Crazy Day · 3:17am Jan 9th, 2017
I raised my sword, standing side by side with Glitter as the two faced off against the monster getting ready for the kill. Behind us, Catstitch was rapidly working to get everyone to a secure location. "Good luck sis," I said.
She nodded back to me. "Let's do this!"
I raised my dagger and charged...
-----------
"VK! Are you awake? We're leaving for church in thirty minutes!" I opened my eyes and groaned, half cursing the morning for coming so early. I was having a delightful dream, though a huge part of me knew that things were about to get worse.
Reluctantly, I rolled out of my bed and headed to the closet... I'd not laid out my clothes, so I picked up my phone instead and checked the temperature; 20f. "Cold, cold, and more cold."
As quickly as I could, I pulled out the warmest skirt I have with me.... which is still one of my fall skirts, but it goes to my ankles. Pulled out a white turtle neck, my black sweater, and black leggings. Then grabbed my Alpaca sweater, got dressed as quickly as I could. Then set about to pack up everything I'd need.
I had a lazy day yesterday... and forgotten to gather everything I'd need. Needless to say, I still forgot some things. And today was already mapped to be a plenty busy day. Full of fun and excitement. Namely; Christmas with my cousins; Catstitch's family. And I was going to spend the entire afternoon with them. So with this, I needed to pack up Christmas, as well as anything else I'd want for the day. Keeping in mind the colder temperatures.
So, leaving about five minutes late, we arrived at church, like always, the first ones there... now here is where the adventure for the day really began.
After two weeks doing just morning service, we were supposed to be back on the normal routine... until we got inside. The first thing I noticed was the dark spot on the carpet.... and we'd have to stand in an inch of water to turn off the alarm...
Grandpa and I immediately turned to finding the leak, while Grandma turned off the alarm... it was in the music director's office...
All three of us sprung to action; Grandma mentioned something about calling someone, so I grabbed my phone and started calling down through my numbers trying to get ahold of SOMEBODY. The pastor didn't answer; I couldn't' find the repair guy... finally, I found his wife's number, and called it.
"Where's the shut-off valve?" I said.
"For what?"
"There's a leak."
"Where?"
"At church, in the music room?"
"You mean upstairs in the auditorium?"
"No, in the offices, behind the ESL room and the downstairs bathrooms. Near the alarm."
"Oh dear... Try turning off the bathroom water."
"Not gonna help, where is the water outside? The main switch?"
"Near the big tree."
I, without a hat, gloves, scarf... or coat, ran out and set to work to try to figure out which one of the three boxes held the turn off valve.
The first box just held pipes. It was the smallest, and the easiest to open. So I went to the second, this one was much larger and had an inch thick piece of metal that was about one by two foot... yeah, HUGE. I managed to pry it off... and found something that looked like it could be it.
Just to make sure, I tried the third box... no luck. It was two inches of cement. I couldn't even get it to budge. Let alone take it off.
Luckily for me, the repair man's trainee showed up. (Repair guy wasn't gonna show for another 30 min)
He ran inside, found the 'key.' and went after it.
Meanwhile, his wife, who had her farm boots on. (It's Texas folks) Waded through the water to find out if she could spot the leak... she said it was the sprinkler system... uh oh. And the entire ceiling was down.
While this was going on, I was outside trying to solve the issue with Mr. A.... the key didn't fit. "Here, let me try."
"No Miss V, let me do it. You are in far too nice of clothes to get down here in this mud..." Did you know I completely forgot I was wearing a dress?
I then set myself to running messages between people. We had people in the main office going through the phone book trying to find the city water's number... then we had people in the area trying to clear everything we could get to before the water damaged it. Then we had people who were trying to keep the water off the sidewalks. And last of all, we had people running back and forth trying to turn the 'shower head'; as it was nicknamed, off.
Finally, our Repair man finally showed up. Mr. J. He pulled and said. "It's not in that one, it's in that third one..." you know that one with the cement lid?
