New York City Day 1 and 2: Getting There

Day 1: Getting There. 8,002 steps. 3 flights of stairs. 3.74 miles. 3,718 calories.

 Back in March, we were at our electric company's annual meeting...basically a meal and an update on how the company is doing. They give away door prizes of all sorts...coffee pots, power tools, gift cards, etc. The grand finale of the night is when the company gives away 2 round trip tickets to a lucky winner from a drawing! Clay and I had never won a thing in all the years that we have been attending, but we always hope to hear our name called out of the drawing. This just so happened to be our year! We were the lucky winners of 2 round trip airline tickets to anywhere in the U.S. Talk about excited. I think I squealed and embarrassed Clay, but hey, it's not every day that you WIN two airline tickets! I say "we" won the tickets, because what is mine is his and what is his is mine (Clay actually won the tickets).

Thank you Deaf Smith Electric Coop for the airline tickets. We LOVED our trip!

So, that night we pulled up the Southwest website and started to look at where all we could go in the U.S. We threw around several ideas, but I think we both knew from the get-go where we most wanted to visit! New York City was the pick! 

We began to plan and look and look and plan! I have to give it to my husband, he did the majority of getting everything organized and planning out our itinerary for our trip. We knew that NYC would be an expensive trip and since we had the free airline tickets, we really wanted to make sure and make this our DREAM New York trip. Who knows if we will ever make it back to the Big Apple. 

I dropped my precious babes off with my mom and we finished all of our last minute things. The day was finally here! We left from the Amarillo airport on Saturday, July 30th (Happpppppppy 11th anniversary to me and my main squeeze! YAY) Everything was going just terrific. We made it to the Dallas/Love Field airport with a little over an hour layover before our final leg on to the La Guardia airport. I even mentioned to Clay (bad idea) that, "WOW,  everything is going so great and on time...we are lucking out!" NEVER mention those words in an airport until you are actually at your final destination and all luggage is safely in your possession. 

We left Dallas on time and had great seats! It was just a terrific airport day. We were OVER half way to NYC when over the speaker we hear the pilot come on and say that he was sorry but there was an air traffic control delay and that we would not be able to land in NYC, so he was turning the plane around and heading back to Dallas. La Guardia was gridlocked and they had a shortage of workers. The pilot said in his entire career (over 37 years), he had never had this happen to him. Well, everyone on the plane started re-booking tickets for later flights, but since we had won these tickets, we couldn't do that. The flight attendants kept reassuring and reassuring us that we would all be taken care of, and when we landed back in Dallas, we would have numerous supervisors come aboard and give us our options. Well, we land and no one comes to help or give us information, so we are told to get all of our things and to get off the plane because supervisors would be out in the airport waiting for us. Yet again, supervisors are nowhere to be found. Clay and I and the rest of the 200 passengers aboard all are just standing around with no one there to help, so we all begin going to various ticket counters around the airport. During the search for help, they come over the loud speaker and announce that if we would like to get our luggage that we must get it within two hours or it would be sent on to La Guardia on the next available flight whether or not we were on the same plane. Clay had razors and I had shampoo and lotions over the allowed carry-on amounts so we didn't even have the option to go and get our luggage so we just let it go. When we finally find a ticket counter, let's just say no one was wanting to help and no one was trying to help. About this time, another voice comes over the loud speaker with a great message for all 200 of us. It said, "All people who were aboard the La Guardia flight, you are in the way and you need to move." Bahahaha, talking about poking a hornet's nest. NO ONE was happy about that message. We all do keep our cool amazingly and try to make a single file line to the one ticket counter that we were finally directed to. Clay and I finally make it to the front of the line and we were told that there would be no way for us to get out until Monday. We were crushed. So, after begging and crying a little, we finally got a different option. They found us a flight to Indianapolis that could get us to NYC the next morning at 6:00 a.m. Not the best, but it would be better than Monday. The only issue was that the flight that would get us to Indianapolis was full and standby was our only option. Clay and I decided to give it a shot. So, we wait another hour for this flight and wouldn't ya know it...not a single standby ticket became available. Back to square one. By this time (probably 4:00 p.m.-ish), all other departures and arrivals to and from La Guardia have been cancelled for the rest of the day. We decided that we might become slightly unkind if we ventured back to our original ticket counter lady, so we found a different counter and a really sweet guy named Troy. Oh Troy. He was so kind and he really did his best to get us to NYC as quickly as possible. He made a few "illegal" (his words, not ours) clicks and finally got us verified on a flight to St. Louis that would get us to NYC by Sunday evening and also gave us advice to be at the airport 2 hours before the first flight of the day took off (a direct flight to La Guardia) in a chance that we could get on the standby list and maybe get on a full direct flight to NYC around 6:00 a.m. the next (Sunday) morning! We were hopeful about the standby, but we also had a definite flight later the next day just in case...assuming La Guardia didn't become gridlocked again by the time that flight was scheduled to arrive. It was the best we could do.

