Water, Water, Everywhere

Yes, there was the rain. For several days and nights. I wish I could say that is the only water I saw. However, last week we had a plumbing problem...what do I mean we...It was ME. Hubby was out of town. He is usually out of town when disaster strikes, I have a long list of events to prove it. He used to travel a great deal, and the weirdest things would start to happen round here when he was gone. Usually things that I couldn't repair! Anyhow, one morning I came downstairs and proceeded to do the normal morning routine, open the shades, start the coffee, etc. All of a sudden I noticed my fuzzy boot slippers felt a little soggy. Looked down, and I was standing in about an inch of water. I heard a whooshing noise, and I wondered why the heck hubby was running the sprinkler system, as that is what it sounded like. Well I opened the cabinet doors and more water came rushing out on my feet. I ran, kind of "sloshed" rather, out into the garage and grabbed a pile of towels and blankets and tossed them on the floor to soak up the water. Then I managed to get down under the sink and get hold of the cold water shut-off and get it turned off. The whooshing stopped but I could still hear a drip-drip so I got a bucket and put it under there. I diagnosed the problem, I hadn't the strength to get it totally turned off, so worked on it a bit more. Then I proceeded to clean up all the water. Thought I had, until about an hour later, I walked over to open the back patio drape, and I was standing on really soggy carpet. UGH.... So that entailed more clean-up. By the time I got it soaked up with more towels, and another inch of standing water under the table, and got the towels in the washer, I was exhausted. Thankfully, it was not as bad as it could have been, but it was pretty bad. But if this had happened while we were out of town for several days it would have ruined a lot more. Most likely the entire downstairs carpeting, and who knows. As it is, my art table is in the family room and I have a bunch of boxes of supplies stacked under the table. I had to move those, find a place to put them and get the papers out of them. Only three boxes of stuff were ruined where they had soaked up the water. I had to throw away a couple of paper shopping bags that were sitting under the table with magazines and catalogs stored in them. I mean the contents were soaked as well.... That was a really crappy day. I sure did need a nap that afternoon. Luckily, with hubby coming home the next day, I did not call the plumber, which would have cost a bundle. When hub got home the next afternoon, he ran to Home Depot for supplies, replaced the broken pipe and it's all good. Having a hard time getting the carpet entirely dried, as the weather has been so cold and wet. Oh, the joys of home ownership. Our house is 16 years old, this is the longest we have ever lived in one house. We used to move every three to five years, so have had lots of new houses. I want another NEW one...home repairs suck. Having to move the boxes of art supplies out from under the table did uncover several treasures I hadn't been able to get to in awhile. And stuff getting wet, did force me to actually toss more than I have been able to in awhile as well. So that worked out well in a way.