Disaster Strikes

What a day. Chaos and anxiety to the extreme!

I got home from church, changed into "work" clothes and headed over to the new house to see how much work Hubby and his Dad had accomplished that morning. Little did I know I was walking into the House of Horrors.

The coupler (don't ask me for an explanation of this device) went out on the gas furnace sometime during the past five days... five days of brutal winter weather and at least one evening low of around 10 degrees F. The house was like a meat locker; all the pipes were frozen; the water in the downstairs toilet was frozen solid; three of our hot water radiators burst from the ice inside of them; as the house thaws we're waiting to see how the plumbing held out, but so far so good.

Since we haven't officially taken possession of the house yet (the sales agreement is signed, but the official closing/transfer of the deed isn't taking place until 2007), we're hoping the current owner's home owner's insurance will cover the cost of two repairmen working there on a Sunday. Plus replacement of radiators and pipes. EEK! I don't want to think about it.

Forget about food plans and counting calories. We were too busy gathering towels, hairdryers, electric heaters, mops and pans to catch dripping water. Our good friends live three doors down from the new house and were gracious enough to let Mabel hang out while we were trying to assess the damage. We basically grabbed what food we could get quickly and easily -- a piece of candy as I drove on my endless trips for more supplies; some cookies sent over from the neighbors; delivered pizza because we had no time for a sit down meal.

So yeah, my eating has not been spectacular today. Pretty lousy, actually. But I was hungry and I ate what was available. I wasn't about to stop in the middle of mopping the kitchen floor to tell the guys I was going home to make a salad.

I can't tell whether the queasy feeling in my stomach is from the crappy food I ate or all the anxiety I've been through today. Probably a little of both. I'm just grateful that it wasn't worse: all of the downstairs radiators seem to have escaped breakage; the furnace just shut down instead of catching fire or exploding; nothing of any sentimental value was damaged. It's all just things. Things can be replaced.

I guess something similar could be said about the eating. So I ate some less than ideal food for a day. Sometimes circumstances force you to fall short of your initial plans. But there's always another day to get it right. Things will be calmer tomorrow. Probably not very much fun, but less chaotic. This too shall pass.