Happy Anniversary to us! We were going to be spending our night exhausted and kinda ticked, but in better shape than 90% of the other people who were on our flight (they were all stuck until Monday), so we try and just be happy and know there was some reason that God didn't want us in NYC just yet. We head on down to the airport Chili's for a very romantic dinner. We are seated beside a table of very loud very drunk women on one side and a table of men who were very angry and very disgruntled at the very loud very drunk women on the other side. In our exhausted state, this all becomes quite hilarious. We finally finish our meal and head out to find a cozy chair to spend the night in, hoping we could get a few hours of sleep. We did find these amazing lounge chairs (I wish I had one in my house).

With nothing else to do at 8:00 p.m. in the Dallas/Love Field airport, we people-watch and laugh, Clay types down all of the day's events so we can reminisce about our struggles one day, I try and read, we drink Dunkin' Donuts coffee (anniversary dessert?) and we just giggle about all the day's events. Before we left for La Guardia the first time, the airport WiFi was working just great on our phones and Clay's laptop, but for the life of us we could not get it to work again. It would look like it would connect, but nothing. Nada. Nope. A lot of the hustle and bustle had died down at the airport around midnight, so we decide to try and nap for a bit. We set our alarm for 3:00 a.m. so we would have time to find the standby gate for that morning flight. We loop all of our bags and my purse around our legs, because stolen bags is the last thing we wanted to deal with. Ahhh...after a long chaotic day, it felt nice to close our eyes. Clay and I just doze off when all the sudden here comes a lady with a stinkin' JET PACK vacuum cleaner. She isn't just vacuuming around the area, OH no, she vacuums UNDERNEATH our chairs and feet! Y'all, this lady took her job very seriously. She vacuumed all around and under us! After what seemed like a century, she finally jetted on down the walkway a ways from us so the noise wasn't so alarming.  We settle back down again and finally slip off in a light sleep and wouldn't ya know...here comes a fella driving a gas-powered floor buffer. This thing went flying by and made us sit up in our seats wide awake! I am guessing that someone had died previously that day in the spot directly beside our seats, because Mr. Buffer Man drove back and forth approximately 45.6 times. Holy Cannoli...

Day 2: Finally Got There. 20,866 steps. 20 flights of stairs. 9.75 miles. 4,340 calories burned.

