Practicing Thankful

You know what they say about the best laid plans, right?  Well, I was sitting on the couch two nights ago, looking through the seed catalogs and planning and plotting and possibly drooling a little, when my husband, who was showering, comes flying out of the bathroom and shouts, "Honey, we have a problem!"

Is there an exclamation anyone would want to hear less?  Maybe the terrified/hurt scream of "Mommy!" from a child, but this is right up there.  Anyway, turns out the septic tank was backing up.

Oh joy. 

We've lived here a little over a year, and it has been on the "to-do" list.  The previous owner hardly lived here (his words) and it was done before him, so we thought we had time.  Well, time was up.  Long story short, we called and called anyone and everyone in the phone book, until we found someone who could come out ASAP (Oh, did I not mention it was 8:30 at night?  So silly of me!) and pump the dang thing. 

$600 later, the tank was pumped, the shower could drain and the toilets could be flushed again.  Ouch.

What's the moral of this story?  Pump your tank?  Never believe a previous owner?  Whatever.  The point is that hey, we don't really have $600 just hanging out doing nothing and ouch did that hurt.  But even though it did, I am trying to look on the bright side.  I am choosing to practice being thankful.  For example, I am thankful that:

1. The tank only filled up and did not push sewage all over the floors in the house.  The worst thing was a backed-up shower and burbling toilets.
2. The septic tank was where we thought it was and I hadn't planted a tree on top of it.  Good news all around.
3. The nice septic tank men could come out at 9:00 at night.
4. We were almost done Christmas shopping, so though some of it will be cut short, everyone has a gift and it'll still be good.
5. Though I considered scrapping the pantry project and returning all the lumber to get money back, I am thankful that I had gone a little too far in the project before this to do so, and that my husband said I really should just finish it because it was really needed.  Level-headed men are the best, you know.
6. That we had $600 to pay the septic guys.

So yes, this cut into a plan or two quite a bit, and yes, we're going to have to fight to catch up.  No, I'm not thrilled.  But being thankful other parts of the problem instead of dwelling on the problem itself makes it an easier pill to swallow, and I think that's a good mindset to be in.

Now if we could only win the lottery...

:)