Okay so it's a normal one-bath kinda day around here. See your typical day involves at least one bath for Hannah. She's just at that stage. If she's not fingerpainting with poop, she's wearing a bowl of pudding on her head or dancing in a puddle of syrup.
So today it was toothpaste. I went to take off her glasses and they were stuck to her hair with toothpaste. So we trudged up the stairs so I could start a bath.....no hot water. I had to search high and low for a fire source. OF COURSE the one fire starter we have has been destroyed by the kids. I couldn't reach all the way back to the pilot with a normal lighter. We have no matches in the house because my husband has outlawed them because he doesn't like the smell (seriously what's to hate about that heavenly smell?) Finally I devised a plan. It involved a birthday candle pinched between the blades of a scissors (I didn't say it was a good plan....just a plan). So I called John to update him on the situation, breifed Elijah on how to dial 911 and traipsed into the basement to try to light the pilot on the water heater all by myself.
After losing the candle in the bottom of the water heater and having to instruct my son to stick his hand in the tiny opening to fish it out, I got a better grip on the candle pushed the button down and stuck the flame in there....NADA. It would not light.
At this point I was getting a little frustrated. I need to hit the grocery store before dinner time and Hannah CANNOT go with toothpaste all gooed in her hari. John was going to stop home and try to figure it out when he got a break in his work, but who knew how long that would be. So I decided to fill the bathtub part way with cold water and then boil some water to warm it up. (It worked for Laura Ingalls Wilder.) Okay so here I am on my second LARGE kettle of boiling water and the water still isn't even tepid. In strides John with his mini torch thing, and in less than 10 minutes he has the pilot light burning.