Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was still running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

This is one of my favorite children's books of all time. I guess it is because I identify with little Alexander almost on a daily basis. Yesterday was no different. By the way, if you've never read the book, I definitely recommend it to you.

The laundry has been piling up for a couple of weeks due to a broken washing machine. Jeremy was able to fix it on Tuesday evening of this week. First, let me tell you that I have been fighting a cold or allergies (or something!) for about a week now. Well, yesterday I thought I was feeling a little bit better so I decided to tackle the laundry. I tore off all of the bed sheets so I could wash them first. I went outside (our washer and dryer are located in, what we call, the utility shed) and set the wash cycle to begin. I came back inside and decided I felt well enough to wash the dishes . . . luckily, we now are the very proud owners of a portable dishwasher! So, I started that cycle. About 35-40 minutes I went back out to put some more laundry in the wash and heard the sound of trickling water. I opened the utility shed to discover water seeping out all over the floor but not dripping down the machine itself. (Mind you, I was already sick and it is a bit chilly out for Florida this time of year.) I opened the lid to discover that the water had not stopped the filling process and so the water level kept rising and rising. Panic immediately set in but I still managed to shut the machine off before I ran inside to grab the phone to call Jeremy at work. Then I started the removal process of all our gardening equipment that had been sitting in a pool of water. Fortunately, Jeremy was able to take a half day off and rushed home to assess the damage.

Next, let me tell you that I was already so frustrated because I was not feeling well and it was cold outside. Then, I realized that the washer was filled with our bed sheets and if we didn't get the problem fixed, we would be sleeping with no blankets that night. All of this came in the middle of other problems that are going on this week and so, I was in tears when Jeremy arrived home from work. Jeremy looked inside the washer but outside the washing drum (which the water had been trickling into and all over the wires inside). He checked to make sure everything was alright and looked for the cause of the overflow. To make the story not quite so long, he called our neighbor (and landlord) --who was also sick-- and he came to check out the situation. It turns out, the tubing that tells the water when to stop filling up, popped off.

Now all things are fixed and I was able to get two loads of laundry washed last night. Bad news, I am feeling worse today than I was yesterday. Although, yesterday, I felt very much like Alexander.