I had planned to post about Christmas and how Princess Nagger said it was the “Best Christmas EVER!” along with a “part two” on Spike the Ultra Dinosaur and the wrench PN put into the hard work that went into securing one, and the switch that had to be made mere days before Christmas.
But Mother Nature must have conspired with Murphy and his Law by the series of events over the weekend, so that post will just have to wait for another day.
What series of events, you ask? I’m so glad you did! Let’s start with a little reminder of the 2-feet of snow we got last weekend. Remember that? Here, maybe this will jog your memory:
It stayed right around or below freezing all week so the snow stuck around and we were able to have a ‘technical’ White Christmas.
Enter in the conspiracy of Mother Nature.
She decided it would be a great idea to send us several inches of rain starting on Christmas Day and lasting through the day after. Normally that would be no big deal, but with all that snow on the ground, of course that means now there’s going to be a lot of excess water as the rain dissolved it into mini rivers and lakes in the back yard.
I didn’t go out and take pictures of the rivers and lakes because it was too slushy and muddy, but here’s a picture I took of the Back 40 in November 2006 after a particularly heavy rain:
This doesn’t have the effect of the piles’o’snow that helped make it extra soggy, but you get the idea.
On top of that, Murphy and his Law thought it was the perfect time for the sump pump in our basement to stop working.
Oh yeah, it was deader than a doornail.
Which means the basement started to take on water.
At a very rapid pace.
Hubby was able to get to Tractor Supply before they closed on Saturday to acquire a new sump pump, then had to jury rig it in the depths of the basement with a hose running out the outside basement doors to start eliminating the water. Which had already reached a depth of 2-feet. And was still climbing.
Meanwhile, Princess Nagger started to complain of an earache. Her exact words were:
“My ear really hurts. I think I need the pink bubble gum medicine. I’m not going to get any sleep tonight at this rate!”
I called the Pediatrics’s office, knowing full well they had closed just mere hours earlier, and was dreading the possibility of taking her to the ER on a holiday weekend. Her Sponge Bob thermometer claimed her temperature was 99.2, which is still considered within the ‘normal’ range, but she sure felt much hotter to the touch to me. She had been fighting a cold for a couple of weeks, but Saturday morning was the first time her snot was the brilliant green that indicates an antibiotic is necessary.
While I waited for a return call back from the nurse, hubby ran to RiteAid and brought home some homeopathic ear drops (since those were the only kind they had), which did absolutely nothing to alleviate the pain in poor Princess Nagger’s ear. A nurse finally called and said to give PN some ibuprofen for the pain, but if it didn’t work in a couple of hours, call back and we’d probably have to make a trip to the ER. Luckily I had some children’s ibuprofen on hand, and gave PN a dose as she protested because of the taste.
The ibuprofen did the trick – PN was hilarious a half hour later as she consumed two hot dogs, some leftover Christmas ham, some Christmas chocolate and was happily watching her new Dinosaur movie she got for Christmas, humming and marveling at the idea there are over 700 dinosaur species. Since the ibuprofen helped, I decided I’d wait until Sunday morning to see how PN was feeling and call the Pediatric office and see about getting her in to see the doctor first thing Monday morning.
Sunday morning dawned to more chaos.
Princess Nagger now had a temperature of 102.4.
The new sump pump wasn’t running.
And there was more water in the basement from more melting snow drainage overnight.
In addition to that, the temperature in the house was a chilly 52 degrees.
The furnace wasn’t working.
Apparently Murphy and his Law decided they wanted to stop by for Sunday breakfast. Uninvited.
The hose of the new sump pump had apparently acquired a kink which made the sump pump switch itself off in ‘safety’ mode sometime during the night. Just about the time hubby got the new sump pump working again, the Pediatrician’s nurse called to let us know that PN’s doctor could see her in his office in half an hour. It takes half an hour to get there, so a flurry of activity ensued as I got PN out of bed, clothed, and teeth brushed in record time and we headed out to the doctor’s office. We were only 15 minutes late.
There was another sick kid being seen when we got there, so being late wasn’t an issue. The crying kid in the other room also had an earache. Princess Nagger didn’t cry during the whole exam, but she sure looked miserable. She looked petrified and almost cried when the doctor said her eardrum had burst, poor thing!
We were out of the doctor’s office in record time, pink bubblegum medicine prescription in hand. PN fell asleep in the back seat on the drive home, and ended up crashing out on the couch for quite a while yesterday afternoon. Poor thing was miserable and feverish all day.
When we got back from the doctor’s office, the sump pump was still working its magic getting the water out of the basement, and hubby was able to finally get a look at the furnace to see why it wasn’t coming on. Apparently when the sump pump kicked itself off due to the kinked hose during the night, it tripped the breaker. Which in turn tripped the breaker that the furnace was on.
I have my work cut out for me to see what is salvageable and what might need to be tossed that I had stored in the basement.
I’m ready for Murphy and his Law to ignore me for awhile.
Oy, you had your weekend handed to you! Hope there's not much to throw and PN is feeling better!
Damn that murphy! Sounds lkike you had one hella of a weekend, I hope all get well soon and things calm down, in the mean time, open a bottle of wine;)
peace friend
Good lord, what a chunk of Murphy you have had. I'm betting that it is all done and the New Year will bring you a smoother sail.
Chaos!
What a bummer! I hope Murphy stays far, far away from you for all of 2010.