At this point, it is about 2:30 a.m. and we both have a mutual understanding that sleep in these comfy chairs was a good idea in theory, but in reality...ha. We decide to go find a departure screen and find the gate number for the direct La Guardia flight later that morning. We find the gate and I am bound and determined to be the first in line, but am just sooooo in need of a nap. I decide my best option is to sprawl out on the tile floor right in front of the ticket counter so I could be the first person in line to get on standby. Finally, a little nap. I think I slept for about an hour when other people start bustling around. They had the same idea, but thankfully, we beat them to the punch. Finally 5:20 rolls around and we successfully get our names on the standby list...somehow 2 other people got on standby before we did, but we are still hopeful. TONS of people keep getting there and they start the boarding procedures. Keep in mind that all flights to La Guardia after ours the day before had been cancelled, so there were going to be about 600 people trying to get to La Guardia on booked flights today...not to mention the luggage (wherever that may be at this point). I try and remain positive because it is 6:00 a.m. and surely someone overslept. Everyone boards and the 2 other standbys get on. Then they call Clay up...just Clay. We decided to go ahead and let him go and I would just catch the flight through St. Louis later that day. Clay could go ahead and find our luggage and get our metro cards and what have you. We would rather him be in NYC alone than me...he is a much better subway map reader. There is no telling where I would have ended up never having been to NYC before. We thought it best to split up in case the St. Louis flight was delayed or cancelled so that we would only need one standby seat for Plan B (or F or whatever at this point) if it came to that.  They try and get all of Clay's information pulled up to print his boarding pass, all the while the jetway people are yelling for the ticket lady to hurry up because it was time to close the gate. Since all of the turn-around chaos and being transferred to Indianapolis and then to St. Louis, our information had gotten lost and they could not find a thing on us. She runs to the gate and has a discussion with them and the next thing we know she tells us BOTH to run to the gate and get on that plane. We didn't have boarding passes or anything, but somehow they got us on board. YAY! We of course couldn't sit together and ended up in the back of the plane in middle seats, but we really did not care, because HEY, we made it on.

The entire flight, I think we were both just waiting for the plane to turn back around, but 3.5 hours later we land at a rainy La Guardia! Hooray!

 Hey Look... It's Donald Trump.

We get off and dreadfully walk to baggage claim. Our luggage had to have been lost after all the transfers and delays. Well, our luck starts to turn around. We find all of our luggage. Hallelujah! Off we go. We find our way to the metro card kiosk and purchase the cards and head to find the Q-70 bus. We got on and it dropped us off at the Subway.

Neither of us have ever ridden a subway before, but Clay did an amazing job of studying up on it and he knew right where to go. We hopped on and then read a little note that said the subway runs a different route so they can work on maintenance on weekends. Oooy. Clay isn't worried, though...this will just drop us off a couple blocks further away than where we had planned. Did I mention earlier that subways have tons of steps? It's totally cute dragging 3 suitcases up and down those steps. Ha. We get back up to street level and Clay knows the way. Y'all should seriously hire him to plan y'all's (is that a word?) trips and be your tour guide. He is the best. We found the route (use Google Maps, Google Earth, and the NYC Transit app...they are your best friends in NYC) to our apartment and off we went...in the pouring rain...with 3 suitcases and our Today show poster that we made ahead of time. We get it covered up and head on. PUDDLES everywhere. Every time we crossed the road and went off the curb, our suitcases went cannon-balling down into the puddles, splashing us and everyone around us. It is sooooo humid and hot, too. Clay and I are humidity wimps now...we have been living in the desert for 11 years. Ever pull a suitcase down the sidewalk by Time Square? I should win a trophy for not taking someone out or getting beat up for running over someone's foot.

We make it and hauled our luggage up 2 flights of stairs to our ADORABLE New York City apartment! God had protected and successfully gotten us to our destination. Right on his schedule! Here are some pictures of our cute little New York City apartment.

 This is the road we lived on for the week.

 The view of the little courtyard behind our apartment.

We came in, gave a sigh of relief, took showers, and rested up for a few minutes.  Then we were off for our first day of discovering NYC!

We saw lots of fancy car dealerships.

Saw the Hudson River for the first time.

We walked around in Central Park for just a little bit.

We then went to try and find Kevin McCallister at The Plaza Hotel..."Guests of The New Celebrity Ding-Dang-Dong stay at the world-renowned Plaza Hotel"

Then we got a NYC hotdog from the Nathan's food truck. It was the sauerkraut dog. Super delicious!

Then we hopped on over to 5th Avenue for some more sight-seeing and window shopping.

Had to go and see Trump Tower.

Went and saw St. Patrick's Cathedral. What a work of art!

We then went to Rockefeller Plaza. Check out the Van Gogh ear swimming pool art display.

We saw Radio City Music Hall.

Then we went down to Times Square. Such a high energy, high volume, crazy, fun, packed place!

