Well, The Bad News Is...

 Hello, there! I hope you had a fantastic holiday season. We had the pleasure of driving 800 miles with 3 small children, visiting over 7 groups of family and friends, 800 miles back, and then reaping the rewards of weakened immune systems over the following few weeks.  Our Christmas was quiet, calm, simple, and snotty.  But it was really good.  Time with people you love is not to be forsaken.

On to house things!  It's winter, so of course I'm going to speak of house things.  The only yard-related news is that we finally dealt with the multi-inch-deep oak leaf blanket that was keeping our entire property toasty warm, and nobody cares to see photos of that. 

So the bad news I was talking about...

About a week ago, we noticed a soggy seat around our water heater tank.  Of course, someone previously had foregone that expensive and nonessential catch pan, so the flooring was already warping and rotted. The next day I heard water trickling.  We tried to shut off the main, but it had corroded and water started spraying when we turned the knob.  This was Monday, around dinner time.  FANTASTIC!  Time to pack up a family of 5 for a 3-day stay in a hotel!  Jason spent his New Year day off at the house with our pastor, removing the tank (above)...

...and that asbestos pipe you see leaning to the right.  The left half of that closet used to be my pantry, and the tank was on the right.  A pair of (sometimes) sliding wooden doors hid it all.  Nothing like filling your arms with food items and accidentally knocking a giant wooden door off its track.  

 The guys also removed some drywall.

And possibly the floor.  They were able to complete a lot of prep work so the plumbers didn't charge us our OTHER arm and leg.  Yikes.  The silver lining here is that they were able to move the water lines so that this space can later serve a higher purpose...hopefully a shower in a second bath one day soon...because I'm so over having a line for my own potty.

 And if water line prep for a shower was the silver lining, this is the rainbow: an actual, more-than-double-sized, NEW pantry!  It's unfinished, not yet built-out, and still could use a bit more shelving, but MAN am I a happy girl.

Look at that! A non-counter-top place for small appliances.  Lovely as a newborn babe.  But without all the screaming.  I hesitate to paint this and other unfinished cabinets right away, as I dream of painting them white but in real life have 3 small children and a dog.  Better to paint over crayon art later than to scrub it now, am I right?

For three days during this ordeal, the kids and I spent most of our waking hours crashing our friends' family time, homes, and even New Year's Day lunch.  Our friends are seriously the best.  And now we have a brand new tankless water heater in the attic, and my husband is still in fix-it mode.  Am I shallow for feeling loved when stuff gets done around the house?  I'll show you a few other little things that are getting done around here next time.