Mother nature has not been so kind to us this year. There was the earthquake . . . and then we had a flood. And since then, we’ve been hoping that our quota for catastrophe has been met for a long, long time. But still, there have been the little things. Like the glass slider shattering into a million pieces when Jafta was trying to close it, leaving a gaping 10-foot hole in our living room.
I haven’t mentioned this on the blog in a while, because I thought it best not to advertise that the only thing separating our backyard from our living room was a piece of tarp. But it was so hard not to talk about because took FOUR WEEKS for the custom slider we ordered to arrive. (And not custom because it was fancy, but custom because our house is 60 years old and nothing is standard sized). It happened during four weeks of some of the most insane California weather – the hottest week of the year followed by the rainiest week of the year followed by some really cold weather – all of which we got to experience right in our living room. For the last month we have been living with this:
Yes, we hung a cheap IKEA blanket in front of the tarp, as if that was providing some level of weatherproofing. I’m happy to say that as of yesterday, this hole was replaced with a working door. Although I’m not happy that we had to spend 2 grand to fix it. Next to replacing the water main, this is probably the last thing I want to spend money on in my home.
Then, one morning the kids were playing in our room. This was during the “squelching hot” week of October. Our window was open, Kembe was playing next to it, and suddenly, he falls through the screen and into the backyard.
Thankfully only the screen was ruined in this scenario, but sheesh. This house is taking a beating. (In case you thought I was exaggerating about Karis’s picture face, here it is again, even when I’m not even pointing the camera at her).
(And just for fun, when I was trying to capture Kembe doing his Troy Livesay impression, Karis graces us with picture face again. )
I think it’s no surprise that I’ve been feeling a little jumping at the possibility of, say, getting struck by lightning or having a layer of locust rain down on our house. So when I thought I smelled something burning in the living room, I was pretty spooked. But all looked safe. Until several days later, when I went to move the lamp and found this:
Apparently we narrowly missed a house fire. There is a hole burned through the sofa all the way to the wood frame. Unfortunately, Jafta saw this too, which only added to his insane paranoia after having a fireman come to his class. What was supposed to be a little lesson on fire safety turned into some version of Faces of Death for my neurotic son, and he has been talking endlessly about how we could all die from a fire, what his escape route will be in each room he enters, and how to stop, drop, and roll. He has also taken to feeling the door of each room he enters. It’s sort of cute. And also sort of crazy. But I am really, really thankful that our living room did not catch fire. Also, IKEA? I think you need to recall that lamp. And buy me a new sofa.
For the moment, barring any more acts of nature, we are relaxing in a structurally sound home, and focusing on the more important things in life. Like putting boxes on our head.