We finished our first day at Justin Timberlake's restaurant "Southern Comfort". Maybe it's because I am a real southern girl or maybe the food really just wasn't that great...this was the only meal we had in NYC that just was okay (and the most expensive). We would probably never go back and wouldn't suggest you go with all the other WONDERFUL dining options around the city! We had fried pork belly and brisket fried rice. Doesn't brisket fried rice sound amazing??? They missed the mark here, but someone should try this and knock it out of the park, because come on...it is a good idea.

Here we go.

August 25th..... 7:45 a.m..... is coming really really soon..... The day that my youngest will start Kindergarten. A day I always knew was coming and a day I am thankful to be blessed to witness. A day that is so exciting I can barely stand it and a day that is so heart wrenching I can barely stand it! SOOOO many emotions have been going through my mind, but mostly I am just so proud to be a momma of two beautiful, delightful, kind, smart, Jesus loving children. God has blessed me with 2 children, and has given me the responsibility to raise and nurture them into being valuable grownups and God fearing, God Loving, Jesus following individuals. 

My daughter... my little look a like. She is going into the 3rd grade this year. I am so excited about this year for her. She will be having a phenomenal teacher for her regular 3rd grade class, and a phenomenal teacher for her Thursday Pegasus Classes (Gifted and Talented). Her Pegasus teacher is actually a lady Clay had as a teacher back when he was in elementary school. We have hoped to have her in Anika's life since she started school, and maybe Ari will be lucky enough to be placed with her one day too! I think she will soar this year as usual. I think this will be such a good learning environment for Anika, and am so thankful she gets the opportunity to be in Pegasus. She loves to learn and loves school! She is such a beauty. She is gentle in nature and very full of emotion. She is tall and skinny, and my heart feels weary when I see her in a more fitted outfit.... the little girl is ever so slightly disappearing and a young lady is blossoming. She is the daughter I need. She makes me better. She makes me slightly nutty sometimes. She is intellectual, artsy, and she will go very very far in whatever she puts her mind to.

My son... my little love bug. He will be starting kindergarten this year. I am nervous and excited about it. I know I have taught him how to behave, his ABCs & 123s, he can read, he is sweet. He is a BOY and can be rambunctious. I know he is ready. He is ready to spread his little wings and fly without me constantly by his side. I am not sure that is a thing a momma is ever ready for, but I am excited for him to start gaining independence and making a difference in the world. He is a kind and loving little boy. He loves hugs and kisses. He loves for me to hold him... and you better believe that I hold him as much as possible. He stands up for what he believes in and he is HILARIOUS. You can do it baby boy... I know you are nervous about leaving me and being the tallest in class, but I know you will be just fine. Keep loving and learning about Jesus and you can reach any goal you put your mind to! I will always be in your corner cheering you on! 

This year I pray that you both have a happy, healthy, and educational school year. I pray that you will find a friend that can be your best school buddy. I pray that you laugh all day and have few tears. I hope that you succeed and I hope that you are challenged, because that is how you grow! I pray your teacher loves you and that you love your teacher. I pray that they take care of you just like you are their own. I pray that the school is a safe place and a great environment. I pray that you both let your lights shine to the world. That when people see you both they can see Jesus through you! I pray for God to protect and keep you safe. 

The next 11 days I will cherish... but I know you are both ready for the year to come. You make me proud. You fulfilled my life long dream of being a mom. I love you two more than you will ever know. The greatest gift I was ever given! I love you Anika and Ari... Go get 'em tigers! 

xoxoxo

-Mom

Hospital For The Broken

I was on the awesome world of pinterest the other day looking for some recipes for the coming week and happened upon that quote. I wanted to scream it from the roof tops. I mean this is so TRUE y'all.  Church is for BROKEN people... because guess what? We are all broken people. Not a single person besides the Savior himself is complete. We all sin. We all have areas we need to improve. We all have our down falls. We are all broken... because we are not perfect! 

More and more today you see people of Christ's church following after men.... whether it be daddy, momma, a person you look up to or whatever... MEN. The view has gotten tarnished because people chose sides, or don't dig in for themselves and figure it out and take others words, or won't talk it out, and I have come to conclusions that this is CRAZY talk.... we chose a man's side. We should all only be trying to get on Jesus' side! 

