So here's what's been up with me since Friday:
There was a snafu with the phone company, and though we were assured that we'd have the phones turned on at both places through the weekend (by multiple agents,) we ended up with NO phone service until Monday, when a technician finally came by and fixed the problem. It was just too confusing for the Century Link employees to have the service on at both places at once, apparently, and add in the fact that whomever lived here before us had THREE separate phone numbers, and there you have it. I have been assured that those three days will be credited to my account... which is good, 'cause I would've pitched a fit, otherwise
Saturday was move-in day, and as some of you know, that didn't go all that well. We got a really late start, and an even later end to the day, but we DID manage to get the girls' room all set up before sis brought them home (THANK GOD!) My husband was just sure that the neighbors at the old place were watching and were going to swoop in and steal anything of value that got left behind, so he stayed out working until about after 11 PM... and that's WITH sis and her son (who was already past exhaustion) helping and keeping an eye on my hubby. The both told me separately that hubby would have ended up with heat stroke if they hadn't gone back -- he was pushing so hard that his eyes were glazing over when they got back to him. :( *siiigh*
Hubby got home at last, we got the girls to bed, and hubby HAD to have a shower before bed because he was just so incredibly sweaty and gross-feeling. You know how a good show revitalizes!
The shower was great, but the water
wouldn't turn off! It was *blasting* and even both of us fiddling with it barely got it to ease up. Have I mentioned that we have a 900-gallon septic tank? What could we do but call the landlord? ... who is in Alaska... and wasn't answering his phone.
We had no choice but to call my dad, who did his best to help us find a plumber who was in Dallas (remember: no internet here!) It was after midnight, and after he gave me four numbers, I told him that was enough, thank you, and started calling. All four of them were answering machines ^_^; so I had to wake up Dad... again (poor guy.) He gave me more numbers, this time expanding the search to another town, and I tried again. This time I got a person! Yay! ... except that their office was in NEWBERG (far away). She said that they might have someone in the area, and would have someone call us. GAH! Fine. Bobby tried to turn off the water main, but it was just too hard to turn the handle. So we waited... for about five minutes, then went to bed. I didn't get into a good sleep until about 3:30 AM, and then I finally got a phone call at about 7:30, from the woman that worked for the plumbers. Did they ever call? No? Well sorry, but we're really busy, and can't get you in until Wednesday. Told her to forget it, and since it was too early to call anyone to help, I just left everyone sleeping (and the water still running) and went to get another load of stuff from the old house.
Now, whilst I was away loading the truck, hubby got a hold of a plumber who said he could be by the house in about half an hour, so I finished up my load, hubby took my place, and I commenced to wait for the plumber from Jim's Plumbing to come. He came. He saw. He turned off the water
Upon inspection, it turns out that that when Dave (the owner's boyfriend) fixed the tub, he reinstalled the knobs wrong. The plumber's boss, Jim himself, showed up and explained that just replacing the hardware wouldn't be enough -- the valve needed to be replaced, which meant cutting a square out of the wall on the other side of the shower. I told him to do it, and authorized new hardware, too -- of a kind that will not let anyone get scalded if someone, say, flushes a toilet whilst they are getting a shower.
A lot happened after that, but the important thing is that when he opened up the wall, he found damage. Recent damage. It turns out that Dave had put the hardware back on wrong, and it was causing damage inside the wall. Argh! That made the job much bigger, and the poor man was here for hours and hours trying to get everything working properly. When he was finally, finally done, I asked him to look at a few more things that were possible issues, and no big deal, but the last thing I asked him to do was crawl under the house and make sure that Dave properly repaired where the tub was leaking under the house. Well, Dave messed up the plumbing in the bathroom, so I think I had a good reason to ask, and since it would only take a few minutes to look, under the house the guy went!
Poor, poor man. He'd already been working in a stuffy bathroom for over five hours, then belly-crawling under the house in this horrible heat we've been having... and he's not a little guy! Tall and buffed out, I'm sure it was a tight fit! When he came out he was sweating profusely and nearly hyperventilating! :( So what's the news? Did Dave do a good job? It turns out that...
... no. He didn't. As a matter of fact, it's leaking in TWO places under there! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
Well, I wasn't about to ask that poor man to stay and fix it. It was after five, and he was clearly exhausted, and besides... I feel like I need to give Dave the opportunity to address this since it's not an emergency. He WILL take care of it properly this time, though -- it was in the contract that he would repair it (or have it repaired) so he HAS to address it.
In the meantime, youngest (non-verbal autistic) desperately wanted to go out (but couldn't since I couldn't leave the house) and the phone company showed up to finally fix the phone lines (which I already mentioned,) really adding to the chaos here!
When the day was done, I had to give the plumber $768, which I know I'm going to have to fight the current owner over, but her boyfriend CAUSED the problem, AND didn't fix the problem under the house like he said he would!
Speaking of owning houses, the bank e-mailed me yesterday to let me know that the USDA has JUST gotten to the files submitted on July 1st... and ours was submitted on July 17th!
Lord I hope they move quickly over there at USDA -- It's costing me $187 a week to keep my 4% interest rate, not to mention the fact that the rent here at the new place will jump up another hundred dollars if we go past the 26th of the month... and they don't want to prorate it, meaning they want over a thousand dollars in rent money, even if the deal closes a week after we pay them
There IS good news in all of this, though! We love the new place, and our non-verbal is doing VERY well with the transition. That part's EXTRA good news!
It's much better than paying a higher interest rate, but I'm praying that the house closes MUCH earlier than they're anticipating!
Congrats Genki !!!!! I can imagine the stress you have been under. Hopefully the rest goes smoothly. 
... AND the owners are going to want over a thousand dollars for rent (more than our mortgage will be)! :(
