The Money Pit

originally written on:
Sunday, February 25, 2007

I saw the movie years ago and at the time I had no idea that my life would one day be imitating art. And yet here I am, living in the money pit. Okay, it isn't quite as bad as the movie and we are actually happy we own our home but if Murphy's Law has ever happened anywhere, it has happened here for the past three weeks. I'll explain. We moved to the property of our dreams a few weeks ago which we had purchased in 2004 after only a quick viewing with the real estate agent. The property was gorgeous, and the price was right, but the house was no where near ideal. Still, we knew we'd never get a better deal in California so we went for it. After several years of seeing other people live in our home, my husband finally got a job in the area and we moved in to our little fixer-upper. From the moment we arrived everything that could go wrong, did.We moved in without our dryer hooked up and with the prospect of it not being hooked up for at least a week, things did not look good. I'm sure many of you would say, no big deal. Go to the laundromat. But when the nearest one is 30 miles away, it just isn't an option. So, the dirty clothes piled up and once we finally had the dryer working, the washing machine broke. Somehow, my wannabe Mr. Fix-it husband got it working again, as long as you don't mind running the spin cycle several times per load to get the water out. I am still trying to make a dent in the clothes that accumulated during that time. But at least it works. I thought having conquered the laundry quandary that I could then handle anything. I was very, very wrong.Within days of settling in we discovered that the entire house had been left floating freely over its piers. While our contractor friend was looking into our legal options, we were left to worry about what we could do in the meantime. A few days later the kitchen was being leveled out temporarily using shims. Hey, at least the house stopped shaking every time you walked through the kitchen. The living room was reinforced with some type of wood plank things ( I am obviously home repair challenged) and although not quite level, at least it won't crumble should there be an earthquake. I hope.While under the house fixing the floor problem, it was discovered that there was and still is standing water under a couple of rooms. Part of it caused by the rain water not draining away from the house and part of it caused by the fact that the master bath(if you can call it that) has no pipe connection from the sink so that all the sink water is just draining into the dirt under our house. Nice, huh? Yah, I think the guy that moved our house here from the city did an outstanding job of getting it ready to be put on the market. Right. I just hope we can find the guy so that I can give him a piece of my mind and make him pay for some or ALL of the so-far-from-being-up-to-code-it's-not-even-funny work he did on this house.So we finally had the floor thing worked out and things were going pretty good when it just happened to snow here. We are at an elevation of about 2500 feet so snow is not a common thing to see. But we were excited when the flakes started to fall a few nights ago. By the time we had the little guy in bed I started to feel a bit chilly and noticed that the central heat thermostat read, 66 degrees, despite having set it at 69. We could not figure out why it was shooting out cool air and thankfully we had a portable heater that kept us warm all night long. When we woke up in the morning the ground was covered with snow and the thermostat read 60 degrees. I tried to ignore the fact that it was so cold inside and went outside with my guys to play in the snow. Later I looked up our heating system online and discovered that the previous owner had once again been using shady methods to get the home ready for sale. He had managed to side step offering central heat while still stating that the home did indeed have it. You see, he installed a system on the home that is actually meant to be quite energy efficient. The system takes the air from outside, passes it through a bunch of coils, and then forces the air, either warmed in the winter, or cooled in the summer, into the house. Unfortunately, the system was not meant to be installed as the sole means of heat, and if the temperatures drop too low, the system switches to aux heat. Most times that would mean a furnace would take over, but in our case it meant no heat. To make things worse, if the coils freeze from the snow, the system shifts into defrost and while doing its thing, sends cool air through the house. But at least the air was warmer than the 20 something degrees it was outside. We learned the next night just how cold a house can get when the heat is gone completely.The afternoon after our snow we finally had heat again, but quickly lost it in the evening when 2 power poles had failed. We also lost our only means of cooking, our lights, and all water from our well. Most of those things would have been okay to be without for a short time, but it was frigid outside and our home quickly started to become the same. By 11pm when I finally decided to go to bed, it was about 57 degrees in the house. The three of us bundled up in bed under a mountain of blankets. We stayed fairly warm until the next morning. The thermostat read 46 degrees. Inside the house. my dear husband had to sleep for work so he was lucky enough to be under cover, but the little man and I finally decided to start the car and climb inside for some heat. I cooked breakfast on the side burner of our BBQ, and we watched a movie in the car until 9:30am when the power finally came back on.That morning, I lost it. My husband thought I had had a nervous breakdown and I quite felt like it. But I think having had one thing after another go wrong had finally gotten to me. I wanted to run away from our home and check into a nice Hilton hotel or something. But now that the snow has cleared and the heat is once again working, I have been able to remember why we are so blessed to be where we are. We have a beautiful piece of land, and a mostly functional home, with heat and food and even a couple of fuzzy TV channels with the help of rabbit ears, and I know that there are so many that cannot say that. Having lived without heat for just one night has given me insight into how so many of our nation's homeless live every day in the winter. And without the luxury of blankets. I now I have a new sadness for those less fortunate than us and I appreciate my own little money pit even more now. And all of this experience reminds me of something someone sent me during the holidays. I don't know who to attribute the credit to but it is not mine, although I can definitely apply it to my life these days.

I am thankful for...
...the mess to clean up after a party
because it means I have been surrounded by friends.
...the taxes I pay
because it means that I'm employed.
...the clothes that fit a little too snug
because it means I have enough to eat.
...my shadow who watches me work
because it means I am out in the sunshine.
...the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot
because it means I am capable of walking.
...all the complaining I hear about our government
because it means we have freedom of speech.
...that lady behind me in church who sings off key
because it means that I can hear.
...lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning & gutters that need fixing
because it means I have a home.
...my huge heating bill
because it means that I am warm.
...weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day
because it means that I have been productive.
...the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours
because it means that I am alive.


So, yes, we live in the money pit. But I am extremely thankful for it. It is our home and our little bit of heaven. And I can see my husband and I sitting in our swing decades from now, watching the sun set over the foothills, talking about our hopes and dreams, and laughing about all our mishaps and adventures we have had here. And I will still be thankful.