Abigail: Four Months w/o Hot Water

[GeoBQn]

Abigail's household is going on four months without a water heater. Rumor has it that they will be getting a new one soon.

abigails-alcove.blogspot.ca/2013/09/theres-rumor.html

Cold showers was another thing that my husband and I offered up for Jesus for the past few months. I'd done cold showers as penance before. It was a huge difference to have the "choice" of turning the shower to cold, while I knew hot water was available. It's a different level of penance to have a truly cold shower everyday. My husband nicknamed this "involuntary penance." It comes often in poverty and it's always a great gift.

(By the way, I'm shocked too that the "involuntary thing" seems to usually be temporary. The penance lasts way longer that I'm comfort with, but it always ends. For example, we rode the bus for 2 years, but now we own 2 good cars. We rented a house for 5 years, but now we own a house. We went without a water heater for 4 months, but now it looks like we could get a really great one that can last for a longer time. I'm a little different that most thrifty families I know about we don't actively "save" while we do involuntary penance. Its more like if there seems to be a "necessity" we can't do, we try to be patient and little and loving while we wait for God to fix our problem).

If the new water heater ended up not happening, would they still have been content to "wait for G-d to fix the problem" if they had gone into the winter months without hot water? I'm wondering if this is going to be a repeat of the episode where they tried to heat their house in a different way (for poverty reasons?) that turned out to be more expensive and faulty.

[Arete]

So she is taking cold showers for Jesus? OK, now that I read that sentence it sounds kind of sick and I am sorry I wrote it. I need to stay out of Abigail threads. How do all these people who are aiming for purity twist even the most mundane things and problems?

[miffy]

She always makes a mountain out of a molehill.

In the late 90s Melbourne had no natural gas for something like 3 weeks, so that was like 2 million people without hot water. Its not that big of a deal.

[singsingsing]

She always makes a mountain out of a molehill.

Yep. See her last post in which she recounts her AWFUL day: she was woken up from her nap by the neighbour's dog barking, and then she dropped the chicken she was cooking on the floor! She was able to overcome this tragedy and find solace in her support group for co-dependents.

Really.

[doggie]

why the hell is it gods job to get them a new water heater? So they don't save money to get one they just depend on god. well I am sure that makes god happy.

[Hane]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand it's SuperCatholic[tm][/tm]! This kind of thing reminds me of a spiritual practice one of my aunts told me about, back in the early '60s or so: "offering it up for the suffering souls in Purgatory." The nuns had taught her that toughing out pain or other unpleasantness for the sake of those poor folks in Purgatory would ultimately be of benefit to them. (Or, as a late pastor of mine once said, "Some of those crazy old nuns made up their own religion.")

[singsingsing]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand it's SuperCatholic[tm][/tm]! This kind of thing reminds me of a spiritual practice one of my aunts told me about, back in the early '60s or so: "offering it up for the suffering souls in Purgatory." The nuns had taught her that toughing out pain or other unpleasantness for the sake of those poor folks in Purgatory would ultimately be of benefit to them. (Or, as a late pastor of mine once said, "Some of those crazy old nuns made up their own religion.")

I can tell you that Catholic bloggers are still very big on 'offering things up'.

[Carla Bruni]

So, uh, St. Petersburg, Russia, the cultural capital of the country that holds the most abundant and diverse natural resources of any other, had this thing where they'd cut the hot water every summer for "pipe repairs", but all the money would get stolen and so they'd have to "repair" them all over again the following year. Fire ordinances prohibited us from installing water heaters because something something I don't know (read: my grandparents refused to bribe the relevant officials). Throughout some of high school and most of college (2001-06), I perfected the ole boiling-water-in-a-bucket trick, followed by the mixing-hot-with-cold-and-pouring-over-self-using-saucepan routine. In our case, we literally had no other choice (well, the bribe thing was always on the table). In Abigail's case, she's an idiot.

JESUS DON'T CARE, YO.

[lilwriter85]

Abigail has proven before that she is really bad at money and budgeting. She gets kicks off of stuff like this. I remember when I was 10 or 11, our water heater broke and we were without hot water for three or four days. I remember it was in the spring time. We managed by warm water for certain tasks and we went to my grandmother's house to shower. But my parents wouldn't never went months without hot water.

I also get the feeling that Abigail's father is really the one buying the heater and she made up the part about the Home Depot credit card. I remember last year there was some incident in which she didn't have heat in her house due to not paying the bill and the father sent a credit card the same day or the next day.

[Chicken bones]

Why do people think that their god gives a flying fuck about cold showers? How does that benefit her God in any way by her having a cold shower instead of a hot one? Go do some charity work or make some food for Meals on Wheels or something useful instead of bragging about how holy it is to turn down hot water! Abigail, true poverty involves not having the luxury of privacy, safety, and clean water in which to shower.

[lilwriter85]

Why do people think that their god gives a flying fuck about cold showers? How does that benefit her God in any way by her having a cold shower instead of a hot one? Go do some charity work or make some food for Meals on Wheels or something useful instead of bragging about how holy it is to turn down hot water! Abigail, true poverty involves not having the luxury of privacy, safety, and clean water in which to shower.

This. I might have missed stuff, but I don't think Abigail has ever gone out and done that kind of stuff.

[lagenialester]

This. I might have missed stuff, but I don't think Abigail has ever gone out and done that kind of stuff.

Or how about she considers the people who don't have access to clean water on a daily basis? When I lived in Cameroon (in the city, mind you, not even a village) the government t would shut off the entire water supply for days because of shortage! Was God punishing every single person in Yaounde? (Ugh, actually I don't even want to know how she would answer that.) How about donating to a clean water charity instead of "inflicting" the burden of cold showers on herself?

