While I was unpacking the bathroom the other day, Baby had escaped his handlers and had a water bottle in hand. He poured it down a wall and on the carpet. Which made a mess...and shorted out two electrical sockets in the bedroom, two in the bathroom, and possibly the light in the shower room.
There were no sparks or anything. Just no way to use the sockets. We waited until everything dried and then threw the breakers. No luck. Then Husband opened up the wall and replaced the socket. Still no luck. Being brand new homeowners, we now have the option of calling an electrician. Yay...?
***
I know I am amazingly strong. Mentally. Physically, on the other hand, I am a 90 pound weakling. So when I casually opened the front door and pulled the doorknob right off the door, I became a little concerned. No tiny thing like me should be pulling door knobs right off the door.
I texted Husband. He said he noticed that it was loose a few days ago and he would fix it. Phew!
***
I am sooooo grateful to have a handy husband.
***
Somehow the vacuum in the pool got air in it so it makes a strangled, gagging noise every time it runs. I'm betting our neighbors love us right now.
Having a handy husband only goes so far though. He put it on my list to figure out how to fix the vacuum and take care of the pool.
Sigh. Where is a magic learning wand when you need one?
Oh wait...we have google. Never mind. I have no excuse.
***
The city fixed the water main problem that our paid-for-plumber most likely broke. There were no complications, no need to jackhammer the driveway, and hopefully only a $100 charge.
***
Still have the old house for a few more days. I cleaned it out but the kids are finishing up school nearby so I stop by every day to check on things, get mail, etc. I stopped by yesterday and our awful neighbor had cut down tree branches and thrown them on our side of the fence.
He has done this before and I never confronted him about the rudeness of it. I just picked up the branches and put them in our green waste. More than once. I'm kind of a pushover. (Although I prefer to think of it as a natural skill left over from my journalism days...I love to watch to see how things will naturally unfold and think that intervening is cheating the natural results...odd but true...)
One of the reasons we got serious about looking to move was because this guy was moving the renters out (who were fantastic neighbors for the years we lived there) and was moving himself in. Having encountered him many times over the years, I told husband that I really, really did not want to be neighbors with this guy. He had boundary issues that would drive me nuts - as I like to be non confrontational and he likes to be a terrible person and neighbor.
Some highlights (other than things like branches):
He would just walk in on the renters, whether they were sleeping on the couch or in the shower. No call, no warning, no knock.
He gave them five days to move out a year ago. On Christmas Eve. No because they had done anything wrong but because he had sold his other house and wanted to move into their house. They were stunned. A few days later, the person who was buying the house died of a heart attack. Then he told the renters that they had to stay. They demanded a new lease in writing.
On the day they were moving out (which was before the deadline) he started moving in! The poor movers were trying to not move his stuff or trip over him and his wife, as our neighbors were trying to keep their stuff separate from their landlord's stuff and move out.
He is awful to engage with.
Well no more! Yesterday, after I discovered the branches, he came over to ask for the owner's name of our house.
I told him that I would give it to him.
But that he needed to removed the branches from our property. I gave him a firm, but polite lesson in neighborliness. "If you cut down some branches, you take care of them. You do not chuck them over the fence onto the neighbor's property. I expect you to remove them." He finally agreed. Reluctantly.
This morning, Husband stopped by to see if he had removed the branches. (We are not talking one or two, we are talking a whole tree...). He had not. So Husband put them back onto his property.
He came out of his house yelling and screaming crazy things.
Thank goodness it was husband. He told him to take care of the branches, to not throw them over, etc. Husband was firm. The guy was belligerent. Wanted to tell on us to our owner. Please. Our owner is awesome. And we have pretty much moved out. Husband told him that he would call police if he threw stuff back over. The man yelled and screamed some more.
I have to go back to take out trashes today. Considering his attitude, I may have to call the police. Let's hope that the next renters will have more backbone than I and cut him off at the start and keep on him. But I pity the person who has to deal with him. Ugh. I would not want his life review.
***
These are the adventures. Other than that, we are still unpacking, still cleaning and sorting. But we are still moving forward.
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