The Universe reads my blog

Last Sunday, when I posted, I was so happy about how rich we were going to be, with Rocket Boy's new job. I was going to give money away! I was going to save money, so later on after he retires we can take some neat trips! I was going to happily buy tickets to concerts and for special events.

Later on that day, I got a text from our next-door neighbor/tenant (who is hard of hearing). 

Hey there, the kids are hearing a leak of some sort under the bathroom floor. For the last 2-4 days. Probably should check that out in the crawl space.

The plumber came the next afternoon (Monday). He couldn't fix the leak because the pipes were behind the drywall that was behind the washing machine (in the kitchen). He couldn't cut into the drywall because it might have asbestos. So an environmental testing guy came out and tested. Sure enough: asbestos. That meant we had to do "abatement" before they could cut into the wall and stop the leak. Because the house is a rental, we couldn't do it the quick & dirty way, but rather had to get a permit from the state of Colorado. That takes several days. Meanwhile, we called a "restoration" company that the plumber recommended, because the leak was draining into the crawlspace and making a mess and destroying the floor. They set up fans and filters inside the house and down in the crawlspace. The next day they turned off the water to the house, since the plumbing couldn't be fixed any time soon. So the tenants had to move out. I found an ADA-compliant hotel room for the two disabled tenants and made a 6-day reservation (which will have to be extended). 

But what to do with the tenants' six cats and two iguanas? And what to do about Thanksgiving dinner? The tenant actually owns a house a few miles from here, her childhood home -- she inherited it earlier this year from her father when he died. But it's in bad shape and her middle child, who's in a wheelchair, can't get into most of it, because it's a tri-level. Her eldest child is living there currently, dealing with all its problems, including plumbing problems! They could have Thanksgiving dinner there (the kid in the wheelchair can get into the dining room), but the oven doesn't work, so she couldn't cook the turkey. 

On Wednesday another plumber came and removed the hot water heater, since they will have to replace the floor under it (it's rotted out from the leak). They also pulled out the washing machine and started ripping up the floor underneath it -- and discovered linoleum underneath that probably also had asbestos, so they couldn't go any further until the abatement. (They sent me a quote for the abatement: $14,000. At that point I called our insurance agent. She hasn't called me back yet.) So, Wednesday night, Rocket Boy went over to the house and removed the drywall panel that has asbestos. It was just screwed into the joists, so he didn't have to do any cutting, just unscrewed it. He put it in the backyard. 

The tenant then came back to the house on Thanksgiving and cooked her turkey in the oven, and then took it over to her dad's old house and I guess they had some sort of dinner. But one of the tenant's kids started to freak out about asbestos -- when you removed the panel, did you just release asbestos into the air? What about all the little holes in the wall here and there in the house? Shouldn't we have them ALL tested for asbestos? Shouldn't we have the whole house abated? I started feeling sick. I finally made a good decision and stopped looking at my phone for the rest of the day.

We (somehow, miraculously) had a very nice dinner at our house. We had our usual menu: swordfish with basil-caper butter, mashed potatoes and gravy (which Rocket Boy made), stuffing (which Teen B sort of made), sweet potato casserole, spinach dish, my famous spicy cranberry dish, and Pillsbury crescent rolls (some year I'll make my own yeast rolls, but the family likes these, so we have them). And a pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Teen A normally makes the pie, but he was at his girlfriend's house (helping HER make a pie), so I did it myself. It's fine. 

Last year (I just reread my old blog postings) I was feeling very sick from the shot, barely had the energy to cook dinner, and only ate a tiny amount. This year, having gone down from 10 mg to 7.5 mg, I don't feel sick (except just the tiniest bit at the beginning of the week), I have more energy, and I ate a full plate of food. No seconds, of course, but I think only Teen B had seconds. Rocket Boy ate a lot, though. Teen A ate a big piece of swordfish, a helping of cranberry sauce (I think that's a first), some sweet potatoes and spinach... and then said he was done, and went back to his girlfriend's. Sigh. Rocket Boy and I watched some TV and had a piece of pie. It was fine.

Thursday was also Baby Kitty's 6th birthday, so during the day (before the grocery store closed), Teen B and I walked to the store and bought him a little cake. After dinner we put candles on the cake and sang happy birthday to him and gave him a piece (this may be why he threw up the next morning, or it may have been because he licked the pan that the swordfish was cooked on). Teen A actually didn't leave until after the birthday celebration and later posted a photo of it on his Instagram, to which his girlfriend commented, "Kitty!" (Teen B showed me all this -- I do not have an Instagram account.)

Thursday night I was really depressed. I just didn't see how I could face everybody (the workers, the tenants) on Friday, with Rocket Boy back at work. I came up with a little fantasy where I would just get in my car Friday morning and drive somewhere WITHOUT MY PHONE. I'd stay away for a week or so, then come back. The problem was, it's really hard to manage without a smartphone these days. If I'm at home, I can use the home phone and my computer, but on the road? Could I buy a new phone, I wondered, maybe set up a new number and everything? That seemed more complicated than I could handle. Also, it was going to snow, so I couldn't go north. I'd have to go down to New Mexico or something. Alternatively, I could just drive to the Starbucks near Walmart, order a drink and sit and read my book all day long. And then the next day do the same thing.

