sweetfrenchtoast

My condo flooded today.

But let’s come back to that.

Last night I took my parents and Guy out to dinner. We were going to go to PF Changs but the wait was an hour! When you’re as hungry as I was, an hour is waaaaay too long. So we instead went to the Cheesecake Factory, where the wait was a more reasonable 30 minutes. Dinner was good, and it went as expected…Dad was corny and Mom quietly listened and piped in when she really had something to say. I really do love my parents. They are really cool, especially because of their quirky qualities. I mean, my dad wouldn’t be the dad I grew up loving if he didn’t have a silly joke to crack or a Dallas Cowboys factoid ready at all times. And my mom wouldn’t be the same if she didn’t roll her eyes at Dad’s silliness. It was neat watching Guy interact with them—his smiles were genuine, his interest real. It was really cool…as I observed him, he became even more attractive to me, which is really saying something.

Today, Guy and I went to the premium outlet mall to do a little post-holiday shopping. I got some good deals on Kenneth Cole shoes, a king blanket (I’ve been spreading a twin blanket over the too-big mattress), and some goodies for an upcoming birthday. While in line at one store, I had to exercise extreme patience and civility.

There was a woman with a stroller in front of us, and the baby was excitedly playing with a kitchen gadget…one of those bar strainers. It was frightening watching the little girl twirl it around and wave it through the air before slamming it into her face and putting her tongue all over it. I thought for sure she was going to poke an eye out with it, and it took all my strength to refrain from saying anything or just reaching down and taking it away from her. The mom and her shopping companion seemed totally oblivious to the danger, as they looked at the child several times and seemed satisfied that she was occupied. Guy and I traded frustrated looks and shook our heads.

Then, as they were about to leave, the bar strainer was taken away—and was replaced by a pair of sunglasses to play with! I watched as the child happily raised the glasses to her face, just missing an eye with the pointy end of an arm. Aargh. I’m not a mom, nor do I even have babies in my family, but it seemed like common sense to know that those items were dangerous!

When we finally returned to my place, we found around two inches of water standing in my dining room and kitchen. My beloved new dining room table was covered in water, but my Canon G3 and laptop for work, which were sitting on the table, were luckily spared. Water was still dripping quickly from the ceiling. The laundry room was soaked. Even my bedroom and master bath were wet. Apparently the washing machine hose upstairs burst. I found this out when I went upstairs to ask my neighbor. I called my insurance company, and then called the owner of the upstairs unit, only to find out that he had no idea it had happened…the renter hadn’t called him about it. Sheesh. So now I have to try to figure out who pays for the repairs and get someone out to look at the damage to my ceilings, walls, wallpaper, carpet and hardwood floors. And I leave for Whistler in a week, and I’ll be gone for a week.

Yippee.

But hey…it could always be worse, right?

My ceiling could have fallen in!
The walls could be crumbling!
Someone could have broken in, stolen all my stuff, and then burned my condo to the ground!

Aargh.