Drying Out

Friday started out as a very good day. It was our last day of school at work, so we had a mimosa breakfast first thing that morning and then a catered lunch was brought in for everyone at noon. It was overall a very casual day, as the teachers were all closing up their classrooms for the summer. I even got my official new raise to go along with my new job title! My boss let us leave a whole fifteen minutes early, so I was ready to start my weekend with a little Sex and the City action that night.

Everything went downhill from there. When I got home shortly before 4:00, I opened up my apartment door and noticed that all of my stuff had been moved to one side of the living room. My coffee table, desk chair, huge exercise ball, ipod speakers - it was all shoved over. And then there was this huge fan plugged in and blowing onto the carpet. I knew right away that there had been a flood. I found Gus hiding under the bed and started to panic that this was all somehow my fault. Did I leave water running? Did the dishwasher overflow? Washing machine? Toilet? No. Nothing was running when I left for work that morning. I checked my phone and sure enough I had a missed call from my complex. I listened to the message from the girl at the leasing office as she explained to me in her most upbeat voice that a water supply line in the apartment above me broke and the water came down into mine. The amount of cheer in her voice was equal to someone informing you that she had just gotten engaged. She was beyond friendly. I called her back and she explained that they had already wet vaced my place, pulled up the carpet and removed the carpet pads. Now all we had to do was wait for everything to dry out and then they would replace the pads and clean the carpet. This would take five days. In the meantime, I should just run this gigantic fan 24-7 so that it can all dry.

This put such a damper on my evening. I was so distraught after coming home to this mess, that I just changed clothes and left for the mall to meet Stephanie for the movie. On the way there, I called Mark and complained to him how my entire weekend was ruined, now that I had to deal with this ordeal. He did his best to cheer me up and I finally hung up in a huff, saying I’d call him after the movie. And then things got worse. I ran over a squirrel! I saw the little guy dart in front of me and then bump, smash, he was a puddle in my rearview mirror. I called Mark back, this time in tears, because I had just killed a furry little friend. He tried to assure me that it was probably a “mean rabid squirrel,” but I knew he was really a hardworking father squirrel on his way home to his family. I got to the mall and did a little retail therapy before meeting Stephanie for dinner in the food court. I was all convinced that I was going to eat something healthy for dinner, but that went out the window after the previous hour’s events. Hello Chickfila. We had a nice little meal and then joined the other 2,000 girls who were lined up at the mall to see SATC that night. It was a great flick! It cheered me up until I got home and saw that huge fan whirling in my disarrayed living room. The next day I packed up my stuff and Gus and I went to Plano to stay with my aunt and uncle, which is where we’ll be until tomorrow.

Whew.