The Washing Machine Disaster

Tuesday I was a little under the weather. After a three day weekend outside busting our tails to get our large deck re-stained in the Texas heat, I was experiencing some mild dehydration. Nothing serious enough to require a doctor but also just enough to make me feel bad and let my typical brain fog get a little heavier than normal. So what I really needed was an easy afternoon complete with serious couch time. What I got was a flooded laundry room resulting in only one clean towel left in the house. Sometimes we let the guinea pig, Joshua, loose in closed off tiled parts of the house to get some exercise. If we don’t keep those areas closed off then sometimes the cat stalks him. She would never hurt him she just seems him as a big toy on wheels and wants to occasionally bat at him with her paw which results in him making an extremely loud squealing sound. So when I heard that sound coming from the guest bathroom, just off the laundry room, Tuesday afternoon while doing the dishes I just figured that the cat had gotten in the bathroom and was having a little playtime with the guinea pig. I wish this was true. Instead as I came out of the kitchen towards the laundry room I was greated with a growing puddle of water that reached a full inch if not more in the laundry room. Oy Vey. My daughter rescued Joshua from the flood waters that were growing deeper in the bathroom that he was locked in, hence the loud squeals. Apparently guinea pigs don’t like to swim? He was fine, no worries. Then I sprung into action withhout knowing the true cause, using a broom to push the water out the door while the girls ran for towels. I knew whatever the cause we might be without clean towels for a day at least so I needed to hoard a few clean towels and not use them at all. The girls and I removed the dirty clothes hamper and the zillion of random socks, barbies, crayons, etc that hide under it. We picked through muck on the ground caused by all the junk and dirt hidden under both the washer and dryer and retrieved the most valuable things while everything else hit the trash. I pulled the dryer away from the wall, disconnected everything and cleaned out from underneath it until it was totally dry and nice looking. Then I pushed it back in and went to do the same to the washing machine. Only the washing machine was noticeably heavier and still half full of water. I had no clue how to get the water out of it but I was about to find out. It was obvious that the drain hose had popped out of the hole in the wall where it belonged and was now being held up against the wall and washing machine. As I pulled out the washing machine from the wall the drain hose fell, towards the dryer, and all the water left in the washing machine started to come out the drain hose and back under the dryer. *Head meet Desk*. And there went the rest of the towels that I was hoarding since the others were all soaking wet. So I started the entire process again but this time put the drain hose out the back door first. Now I know. Next time I’ll be prepared. I ordered pizza for dinner while mopping up the floor in a style similar to “yeah that dough stuff… we’ll take one with bacon….small.. and then that one that we always get.” Yes the poor girl at the pizza place. I was lost. The tiredness of the day combined with a washing machine disaster just sunk what was left of my ship. An hour later it was all clean and dried just in time for Mr. Byrd to get home from work. He did arrive with the pizza and Starbucks like a knight in shining caffeinated armor. On the flip side, my laundry room is the cleanest it’s been in two years. Although if God wanted me to mop it all he had to do was ask.