Mr. R, our music director showed up with his tools, and the only key to his office, and opened both doors, and we set to work getting everything cleaned out.
By this point, it was half way through our Sunday School time, and every hand was on deck for getting the water dealt with. I had run myself ragged. It felt really good, but there wasn't anything I could do to help. So, since I was hungry, and my chest was hurting, and my knee... I wisely sat down with the 'hens.' (The group of older ladies in the church who do their Sunday School time together.) I grabbed my stuff, sat down, and put my leg up and listened.
Thus was our morning. Church was different with all the guys down stairs dealing with the water, which by the time we got it shut off was into the bathrooms, and was inching its way up the hall and into the fellowship hall. And the church tenser than a fiddle string. Mr. J and our pastor both agreed that the leak probably happened due to the cold only about twenty minutes before we arrived. The pipe was not a sprinkler system, just a pipe that nobody knew was there.
After church, I collected my stuff and then headed to help the ladies take down the decorations from Christmas, while the guys continued to clear the four offices of their content, and worked on getting everything all dried up.
After we had finished, I headed out with Cat's family. A trip to the store, then over to see Jimmy, a man that kinda adopted me when I was younger as his 'daughter'. I'm the spitting image of her, and since his ex- made it so that he couldn't' see her that often... yeah. It's a long story, but he's not doing well, and we are told he has six months to live.... But one of the paintings I did was for him, so my uncle took me to his hospital room to gift it to him.
For once in a long time, he was absolutely perky. He could still just hardly sit up, but he managed to carry on a conversation for the first time in I don't know how long. His body is still shutting down. He's in a 100% sterile environment; we have to wash our hands when we leave, and when we enter... but it was great to see the smile on his face. And he absolutely loved the painting.
For the record, this is one of those things that has been getting me down this past year. He's been rapidly digressing since last January. And... it's hard to watch. It's hard to come to church and see his pew empty. It's harder when he's there... but not. His body is in the pew, but if his mind is there nobody is certain.... and now with these new developments... the doctors tell us he's not allowed to leave his room...
But the visit was amazing, and I had a great time.
After that, I went straight up to my cousin's place where Catstitch stuffed me silly. Blueberry pancakes, home made eggnog, boiled kale and sausage, and the best stew ever! Tea, Apple Cider... After all the meals I've skipped this week due to nerves, I needed that.
Breeze and I then sat down and worked on art together until my family showed up.
I'll get the gifts I got posted on my Making Me a Servant Blog here in a day or so. But Uncle S Really worked hard to make sure I got everything on my list of things I wanted for Christmas. I got to snuggle with my family, and... I just had a blessed day over all.
Monkey; the youngest, I tried to sit down and talk to him at some point, but he kept closing that eye and hiding. That boy isn't' afraid of anyone else, just me. It's kinda comical.
After a very rushed time, I headed back to church for Women Of Grace meeting, and most importantly, plan for the Sewing For Orphans. (Current plan is March 4th) Evening church was kinda a blur; I'll blame it on being tired. (Topic, trials, and tribulations. Mr. J shared the worst Christmas car ride ever.) Then a quiet trip home where Grandma told Her story... it bested him.
Now I'm home, I'm tired, and have had a very long and eventful day. I'm honestly not sure whether I should laugh or cry, but with how wild it was... I thought I should write it down.
I hope you all had a blessed day.
Cowgirl Out.
Wow. That sounds... flustering, to say the least.
Hope you're doing okay.
4375164 I'm... hanging in there. Though I can pretty much count today as good.
4375217 Oh, that's good then. Hope you have more.
That sounds stressful...
take it easy, V, or you get me worried.
P.S.; I mostly just go to the midday sermon...
4376099 Today I've just been sketching... This is is pretty normal for a day back when I was home... it was nice to have a high activity day. but as it is, I did need a quieter day today.
And, I was only going to the one sermon... but living with my grandparents I'm going to both.