Baby, it's COLD outside!

I am home this week. I have a four day Mock Survey at one of my favorite facilities here in Kansas City. I gave some thought to having a different consultant do the survey to provide 'different eyes', but decided that I didn't want to fore go the chance to be at home an entire week!

This has been a very cold week. Yesterday I headed out about 6 AM as I wanted to arrive in time to observe the early morning activities. I leave from a heated garage and when I got out of the car at the facility was amazed at how very COLD it was as I walked from the parking lot to the door.

I finished up around 3:30 and went to pick Griffin up at day care. It was his special day to stay with Grandma. I planned to take him to Wal-Mart to buy a new train for Grandma's house, but I was so cold by the time I had him buckled in that I decided he had enough trains! We went straight home. Griffin is such fun. He plays with his trains and watches Thomas movies. He loves to get the Play Dough out and make his trains get 'stuck'. After his bath we worked two puzzles several times. I was amazed at his concentration and ability to match the colors and pieces.

SO..... This morning I got up around 6:30 and went downstairs with Bouley. He was complaining and wanting food. I didn't have a can of cat food in the kitchen, so went to the garage to get a can. I opened the door to the garage and immediately realized the garage door had been open all night. The good news is that is wasn't my fault. Charlie had arrived around 8 and came in through the garage with groceries. HE didn't close the door.

The problem became apparent when the toilet didn't flush. When I checked the tank was empty. The water to the tub didn't flow. The pipes were frozen. Charlie fired up a space heater in the garage and we left the door to the house open in an effort to thaw the pipes. The bathroom sink was not frozen, so I turned the hot water on thinking that would help thaw adjacent pipes.

THEN, Charlie called out to ask how to turn off the water to the house. Why? A pipe was burst in the garage and water was pouring ( and I do mean POURING) into the garage. We found the shut off valve in the basement and successfully avoided any water damage to possessions.

As we figured all of this out Charlie was pretty calm and collected, but became more agitated as time transpired. The 'Thomas' music Griffin was listening too started to be a bit much. I moved Griffin's movie to a different room while Charlie endeavored to find a plumber.

I was just happy that I had washed up prior to needing to shut the water off, however, I had not brushed my teeth. HMMMM. I went to the garage to get a bottle of water and discovered they were frozen solid. No tooth water there. I would brush my teeth at Hillary's when I took Griffin home. When I buckled Griffin in I noticed a bottle of water 2/3 full that was not frozen, so I was able to brush my teeth.

Charlie found a plumber and I told him how happy I was that I was going to work and he was staying here to deal with the mess! The plumber actually arrived within the 30 minutes that was advertised. The pipe was fixed before noon and Charlie is a few dollars poorer.

It's supposed to get warmer. I'm headed to Florida on Sunday.