What did I do that for?

When I got back from the second trip to Utah, I was a befuddled mess. Distracted, sad, disoriented. I was trying to get back into the swing of life. I was getting all unpacked, washing laundry, giving kids a bath, Paul was out of town. I put some items that needed to be soaked, in the laundry room sink, and turned the water on. I wasn't going to walk away, but then I heard my kids screaming at me, telling me that the water was too cold in the bath. I ran in there to fix it, and was startled by this loud obnoxious ringing in my ears. It was all of the smoke detectors! CRAP! Did I leave a stove on, did I turn the iron on, and burn something? What the heck is wrong? I ran out of my bedroom, and into the hallway, and there was water everywhere, but why is it setting off the smoke detectors? I turned that water off, of course, and threw a bunch of towels down, then ran all over the house, like a maniac, trying to figure it out, tears running down my face again. I went into the basement, and opened up the furnace room, and it was raining in there! All of the water in the laundry room had flowed downstairs into the furnace room, soaking everything in it. WHAT DO I DO? I went down to get the wet/dry shop vac, it's a piece of crap, and isn't soaking up anything. I threw a ton of towels down on the water upstairs, to try to stop some of it, and went around the house to unplug all of the screeching smoke detectors, so my kids would at least stop screaming out of fear. I then ran across the street, to grab my neighbor, and see if he has an actual useful shop vac. He did, and it worked beautifully. I called some people from my church, and they all rushed over, and helped me out. Luckily, we have a friend who owns a carpet/duct cleaning business, and he brought over those massive fans, you know the ones that peel skin off? That helped tremendously.

Everything eventually dried up, and it's all fine with the exception of my wood floors upstairs, that are all warped, and bowed. It's a reminder of my stupidity every time I walk in that area, and feel them.

Lesson learned- never ever walk way from running water!

Every time I hear water running, I have heart palpitations.