Luckily Tom is still home recovering from surgery, so he’s able to take care of all this stuff! I don’t know what we’d do if either of us had to keep making all these trips back and forth. (These were all little things so I saved them all up for one big post!)
MONDAY
We had someone out to move the water lines for the refrigerator. If you recall from a previous post/rant, the brain surgeon who installed it put it about a foot beyond where a normal refrigerator would be. It was covered up by our trash can, but we had them move it anyway. Now we’re just waiting for someone to come back and fix the hole in the wall.
TUESDAY
We had guys out to fix our front door. It didn’t shut quite right (the top right corner stuck into the house about 1/2″ or so, like it was warped) and would have been an issue for the security system (oh yes, we have a security system—the builder pays for the first year). I’m not entirely sure what they had to do, but all I know is the door is fixed, but we’re still waiting for them to come back and fill all the holes they made.
We received our cruise documents today. And I about had heart failure when I saw that the itinerary had changed from what we originally saw on Orbitz!! Normally an itinerary change wouldn’t be any cause for alarm, but we had purchased our Royal Dolphin Swim for the specific day we were going to be in a specific port—and that had changed!! I knew it wouldn’t be a problem to cancel the shore trip and get our money back (you can cancel up to 11 days prior), but of course I think the worst of everything and assume that the other day will be sold out and I will miss my dolphin swim after being so careful to plan ahead! Tom called and spent forever on hold, but got everything straightened out (yes, the itinerary changed and yes, we switched dolphin days). Poor Tom was so frustrated with having to deal with it…and I just said “I’m glad you had to do this. You take me for granted because I’m the one who always deals with this stuff!”
WEDNESDAY
We finally started putting up some personal pictures. I finally have my picture wall! I can’t remember where I got the idea, but I’ve always wanted to have one wall dedicated for framed pictures (all different frame types). The stairwell is perfect for this. I’ll take a picture of it eventually (or when I get home).
We had someone out to install the new dishwasher—finally. (We never thought it would take 1+ weeks.) It’s a KitchenAid. I’d never heard of KitchenAid dishwashers before we went looking and never guessed we’d end up with one! Anyway, we love it—it’s the best dishwasher we’ve ever had! We can actually fit like two or three days’ worth of dishes in it. Large items like cookie sheets and pot lids can fit in no problem. And we can even take out the top tray if we have something really tall we want to wash (which we did last night—I had a 24-quart cooking pot we’ve always had to wash by hand and I wanted to get it really clean). Plus, it’s QUIET!
We’ve solved the cats whining at our bedroom door issue. Remember, we locked them out of our bedroom once we moved in…and it worked for the most part, but Fuzzy would still whine loudly in the morning (we couldn’t figure out quite what for, since he had plenty of food and water). So now they all get locked in the living room/4th bedroom at night. They have water, but no food…but even if they did whine, we can’t hear them! We’ve slept SO well the past two nights!!!
THURSDAY
The guy came to install the new countertops today. We didn’t get the dripless edge like we thought (we got the waterfall [rounded] edge, which is still 100% better than the straight edge we had before) but it looks GREAT! Even though it looks good, it’s strange getting used the new color since I was really used to the purple—and liked the purple. But this new design/color is perfect. The installer said he’d never seen such crappy work before—he told us that the guys who had originally installed the counters had been fired because they did such poor work (after our house, they were on their way to fix another crappy install). So, we’re thrilled to have great new counters.
The TV repair guy came to look at our TV. (Back story: we got a really great deal on a TV at Sam’s Club last weekend—because it had been repaired. It also had no sound so we got them to knock it down more. We didn’t need sound because we hook it up to our receiver…but turns out it had sound, so…BONUS.) But we noticed that it had a problem near one of the edges—some color squiggles and a black spot that affected the viewing area. Tom called Samsung, they said it was under warranty, we called a local repair guy and…turns out it was nothing major. It was [something like] a piece of foam padding [that sits between the case and the screen] that was buckled or crinkled, which was affecting the rear projection. So, it was a quick an easy fix and we have a brand new TV for a great price!
The Heating & Air guy came to check our system. It actually started about two weeks ago (or, shortly after we moved in). It seemed to always be VERY cool in the house, even when we had the temps set to like 79. Now, I know what 79 feels like—at our old house, it would have been sweltering—but in this new house, when the thermostat SAID 79, you’d still be CHILLY. I was positive something wasn’t right, but we decided to wait it out a bit since they had JUST fixed the a/c and we thought that might have something to do with it. Well, we just got our first electric bill last week and WOW, it was a doozy. I mean, we knew it would be more since it’s a bigger house (plus it had the $25 connect fee), but it was the same price for two weeks as our old house was FOR A MONTH (in the height of summer, $130-140). We didn’t think it should be THAT high for just two weeks, so I convinced Tom we had to call. I mean, we thought we were doing so well trying to keep the temps warmer to conserve energy/save money, but no matter what we did, it was cool in the house (not always COLD, but enough so that you’d get goosebumps some times). So, the guy came today (which surprised me that it only took a day) and guess what? The calibration was off by SEVEN DEGREES!! And there were holes in the freon line so we had leaking freon!! I’m not sure of the mechanics of it all, but the guy assured us it all added up to a higher bill than we normally would have had. And everything is now fixed so that’s good. And I’m reassured that I am NOT crazy and the temps were out of wack.
JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS DONE WITH ENTRIES FOR THE WEEK
Tom just called to say…the guys are there tearing up the driveway! (Oh yes, did I forgot to mention that we talked to the agent and she said they’d replace the driveway?) There was no advance warning or phone calls…they just showed up and started in with a backhoe. We have no idea how long it will take to finish, either—we’re guessing quite some time, as we’ve been driving them nuts with it and they probably hate us! But at least they’re sticking to our agreement of “by the end of the month.”
AND AN HOUR LATER…
Tom just called to say “GUESS WHAT?” While tearing up the driveway, they completely ripped out the cable line, so we have no internet and no TV. And when he went out to confront them, they suddenly don’t speak ANY English (they’re Mexican, but you know they know English). Now Tom is trying to call Time Warner to get it fixed and he’s trying to call the builder’s rep to let her know what happened and also that they will be paying for any repairs.
I wonder what else is going to happen???