Eventually I gave up on that idea and went to sleep. And on Friday, instead of fleeing, I faced reality again. The restoration people just looked at me when I told them what Rocket Boy had done. But it turned out to be a very good thing, because then we could bring the plumber back (the third one we dealt with that week, all from the same company) and he was able to fix the leak and turn the (cold) water back on. Rocket Boy delayed leaving for work until he could talk to the plumber, so that was good. It helped.

Then I went back to our house and discovered that Baby Kitty had thrown up on our bed. But fortunately our comforter is small enough to fit in our washing machine, so I scraped off the vomit, washed it, dried it, and put it back on the bed. 

So now this is where things stand. The leak is fixed, to the tune of $1559. I have no idea how much all this "restoration" is going to cost -- they've never given me a quote. The asbestos abatement will begin, I think, on Thursday, and last maybe four days. Then we have to have the floors torn out and replaced, either by the restoration company or somebody else that we bring in, and then the water heater can be put back in (or maybe a new one, we'll see). And then the tenants can move back in. All that time they're in the hotel, for roughly $120/night. We think we're going to tell them not to pay the December rent, on account of how they haven't been able to use the house properly for weeks, plus their Xcel bill is going to be awful this month, with all the fans and such running full blast 24/7.

We still need to get new tires for my car. I was going to do that this past week, but I needed to be around all the time because workers kept needing to consult with me and I kept having to sign things. Last night, just as we were going to go out to dinner, Rocket Boy's car wouldn't start. He suspects it's because of the cold weather (it was about 20 degrees at the time). This morning when I went out to get the paper, it was 12 degrees on our porch. Now, at 12 noon, it's 17 degrees. Our high is supposed to be 24 degrees today. I told him if his car won't start tomorrow morning, he can take my car, but then I won't have a car, plus he'll be doing all that driving on tires that need to be replaced. Also, I won't be able to drive Teen B to school and won't he be pissed. Maybe we should confiscate the car Teen A drives. So as to piss off both kids. I don't know.

Tomorrow, Rocket Boy finally gets to see the orthopedic surgeon, to discuss what to do about his torn rotator cuff, etc. If it's surgery, he'll be out of commission for a long time. I don't know if he'll be able to keep his job, we'll have to see. I am planning to go to this appointment with him. I said I'd meet him there, so he doesn't have to come pick me up, he can go straight there. If he's driving my car, I can take the bus. 

Like I said, the Universe has my number, reads my blog, something. I should never express joy about having money. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. All of that.

***

So anyway. Other than all that, it wasn't a bad week. LOL. No, seriously, it was fine. The weather was very pleasant until it suddenly got bitterly cold on Friday night (and we woke up to our first tiny snowfall of the year on Saturday). I took some nice walks. Teen B and I finished the book he had to read for school, and both he and his brother finished up their college applications. (We think. Maybe.)

I'm sorry everyone has to go back to school and work tomorrow. It's been nice to have a week off. Rocket Boy didn't have the week off -- he worked every day except Thanksgiving. (If he'd been home, he would have taken that panel off a lot sooner and maybe things would have worked out a little differently.) But he is liking his new job, so that wasn't so bad either.

What do we have planned this coming week?

• Monday is the appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. Maybe I'll make a pot of soup for dinner, I'll see. It's certainly soup weather.
• Tuesday I think they're going to start setting up for the asbestos abatement. At that point the tenants won't be able to go in their house until it's over (maybe a week). At 4 pm I see the oral surgeon again, for a follow-up to be sure I'm healing properly. If I don't have a car, I don't know how I'll get to Westminster. Hmm. A Lyft? That would be expensive. Well, I'll see. At 5:30 pm I was hoping to go to a lecture on Krampusnacht at the Meadows library, but I'll have to see how it goes.
• Wednesday the plumber is coming to OUR house, because our water pressure is too high so there's some part that needs to be replaced. That will cost about $700. We need to do it at the rental house too, but they'll be setting up for the abatement by then, so I'm not sure if we can do it.
• Thursday Rocket Boy sees his regular doctor for a follow-up, not sure I have to go to that.
• Friday is free for now.
• Saturday at 4 pm, Rocket Boy and I are going to the CU holiday concert.
• And next Sunday at 1 pm is the harp concert at the library. 

In between there will be many meetings with workmen and much stress. And much money spending. And homework. The kids only have this week and the next one before final exams, so we have to get all those final projects done. In fact, Teen B and I should work on some of that today, if I can convince him to do it. He guards his free time jealously, so I'll see. Rocket Boy has just discovered that his battery is completely dead, so he's got it on the charger now and we may have to go buy a new battery, sigh. We'll have leftovers again for dinner tonight, and then that should be it for the Thanksgiving food. I'll have to cook again starting Monday (maybe soup, as I said). 

On Friday I said to Rocket Boy that this would have been a lot harder if we weren't getting along, and he agreed. The only thing that's made it bearable, other than knowing we do have sources of money to pay for everything (our retirement funds, the insurance), is the fact that we're not mad at each other. We are happy to be around each other. We respect each other. We love each other. We love our children, despite the weird things that they do. Money comes and money goes, sometimes we're rich and sometimes we're poor. But all that really matters is that we love each other. Am I tempting the Universe again by saying that? I don't care. It's the truth.