The Liquid Domino That Was Tapped

Tuesday night, my youngest son tipped over a domino. It has had continuing results in our house ever since. The domino came in the form of a sink . . . with a stopper . . . and a running faucet. It ran and ran until I had an indoor swimming pool (what used to be my downstairs bathroom!). I was out, and when the babysitter called to tell me, I thought, oh well! A little water. I can clean it up now or in a half hour. Unfortunately, it wasn't a little water, we drained a lake! After about a hundred towels, the carpet was still wet.

The next day, after having a fan on it all night, it felt somewhat drier. Until later that afternoon, when I reached my hand under the carpet to discover the pad was still very wet. After lots of advice, and worrying about mildew, I found a friend who could help me retack the carpet down and loan me an industrial fan. The pad started drying. Problem solved. Right? Wrong.

Now the carpet is drying, but the fans have kicked up lots of other stuff from under or inside the carpet. Every time I go downstairs my respiratory system begins to shut down (slight exageration!). I am hoping and praying that once I can shut the fans off, everything will settle, and a good vacuuming with my really cool vacuum cleaner will take care of the bulk of the problem. I am hoping I will feel like the carpet is dry enough today that I can shut off the fans and let the room air out tonight and tomorrow before it gets rainy again. I am hoping I don't have to replace the carpet and that I can continue to live in my house.

And of course, I'm hoping my son doesn't find a new domino to knock over!