Adventures in Single Parenting

I do NOT like not having a husband around :(
Before he left, I worried that things would go wrong. I expected things to go wrong, because that's just the way it works out. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to go to the ER, I wouldn't have to have my truck fixed, and nothing would go wrong with the house requiring me to fix something or make repair decisions.
Well folks, we've hit all 3!!
1. trip to the ER with Nick for his broken toe
2. trip to the repair shop with the truck (while we waited)
3. and now today the water softener decided to clog up and flood the entire garage. I was out the door when it happened and I am so glad that I happened to notice before I left!

Now, I admit that I am mechanically challenged. I admit that my brain shuts off when I hear anything to do with working parts. That is one of the many reasons why I have a husband. All of that being said, I'm still not a complete idiot. When I saw the flooding, I assumed that I should turn the water off until I could figure out what was wrong. Now, am I wrong in thinking that the knob marked "MAIN WATER SHUTOFF" would be the one to turn?????



Well, I was wrong. It ended up being the one BELOW the one marked "main water shutoff". Go figure.



So, then I looked in the water softener. Now I don't know much about water softeners, but I believe that you normally don't actually see the water in there. Mine is full and the valve behind the softener (and up against the wall) is what was leaking all over the place. Maybe I shouldn't say leaking, because that sounds like a drip. I mean a constant, steady, powerful stream of water - covering the floor of the garage.



After using the push broom to get the water out, asking a neighbor for advice, and making phone calls to my dad and brother, I ended up calling the water softener repair man. He is coming sometime tomorrow between 8 and 5. Hopefully closer to the 8 than the 5 since in the mean time I have no idea if I can bypass the water softener and actually have water in the house. At this point in time I am completely intimidated by the amount of pipes and knobs above and around the water softener. I did manage to unplug it though. That's about as far as I got. There are instructions on the inside of the lid on how to clean out the "nozzle" whatever that is. I am not prepared to do this. It would turn out disastrous. I would get it apart and never get it back together again. So, I am paying who knows how many dollars an hour for the water softener man to come (I didn't even want to ask what the hourly rate was, although it is an initial $109 for the service call). It pays to be handy doesn't it?? I just wish I was. I think that my mechanical genes were given to my brother Jeff instead, so that he has an abundance of them and I'm lacking :(

You have to admit though, this looks very confusing:



And even more confusing put next to the boiler and water heater:



If this much stuff is going to go wrong while he's at NTC, what am I going to have to deal with while he's gone for a year?? I need to have him write me out a manual to all of the household stuff.....

All of this added to the fact that Ellie is still at camp (and being rained out from what I hear), Nick is climbing on absolutely everything in sight, I haven't showered in about 4 days, and I now have no running water in our house for the next day unless I can somehow get a hold of Andy and have him talk me through getting it on is enough to drive anyone batty. I'm not completely crazy yet, but I just want to scream THIS STINKS!! And SO DO I!! There, I feel better now that I have gotten that off my chest :) Now I need to go fill the toilet tanks full of water so that we can keep our house from becoming a public health hazard....