Thursday, August 09, 2007

Money Rant


I have two beautiful paint by numbers of roses done by my sister's mother-in-law. I thought that was the perfect size for a mini-collection until I saw this autumn scene for $2.99 at the Goodwill. I love it and think I might be hooked on paint by number. No, I don't want to paint any, but if you see any finished ones lying around, let me know, and I'll take them off your hands. I think they're so sweet.

Speaking of sweet, my sneezeweed is now taller than I am. I love how old fashioned it looks. I have a couple things that I'm ripping right out of the garden for next year, but these guys are staying.
Now, onto the crabiness... Let me preface my money rant by saying that I love our house. I love that it's cozy and has character, and mostly I love that it ours and that it even looks like Zander and Julie live here. That being said, it is really pissing me off. Our shower upstairs is so clogged that 2 bottles of DRAINO did nothing but make our bathroom smell toxic. I really started to notice the problem last week when Zander's cousins joked about "breaking" our shower. Upon investigation, I realized that not only was water not draining, but gunk was floating up and out of the drain. UGH. They drove across the country to see us and were given the opportunity to shower in our filth. So I called the plumber and he came over today to fix the drain and also to turn off the gas on our stove so I can pull out the sub floor and linoleum underneath. After spending about 45 minutes with our very nice plumber, he told me that he wouldn't touch our stove unless we agreed to let him bring the connection up to code. Yep, that's right, our gas stove was basically attached to the source with gum and duct tape. And maybe a wing and a prayer. And instead of using an anti-tip part to keep the stove from tipping forward, the previous owners stacked up pieces of plywood and hoped for the best. With the stove pulled out we saw where they started the counter top on fire before they fashioned their very own anti-tip device. I'm thinking that maybe our inspector should have noticed a bit more before we purchased this house. The longer we live here, the more we find that's not up to code. So $900 dollars later on the drain and the gas, I'm a bit frustrated. My mom thinks we could have prevented a tragedy by taking up the linoleum and discovering the faulty hook up, so as least that makes me feel a little bit better. I did call Centerpoint energy to see if our service plan ($14.95 per month on all major appliances including the stove) would cover sending someone out to turn off the gas for 15 minutes. I was shocked to find out that it's not covered and they'd charge an arm and a leg for the first 30 minutes, and just a hand for each additional 30 minutes. I've used the service once in almost 3 years when we had a bird stuck in the furnace. I'm wondering if it's worth it to keep paying them each month when we don't really get much out of it?

2 comments:

LA said...

But your kitchen floors look soooo nice!

Anonymous said...

yeah, homeownership. I learned too that every project always tends to cost more than I planned. I hate that. I feel exactly the same way, I LOVE my home, but sometimes I hate the responsibilty. You worry about things you never would as a renter, like the big tree in the backyard falling down, and stuff like that. Sorry to hear about the $900. That does suck.