The One Where I Break Down and Cry

When DH and I built our house, there was one area where I went around and around with my construction-savvy father. Out of practicality, I wanted the laundry room on the second floor, right by the bedrooms. My father basically told me that I was crazy and that I'd regret the decision. He didn't give up the issue for weeks. I was smugly confident that I had made a fantastic decision that would save multitudes of trips up and down the stairs, hauling laundry.

Then our laundry room flooded yesterday. (I love the men in my life, but they aren't supposed to be right when we argue, doggone it!) It all started with the water stains that appeared on our living room ceiling. Which led to the discovery of standing water on the lineoleum under the washer. Then came the moving of the gargantuan washer, which left marks on my hall carpeting. And DH cleaned up the mold from the wall. This morning, we pulled off the trim and discovered more mold/mildew. We cleaned.

And then my husband left. After he gave me a verbal 'to-do' list.

However, I do understand that he needed to go. An engine test has been scheduled. For a long time.

It still stinks. It stinks as much as the pants of my child, who decided to do some attention-getting-pant-soiling today. Yay.

It was as my son sat on the hallway potty, with smears of 'number two' all over the toilet seat, that I thought I was going to lose it. (Uh, I cannot do any laundry until all of this has been solved. And it is not solved yet.)

All topped off by a phone call from my mother-in-law. Who tried to make small talk by discussing how a family in her town lost their home in a fire. I attempted to sympathize by saying that I know how horrible that is-- my apartment in college burned down, and I still miss my hand-embroidered baby quilt and the yellowed photos of my great-grandmother's high school graduation that I lost. To which she replied, "Well, that happens."

Uh, I feel a little better about my day now that I've had two glasses of wine. But not much better. I'm now tivo-ing Waitress so I can get a good cry in before I go to bed.

P.S. We have cleaned the laundry area as much as we can and are using fans to dry out the closet. I've ventilated upstairs so we're not recirculating mold spores in the air. I'm watching my child very closely for any respiratory symptoms. We're now in the drying process.