It all started with a new oven.

That's right. All of the chaos this past week started with something simple as a new oven!

My oven went out 2 days after Christmas and I have been going without one since. At first, I LOVED the idea of being without an oven. That meant less cooking, less baking and definitely less cleaning of those big, clunky dishes! It was like a dream come true! Take note, my original oven was a built in wall oven. Therefore I still had my stove top to cook on.

Well, I have since longed for some meat loaf, lasagna and Chicken Divan (even though it isn't one of James' favorites) so I have really been wanting a new oven pretty bad. We noticed that H.H. Gregg was having a huge sale and thought we would go check it out. James quickly found out that the dimensions of my OLD oven were no longer standard. All of the ovens were more narrow and longer...this meant that we were going to have to cut out the cabinet. Since we were going to have to get saw crazy anyway, James decided that we would just get a new range and replace both the oven and stove by cutting out the other cabinet...In fact, it ended up costing the same as the wall oven alone!

So, like I said, H.H. Gregg was having a huge sale. James decided that this would be a good time to replace our refrigerator and to get me a dishwasher, since we were eventually going to have to do this anyway!

Well long story short, here are a list of events that followed!

• Wednesday; Great friend, Bubba came over and helped James cut cabinet out so range could be delivered.
• Found that gas line was coming through the middle of the cabinet and was almost a foot out of the ground (went to the original stove top only)
• Almost a 2 foot gap between the range and the wall where it was supposed to be. Need to hire a professional.
• Wiring for outlet installed. Found that wires that were attached were dead wires. Will need another professional for that. (had to run new wiring)
• Oven is hooked up, sitting 2 feet from the wall, I am using it anyway!
• Thursday, company arrived for the James Dean Car Festival. (Boy are we glad you came to see us Johnny, Mike and Jerry! Hahaha)
• Friday, New refrigerator delivered and set up. NO PROBLEMS!!!!
• Friday about midnight, James finds water in our crawl space. 8-12 inches deep. Come to find out, our tub has been draining into our crawl space for who knows how long! Our oh so wonderful guests check out plumbing and realize that a 20 in piece of pipe has rusted off completely and is just GONE!!!
• Saturday, Bright and early, go rent a sump pump and begin pumping water from basement. Make MANY trips to Lowes (James-3, myself-3)
• Mike, fixes piping to bath tub. At least we have stopped adding to the water under the house. THANKS MIKE!!!
• Saturday about 10:00 p.m. James finds another leak in the crawl space! It is in the pipe coming from the well to the pump.
• Sunday morning, friend from church lets us borrow another pump and we begin pumping water out the back of the house as well.
• Monday, plumber comes out to move my gas line so that my oven can rest where it is supposed to, against my wall. He also fixes the leak in pipe. James is under the house for most of the day moving the pump, still pumping water out...Plumber leaves about 4 pm
• 5 pm, Smell gas, James calls plumbing company.
• 5 pm-10 pm. James makes multiple calls to plumbing company because no one has arrived. Kathy (MIL) and I took the kids in the backyard for a while and then went shopping for things for my yard. (all windows are open in the house in an attempt to air it out)
• 9:30, Kathy and I come back with the kids, get the dressed for bed and I call the gas company. Plumbing company STILL hasn't arrived.
• Gas company, of course, told us to all stay out of the house and they would send someone right away. So I laid a sleeping bag, floor pillows and blocks in the back of my van. At first, the kids thought it was cool!
• 10:15 ish...Plumbing company and gas company show up about 5 minutes apart. We have a leak in the crawl space. There was a bad fitter in the work the plumber did on the gas line earlier. Problem fixed.
• Gas company tells us that our water heater isn't up to code...does a minor repair and "yellow tags" it instead of red...Red tag means they shut off our gas until we fix it. We still have to replace it, we just have a little time "allowance".
• 11:00, Gas leaks fixed, safe to come in, kids finally get put to bed!

So, my dishwasher is supposed to be delivered tomorrow, I hope that this appliance doesn't come with another long list of problems!

WE HAVE GOT TO SELL THIS HOUSE!!!!!

One fantastic highlight is...with the amazing help of my dad and a tiller my mother in law did an awesome job with some landscaping around my house! At least something went well!