Yet another sanity stealer.

So today is the two week anniversary of the mysteriously missing hot water. That's right, our hot water tank is still busted. It's been a long two weeks. One ridiculous hang up after another. My poor sweet self sufficient, no make that stubborn, husband is determined to fix it on his own. After waiting almost two weeks for our next day package (whole different rant, let me just say UPS is evil) to show up with the part we needed, because it just happens to be the only part that has to be ordered not picked up from the hardware store, it turns out that it's apparently not the problem as assumed.

My husband was so excited when he saw Tuesday morning that the part had been delivered some time in the quiet of the night. He was so determined to save us all from the horror of not having any hot water that he proceeded to rip apart the tank and install the magical part right then and there. An hour into it, and now officially late for work, he realized that his guess on what part to order was wrong. Good thing the boys weren't up yet, cause the words spilling out of his mouth were definitely not PG.

I then got to spent the whole day on the phone with the water heater company trying to figure out the list of things my hubby wanted me to ask them while he was at work. I found out were to get the part he now thinks is the *real* problem and he went and picked it up after work. This new part required emptying the entire tank with a hose, which required the door to be cracked open in the dead of winter and caused the babies to sense a chance to escape into the night. Fun stuff. Poor hubby fiddled with the stinking water heater all night, skipped dinner, stressed and struggled and by ten o'clock it was apparent that no fix was in sight. I begged him to call it a night. Gently suggested calling a professional, but calling a professional is like asking for direction, nether of which my husband will do until he is literally, not figuratively, literally bashing his head into a dead end sign. Urrrrrgggg! I know we can't afford getting a professional in here either, but we can't afford for my husband to lose his sanity, and this water heater is a sanity stealer.

I have been trying really hard not to add to my husbands stress by nagging at him about the lack of hot water, because I know he is teetering. If I have to go one more day though heating water on the stove to wash dishes and sponge bathe, my uncharacteristic patience with him in this situation will evaporate.