The Last Straw

I'm officially over the charm and joy of owning a 90 year old cute little house. At first it was just minor inconveniences and quirks--the crystal doorknobs that sometimes only work on one side of the door, the floors that creak, the cracked and uneven driveway, the scary concrete and clay basement, the oven that tends to burn things because the convection turns on whether I want it to or not...you get the point. It annoyed me, but I could deal with it.

Then came the plumbing issues, which were both frustrating and expensive. Having to wait 5 days for them to complete replacement of my sewer line due to roots in the pipes was beyond inconvenient, and in the process they had to dig up my crumbling driveway and spotty front yard. So, of course, the only answer was to get a new driveway and finally complete a relandscaping and retaining wall project...which cost several thousand more dollars. It now looks amazing, it really does, but already in the 2 months since the plumbing has been replaced I've had another leak episode due to the 45 degree bend in the new pipe that had to be put in to accomodate attaching it to the old sewer main at street level. That means I have to be careful about everything that goes through my sewer line from here on out to avoid clogs--careful about the food that goes through the disposal, never flushing paper towels or tampons, etc. But still, I was willing to live with this expense and inconvenience if it got me new reliable pipes and a pretty yard.

Then last night I managed to blow the power to the whole front half of the house. How'd I do that? By wiggling the hinky lightbulb in my desk lamp that has always been a little tempermental. I wiggled it, it popped, the power went out. I went to the breaker box and the switch won't flip back to on. It sparks a little when I try, which I know just enough to know is a bad sign. And my dad is terrified of all things electrical and insisted I wait for an electrician to look at it. (My attempts to get in touch with the one person I know who understands basic electrical issues having been unsuccessful. Harumph.)

So now, today, I get to go sit at home and wait for an electrician in order to pay him $150 for the privilege of checking my breaker to figure out if it needs to be replaced. Or something, I don't really understand jack squat about this whole electrical thing myself. All I know is that the 2 rooms that lost power house both of my TVs and my computer, and there was no way in hell I was going without either of those things for a whole night, particularly when the Heroes season finale was on. In under 20 minutes and with assistance of some extra cable and a splitter I rigged up something from the guest room to put the smaller TV and a cable box into my bedroom, just as the show was starting. Phew!

When I moved in the inspector told us that there were some electrical issues that we should get taken care of, and we had a sweaty disgusting electrician out to my house who gave me an estimate but managed to completely repulse me in the process, thus causing me to delay dealing with the electrical. So much for that plan. Now I have to hope that this isn't a majorly serious sort of problem that will require massive rewiring or somesuch, but given how well the plumbing issues went, let's just say I'm not optimistic. So far in 2007 this house has cost over $15K in repairs and upgrades resulting from repairs, only a small amount of which will be insured through homeowner's.