Some of the strongest preachers of the gospel were BROKEN people. The apostles Jesus chose were Tax collectors, compulsive behaviors, deniers of Christ, doubters...... They were men that sinned.... Yep, not a single perfect person in the bunch and they actually were WITH Jesus in his life on Earth. Jesus ate with the sinners and the scribes and Pharisees complained...  Today, people are being like the scribes and Pharisees. We need to be more like JESUS and eat with the sinners and spread the Gospel and be PEACE MAKERS. Check out Matthew 5:9, Romans 12:18... While in the Word go ahead and read all of Ephesians 4.... Humble, Meek, Forbearing, patient, loving. I am for one very thankful that Jesus will eat with the sinners, because I would never have a chance to have a relationship with Jesus if it was only for the perfect.

When baptized into the church of Jesus we are baptized into HIS church. He died that awful death so we sinners might have a hope for an everlasting life. I think our Earthly life would be spent better trying to get the broken into the church rather than kicking them out because they are not good enough. Jesus had to die because NONE of us are good enough WITHOUT him, but WITH him we can be amazing. We can be life changers, we can be spreaders of light. Through Christ and Christ alone we are saved. 

Daring it For Dee

As most of you know my Uncle Dee was killed in a roping accident when he was working cattle a little over a month ago. He was a man of great courage and love. I have been working on an idea to honor and commemorate him and want all of you to take part in it with us.

Like I said, Dee was courageous and always out for fun and adventure. Like his daughter DeLynn said. " Dad always told people if you aren't living on the edge then you are taking up space." So, with this in mind I came up with the idea of starting a "Daring It For Dee" movement. We will be daring people to step out of their comfort zones and try something new. Make a move to better your life or take a step and let God shine through whatever you want to do, but you haven't had the courage to just get up and try! "Daring It For Dee" could be facing your fear and going zip lining or white water rafting. Or it could be going on a mission trip or raising money to help children. You could make a lifestyle change and quit tobacco or lose weight. Run a 5k or a 1/2 marathon. Or maybe it is having the courage to talk to the people you come across about God. Spreading Jesus' love to whomever you can touch. Whatever it is BIG or SMALL do it in memory of this great man who wasn't scared of much. Who LOVED God and always put him first in his life. Who loved his family and friends. Who never met a stranger. Take the plunge and do that thing you have always wanted to do, because you know what... Dee would have wanted you to and if he was here today he would probably be there right beside you saying "come on you can do it.. don't be scared."

In the months before his accident he was doing just that... doing that thing he had always wanted to do. He was getting his pilots license. He was living out one of the dreams he had always had and he wasn't scared. He was enjoying life to it's fullest. Now, he would not want you to do anything to get yourself hurt or do something to break the law... so keep that in mind when you are thinking about what you want to do. He would however support you in your goals and dreams.

So, now its your turn to make a move and Dare it For Dee. I have had these shirts designed:

I love the way the shirts turned out and we will all be branded by Uncle Dee's "3 bar D" brand on the shoulder.

There is a "Daring It For Dee" Facebook page which you can find  here. We want everyone to take pictures while "Daring It For Dee" and upload it the Facebook page or e-mail it to me at sweetishgirl34@Juno.com and I will upload it for you. Wear your t-shirt, move out of your comfort zone and take a leap of faith. DO NOT forget to snap those pics while wearing your shirt so you can share how you "Dared It"! Let's make a movement and get to "Daring It For Dee"!!!

I will be taking orders from today, May 21st through June 9th. We can get all sizes including adult and youth. Shirts will cost $17.00 plus $2.00 per shirt shipping fee. If you are ordering multiple shirts we can talk about a reduced shipping charge.  My PawPaw Finch has graciously sponsored having the shirts designed and paid for shirts for the immediate family through his business Noble Machine Company Inc. ALL PROFIT made will be divided between:

Sharrock Cemetery where Uncle Dee was laid to rest. It is a beautiful country cemetery ran strictly off of volunteer work and they strive very hard to keep it a beautiful resting place. The community members who manage the cemetery were very gracious during this tragic time.

