Who needs hot water???

Last Thursday afternoon I went down to the basement to look up a phone number, and found a waterlogged phone book, as well as sopping wet carpet in the entire area I was standing. I panicked and thought that our crawl space was somehow flooded, but quickly realized it wasn't coming from the crawl space, but the furnace room adjacent to where I was standing. I threw open the door and was able to see where it was coming from, the water heater. There was a steady stream of water coming from the top of the heater. I summoned Joel home from work, and he was able to shut off the water to the heater, which meant we had no hot water until we could get it fixed. We called a couple of places, and found someone who could come out the next morning at 8 am. Friday morning, Mom and kids skipped the shower after witnessing Dad's howls and yelps and expressions of "Brain-freeze" after taking a shower in cold water. When the plumber got here, he took one look at the water heater, and told us that it was rusted out, and would have to be replaced at a cost of almost $900. Yikes! We had no idea how to fix it ourselves, so we reluctantly agreed to have the work done later that afternoon. Luckily, Joel started second guessing that estimate, and checking actual prices online for a water heater. One phone call to his dad proved that we really could replace it ourselves, if Joel's dad came down to help on Saturday. So at this point we were looking at another day without hot water...I was not amused. Very grateful to be saving money, but very aware of how much I take hot water for granted! I had put off washing my dishes Thursday morning, which meant that by Friday afternoon a not very pleasant smell was coming from my sink...and that I would have to break down and wash them with water heated on the stove. Saturday morning I decided to brave the cold water and wash my hair in the cold water, which led to a really bad brain freeze, worse than drinking a slurpee too quickly! Dad H. arrived at about 10am, and by 1pm the new water heater was installed...3 hours at IKEA left us with sufficiently heated water for all of us to bathe and run a few loads of laundry. I am so grateful for a handy husband and father in law, and even more grateful for the modern conveniences that I take for granted on a daily basis. What a blessing to not be a pioneer who probably never had a hot bath or clean pair of socks!!! Who needs hot water you say? I DO!!!