At some point today (I think it was after the mower trouble) I remember thinking, “Can anything else possibly go wrong?” I didn’t say it out loud, probably because I knew the answer was yes. After all, none of the children were hurt – yet. Things getting worse was possible. And they did get worse.

The first bump in the road occurred when I was washing a few kitchen items, getting ready to rinse, when the water pressure went down, down, off. The water company had cut the water off without notice, and it would be off for 2 hours. I was just getting ready to start the first of the 3 loads I planned to do that day. 🙁

Once the water came back on and that first laundry load finished, I noticed water on the floor in the laundry room coming from one of the spigots behind the washer. It was a small drip that we had seen before after disturbances to the line, and I remembered that, if left alone, it usually fixed itself. Sure enough, it did. 🙂

Carman is getting pretty handy with the mower, and I have him help me out from time to time with that job. He headed outside to cut the front yard, when we had trouble with our mower. The cord will slacken while the motor is running. To fix it, you have to pull on the cord to remove the slack, then wait for the cord to get pulled back in. Oh, and the mower is screaming at you while the cord is slack. Carman panicked a bit when the screaming started and forgot to pull the cord, and the cord tangled itself up. 🙁

He and I spent the next hour straightening that out, and he got a small burn on his hand from the manifold. We fixed it (the mower, that is) with needle nose pliers, a wrench, and a lot of pulling and tugging. He had a great attitude the whole time. I was proud of him, and proud of us that we were able to handle it. 🙂

Time came around for that 3rd load of laundry. Hours later, it is still sitting in the washing machine. Here’s why.

I was at my computer tending my email when Sudoku came in the house. She walked toward the kichen and heard a faint, strange noise. She opened the door to the garage, and there was a LOUD screaming sound that came rushing into the house. I jumped out of my chair as she was screaming that something must be wrong with the washing machine, ran past her, and quickly but cautiously turned off the washer. Everything looked normal, but there was a burnt rubber smell, and I think the machine should have been agitating when I stopped it, but nothing was moving the barrel. But something was making a heck of a lot of noise! I had never heard anything like it. I tried to remove the front cover of the machine, but gave up after just a few minutes. I did test to see that the pump works, but I haven’t tested the spin cycle. I need to do that. But I bet it will be noisy…

THEN (yes, there’s a little more), the girls took a bath, and the water pressure was not it’s usual strength. A neighbor told me that having the water turned off and on could mess with the pressure regulator. 🙁

And finally, my sweet Sudoku has asked from time to time today if she could make some special wheat-free cookies for her Mimi who is coming to visit tomorrow. “Probably later, but not right now. Things are too crazy right now,” I kept saying to her. And they were. (Normally I think I’m pretty good about encouraging her kitchen endeavors.) This evening, once she noticed the kitchen was tidy and things had calmed down, she came to me, and asked again. She even had the 3 ingredients out (it’s a really simple recipe), as if to show that she would handle it all. I disappointed her by telling her I just couldn’t handle any more potential messes, and I needed her to just let it go. “Yes ma’m,” she said sweetly but there was disappointment in her voice. She put her egg and other ingredients on the counter and as she turned around to open the refrigerator door, the egg rolled off the counter and splat on the floor.

Now it’s dark. They’re all in bed. Marathon is on his way home. I hope I can take a low pressure shower and climb in bed without any more surprises.