When it rains, it floods...

OK, so rain actually has nothing to do with it. About a week ago, my sous chef and I came home from a movie to a kitchen flooded with water. We mopped it up and called a plumber who discovered that our garbage disposal was so old and rotting that he could poke holes through it with a pencil. After a quick disposal replacement, I called my insurance agent to send someone out to look at our now puffy Pergo floor.

They sent out a company to check out the floor and the cabinets. They determined that floor could not be salvaged but the cabinets could. They ripped out the floor and popped off the toe kicks on the cabinets and installed giant fans and dehumidifiers, essentially quarantining the kitchen. Before they left they noticed that there was still some dampness under our dishwasher so I ran a quick load. As soon as it started to drain, the kitchen was again flooded with water. The kind men yanked out the dishwasher and hauled it out to the street and I soaked up flood #2. I figured that at least solved the flooding problem. Now all I needed was a new floor, new cabinet toe kicks and a new dishwasher.

After four days of jet engine level noise and blasting heat from the fans and dehumidifiers, the men came back and took them away. I decided I should wash some of the dishes I had hastily tossed into the sink from the faulty dishwasher and got down to business. As I started to rinse my second bowl, I noticed that my feet were wet. I looked down to see another flood spreading from under the cabinets. I got down on my knees to soak up the water and try to find the source of flood #3 but couldn't figure out where the water was coming from as all pipes, hoses, etc were dry as bones.

I called the insurance agency and told them that a plumber was needed ASAP. They conceded that I should call a plumber but they would only pay for the plumber if the leak turned out to be the fault of the company that pulled out the dishwasher. Plumber can't come until Wed. Still waiting to hear when we can get our new floor installed and the new (expensive) dishwasher can't go in until the floor is installed and before that the leak must be fixed.

After flood #2 our very sweet downstairs neighbor rang the doorbell and brought me to her place to show me the leak in her ceiling where water had seeped through, breaking her phone and cutting out her phone service. I called the phone company to ask them to come fix it (her English is not so hot.) I also bought her a new phone but if there is any damage that needs to be fixed, my insurance company will consider it a second, liability claim and I will be out another $500 deductible.

In the midst of all this, I wait to hear the results of my second Celiac test. At a time when I am trying to keep wheat out of my diet, I am forced to eat out for pretty much every meal.

I woke up yesterday with a painful sore throat and a fatigue that made me have to sit down in the shower.

I know this will pass and I will come out on the other side of it stronger, wiser and with a nicer dishwasher but for now it's hard to see the light at the end of the very wet tunnel.