Writing to you on the verge...
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| Tue, 06-30-2009 - 2:18pm |
Of an emotional break down! Let me tell you what happened to me today. I decided on a whim to take the trip to the Vermont Museum of Science this morning. I had complained earlier about how I didn't want to go because of my car, but I decided to go anyway. On the way there, my car starts making an even funnier sound than usual and smelling funny so I pull over and check the oil. No oil! So I put oil in there and I'm thinking to myself, 'Maybe this is God's way of telling me not to take this trip.' SO I decided to call my mechanic and just get an idea from him what may be wrong with my car. I describe my symptoms and he basically says that my car is on the verge of dieing, the engine sounds like it's going so it's not even worth it to get it fixed. He said to drive it into the ground. I need a new catalytic converter, a new clutch and I have 178K miles on it and it burns through oil like crazy! He said that's a sign of a tired engine. Anyway - this information has me turning around back towards home. Better to break down closer to home than in Vermont. I stop at the park with the kids because they need a little bit of exercise and then we go on home. I walk in the door and one of the kids says "Who spilled the kitty water?" I look in my hallway and there's water everywhere~! I go in my laundry room and my washer is leaking water everywhere! 2 inches of water all over my laundry room and leaking into the hallway. I slam the washer door closed (front loader), the water is still pouring out. I try to open the door and put the water in a bucket, but there's too much water. I turn off the main water supply to the house. I have no idea what to do...I'm crying...I'm yelling at my son to go knock on the neighbors door for buckets. I turn the setting to spin and that seems to do the trick. The water stops pouring out. Then I have to get all this water off the floor and my laundry room is a disaster! Clothes everywhere, vacuums everywhere. I was so embarrassed for my neighbors to come into my house like that. I'm throwing clothes from the dirty hamper all over the floor, looking for towels. My neighbors are getting me towels. I'm throwing wet things in the bathtub and into plastic garbage bags. I finally get my mind back together and realize that I have a carpet cleaner that can suck up water. I get that thing running and after about 30 minutes of panic, things start to calm down.
I live on the 2nd floor, so I'm really worried that the water has been seeping into the lower apartment. I call my management company and they give me the number to a cleaning service. This really nice guy comes out to look at things and he says that I may have to replace my floor and I'll need to get some fans and dehumidifiers in there, but the damage isn't too extensive. I honestly don't care much about my house because I have to replace the floors when we sell anyway, but I really hope my neighbors don't have any damage. I have homeowners insurance, but I don't know what the deductibles are or what it covers specifically.
After everything is cleaned up, I turn the water back on and try to spin the water out of my clothes and dry them. The washer starts to leak again! So we have to move the washer and turn off the valves to the machine. SO now my washer/dryer is broken.
Car, floor and washer, all in one day! I'm still in the middle of this disaster so I'm sure I'll be crying at some point. I used up my Emergency Fund this month to pay my late mortgage. I'm just trying to wrap my head around what I should do next.
I'm going to have to call Sears and get someone to look at my washer. It's 4 years old and it was an 1800 dollar maytag washer. I'm going to have to get the dehumidifier from the in-laws and a fan too, then go to the laundry mat and wash all my sopping wet clothes that are in trash bags. After that...I'll deal with my dieing car. I guess I should probably get Triple A and just keep on driving it until it goes. But I drive 3 kids around in this car, maybe it's not safe to drive???? I've had a clutch go out on me before, it just kind of glides to a stop. My mechanic said he would look at it to make sure it's not worth fixing, but I don't even have the money to fix it right now.
What a day!

Oh my goodness! (((Big hugs)))! I don't blame you for being upset, girl. That would seriously stress out anyone!
Misery loves company. My washer is leaking, too. Our laundry room is on a slightly sloped concrete slab (converted porch) and today my DS noticed that when we run it, it apparently just runs out the back of the house. ROFLMAO. What else can I do - cry? LOL. (We plan to tear this house down in a couple of years anyway...)
I'm praying for you, hon.
Sarah
sahm, wahm, homeschooling mom to
{{{HUGS}}} Abbie.
Abbie,
Abbie! What a crazy day. No wonder you feel like crying. I am not sure I would have been able to even write the post! "They" (whoever they are!) say that bad things happen in three - so hopefully with the floor, the car, and the washer your 3 bad things are out of the way for the rest of the year!
Good luck with the minivan and hopefully Sears can help you out with the washer for not too much. You might also want to look at craig's list for a repair man in your area. When we needed work done on our grill Sears wanted $90 just to look at it plus the cost of time and labor. We found "Mr. Grill" in our neighborhood who came to our house and fixed it up right for $50! It takes some poking around but sometimes you can find a true gem of a handy/repair person!
Jennifer