Woulda. shoulda, coulda...

So, we own this:


It's an amazing device that stops a flood from your washing machine before it begins. A sensor on the floor stops the water. A great idea, really. My mother in law bought it for us (Thank you!) However.... we never installed it. We've owned it for like, ever, and never put it in. (I bet you can see where this is going.....)

Anyway....
Today Aisling wanted to take a nap with me, and who can refuse that! So, we went into her bed, and spent the better part of an hour talking about taking a nap, but not actually taking a nap. Wishful thinking, I guess. After a while I got up to put Siobhan into her cradle so she could sleep. (At least someone was resting). As I walked through the hallway I noticed it was SOAKED. Not damp, or wet, but SOAKED!!! I brought Siobhan into her cradle and came back to investigate. The washing machine, which I had loaded before the nap fake out, had never stopped filling. It was just continuing to fill with water over and over again. So, there was lots of standing water in the bathroom, and it was continuing to head down the hallway. It was also in Connor's room. We're talking serious amounts of water. Now, we don't actually own a mop. We have pergo floors everywhere, and they are not supposed to get wet (ha ha) so we clean with a wet swiffer. So, thinking fast I went to get every-towel-in-the-house. Yup, that barely touched the mess.

Since the bath towels were not enough, I decided to run outside to the deck box to get the beach towels. In the act of running downstairs, I heard the doorbell ring. I looked over to the mudroom to see our next door neighbor (Connor's seven year old friend) was standing in the mudroom. Now, that's not unusual, except that he was getting rained on... from the ceiling!!! Needless to say, I wasn't the most gracious host to our poor friend, and I yelled so loud he ran home calmly sent him on his way. I investigated and discovered that it was, indeed, pouring in the mudroom.




Now, sensing my level of stress, Aisling, of course, helps out by beginning to cry and yell. So, I calmly informed her that this was an emergency and I needed her help. Well, that brought out her inner girl scout! She put on my crocs "I need my water shoes mommy" and snapped into action. She was at my side for the rest of the afternoon. (She was, actually, a great helper!) On my next trip to get beach towels, she opted to come with me. My favorite line, ever, is "Mommy, why is it raining inside?". Seriously, I was laughing out loud!In the midst of placing all the towels on top of the water, I was also frantically calling Al like a madwoman and tearing into his co-worker and close friend calmly trying to get a hold of Al to figure out what our next steps should be. I did think to turn off the power in the mudroom due to the flood of water in the light fixture. I literally had to dump water out of it. In the pictures above you can see the water marks on the ceiling.

You may be shocked to see that I actually have pictures of this wonderful event. Well, really, why wouldn't we want to take pictures of such fun events?! No, seriously, would it scare your or surprise you to know that while this was happening I was thinking about what a great blog entry it would make? Or, what a fantastic scrapbook spread I could do about this? Seriously, that's how my mind works.... When there's a crisis, what do I do, snap pictures! I don't know if I should ever be a girl scout leader. We'll be learning how to make first aid kits: "Band aides? check. Gauze? check. Camera? check. Extra memory card? check." Yeah, best not sign me up for that. (Not like I'd have time for that anyway!)

Well, that was my eventful day. And, don't say it, I know what you're thinking; you TOTALLY wish you had my life, right?