Brown water, no heat & the rest of the debacle

We've been in our new place for about 3 weeks now.  We are starting to get settled in and it’s starting to feel like home. 

I’m starting to breath a sign of relief after what seemed like one debacle after another.

I can say I’m so very thankful for J’s parents and some great friends who helped us move boxes and who watched the kids for us.  I am so thankful for wonderful movers who worked quickly and efficiently and made sure not one thing got broken in the process.  I am beyond grateful for TONS and TONS of storage in our new house…the character of this neat old place…the warmness I already feel from it…and the relative ease in which the kids have adjusted.

Our new place is actually pretty darn old.  I don’t actually know how old it is, just that it’s old…probably 1800ish-early 1900ish old.  We found out after we moved in (remember we are renting) that no one has actually lived in this place for a few years and unfortunately for us it doesn't seem that anyone bothered to check on the working status of what is generally considered normal parts of a house these days.  Things like water, heat, electric…well you get the drift. 

The WONDERFUL part that has come out of all these issues is that they are all getting fixed in a very timely and thorough manner by some really kind people.  The representative of the owner of the home is also a wonderfully sweet woman who I really just want to invite for coffee one afternoon.

The main thing that was supposed to be taken care of prior to move in was some paint issues on the ceilings.  It was taken care of shortly after we moved in though.  

One of the first big issues we realized is that some of the outlets did not work and many of the outlets were not grounded.  Dangerous much…the electrician actually told us he had no idea how old the 2 pronged outlets were…just that he hadn't seen them in a long time and that they were definitely older than he was.  That somewhat scary issue was fixed in a couple days though. 

The water (we are on a well) was coming through the pipes in the bathrooms brown and in one of the bathrooms cold too.  That was fixed in a couple days.  The furnace was a big problem and a bit of a challenge to fix I gather but I am happy to say that was fixed in a few days as well. 

The washer would not empty when I ran some washer cleaner through it.  THANK GOD I did not have clothes in it!  When my husband tested the dryer we both agreed it smelled like it might catch fire at any moment.  Both were replaced within a couple days.  

We woke up one morning and the milk in the fridge was frozen.  The next morning the bottom of the fridge was a bit warm.  The repair man came and confirmed the fridge was indeed dying.  It was replaced.  

Lastly (knock on wood) the sinks in the basement washroom backed up and flooded part of the basement.  The plumbers came and fixed that issue but still need to come back and replace quite a bit of piping to finish the job.  Oh and a shower head doesn't work in of the showers and one of the toilet runs constantly which is irritating…all should be fixed next week as well. 

We were able to stay with my inlaws for a couple days while the heat and water got worked out.  Thank God for them!

Are you tired from reading that?  It was a lot to write and a lot to deal with.  I mean what are the odds of all those things going wrong or being wrong with one place?

I have a bit of a hunch as to why we are dealing with all of that but I’ll wait for another day to share my thoughts on that.