A not for profit charity ran by one of Uncle Dee's best friends. The charity is called Go Do Love . This is a great organization and these people are truly making a difference around the world. Here is the mission statement from the Go Do Love website. "Our mission is to love like Jesus. Go Do Love seeks to love our neighbor as ourselves by providing physical, emotional, and spiritual support to children, especially orphans, around the globe." 

And...

Aunt Mon. Her world has been turned upside down and she has shown such courage and dignity throughout the visitation, funeral, and the wedding of her daughter that happened only a few shorts weeks after Uncle Dee's death. Like Aunt Mon said, " I am Daring It For Dee" every day. Money raised will help her with the funeral and arrangement costs.

If you would like to order a shirt/shirts or make a donation to the "Daring It For Dee" movement please e-mail me at sweetishgirl34@Juno.com . Please include shipping address in your e-mail. Shirts will be made after final orders on June 9th and will take a couple weeks for production and shipping.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to e-mail me.

Now... let's do this!

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway" and remember the word's of Dee. " If you aren't living on the edge you are taking up space."

-Holly

Poop Hits the Fan

DISCLAIMER. This is nasty. =) 

Poop hit the fan... Actually it was more like poop hit the ceiling, walls, floors, and all body parts in it's crossfire. 

It was a beautiful Thursday evening. I was carrying shopping bags in the house that were filled with dresses to try on for my cousin's wedding and gifts for my birthday girl. Ari and I were exhausted, but happy with all we had accomplished. Clay and I were still unloading all of our little treasures we had found earlier that day when I heard it.... an odd noise. That started slow...... I asked Clay what the world was making that noise and then it dawned on us. The noise was coming from our half bath.... that had NOTHING in it..... NOTHING to  be making noise anyway. We had the toilet and sink out because we had been remodeling it. We had just installed new floors in the bathroom and the adjoining office and Clay has just finished up my beautiful baseboards. So it was empty. There was nothing in the room that should be making any sort of sound. We rush and open the door and that's when our mouths dropped and our hands flew up to our noses. There was poo coming out of the hole in the wall.... and I do not mean coming out... I mean COMING OUT. Like a fireman's hose. You know the pressure coming out of the fireman's house when fighting a fire... that was the speed and pressure that the raw sewage was flying out of my wall. I have never been so shocked in my life. Oh, the panic. You never imagine that you will find POO coming out of a WALL in your HOUSE ever. Sure... a shower or over flowing loo, but honestly.... a WALL. So, we scream in under chaos and try to figure out what in the good green world we are supposed to do. We get a bucket, but by the time I get back the damage had been done and we are standing in our own.... poo. Nasty doesn't even begin to describe it. It had flowed out of the bathroom into our office... INCHES of it, but it had STOPPED coming out like a crazy train.... 

My outfit for the ordeal.... I couldn't handle the smell and didn't have a mask! 

My poor baseboards.

