The Manischewitz Survived

[geminigirl]

Our kitchen decided that it had had enough, and that today was a good day to explode. I'd slept a little late this morning while Cayne decided to mow the lawn and take care of the backyard. I got up, washed up, at about the same time he finished outside, and suggested that he jump into the shower while I got dressed, and then we'd go out for breakfast, and get groceries and Mishaloch Manot (our Purim baskets) supplies. We went out, got those things done, and headed home, with plans for the rest of the afternoon...ordering some baby and post-partum stuff I need, working on the mass of boxes in the living room (most of them are empty, but I'm in a paper purging mode so I've pulled all our files and such out, and have been purging them for a few days,) putting the crib together, baking the hamentaschen and making a couple of meals-some soup for the freezer and spaghetti for dinner tonight, but in an excessively large quantity so that all of the rest could get frozen.

We brought the groceries in, he went to the bathroom, I started putting things away, he finished in the bathroom, wandered into the kitchen, I went to the bathroom, he went to get a bottle of tequila down, and while I'm in the bathroom, suddenly, I hear glass crashing and shattering. I figured he dropped the bottle of tequila or knocked over something else, and oh my goodness was I surprised. I leaped off the toilet, left my pants on the bathroom floor and raced into the kitchen to see the disaster. Half the cabinets were on the floor, along with their contents, and everything we'd stored above there...some beautiful glasses, my Japanese tea set, about 15 bottles of wine and some other liquor, some stuff I got from my grandmother that I won't be able to replace, my seder plate and matzo tray (which I'm really upset about-they were gorgeous hand painted pieces that my sister had given me) and so on. I ran to get Cayne a pair of shoes, so that at least he could get out safely.

Fortunately no one was hurt-not us nor the cats, just startled...all of us. But I'm not much use for getting on the floor right now, so we had to track down some help, to get all the glass up. The place smelled like a bar. There was glass everywhere. Fortunately, Cayne's friend Daniel came by to help clean up, because I would have been useless...between shock, contractions and being 37 weeks pregnant. (The contractions have stopped, they were probably just related to shock and stress.)

So, we'll call the insurance and the home warranty people (we're not sure where this falls under,) we've cleaned up the mess, we're all okay, we'll figure out how to replace what was broken and damaged (including the wine we bought for after the baby, the tile floor, and the range) and we'll be okay. I can't afford to renovate the kitchen right now, so we'll see what we've got to do next.

And I'll save the photos and put them in the baby book, and tell this story to the baby after she or he is born, just like my mother tells the story of how, at six months pregnant, she got stuck on the second floor of their house while it was being built (the house I grew up in, which they still live in) when she climbed up the ladder to check things out up there and the construction workers took the ladder away.

Comments

[melaniesuzanne.livejournal.com]

Crap. Excellent timing, huh?

I'm so glad to hear that all residents of the home are safe and mostly sound.

[ladygreyy.livejournal.com]

Oh no, I'm so sorry, especially about those pieces that can't be replaced. :( I've always wondered if cabinets do ever just fall like that randomly. So sorry to hear that they do.

[sweetmmeblue.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry. Holy cow!

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

I think I am going to move my mother's china some place lower....

Sorry to hear about the mess, but am glad to hear that everyone survived.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

OMG that's awful! Glad you're all okay, but the irreplaceable stuff's particularly sad.

[points.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I see no evidence of drywall anchors on the backs of the screws/cabinets in those pictures. Looks like that was a disaster waiting to happen... glad to know everyone made it through. *Hugs*

[aelf.livejournal.com]

Yikes. That's really scary. I'm glad you weren't home alone when that happened! I'm very glad no one was hurt.

[fj.livejournal.com]

That's... impressive. Geezus.

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

Wow.

I'm glad Cayne wasn't hit by either the cabinets as they came down or the glass.

It took me a minute to realize the thing still on the wall was the range hood. I'm surprised it didn't tear the wires right out. When you get a contractor to fix it, you might have them check the rest of the cabinets to make sure they're mounted properly.

*hugs*

[sweet-tea79.livejournal.com]

Holy cow! I'm sorry to hear that you lost some irreplaceable things, but I am glad to hear that no one was hurt and that your contractions have stopped. Your at the point where Kiddo would be fine coming now, but I'm glad you don't have to deal with cleaning the kitchen while in labor. ;) I'm also wondering where the dry wall brackets are.

[wait.livejournal.com]

tg no one was hurt!

[inkedmama.livejournal.com]

wow. that's nuts!

i'm really happy to hear that everyone was okay, although that's absolutely awful that irreplaceable pieces were broken.

[wolfden.livejournal.com]

Makes me wonder what the Hell was holding the cabinets up? They certainly don't seem to have the same anchors and such on them that ours do.

I am so glad that you and Cayne and the cats are all okay. It's really pretty amazing that no one got hurt. I'm so sorry you lost such precious non-replaceable things tho.

I hate that you are having to go through this right now. I'm not sure who will cover for that type of thing. It's totally wild. I would definitely check any other cabinets to be sure they are properly installed.

*hugs*

[lovingboth]

Ouch. I'm always quite impressed that they stay up, given how much is put in them.

I'd have hoped(?) for a lot more damage to the walls if they had been put up properly.

[vix.livejournal.com]

As I was reading I just kept thinking thank g*d thank g*d thank g*d nobody was in the kitchen when this happened. So glad you guys are all safe and sound -- and sorry to see your kitchen decidedly less so. :( Great story for the babe, though.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Oh dear gods. Do you know who put those cabinets on the wall? They were definitely not mounted properly.

I am sorry for the loss of the irreplaceable things, but pleased that no one was injured.

[minikin.livejournal.com]

Oh my! This is incredible! The pictures make it look like the cabinets came apart from their backings. What a mess. I'd be having contractions too, n your position.

[cmariewt.livejournal.com]

Oh no!! What a horrendous mess to clean up!

[mac-arthur-park.livejournal.com]

Oh, how awful...especially the things that can't be replaced.

I'm glad no one was hurt.