Like Throwing Money Away

This evening was full of decisions.  One about laundry and the other about sod.


My dad, who's an insurance investigator, came by and checked out our home.  It's not worth making a claim on our insurance, but we do need to replace the laundry room flooring and the washer.  Turns out we bought it four years ago; it was the dryer we had to replace when we moved.  Our old place was all electric, and this is wired for a gas dryer.  From what I've been hearing, four to five years is now the common life span of these "durable goods."


I did find our old washer online, but I also looked into some bigger, schmancier models.  One that I especially like is about $250 more, but it's a high efficiency top loader with rave customer reviews (except for the one in which a person self-identified as the cranky old lady down the street, but with different words... she hated it).  Sort of the best of both worlds.


We talked it over.  Under what I think of as "normal" circumstances, we'd go ahead and upgrade.  We ultimately decided to save our money now, even if it means not having lower water bills in the future.  Without trying out the bells and whistles washer, we don't have an effective means of judging the potential savings anyway.


So I went online to order the simple washer.  It's not available for delivery or in-store purchase for at least 90 days.  I might have cackled with glee when I read that.  And the other one?  It'll be here on June 22.  That's a long time to go without a washer, especially since Mad's still dealing with diarrhea.  In the meantime, I'll have to find out where we can get our laundry done.  Margaret has offered to do our laundry for us, and she did do a desperation load for me on Monday, but we don't feel right having that become a two-week long habit.


The second decision has to do with our sod, our realtor and the title company from when our home was in escrow.  Today I received documentation showing that the lien against our property for not having appropriate ground cover out front has been lifted.  Dave, the realtor, ended up going to the head of some department in our city to get the fine waived since the work has been done and we were not the owners when the fine was levied.  While following up on that he told me, "In my research I found that two additional liens were filed (against the original owners).  The title company handled those, but the city hasn't cleared them yet."  He took up that matter with the city, too.  So we also received proof that those liens are resolved.


Then Dave requested that I send him our receipt for the sod and related equipment.  He wants to go after the title company and make them pay.  He said it's unlikely to happen, but he would attempt it for us.  Usually when he says that, he makes "it" happen.  Tom and I talked it over and decided to let it go.  The amount we'd potentially recoup would be quite helpful.  It would more than pay for our schmancy washer.  It just isn't our thing.  Tom said he knew the lawn would have to be replaced when we bought the house.  I figured we could just reseed and water it.  Whatever.  If Dave could get some sort of commission from this work, or if we had the money for a lovely thank you gift, that would be one thing.  All we can offer him is what he already gets from us:  Our undying respect, admiration and appreciation.  Oh, and we pass on his name whenever it seems appropriate.  So we're done.  The lawn is in.  The bills will be paid.  Life goes on.


If you need an amazing realtor, who really will go above and beyond for you, and you're in southern California, let me know.  I'll give you Dave's number, too.

When It Rains, It Pours

... right through the air conditioning duct and into the kitchen.


The good news is that Mad is eating and peeing a little, back to trying to get out of diaper changes and refusing to sit in her high chair (compared to what I saw the past few days, I'll take the hassles over the laying around and not really caring what's happening around her).  She slept all night last night and took another extremely long nap today, but has kept everything down that she's consumed.


The massive pile of laundry is about half done.  I resorted to making a pillow for Mad by putting her crib comforter into a pillowcase.  It's a lot easier to wash a little comforter and have it be useful later than it is the pillows she vomited all over.


The bad news, if you couldn't tell, is that our washing machine is malfunctioning somehow.  It's upstairs.  I noticed a spot on our ceiling today.  Two, actually, about five feet apart.  I checked the water hose while Tom was gone playing tennis; it seems to be operating normally.  It did seem like maybe the washer has been moved somehow.  When he returned, Tom unhooked it and moved it off the pan, which has a hole in it (why? how?).  I was downstairs and could hear the sound of rapidly trickling water from the living room.


The spots don't seem any larger, but 10 minutes ago Mad slipped on a massive puddle in the kitchen.  I guess I'm glad the water's not just sitting up there, and that it's found a way out.  However, how is it getting into the ventilation duct?  Where else is it going?


Of course our home warranty expired five weeks ago, and the warranty on the washer was more like three weeks ago.  Hopefully we aren't going to have to make our first foray into the world of home insurance claims.  My dad is an investigator for a major insurance company and has said for years that people who make claims get canceled.  I'm hoping that's his naturally pessimistic outlook more than reality.