Buh Bye BFWW, Hello Woof

We left Memphis at 4:05am on Sunday morning. It wasn't a tough decision on when to leave - there were many pros for leaving this early - one of which was that we would be home in time for the noon kickoff of the Bears game (we didn't know until we were in the car that the game time had changed to 3:00).

Dave and I got up at 3:30, changed our clothes and got the girls into the car. BFWW and Jer got up to say goodbye and we got in the car to leave. I had to come running back to get Nora's duck - but then if you remember, that is how we travel - always coming back one more time for one more thing.

I cried all the way to Arkansas. Sobbed really. Not just a few tears streaming down my cheeks, but audible sobs. I could cry right now if I let myself.

The girls woke up around 7 and we stopped for a bathroom break and donuts at 7:30. The town we stopped in did not have a Dunkin Donuts, so we had to settle for gas station crappy, sticky donuts. I don't think the girls cared one way or the other, but since I am not a fan of donuts I was less than thrilled with the mess of the glazed variety in the car. I was also severly disappointed with the coffe that I bought at that gas station since it tasted like fuel. Mmmm.

The girls were good for the most part. Nora was excellent - especially considering the DVD player's battery was dead because the power was on the entire weekend while we were thinking we were charging it. So no movie for her, but she was really good about it and was very pleasant in the backseat for the whole ride home. Georgia fell asleep around 10 and Ryann was, well, Ryann. I glanced back there at one point and caught her drawing all over her hand with an ink pen. The hand was the least of it - there was ink all over her face, her pants and her arms.

And then I was really happy when Ryann decided to reach over into Georgia's carseat and try to take Georgia's barette out of her hair. This was at 10:45. Georgia woke up and punished all of us for the rest of the ride home. And we said thank you to Ryann.

We got home at 12:15, unloaded the car and got some lunch. I went grocery shopping and Dave watched the Bears. We were looking forward to an evening of chocolate chip pancakes, putting up the christmas tree and getting to bed early.

While I was cleaning up the dishes from the pancakes I heard Dave yell from the basement. I went to find out what was going on and found him standing in a puddle. The water heater was spraying water all over the place. Nice. This was a great discovery (although I was very happy that it just happened then and not while the dogsitter was there for the entire weekend).

We rolled back the carpet that I had just laid down there that week and started soaking up the water. I called PD and asked to speak to her husband. It was 7:30 on a Sunday night - she knew that if I was calling to talk to him at that time of night that it wasn't a good thing. He's a plumber, you see, so I told him what was going on and he said we needed a new water heater - exactly what I wanted to hear.

I spent the evening mopping up the floor while Dave and the girls put up the tree - only the tree, no decorations. I opted for the mopping, in case you're wondering, and based on the grumpiness that I heard going on upstairs I was glad that I did. Waking up at 3:30am and driving 8 hours and then finding a leak in your basement does not make one cheerful.

PD's husband told us to turn the water to the entire house off. My understanding (from what he told me later) is that we didn't need to be that drastic, but he didn't want to come over and he didn't want to try to explain how to turn the water heater off over the phone. And since Dave and I are complete plumbing dummies we obeyed him:)

The girls and I spent the entire day on Monday without water. We had some in the fridge and PD brought over a couple of gallons, but there was no flushing and no showers at our house that day (Dave and I took turns showering at Doug and Jennie's that morning). I went over to PD's house for dinner on Monday night while Dan and Dave went to Home Depot to buy a new water heater and Dan installed it.

After Dave put the girls to bed we were getting ready for bed ourselves and Dave says to me, "I'm so glad we have water again." And I gave him the "Whatever" look and walked into the other room. Soooo glad he had water again. Dork.