Reality Sets In

The “Joys” of Being a First Time Home Buyer

Last post we talked about the first four days and how our move into the new house just outside of North Park was going.  It was going great, up until the evening of Day 4 when reality set in, and the pilot light went out on our water heater.  That evening we thought that maybe we just used up all of the hot water, but when Chris went to shower before work at 6AM the next morning, it was still out.  (And it wasn’t for a lack of trying)

We filed a claim with our home owner’s warranty company that came with the house, and after a few hours no one had contacted me.  So I called the company that they gave us, and scheduled something.  The soonest that they could get someone out here was Monday Morning.  Chris was coming off of a nursing shift this evening.  We needed our hot water heater.  So I called them back.  Reality set in even more when I realized how unresponsive this company is.  I was on hold for an hour an a half.  I guess they were right when they told me that my wait time was going to be over 10 minutes…While on the phone, on hold, for my entire Aldi run, the cashier sympathized with me when I told her with whom I was on hold….

When the movers for the last owners of the house were finishing up the move, they chipped a door frame and were sending someone to fix it.  So when we finally got our schedules to match up for the service on day 5, the gentleman that Total Handy Services sent out, helped me out by taking a look at the water heater – which wasn’t in his service contract.  If I’d have known how nice he was and good at fixing random things, I might have asked him to take a look at the front bathroom sink drain.  My poor dad had been working on that for a day and a half.  It’s nice when you buy a house and find out that the “small leak” is actually a dime sized piece of the pipe corroded, and the “light crack” in the laundry tub, is actually the tub splitting.

Between getting into the house, getting unpacked, a few trips to Lowes, and working from home, it took me until tonight, Day 5 to actually be able to pick up my knitting.  I was too tired to put my brain towards finishing the adult sized hat pattern that I’ve been working on, so I picked up a pattern that I’ve been using to knit my wedding shawl and it was so nice to have my needles back in my hands.

After having the chance to work a few rows, I poured myself a glass of wine and let the dog out.  He’s been testing his boundaries and trying to wander around the neighbors yards a bit, but I thought with it being dark and cold, he’d come right back inside- and I was safe from being seen in my adorable matching PJ set. Joke was on me as I had to crawl through the next four neighbors’ yards, in the dark, scrambling after the dog, hoping no one was home and came out to confront me.  What a way to potentially meet your neighbor for the first time right?

Oh the Joys of being a home owner.