H2NO.

We awoke this morning to quite the pleasant surprise. Dare I even say an early Christmas miracle.

Frozen pipes.

Hopes were dashed as we eagerly raised faucet handles and turned shower knobs. All attempts were met with a pathetic hissing sound that quickly petered out into nothing. A very dry nothing.

Unfortunately, we did not prepare for last night's record breaking low (-17°) by leaving a small stream of water running in the sink. Even after this same thing happened to us two years ago in Utah, you'd think we would've learned our lesson. But alas, no lesson was learned. Showers were skipped. Teeth brushings were replaced with mouth washings. And happy feelings were replaced with angst and irritation.

Ten hours, more record low temperatures, and one plumber visit later, the pipes are still frozen and water is nowhere to be found. I wonder how long this will last.

UPDATE 8:46PM
I called a plumber who told me to apply a hot blow dryer to my water valve outside. So, while I was outside doing that (low and behold I was actually holding the blow dryer up to the gas valve. Long story, I'll save it for another post) Hailey came screaming out the front door. "It's fixed! It's fixed! I hear water running everywhere!"

FREEZE IT.

Water running everywhere? It's fixed? Umm.

Yup, you guessed it, the frozen pipe had taken all it could muster and finally gave in, bursting wide open, gushing water all over our basement. We ran downstairs toward the sound only to find an extremely soaked carpet and water streaming down the drywall. We quickly shut off the water and sat in silence just surveying the damage and feeling sorry for ourselves. Hailey broke the silence with an attempt at encouragement.

HAILEY: Well, at least it didn't happen while we were asleep.

Albeit true, somehow the words didn't do anything for me. As I stood in an area I thought wasn't affected, I begin to feel the water seep up from below the carpet and soak my ankle socks.

ME: I'll get the wet/dry vac.

HAILEY: This blows.

ME: Yep, this blows.