Well we had a bit of a blow this week as some plumbing threatened to ruin our Christmas spirit. A known and looming problem came to a head this week as our septic line from our house finally gave up the ghost much to our dismay. The timing was pretty horrible being days before Christmas and the bill was just as frightening as seeing 2 bulldozers gut and destroy my yard for 2 solid days. Some water backing into my basement after showers tipped us off that our problem wasn't going to wait until after the holidays to deal with. And after 2 plumbers came and left with bills for the attempts, we got the 3rd and final verdict that they were indeed going to have to dig 10 foot trenches through my front yard to fix the problem.
The days of dirt were quite depressing as hurdle after hurdle proved uphill and to be more bad news and expenses. I would walk outside to ask their progress and the men would hang their heads, puff hard on their cigarettes say "well ma'am, it's worse then we thought and if it can go wrong it has". I just moaned with them and offered them strong hot coffee. At least they were polite and hard working men. They gave me an added respect for the gruff working class of Americans. They do tough ugly work. I never saw them take a break or sit down. They ate sandwiches with dirty hands standing up. I bet they sleep good at night.
Ultimately we ended up with replacing 70 ft of drains from one side of my yard to the other and an additional oopsy trench just for kicks and giggles because they dug in the wrong spot getting started. Ugg, it was a hard couple days for me and Brian. The girls thought it was just a hoot watching the mountains of mud pile up around our twinkle lights and seeing the men disappear into the massive trenches over their heads. All in all, it's done. It is what it is. It sucked royally and cost us immensely but we press on. We have a lawn full of straw and one chopped up sidewalk out my front door. I suspect Santa can still find us amidst the mess. I regret Brian's gift a wee bit and he mine....we should have opted for shiny new toothbrushes instead for each other. That would have helped the painful budget we now must endure. There are so many worse things people deal with around the holidays. We are blessed. I've cried, I've laughed. I love my home...even when it looks ugly and darn it, we are going to have the best Christmas ever in it celebrating our Lord's birth. Isn't life just bound to be this interesting?? I am thankful that God is still so good and this family handles it all pretty well all in all. Hard to dwell too much with Abigail and Chloe around. God doesn't let kids feel stress sometimes. I believe it's part of His master design for children. They are meant to keep us all happier and young. Seeing things from their eyes is just never as bleak as adults like to see things. It's nice to slip into their world, hug each other and say "well.....Merry Christmas anyway!".. Ahhh, just close the blinds, the inside of the house looks great!
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