 So, still in under disbelief, we begin cleaning up. EVERY TOWEL IN THE WHOLE HOUSE is being used in the disastrous clean up. The mess is somewhat cleaned when Clay notices that there is still some. hmm... umm.. mess coming out of the sink hole. So, he begins to clean it out. WRONG move.... that started the entire "poop shooting out like a fireman's hose" episode again, except this time the pressure is even more extreme. Clay bends down and covers the end of the hole with his hands and puts all his body weight into it... and it is still coming out. He is a strong boy and there was no way he could keep it from coming out. So, I do what any good wife does... CALL HIS DAD and FREAK out and tell him that it is VERY important that he gets to my house ASAP, because our house is exploding poo. So, he says he coming and I reassure Clay that his dad is coming and most of the time he knows how to fix any house problem, but Clay is completely in the zone and not hearing a word I say. He has been holding the hole for about 10 minutes or so now. His hand is blue and he is shaking and in some other "zone" I have never seen him go before. All I can think of is that he would be amazing in one of those Survivor challenges where you have to outlast your opponents in some mind over matter competition. Anyway.... I can tell Clay is starting to give our and I have no idea how much longer he can keep the pressure on the hole. I get a big blanket and stand up behind him with that blanket shielding the door opening and the rest of the room. I am holding the blanket up as high as I can reach and stepping on the corners so my legs are kinda sprawled from one side of the room to the other. I knew if he let go the pressure would be so high that it would go EVERYWHERE. Clay is still holding it when his dad arrives and I can tell that Justin has an idea. He goes in our garage and rummages around for a tool. He is headed to the back yard where our septic tank is. He thinks if he can get the septic cap off it will relieve the pressure and start going outside instead of in the house. Good idea, right? WRONG when he gets the septic cap off it does cause a change in pressure, but from the COMMODE hole right behind me where I am all sprawled out protecting. The commode hole blew up like Ol' Faithful. I was standing basically over it, so that means that it basically blew my shorts off...... Talking about something sneaking up behind you. Fhewwwww..... When the pressure changed it was so strong that is started trying to suck Clay's hand inside the hole. Clay's dad said that when he finally got the septic cap off he was expecting a major explosion to come out of the hole outside.... and NOTHING happened. Then he heard screaming from inside the house and new something must have happened. He came running in the house and found us both completely covered in... yep.... anything and everything that had ever gone down the upstarts toilet. When Ol' Faithful occurred Clay was just speechless and had no idea what to do and he had a hurt shoulder and hand from holding the poop hole. I scream for him to go get the shop vac, because I am now in the floor protecting the carpet from getting wet. I have a blanket swoooshing the water away from the carpet. Clay runs to the garage and he and his dad grab the shop vac. Bring it inside and his dad plugs it in. We are ready to suck up the mess..... we turn it on and POOF soot goes EVERYWHERE. We had cleaned out the fire place with it. He thought to take off the filter, but apparently there was still some stuck in the main vent. So, now on top of inches of poop covering every inch of my office, laundry room, and bathroom we have nasty oily black soot... Yep, when we do things we don't just go half way. We have to really go for it full force. We begin the cleaning process again and this time it is already past midnight. We are out of towels so we use every roll of paper towels from my big SAMs Club purchase and suck the rest up in the shop vac. Once we clean up the mess we notice that every time we walk across the room, water would keep coming up out of the floors.... Our new floors. The water/poo mixture had made it's way down into the cracks and down under the flooring. So, around 1:00 a.m. we start ripping up our brand new flooring. We finished the job and then head over to the in-laws for showers and a few hours of sleep. 

Ol' Faithful

Half of the nasty towels

The plumber comes the next day and does his plumbing thing and says he has us all fixed up. So, we move back in to the wreckage and begin to thoroughly bleach and bleach and disinfect  and air out the area. Walls, baseboards, floors, everything had to be disinfected.... I finally finish and go pick up my kiddos and come back home ready to crash. We have a peaceful nights sleep in our own beds. Our house in utter chaos, but at least it is disinfected and the plumbing works again. We get up the next morning and begin ripping up the remaining floors and cleaning up the rest of the mess. Anika goes to take a shower and I am cooking lunch when we hear it.... that horrid awful poop shooting out of the wall sound. It HAPPENED again. It wasn't near as bad, but again we had poo covering the floors and walls and apparently the problem was not solved. So, beyond frustrated we clean and clean and clean and disinfect again... it is a Saturday so we don't dare all the plumber, because if we have to pay weekend plumbing fee we will be bankrupt before we know it. So, we pack up again and spend the rest of the weekend with the in-laws. Monday morning the plumber is back at it. He says he thinks the plumber is fixed for good. We move back in and still now... 2 weeks later we are still gun shy. Every time the commode flushes or someone takes a shower we are scared to death we will have another explosion, but we have been good so far.

This is just the water from the second explosion.. imagine POOP everywhere there is water! 

This is our story about when "the poop hit the fan". I hope and pray we put that book back on the shelf and we never have to read it again. 

You may all go wash your hands now. =) 

-Holly