God keeps me humble

So today was the MOPS meeting. It was great. There were 4 of us "experienced" moms, though one was quite a bit younger than I am. She has 4 young sons (ages 3 - 8). Another mom has an 11 yr old daughter and quad 9 yr olds. Yep -- quads. Four. Yikes. Actually, these women are friends of mine. I spent the first year of the quads' lives helping out with them once a week. My 3 yr old (at the time) and I. It was great to be able to help, but I have to admit that I felt hugely guilty that I got to leave after 4 hours and she (the mom) couldn't. And to make for more guilt - I was glad to able to leave! She's done a great job - they're still alive 9 years later!
The other mom has 3 teenagers - a daughter and twin sons. And then there was me. Actually it was a lot of fun. And we all had pretty much the same philosophy on discipline. The MOPS ladies asked some great questions and there was quite a bit of discussion. Moms could talk forever about discipline and what works and hasn't worked. I love supporting young moms. I have a passion for helping them know that they're doing a great job and that everything they're going through is normal.
I've always loved working at MOPS. They make me feel great. They value my opinion and listen when I talk. And they are grateful for any suggestions. Yep, I can't help but feel good after a morning at MOPS.
And then I come home. Teenagers (and sometimes adult kids) don't really care what my opinion is and rarely ask for it. Oh, but not to worry -- I manage to give it to them anyway. Every day. Guess I'm an optimist. Or maybe just stubborn.
Anyway, after my wonderful morning at MOPS I came home to meet the plumber. You see, my dishwasher has decided to refuse to drain. It's retaining water, so to speak. I spent a couple of hours Wed. night slowly draining it. Let me tell you, you don't know what FUN is until you've slowly drained water through a tiny hose into a cookie sheet (cuz it had to be as low as I could get it to drain out of the tube). The cookie sheet was on the floor. Ever picked up a cookie sheet full of water, from the floor to the sink? Yeah, not a whole lot of water actually hit the sink. It was SO MUCH FUN! Then son #2 filled it with dishes yesterday and ran it last night. It now has more undrained water in it and I'm not draining it!
So I called the plumber this morning and he met me after MOPS. He was here all of about 5 minutes. He hated to tell me (ha!) but it wasn't the plumbing. It was the dishwasher so I would need to call a repairman. And then he sadly left. Actually I think he was a wee bit sad. He couldn't charge me out the wazoo for fixing it. At least he was honest.
So I called a repairman who said he could get out sometime today. Note: the key word in that sentence is "some". While I was on the phone with the scheduler I walked into my laundry room to see what was making a high pitched, nails-on-chalkboard, screeching sound. It wasn't loud, just high. The neighborhood dogs were starting to get annoyed. Well, I'm not sure what was causing that sound, but evidently the water inside the washer didn't like it either, cuz it was fleeing the machine. Rapidly. Flowing down the side and all over the laundry room floor.
Kind of ironic, isn't it? The dishwasher can't get rid of its water and the washer can't keep its water. Go figure.
So now I have to call another repairman for the washer. Thankfully we have an extended warranty. He's coming out tomorrow.
So now I wait for repairman #1 (#2 if you count the sad little plumber). And wait. And wait. This all started around noon. At 4:45 I called the service. "Oh not to worry. He'll come. And he'll call when he's on his way.". Okey dokey.
Meanwhile, the kids have all come home and want to inspect the dishwasher and ask a ton of questions. Like, "What happened?" "Why is there water in the dishwasher?" "Why are the dishes sitting in the rack on the counter?" and the classic -- "What's for dinner?" That's the kid who could care less that the kitchen is in an upheaval - he just wants to make sure he eats. Gotta love the single-mindedness.
Then there's the kid who decided that THIS was the day he was going to haul down his laundry and do it! Thank goodness that I happened to look up and see him going into the laundry room so that I could squelch that plan. I know what he was thinking; "Oh yeah, you always nag me to do my laundry and when I decide to do it, you won't let me!!! What do you want from me???!" Or there abouts.
So where was I? Oh yeah -- waiting. And waiting. Around 6:00 or so the repairman calls. This was our conversation:
Repairman: "Uh, Mrs. txmomx6?"
Me: "Yes."
Repairman: "Um, I was calling to tell you that I'm on my way."
Me: O.K.
Repairman: (pause) "Um, well ... I'm way down on the other side of the city."
Me: O.K.
Repairman: (longer pause) "Um, well ... you know... um, I can't get there for a while cuz I'm all the way on the other side of town."
Me: "O.K."
Repairman: (an even longer pause) "Ummm, well, just so you know, I won't be gettin' there until around 7:00."
Me: "O.K."
Repairman: "Sigh. O.K."
Me: "O.K. Bye"
I'm going out on a limb here and taking a wild guess at what he really wanted to say: "Mrs. txmomx6, would you mind if I just went home for the evening? It's Friday and it's late and heck, I'm hungry." Too bad he didn't just say that and offer to come out tomorrow because I actually would've gone for that. But no way was I going to offer that and then end up paying double for a weekend call!!
So I decided to go ahead and fix dinner for the starving children (and by now, husband). I decided to go all out - brought out the frozen pizzas. Hey, it hits most of the major food groups.
Mr. Repairman got here at 7:00 on the nose. Looked at the dishwasher for all of, oh .. I'd say about 10 minutes (5 more than the depressed plumber) and declared it dead. Gone. Pushing up daises. Ka-put. He said that he could put all new innards in it for close to $400. I politely said "Thank you very much and have a great weekend." (HUGE SIGH)
After my lovely meal of pizza I hand washed all of the dishes: those in the dishwasher racks and those in the sink. What a fun way to spend a Friday night. Gotta love God -- between the kids who don't give 2 hoots about my opinion and my appliances that seem to care to work, He keeps me humble.