Murphy’s Law

My in-laws delayed flight should have been an indicator of how my week was going to go. 

We’re not talking about a 15 minute delay. We waited 2 hours.  Two hours with two monsters.  We kept them busy by taking them for a ride on the tram that goes around the terminal.  I’m pretty sure it’s designated purpose is not to entertain little girls impatiently awaiting the arrival of their grandparents, but I guess the tram can add that to it’s resume.

(Taken with my cell phone)

Finally, they arrive.

My father-in-law, mother-in-law, sister-in-law (the only girl among six brothers), and two younger brothers-in-law.  Rami’s brother “Smiley” was getting married in May.  The last time they were all here was five years ago for my wedding.  It’s a pretty big deal since it would be their first time seeing us as an established family with a running household.  I assumed that things would run smoothly. What could possibly go wrong?

On the way home my SIL jokingly asked if we had running water because she wanted to take a shower to relax after such a long trip.  Once we got home we realized that water wasn’t the issue. 

Do you know what happens when you are planning a wedding, trying to organize a house, recovering from a birthday party, and are just plain exhausted from two spirited children?  You forget to pay your electricity bill and have your power shut off with 16 people in the house waiting for dinner.

Luckily we we’re going to have a bbq so all the cooking was to be done outside on the grill. No electricity needed.  I had marinated the meats and prepared all the salads and dips the night before.  Day light was running out as I frantically called to pay our bill.  Rami and the guys grilled outside as the women sat around in the quickly darkening family room.  As we finished off our dinner we put a tea pot on the grill in an attempt to make some tea.  The electricity was restored just as the water came to a boil. 

The next day my youngest BIL woke up with two bright red eyes.  We thought it was because of the change of environment being that it was his first time ever leaving Palestine and coming to America.  Then my MIL got it, then my SIL. I soon realized we had a case of pink eye on our hands.  With 9 people in the house it was only a matter of time before the girls got it. Pink is great for bows and dresses, not eyes.  Being the only contact wearer in the house and just days away from the wedding, I was incredibly careful. I must have gone with a couple bars of soap on my own.  There’s no way I’m going to the wedding in my glasses.

We rent an older home at a great price in an excellent location.  I can’t complain.  Unfortunately though, the home shows its age every now and then.  It pulled out all the stops for my in laws.  In the backyard I noticed a water puddle by the wall under the hose.  At first I suspected the children had played with the water.  Upon closer inspection I realized that the water was dripping from the actual wall.  Over the course of a few hours it became worse and worse.  I called the landlord to send over a plumber to catch the problem before it became a bigger issue.  I had hardly finished leaving a message when the water literally started gushing from the wall.  Backyard water features are great and all but this particular water display wasn’t going to make the neighbors jealous.  I quickly shut off the main water supply to the house and sat and waited for the plumber. And waited. And waited. And waited. Nine people. Four hours. No water.  Seriously?  I called another plumber that advertised they would show up in 45 minutes or less.  Both plumbers showed up at the same time.  It’s obvious which one I had to stay and take care of the job.  By the way, not only was the water leaking outside, I found out that it had flooded my master bathroom as well.

(Taken with my cell phone. Doesn’t even capture the water gushing from the wall or the actual depth of the water on the floor.)

Lots of people have lots of clothes.  I cleaned out closets and drawers to make room to accommodate everyone’s things.  Clothes, dresses, coats, shoes… all fit just right.  That is until the most foul smell surfaced in the coat closet.  First we inspected the shoes. Maybe someone had accidentally stepped in something.  Nope.  Then the coats. Maybe someone forgot something in their pocket.  Nope.  Next, the plastic grocery bags? Nope.  Spilled something on the floor? Nope.  Jenin hid something in the shoe organizer? Nope.  We emptied out the entire closet and moved the clothes to my closet.  The smell lingered and lingered.  My MIL insists that a rat died in the walls.  They now lovingly refer to the closet as the “fish closet”. Gee, thanks. 

Wait, there’s more.

Have you ever heard a sound that was both loud and muffled?  I have. It’s the sound of my bedroom closet collapsing.  By this point all I could do was laugh.  What else was there to do? 

This is all in one week, dear readers and still I’m not through.

One morning Rami had called me and asked me to run an extremely important and time sensitive errand for him. He was in such a hurry that I didn’t even have time to put on my contacts. I had to leave the house in my glasses. Ew.  So I rush out of the house like a mad woman and jump into the car. 

No gas.  Of course.

Few days later I have to go to take care of some crucial final details for the upcoming wedding.  Dressed and out the door only to find…

A flat tire.