[lilwriter85]

Or how about she considers the people who don't have access to clean water on a daily basis? When I lived in Cameroon (in the city, mind you, not even a village) the government t would shut off the entire water supply for days because of shortage! Was God punishing every single person in Yaounde? (Ugh, actually I don't even want to know how she would answer that.) How about donating to a clean water charity instead of "inflicting" the burden of cold showers on herself?

I agree, she would be better off making a small donation to a clean water charity instead of the cold showers. I'm starting to suspect that there is something off mentally with Abigail and her husband Jon.

[Stephanie66]

Why would anyone take cold showers for months on end? Why didn't she just pick the chicken up, rinse it off, and serve it (provided she could get it picked up within the five second rule!).

Oh, it's that co-dependent Abigail, that's why.

[salex]

Yep. See her last post in which she recounts her AWFUL day: she was woken up from her nap by the neighbour's dog barking, and then she dropped the chicken she was cooking on the floor! She was able to overcome this tragedy and find solace in her support group for co-dependents.

Really.

This woman sounds too weak to live. Both an interrupted nap AND dropping a chicken?

Depending on the support group, I am surprised she hasn't yet had the shit beaten out of her by people with actual problems.

[Arete]

Her support group probably consists of other navel gazing Catholic converts who can't understand why so many other Catholic women won't quit their jobs and have more kids than they can afford for Jesus and Mommy Mary.

[anachronistic]

She says that the only thing that not having hot water made hard was bathing. Well, excuse me for my ignorance, but what about doing the dishes? I was always taught that you need to rinse dishes (I assume she doesn't have a dishwasher) in very hot water after washing to get them truly clean. She has small children - don't pacifiers, sippy cups, bottles, etc need to be sterilized at least once in a while?

[lilwriter85]

She says that the only thing that not having hot water made hard was bathing. Well, excuse me for my ignorance, but what about doing the dishes? I was always taught that you need to rinse dishes (I assume she doesn't have a dishwasher) in very hot water after washing to get them truly clean. She has small children - don't pacifiers, sippy cups, bottles, etc need to be sterilized at least once in a while?

I don't know if she has a dishwasher, but with her poverty attitude I wouldn't be surprised if she has one but refuses to use it. Her house also came with a large refrigerator which she later got rid of. I think Abigail could have been boiling water and then sterilizing the pacifiers, cups, and bottles. But I agree not having hot water for dishes would be difficult.

[polecat]

She says that the only thing that not having hot water made hard was bathing. Well, excuse me for my ignorance, but what about doing the dishes? I was always taught that you need to rinse dishes (I assume she doesn't have a dishwasher) in very hot water after washing to get them truly clean. She has small children - don't pacifiers, sippy cups, bottles, etc need to be sterilized at least once in a while?

We lost power about a week during an ice storm -- and occasionally we lose it for a few hours or days during tornado season. We just boil water for dishes when it happens. It's inconvenient but not impossible. Bathing, though, would be much harder to accomplish -- but also not impossible -- with boiling water, obviously mixed to a comfortable temp.

[luv2run]

I just read this blog post.

I would give anything to have her problems. We just found out that a second child of ours probably has autism.

I've done my best to be Abigail's friend. And I'm sure half the reason she hates me is because she came here and read some of the comments I posted. I didn't say anything about her here that I would not have said to her in real life. It was constructive criticism and the truth. She is also very difficult to help, and I'm not the only person who has mentioned that. However, for some reason (and I may be wrong), she does not like me. I don't care. I would have a year ago. Life has taught me that there are bigger things to be worried about.

I'm sorry her daughter was sick, but she's better. My daughter won't get better. Neither will my son. Her kids talk. My three year old still doesn't. Our financial strain due to two kids with special needs gets bigger, but I don't go blogging about it. Hell, I have a a hard time asking people to pray for our intentions, because unless it's serious, it just screams "Look at me!"

I hope her water is fixed soon. And I have to wonder if the "personal heartbreak" she experienced was the grocery gift card I sent her so she could eat out while she was feeling sick with morning sickness.

Detachment also means to forgive those who have "hurt" you (or perceived slights).

[dora]

Bragging about penance and how holy you are is not really very holy, is it? If I did that, I would keep it between myself and God.

Luv2run, that was very kind of you to help her even though she doesn't appreciate it. She is lucky to have had you as a friend. I am sorry you are going through hard times right now.

[Koala]

Its more like if there seems to be a "necessity" we can't do, we try to be patient and little and loving while we wait for God to fix our problem).

Dear Abigail,

I help those that help themselves. Instead of waiting for me to fix your problem, get off your ass and w.o.r.k. to fix it yourself.

~God

[Coconut Flan]

I wish one of us could/would change our names. I cringe at every Abigail thread.

Last spring my water heater died the morning I was going out of town for a few days. I did the heat water and washed with a tub of water in the shower. Not fun but doable. The afternoon I returned home I called the plumber and he installed the new water heater the next day. I'd love to tell her that's how normal people handle things.

[GeoBQn]

Poster Abigail, I do feel guilty every time I start a blogger Abigail thread.

[anjulibai]

Bragging about penance and how holy you are is not really very holy, is it? If I did that, I would keep it between myself and God.

Yeah, she has a post about this, actually; about how hard it is not to care about being praised for your piety and good works. She even admits it's a bad thing, but here she is, wanting to be recognized for her holiness.