OMG! You got screwed! One of those problems would have been bad, but to put them all together was brutal!
Well, Murphy needs to have his a$$ kicked! I hope he is gone. What an awful way to spend the holiday weekend! I am sorry that PN is not feeling well, hope that the meds have kicked in and she is feeling better today!
The basement situation really sucks. There is one upside to having no basement, it does not flood. We had that problem in a previous house and it was such a mess. I hope most of your "stuff" is able to be saved!
That's three plus things gone bad, so I think you are due for some peace and quiet for the last week of 2009.
oh my…at least you knocked out all three in one fell swoop…maybe that will keep murphy away for a while. sucks about the basement…flooding and salvaging brings bad memories for me. hoping the new year is happier…
Bummer! I hope things get better for you soon! I am glad to hear that PN is on her way to recovery!
Uh, when it rains (or snows) it pours! Sorry about the wicked weekend. Isn't it funny how kids just know when they need meds?
OMG! I knew you were in eastern PA and wondered if you got any of that blizzard that hit the eastern seaboard – I see you did. And you also got hit with all that rain on Christmas Day? Oh, jeez! We did too, but at least we didn't have all that snow (we're getting that today).
Poor Princess Nagger – I hope she's feeling better! Give the little sweetheart a hug from everyone at the Sushi Bar!
Holy crap, this whole post was sucky sucky!!!! Poor PN! I know how bad those damn earaches are, but I tell ya what, once the ear drum ruptures it usually feels soooooo much better. Of course, then you have the bloody goo to contend with. I just did this last month. Good times.
I hope you get dried out and that PN starts feeling better soon!
Justine 😮 )
Sorry to hear your princess has the sickies. Healing vibes for her.
What a hateful series of events. Too much to handle. It was almost too much for me to read about without taking a (whole)xanax. This week will surely be easier, drier, more comfortable. Take care. Great post considering the not so great matters.
Oh, JEEZ. I HATE when that happens, and then you feel terrible, but how could you have known?! Poor kid. I hope she feels better soon.
And all of that disastrous house business! I think you're due for a vacation (though it would certainly be a risk to leave, given those problems. better stay home, I guess 🙂
At least if you saw Murphy at the end of this year, you won't have to worry about him coming round at the start of next year right?
Wow, you weren't kidding, everything that could go wrong did! I hope PN's feeling better soon, that sick picture of her is so pitiful. And that snow, wow! Well, water now but still, wow.
Sounds like you tried to made a little lemonade out of all those lemons! Sorry you had such a bad time at Christmas with the weather and the house…
That sounds like some of the things we go through. Christmas eve we ran out of water and my husband had to fix that. Thank goodness we have husbands that can!!
That sounds so bad! I hope you don't loose to much stuf in from the water.
I think having a sick little one is bad, but at Christmas!!! You know they always get sick at night and when the doctor is out of town. I'm happy your doctor did get to see her though!
Woah, I am in!
Let's hope my computer doesn't crash!
Hurrying to say hope your daughter is better soon and murphy goes away! 🙂
Happy New Year!
Bloody Hell!! If anyone deserved to have a drink and put their feet up for a couple of hours it's you! What a time you've had. Certainly makes the chaos around here the last few days seem like a picnic.
Hope everything is back to normal and your little princess is feeling much better.
They say bad things happen in threes so maybe you're covered for a while. Hope Murphy goes to play elsewhere. Feel better Princess Nagger!
Look at it this way Stacy – Mother Nature and Murphy in Law wouldn't have stopped by for Christmas at the same time if they didn't think you would cope so well with it! lol. Poor you. Hope PN feels better soon the poor little thing xx
wow…Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!!!
You are the third friend who had a sick child over the holidays this year!
I'm glad she's feeling better – but no fun for anyone when are kids are ill.
Wishing you a beautiful New Year and lots of Health and Happiness!!!
I know a guy once with the last name murphy.He never did have much luck. Sorry to hear you're having a rough time. Good news: it will get better. That's not murphy's law that just "the law"
Mother Nature changed allot of plans this year. Welcome 2010.
Sorry she was sick, that is not fun at Christmas.
WOW.
Stace! What an ordeal! You showed mother nature and murphy who's boss!
And poor poor Princess Nagger! I can't help but laugh at her bubble gum medicine comment and not being able to sleep "at this rate" Hahaha!
Even when she's sick, she never ceases to entertain!
Poor PN, burst ear drums, ugh. No wonder she was miserable, add fever to that and it's no wonder she was knocked on her butt. Hope things are on the upswing and that your house is resuming its warmth and dryness. Snow.
Dang girl, well all I can say to all that is things have got to get better for you from here you've already had the worst. Glad to hear your princess is getting better too. There's nothing worse then a sick child.
I cannot believe Murphy was that mean to you the weekend following Christmas! I hope the Princess is doing better by now, and your water is all gone.
I love that you have such a positive attitude about all of it! I would have a stress headache for sure! May the rest of your week be much, much better!!!
Wow…just wow. That is quite a lot to take on. I hope you were finally able to get some peace and quiet.
My goodness!! Sounds like you had a bit of a miserable weekend!! Hope everything gets back to normal soon and Murphy and his Law take a hike! Hope PN is 100% better asap!!
Sump pumps is very important in our basements. We should know how to take care of it and know how to repair it. Hope everything is alright with you now. 🙂