Oh the joys of homeownership!

We are still trying to get settled into our house. It takes time, I know but I don't feel like time is exactly on our side! Anyway, after 2 weeks I can now say that at least our kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and closet are in order. I realize that probably doesn't sound like a lot but trust me -- it was a tremendous task getting those areas situated!

Ben and his dad worked long and hard last weekend on a list of chores that I had given to them. They hung towel bars, installed additional shelving in 2 closets, fixed our bar stools so that they would work, put together a work bench and probably a couple other things that I am forgetting to mention. The one thing the did not accomplish (through no fault of their own) was to get our dryer hooked up. (This is important .... you'll understand why later) Basically, the dryer vent was mis-shapen and we couldn't find a hose or attachment that would work so it became an item on our builder's punch list.

I called the builder on Monday morning with the 3 major problems that we had found needed to be fixed right away: 1) dryer vent 2) electrical outlets in kitchen not working 3) a crooked wall in our guest bath. Despite the fact that the builder tried to crawfish out of giving anything his immediate attention, I insisted that he stop by on Tuesday to help me get everything fixed. I was SO FRUSTRATED with not being able to do laundry and it was just piling up on me! Anyway, the builder sent one of his crew in to fix the wall and the HVAC people came to rectify my dryer problem later that afternoon. I was sooooo excited that I went straight to work on my laundry. Threw a load into the wash, turned it on and went about my business unpacking.

You may see where this is going ....

I walked back into the (upstairs) laundry room about 20 minutes later to grab something. There was at least an inch of water all over the floor! It had soaked the whole room and the carpet in the hallway outside of the laundry room. I was so freaked out and ran immediately to the water shut off for the house and turned it off. Still freaked out I called Ben in a panic at work and he left to come home and help me. When I went downstairs to shut off the water to the house I found about a half inch of water in the hallway leading into my kitchen and it was still coming through the ceiling. I was most worried about my new hardwoods so I grabbed a bunch of towels and started sopping up the water. Then I went and did the same upstairs only I didn't have enough towels in my house to adequately get the water soaked up. I basically ran up and down the stairs between the two disaster areas for a good 10 minutes in total meltdown/freak out mode. Fortunately, the builder was coming back to finish the wall repair and he rang my doorbell just in time for me to solicit his help.

Ben arrived home about this time. We had the water shut off and I had gotten it up off the hardwoods. First thing he checked for was the drain pipe connection.

The damn thing was laying on the floor in a trash pile.

OOPS! (And I was reeeeeally hoping this was going to be the builder's error .... but no such luck)

Even though it wasn't his job, our builder (or really it was his right hand man) was a tremendous help to us -- he went and got his wet vac to suck up the water, finished mopping it up, hooked up the washer AND drain pipe, cut holes in our sheet rock to help the water drain and then went and got a shop vac for us to use overnight to soak up the carpet. THEN he finished the job he was really there to do. Really, the guy was a lifesaver because I didn't know what to do and Ben was too fuming mad to do anything but just kinda stand there in shock.

It is most frustrating because now, instead of having a few things knocked off our to-do list, we have added more to it (get sheet rock fixed from holes and then touch up paint). Really though, we were fortunate that there was no real damage and I have lined up my man to come back for the repairs next week (of course I am paying him to do so .... so at least we've got a contact out of this whole ordeal for future side projects).

On top of all this, Ben was home the next morning to meet the electrician who was coming to figure out our kitchen outlet situation. Turns out it was a bad wire that probably got damaged after inspection by a nail or something. For a little while it looked like it could turn into a major issue but the man was able to fix it without too much invasion into our walls.

So all in all, an exciting week on the house front. I'm hoping to get it a little more settled this weekend. We still don't have a single picture or decoration out so doing that stuff will go a long way in making it feel more like home.

OH and Ben I hope you're not mad at me for posting this story about the drain hose to the washing machine. I can also put some of the blame on myself for not going in to check and make sure things were working correctly a few minutes after I started washing. Had I done so, I could have caught the problem MUCH earlier and prevented all of this.