Where do I begin???

Ok, first I totally apologize for not posting lately. However, I have experienced a week of the ultimate fireman's wife duties.
First, I share that hubby was home on R&R for 3 days, not the typical 2 days. We went to see his mom and on Tuesday afternoon and on our way home we saw what looked like t-storm clouds......looked like rain. We watched a movie when we got home, so we went to bed around 0100. He woke me at about 0230 to say "it must be raining" and it definetly sounded like that to me, too. Early in the morning.....0400 to be exact!! Dear hubby got out of bed to go to the restoom. Our dogs sleep with us, so we keep the bedroom door closed at night. He stepped about 3 ft. from the door in a "squish, squish, squish" on the carpet. He said he then heard the water flowing....opened the door and discovered our hallway and bathroom in about 2-3 inches of water. Of course with his shocking expressions (wink, wink) I immediaetely jumped up out of bed and discovered 3 steps from my side of the bed, the same "squish, squish". I couldn't believe what I saw!! Of course, I went into panic mode, and he was thinking clearly. We threw towels down over the doorway to the kitchen & living room (wood laminate) to soak up water. The minute they hit the ground, they were soaked. He rushed out to the shed to get the heavy duty shop vac to start sucking up water. Oh yeah, let me back up a bit. the toilet was spilling water out of the tank (not the bowl) like a water fountian. So that was the culprit!! After making 4 trips outside to dump water out, we called the home owners insurance emergency line. They arranged for a flood company to come to our house, immediately. When this all happens, you don't think clearly and don't expect to see such a mess so early. I am so happy he got up when he did, because we usually don't get up unitl 0630-0700, another 3 hours....imagine the sight then. When the flood rescuers (what do you call them) got to the house and began their work, we discovered that the bathroom & hall were of course a complete loss. To sum things up, every room in the house with exception to the dining room and 1/2 of our bedroom were "swimming" in water. Some minor furniture damage, picture damage and other memorbilia. I couldn't believe how in about 2.5 hours water could damage so much. So we were on the phone with insurance off and on, watching these workers tear out our flooring and install large fans & humidifiers. We got a storage unit delivered to the driveway.....all the furniture (except the dining room table & bed) had to be moved out. However, we were only able to get 1.5 rooms emptied before dark. Back up.....we had to wait 2.5 hours in our stripped house for the insurance adjuster to come. Hubby and I were so exhausted by now (2:oopm) we were falling asleep on the table and in the chairs. When you are tired, you can almost sleep anywhere!! Finally the adjuster showed up took lots of pictures, wrote down a lot of information regarding the damaged areas and explained the process. Finally around 8:00pm we went to my parents house to "move in" since they are gone on vacation. Their house is a mere .5 mile from us, so it's totally convinient and the dogs love to play in their yard. ARE YOU STARTING TO SEE WHAT'S GOING ON IN MY MIND??? When we got to their house, we both were so mentally and physically exhausted that we fell asleep really quick. Their guest bed is a full and we are used to sleeping (7 yrs now) in a CAL-KING bed. So it made the sleeping a bit difficult....as you could imagine. The next day he had to go back to work at the station. Luckily, he came home that night and I met him at the flooring store. I wanted him to pick out the flooring stuff with me, because I didn't want that responsibility since more than likely he would be leaving soon. Of course when we got to the store he shared with me how dispatch had just called him with their order to leave early that next morning. So we picked out the new wood laminate, carpet and lenolium. Grabbed some dinner and drove home to our "temporary home". When we got their he had to map out his route to the fire and he ordered a new toilet to be delivered to my parents house. We finally got into bed around 2330pm. At 0130 his cell phone rang......who calls at that hour?? "Hello, Mr ____, this is ______ with ______alarm company, and we have a ringing burgular alarm at _____ ______ street. Sheriff officers are enroute. Can you meet them?" He told them 5 minutes, he flew out and out to his truck. He arrived at our home along with 3 sheriff officers. They asked him the generic questions like "any dogs in the house, any residents, etc". He explained to them that nobody was staying at the house, because we had some flood damage. However there were loud fans in every room and all the doors were closed inside. He said he unlocked the door and the 3 officers entered the house with their guns drawn yelling "Sheriff Officers, identify yourself or you will be shot!!" Hubby said he was rubbing his head thinking......what next. Well thankfully it ended up being a false alarm and he came back home around 2:30am. He had his alarm set that night so he could get up around 0430 to dress and be at the station by 0600. Well when he got back, he forgot he left his cell phone in the kitchen (at the house where we were staying). I woke him up and said "hey what time is it?" He groggily said "probably about 0400......then jumped up and looked at the clock in the dining room to discover that it was 0530 (it takes him 45 minutes to get to the station). He jumped in the shower, I made him some coffee, he dressed and headed out the door. I prayed...."Dear Lord, please protect him on his way to work. Please do not let anything more happen to him." This is horrible, but I can't remember what I did that day. I know it involved the damaged house....but I don't know what I did (I'm not old enough for alhemirez).....think I'm a little stressed?? So let me jump to last night. I only could get a hold of a retired fire chief friend from church and my husband's old boss to help move the remaining furniture. They arrived at our house at 1930 and we worked until 2200. We all were sweating so much, since the house had been closed up and fans going. They both insisted on helping me since hubby was busy on a fire.....they said it's a brotherhood and they are there for eachother and their families, too. Forgive me at this point if my words don't make sense. I'm so tired!! So anyways, one of the friends met me at the house this morning around 0700 to measure for paint in the office and hallway. We went to Home Depot, got the supplies and wouldn't you know it, when we got home, he generously began weeding and trimming the landscaping in the front yard. I told him it didn't matter and he insisted that he wanted to help, because he would want someone to help his wife, if he went to a fire. I cannot even tell you how thankful I am to have friends like these. So tonight, I went back to the house to scrub the walls that would be painted tomorrow.....as preparation. I got home around 2030 and I feel exhausted. I BET YOU ARE EXHAUSTED READING MY ADVENTURES So hubby is gone on this fire in Northern CA and here I am taking care of insurance, alarm, cleanng crews and repairs. I know he would definetly do this if it weren't fire season.....but what's a fireman to do when duty calls!! So tomorow, I will meet both of these men at my house at 0700 to begin our painting and minor repairs. On Monday, I have a friend coming to help paint the final color of the office, and I have one of the Captains' wife (from hubby's crew) coming on Wednesday to help paint, too. I hope this will move quickly, but have heard it can take a bit. Please pray for this whole situation and my sanity. On a side note, the living room is completely painted and waiting for new flooring......read the "FINISHING TOUCHES" blog below. My friend said "when life gives you lemons, make margaritas" and my reply was "I need fishbowl size!!" I think I'm going to hang with a friend on Sunday to get away from all this mess....literally. Do you have any wild adventures like this to share......post a comment to share with us or email me wffwives@cox.net