WATER!!!

We took the kids to Atlanta yesterday to watch the Cardinals play the Braves. (I will post pictures soon). While getting ready, I realized that our water had been shut off. I called our water company to see what the reason was for our water being shut off. They told me that they had a leak and they were fixing it and that it should be back on in 15 minutes. I was trying to pack our bag for the game and was desperately in need of a shower. I waited and I waited and I waited. I got frustrated with my lack of water and the need for me to shower and brush my teeth. There was no way that I was leaving town and going to a game without having a shower. I called back an hour and fifteen minutes later and they said that they didn't know how much longer it would be. I called a nearby friend to ask if I could shower at their house, but they weren't home. My dear sweet husband started trying to find the best solution for our problem. He then thought about the gym that I have a membership to, but never use. :) We loaded up the kids and I loaded up my showering supplies. While I showered at my gym, he ran all of the errands with the kids and picked me up 15 minutes later. I had forgotten my camera, so we ran back by the house and I ran in to lay out my towel and throw my stuff down, while grabbing the all important camera. That was 12:30 PM, and we still had no water.

We had such an awesome time at the game and even ran into some friends. On the way home, I started reflecting on the way that I had acted that morning about my lack of water and how selfish I came across. I instantly thought of the people in Mexico, and Haiti, and Honduras, and I was humbled. I was inconvenienced for a morning...

Fast forward to 1:00 AM (this morning). We pull into our garage and we hear our water heater "hissing". We found it very odd, and proceeded to unlock our door and head inside. Upon opening the door, we hear it! We hear WATER!!!! GUSHING WATER!!!! We run to our bathroom and find that our bathtub faucet is on high and we realize that our water had been running the entire time that we were gone. Apparently, Jackson turned our faucet knob when the water was shut off, so we had no way of knowing that we had left any water turned on.

I can't tell you how sick to my stomach this has made me. I don't think that I have ever been so wasteful in all of my life. I called our water company this morning and they have already told me that there is nothing that they can do. Our water consumption will be reflected on our June statement, so I guess that we have time to start coming up with all of that extra money that we will need to pay for water that we never even used or intended to use. It could have been worse, at least we didn't come home to a flooded house. Oh, one more thing, it was our hot water. That gas bill is going to hurt too!