Who said it was Merry?
As you all know it's not my holiday of choice but this year I did try much harder to get into the spirit. I put my tree up early and it looked pretty good too. I went shopping with a smile and actually looked forward to dinner being in my house this year. We celebrate on Christmas Eve so friday was really the last day for us to prepare. I baked cupcakes for Rosie's school holiday party and woke up early to get things done before I had to deal with all her little classmates. After school we got to take the class pets (guinea pigs) home for winter break.
On the drive home I get a call from a tenant at the building, she says there is no hot water. I figure maybe the hot water tank pilot light went out or something and didn't worry too much about it, then when I got home there was a message on the machine from another tenant about water coming into the bedroom. I tell John what's going on (he's at home cause he can't walk, his gout is acting up and couldn't go to work). He calls his friend Herman to meet me at the building to diagnose the problem. I walk up to the first floor door and hear it...at that point I knew it was real bad even before I opened the door. When we walked into the apartment there was water spurting and gushing out of the bathroom, the ceiling had almost completely collapsed (this is John's mom's unit) I walk up to the second floor and hear the same thing as I reach the door (thankfully this unit is empty). I open the door and this one is also gushing water. Herman and I rush down to the basement and he shuts off the main. Now no one in the building has water now.
Herman (a long time friend and a real estate broker) is on the cell phone telling John what's going on and says he has to go but will make a few phone calls and be back later if he can get a plumber to come out. I sit in my car and call my uncle (who is a contractor and is at another job in a suburb an hour away breaking down a chimney) He is trying very hard to calm me down as I'm explaining the situation throug tears, I swear I was having a nervous breakdown, he tells me that he'll call his plumber but he probably won't be able to come out til the morning. Just as I hang up the third floor tenant calls for an update, I tell her the water in the building is off and I'm gonna try to get it fixed ASAP. I feel horrible because the next day is Christmas Eve and I don't want these people without water. I call my best friend Ralph (who is a licensed heating/cooling specialist and who pretty much knows how to fix almost anything) and he says he'll come take a look at it. I call my mom and tell her what's going on and that I'm dropping everything off at her place cause now she'll have to cook since I have no idea how long this situation is going to last. I go home, get everything (including the kids) and drop it all off. Back to the building I go.
When Ralph gets there I show him where I saw the water spurting out from in the bathrrom on the second floor...he goes around the other side and says we have to cut through the drywall here in the dining room so we don't mess up the tile in the bathroom. He does that and boom he finds a bust, we go to Home Depot buy the necessary fix it stuff, come back and he fixes it. He turns the water back on and water starts shooting out from another place, we get soaked and off goes the water again. Two more busts...back to Home Depot we go. He cuts through a closet wall and has to fix those and then tries the water again. All looks good, well no more gushing water and my tenants holiday is saved. I was cold , wet and hungry when I finally got home at 1am. I was sick by morning :(.
My mom made a wonderful dinner and the kids had a great Christmas but as for mine...I had all of one hours sleep, I was feeling overwhelmed and unappreciated and had a fight with John right after dinner and ended up leaving my mom's house and went home. My brother came to get me and I eventually calmed down and went back to watch the kids open gifts. The remainder of the evening wasn't bad (I got chocolate cake and cookies and fudge). I sure am glad it's over though.
Hope everyone's Christmas was a whole lot merrier than mine was ;).
On the drive home I get a call from a tenant at the building, she says there is no hot water. I figure maybe the hot water tank pilot light went out or something and didn't worry too much about it, then when I got home there was a message on the machine from another tenant about water coming into the bedroom. I tell John what's going on (he's at home cause he can't walk, his gout is acting up and couldn't go to work). He calls his friend Herman to meet me at the building to diagnose the problem. I walk up to the first floor door and hear it...at that point I knew it was real bad even before I opened the door. When we walked into the apartment there was water spurting and gushing out of the bathroom, the ceiling had almost completely collapsed (this is John's mom's unit) I walk up to the second floor and hear the same thing as I reach the door (thankfully this unit is empty). I open the door and this one is also gushing water. Herman and I rush down to the basement and he shuts off the main. Now no one in the building has water now.
Herman (a long time friend and a real estate broker) is on the cell phone telling John what's going on and says he has to go but will make a few phone calls and be back later if he can get a plumber to come out. I sit in my car and call my uncle (who is a contractor and is at another job in a suburb an hour away breaking down a chimney) He is trying very hard to calm me down as I'm explaining the situation throug tears, I swear I was having a nervous breakdown, he tells me that he'll call his plumber but he probably won't be able to come out til the morning. Just as I hang up the third floor tenant calls for an update, I tell her the water in the building is off and I'm gonna try to get it fixed ASAP. I feel horrible because the next day is Christmas Eve and I don't want these people without water. I call my best friend Ralph (who is a licensed heating/cooling specialist and who pretty much knows how to fix almost anything) and he says he'll come take a look at it. I call my mom and tell her what's going on and that I'm dropping everything off at her place cause now she'll have to cook since I have no idea how long this situation is going to last. I go home, get everything (including the kids) and drop it all off. Back to the building I go.
When Ralph gets there I show him where I saw the water spurting out from in the bathrrom on the second floor...he goes around the other side and says we have to cut through the drywall here in the dining room so we don't mess up the tile in the bathroom. He does that and boom he finds a bust, we go to Home Depot buy the necessary fix it stuff, come back and he fixes it. He turns the water back on and water starts shooting out from another place, we get soaked and off goes the water again. Two more busts...back to Home Depot we go. He cuts through a closet wall and has to fix those and then tries the water again. All looks good, well no more gushing water and my tenants holiday is saved. I was cold , wet and hungry when I finally got home at 1am. I was sick by morning :(.
My mom made a wonderful dinner and the kids had a great Christmas but as for mine...I had all of one hours sleep, I was feeling overwhelmed and unappreciated and had a fight with John right after dinner and ended up leaving my mom's house and went home. My brother came to get me and I eventually calmed down and went back to watch the kids open gifts. The remainder of the evening wasn't bad (I got chocolate cake and cookies and fudge). I sure am glad it's over though.
Hope everyone's Christmas was a whole lot merrier than mine was ;).
posted by Anna at 3:15 AM
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