This is where I used to scrap...update

The title of this post should really be " This is where I should be scrapping..." Although the cabinets are still on time, and will arrive tomorrow afternoon, I still only have a half tiled shower stall and an ungrouted floor. Let's not harp on the fact that the electrical needs to be redone based on some insight we were given today by a separate team of electricians who were here on an unrelated mission ( more on that in a bit). The last guy who was here doing tile it turns out was really a great mason, but not so great at tile.  We had to ask that the entire shower be demolished and restarted ( yeah it was THAT bad). The painters came and left, but the newly painted walls only made the shoddy plaster work more visible. So I have a beautiful grey green shade on the walls covered now by a million plaster touchups that are still waiting to be sanded.  None of this is really stressing me out though. I actually find it all kinda comical really. I know that it will be done eventually, and all the mess ups are going to hopefully be at our contractors expense and not ours. Why so Zen you ask? I have bigger fish to fry...

Friday was a miserable windy rainy day. Actually really windy and rainy. So windy and rainy that I wasn't the least bit surprised when our power went out. I was in the middle of putting the kids down for nap, and I thought I heard a big thwangy sound when it went. I can't describe the sound really, but it's one I heard many times as a 1998 ice storm survivor. Now that I think about it, It must be the sound of a tree taking out a power line- serious, but not as scary sounding as a transformer blowing up.  So the power was out for an hour or so when I noticed an orange amber light reflecting against my bathroom wall from the window; it was accompanied by a large electrical buzzing and then a loud thud type of a bang.  Just enough to make me jump a little. I called our electric company to report the equipment damage, in case they were trying to locate issues while getting the power back up, and they told me that statistically, we should be out of power for at least 3 hours.  "Hmmm- that means dinner out" was my first thought.  Luckily, my husband called to say that his work was also out of power, and that he'd be coming home early.
So Mark got home shortly after the kids woke up from nap, we packed them up and went to the mall, then out for dinner.  When we returned home, all our neighbors houses were lit up, but ours was still pitch black. Mark ran in ahead and checked the breaker panel, only to find several of the breakers tripped.  He flipped them all back on, and we headed into the house.  That's when we started discovering all kinds of issues- My fridge wasn't working, my computer wasn't turning on.  several light switches didn't work... the list kept growing- our microwave ( the light inside comes on when you open the door, and the turntable starts rotating although there is no power to the main screen)- more outlets and lights( including a shattered halogen in our bathroom) A surge protector saved our television and stereo components. ( ladies if your husband wants to spend 100$ on a device to help clean the power and help picture clarity on his brand new flatscreen tv- let him get it- it saved ours from being BBQ!)

Last night Mark tried to pour the kids a bath and turn on the bubbles, only to find our newly installed air bubble tub unresponsive.

Today we had a team of electricians in to do a major diagnostic of our house to assess the damage, as well as the technician for the fridge, and a technician for the alarm system ( add to that the tile guys). More news- heated floor control fried in our upstairs bathroom, blown dimmer switches and yes the news that perhaps the new electrical being run in my studio/laundry room isn't up to code. GRRRR!

 Now its like the last 2 years of renovations and improvements were like 100 steps forward, and now 99 steps backwards. Our insurance company doesn't cover electrical damage like this, unless of course it was caused by a force of god. Hydro Quebec, although they at times seem like it, do not fall under this category. They did say that if a fire had resulted from any of it, that would have been covered!

So we're crossing our fingers that the electric company will accept liability, and help us by covering the cost of the repairs and replacements, and that the main circuit board needed to fix our fridge arrives in less than the week or so they predict...