...he has zero ability to keep it to himself. He’s definitely not the kid to reveal anything to.

Not Chrismas present purchases. Not that you REALLY dislike his coach. Not that you secretly passed gas.

Because, he WILL tell.

So, ultimately Hubbit did find out and I got the exact response I knew I would get...”slow it down” and “you’re doing WAY too much these days”.

UGH. Doesn’t he know SuperWoman can do it ALL? Geez. Such a hater.

Side Note: Last year I made a bold statement that people over the age of 21 should NEVER use the word “hater”, by the way. In fact, my declaration REALLY ticked off at least one person. (giggle) But, in all fairness, it really does fit nicely in this context...so eat it up!

Anyhow, what no one knows...

I had already taken a shower before the big “Water Shut-Off” event, so the only thing I was genuinely concerned with was finding water to use for hand washing after using the bathroom. I searched the pantry and successfully found two bottled waters.

We were home free! Or so I thought...

After feeling confident we would “survive” this aggravation, I went to a few appointments and took Flea to the doctor. When I returned home, the water still hadn’t been cut back on.

No big deal. I settled down to do a little work, when I remembered I hadn’t washed Bug’s football pants and socks.

Since he didn't have practice until a few hours later, I knew there was still time. However, I had to act quickly, because I was scheduled for a studio session and had to leave 35 minutes later. I threw the clothes into my handy-dandy front loader, added detergent and turned it on. It started making a crazy noise and wouldn’t start.

My immediate thought was that our washer was broken and I started cursing the evil-too-expensive-not-really-worth-it machine. In my defense, since our dryer broke last week, I was a little paranoid about another broken appliance.

Knowing I didn’t have time for a “broken washer”, I did exactly what I do whenever I forget to wash things and have less than an hour to deal with it. I grabbed the clothing out of the washer, ran to the boys’ bathroom, tossed them in the sink and BEFORE THINKING, added a ton of liquid blue laundry detergent to the WHITE pants. Just like always, I twisted the water knob, fully prepared to see water come out so I could do my quick hand-wash.

ONLY...there was no water. How could I have forgotten about the “Water Shut-Off” and made such a big mistake. I looked at the clock and had absolutely NO time to run to the store for a gallon of water.

So, I panicked.

I looked at the bright white pants, covered in bright blue Tide. I looked at the remaining small amount of “hand washing bottled water” I had left. And, I almost started to cry.

Where on Earth was I going to get enough water to rinse out all of the detergent, so I could throw the pants in the dryer and hit the road to my session?

Just then, I got an idea. I’ll admit it wasn’t an ideal plan. In fact, if presented the chance again, I’m not sure I would do the same.

But, when your water has been shut off and you’re in a desperate situation, as I certainly was...

Lifting the back cover on your toilet, MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT be your magical-hear-angels-singing solution...

And you MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT be able to use the back of the toilet as a mini washing machine...

And if you are blessed to have three toliets with backs full of water, you MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT have enough clean water to rinse out a ton of blue liquid Tide from bright white youth football pants.

I guess, Hubbit doesn’t call me the Redneck Martha Stewart for nothing.

Whitney

We never know the worth of water, until the well is dry. (Author Unknown)