Just Take a Cold Shower

A typical morning in our household involves all three kids getting dressed and fed while I still wreak of morning stench. I don't mind usually since I often head to the gym after taking Mia to school. Showering then is more then a necessity. It was one such morning that required a speedy shower since one of my sisters I VT was coming over. It often takes our shower about a minute running before the hot water comes on. To speed up the process I decided to get all soaped up so as soon as the water was hot I could hop in and rinse off. One minute, two minutes. . .hmmm the water is actually cooler then warmer. . .five minutes and it was go no go time for rinsing off. My heart never got a bigger jump start. Ice cold water has a fantastic way to focus the mind. Many squeals and shrieks later, I was fumbling for a towel to stave off hypothermia.

It seems our water heater decided that it needed some time off. In the morning, we would have hot water, but by the middle of the day the only water coming out was near freezing. Luckily our home in still under warranty so if needed, we could get the system replaced. But Fernando and I both think we are clever enough to fix things on our own and so we attempted to troubleshoot the situation ourselves. Fernando found a reset button on the tank which revived the hot water. . .so it seemed. We hoped to buy enough time.

By the way, do you know how much you rely on hot water? Aside from showering (which I just decided to shower at the gym), washing clothes and more importantly dishes becomes obsolete. Luckily the water heater revealed it's problem. After resetting the thermostat again, Fernando noticed smoke rising from the heat proof Styrofoam. The thermostat had exploded and was melting everything in its path. Problem two came in finding a store that sold that particular part. Here is where Fernando's and my path split. I voted on a professional checking out the system to prevent any potential explosion (I get a little dramatic sometimes). Fernando insisted on doing it himself.

Being the bully I am, I persuaded professional intervention. Strangely, even though the until was under complete warranty, we still had to pay someone to come fix the problem. Cost $60. Cost of the part that was replaced $15. Time taken to repair the part. . .5 mins. Peace of mind=Priceless. Well, Fernando the optimist thought it was worth it. I was more then disgruntled. Why should I have to pay a dime to fix a manufacturing defect? Oh well, what is done is done and I finally could do the dishes.


PS The pictures were just for fun. Tiago and Mia decided to dress up fancy. The Talia picture was an attempt to capture her scragamuff hair do that was found after a nap.