The 1500th, The Disaster

Today's post marks my 1500th post! Who knew I had so much to say?

I had hoped to make today a celebration - to highlight some of my favorite posts - to celebrate the friends I had met over the years of blogging - to commit to continue so that my children have a record of my thoughts.

But no - disaster had to strike, and I can't compose my mind enough to do all those things.

Last Tuesday, Ronnie comes and tells me that water is dripping in his closet. At first, I think he must be mistaken - there is no plumbing in the attic (I have a one story house). But after a few minutes, I realized that the part of my air conditioner that is in the attic has a drain pipe to take condensation outside the house. Except it wasn't going outside the house....

The air conditioner unit was pretty new. I just had it installed late last Spring. I immediately called the HVAC comnpany and they agreed to send someone over the next morning. I turned off the air conditioner to stop its sweat and start ours.

Once the repairman arrived and lumbered up to the attic, he pronounced that the drain pipe had been 'broken'. Heck, he even showed me the broken piece. Thing is, I'm not sure I believe him. No one had been in the attic since the unit was installed. I'm thinking, though I can't prove a thing, that the pipe was never connected, and the 'break' was just done to cover that up. Either it's that or I have some mighty strong critters having parties in my attic.

It is, however, a moot point since I can't prove a thing.

After the pipe was hooked up, I called my insurance company. I was still thinking we were just dealing with some wet carpet and maybe some repainting in Ronnie's closet. Well, armed with his trusty moisture gage, the water mitigation person my insurance company sent over told me that not only was Ronnie's closet very wet, but his adjoining walls and ceiling were also wet. Then he asked what was on the other side of Ronnie's wall. I told him it was Ashley's room. He checked that and it too is wet - almost half the room. Again, not completely understanding the impact of his words, I'm nodding and saying "OK". But then he hit me with something that turned that "OK" into "OMG".

He told me that both walls, both closets and both ceilings would have to be demolished and redone. And the sooner they could start, the better. He wanted everything out of both bedrooms by the next morning so they could bring in fans and a dehumidifier first, demolishing tools after that.

With a dazed look on my face, I told him that there was no way I could move both kids and all their belongings and medical equipment in one night. I would be lucky to get Ronnie moved. He left saying, "Just do the best you can do."

I got Ronnie moved by the next morning. The fans and humidifier came and have been running for three days now. Saturday, I moved Ashley into my room, and spread all her stuff all around the house. The only thing left in both bedrooms in the bed, and I have no where to put those if I am to leave a path wide enough for a wheelchair.

Now we wait for the demolition and for things to get put back together. In the meantime, my house looks like a hoarder's house, I'm getting no sleep because Ashley is in my room, and oh yea, school starts tomorrow and I have no idea where clothes, backpacks and lunch boxes are.

So - Happy 1500th post. May the next milestone be more of a celebration!