What a couple of weeks!

So, it seems like when something breaks, everything else follows suit. Ugh! About 2 1/2 weeks ago now, I tried to start our new gas fireplace (the one we had installed in October). It would beep like it was responding to the remote, but no flame would ignite. Nice. So, I called the company and they tried to trouble shoot over the phone. I had the panel off and was working with the switch box that the guy was instructing me on. Then, I decided I should probably get a flashlight in case I needed to look inside further. I reached my hand in before I had the flashlight on, and my hand was soaking wet. I almost panicked....since all the damage we had repaired was due to a water leak. The fireplace guy said it may be condensation....but there shouldn't be that much. At any rate, they scheduled a time to come out to analyze the problem. It happened to be the same day that we had scheduled a furnace clean/check, so I thought it would work out well.

That next Wednesday, Brent had the day off, I worked, and the kids went to daycare. Brent had planned to do Christmas shopping. Then, I get a phone call at work. Brent is stranded in the middle of town. The van completely broke down. He got towed to the mechanic, got a ride to work to grab the other car, and I got a ride home from work. It just happened to be a day that the one coworker lives near me was working the same shift. They didn't get a chance to look at the van that day. We expected to hear from them on Thursday.

Thursday: We get a phone call in the morning from the mechanic. Something has chewed the wires going to the engine. They have to open up the engine to assess the damage. The estimate is at least $400. We say, go ahead. They should call us in the evening with the final estimate.

The furnace tech was the first person to get to our house. He set about his business....and then asks, "A different company installed your furnace, right?" I'm like, "yes, why?" This was the first time we'd had it checked since having it installed 4 years ago. Turns out, the guy that installed it connected the intake pipe to the exhaust and the exhaust pipe to the intake of the furnace. The tech said it was an easy fix. And...he showed me what was wrong. I'm almost panicking because there was a house explosion in our town over a month ago that is likely linked to their furnace. I asked the guy if it put our safety at risk. He reassured me that our safety was never at risk, but he was very surprised that our furnace was working this long. Nice. At least he fixed it at no extra charge.

The fireplace technician was the next one to get to the house. He looked at everything, cleaned up the water that had again collected (I got all the water out the day that I found the problem) and pretty much decided that the electrical was fried from the water. Problem is....where/why was the water there? It didn't have a leak (thank goodness!) It really was condensation. But, the fireplace should NOT have been getting that cold. The fireplace tech went downstairs and found that there were holes in the wood under the fireplace. He of course, blamed our contractors. Basically, the holes were letting in the really cold air and the insulation was actually trapping it behind the insulation, the only way out was up through the fireplace. Great. I wasn't going to let it worry my right then because we were heading out of town for the weekend, and I didn't want it bothering me. I was going to call our contractor on Monday.

That evening, I go to pick up my uncle from the industrial park where he is going to store his truck and he is going to spend the night at our house. As I'm driving our Rav4 to pick him up, it starts shaking like crazy. We checked the tires as soon as I picked up my uncle. They all look fine. On the drive home, it shook even worse. I'm thinking, at this rate, we're not going to make it home for visiting family this weekend! Brent takes the Rav out with my uncle as soon as we get back, and I call our mechanic. He says he's willing to bet money that we've got snow packed behind the tires that we can't see. Sure enough, that's the problem. At least something is an easy fix! We have a message waiting for us on our answering machine when we get home from dinner. They found an entire mouse nest in the engine. The ignitor wires and ground for the ignitor were completely chewed through. They fixed those and the van still wouldn't start. Turns out, there's a leak in the water pump. The leak from the water pump dripped onto the timing belt and damaged it to the point that it also needed to be replaced. Then, there was a crack in the seal of the oil pump somehow. The water pump, oil pump, and timing belts were all covered under the extended warranty, thank goodness! They had to wait for permission to fix it before they started. So we had to call them back the next morning.

The next morning, we both have off from work because we were planning on leaving right after we picked up Caleb from school. Our contractor calls us (I guess the fireplace guy called him) and said he'd send someone right over. He knew exactly what happened. The contractor had to completely rebuild the fireplace box before the gas fireplace could be installed. When the fireplace company went to install the fireplace, the gas line was on the wrong side. Then, it sat for two weeks until the fireplace company finally sent someone out to change the gas lines (after they got threatened by my contractor to fix it). When the fireplace company changed the gas line, they drilled new holes but never told the contractor that they did so. They put insulation back up over the holes, so we never saw the holes. Thus, the cold air leak. At any rate, our contractor fixed everything and the air leak is gone. I checked the fireplace for water, and it's got just a tiny bit. Now, we just have to get the fireplace company back to fix the electrical.

Okay, so we do finally make it out of town for the weekend. We had a really good weekend seeing a lot of family. Caleb and Brent were getting over colds, Abby and I were starting ones. We get back home on Sunday with no problems.

Monday morning, it's a mad dash out the door. Brent's alarm didn't go off and we all had to leave at the same time to get the kids to daycare and pick up the fixed van. I throw a load of laundry to wash while I'm out. I don't work that day, and I have plans to gets chores and errands done, as well as go to the gym. Well, I'm in the grocery store and get a phone call from school saying Caleb's eyes are red, he's rubbing them, and he says they itch. Great. So, I get checked out, call the doctor to get an appointment, and pick Caleb up. The nurse calls me back and has a morning appointment available, so I rush home to unload groceries. To the doctor's office we go. Turns out, Caleb does have pink eye, but also has an ear infection starting that we didn't know about yet, so antibiotics it is. He feels fine, just has itchy eyes. Anyway....I finish my errands with Caleb with me. I get home and go to switch the laundry loads. The clothes are soaking wet. Odd. I put it on the spin cycle again. It makes lots of noise. Great. I take out the lighter clothes and throw them into the dryer. I ring out what I can for water. I think maybe it just got unbalanced and I start the next load. It didn't even make it past the first rinse before it started making noise, I'm standing right there, and then it goes completely dead. I throw all the clothes into the utility sink to get them out of the machine so they can drain a bit. And....call the appliance guy to come fix the machine. He can come the next day. However, we have a load of soapy, soaking clothes now. When Brent got home, the snow storm had already started. He went out anyway after supper to the laundry mat to at least wash the clothes and bring them home to dry.

This morning (Tuesday) Abby wakes up with a barking cough and a super runny nose. I'm willing to bet that it's an ear infection by Christmas. And...we're supposed to visit family after Christmas. I really hope everyone is feeling better soon!

The appliance guy game today to fix the machine. Turns out, there were two things wrong with it, so at least they gave way at the same time.

I'm just waiting for all the extra costs (money and time) to go away!! I want some sanity back!