Bissynut
My journey to get a revision to the DS has been one fraught with hurdles and pitfalls. I had done a good amount of research and was convinced I wanted to have Dr M in Brazil do my surgery. I lurk on the Dr M board religiously and try to read every word. I bought the supplements, protein powders, protein liquids, and any recommended extra item or whatever was mentioned on the DS boards.
Nan has dementia and was to the point she was unable to care for herself any more. One evening after my mother came to the house late at night Nan was in her chair covered in vomit and unconscious. My mother called 911. By the time the firefighters arrived she was awake and slurring. Apparently Nan had been drinking straight whisky from a tumbler, ever the hostess, she even offered the paramedics a drink.
After Nan moves into our house, the neighbor contacts me about the house for her father. We go over details but I don’t hear much back from her. I learn later that her brothers had decided the father was not ill enough to need to move next door.
For me to be able to get the surgery I will have to be paid for the time I have cared for my grandmother. However this isn’t going to be paid until her home sells. This forced savings plan is really great.. except for the great part.
We begin the process of clearing everything out of the house. She has saved everything, and I mean everything down to coupons from 1974 (this means the old coupons had to be moved to this location). It seemed to be a pretty tedious task with only my mother and I working on the house. My mom worked on the house after work 3 days a week when she was in Seattle (and took untold amount of days off of work to paint the damned house) I was came up on weekends (and some weekdays when my mom worked from home) to move things and clean. We had to switch off because Nan can’t be left alone.
Trash busters had to come 4 times! One of those times a nosey neighbor from down the street accused the Trash busters people (In trash busters shirts with a HUGE trash busters truck) of stealing things in the house (I was in the back yard with another neighbor who also wanted a crack at the house to rehab and sell it, so I had no idea this was happening). So this old bat calls the police. They come and I think this is great I’ll probably go to jail for cleaning out my grandmother’s house. The police officer tells me the old bat told them that Nan was in an old folks home. I said she is in a home.. ours. I go on to tell him that if any thieves would like anything left in the house they are more than welcome to it. My kids were across the street at yet another neighbor. My mother is not answering her cell phone of course… good thing I wasn’t arrested.
Again the next door neighbor approaches us about the house, comes to look at it (closely) and wants to move her dad in (he was getting older and had a few health issues). They want it as is. Great! I want to sell it to them as is.
There is a lot of fussing about but no real action. The deal should have been done by December. I wanted to get to Brazil in February. I had my heart set on it really. I was actually nearly packed. I bought the laptop bag, the wash rags, horrible caftans and stretchy clothes. I even bought new underwear. I called the neighbor.
The neighbor’s father got sick, slipped into a coma and died.
So we need to get it ready for the general consumer. Fabulous!
The real issue is that Nan did not keep up on the maintenance side of things really. I have the plumbing folks out to redo an old fixture in the bathroom, remove a garbage disposal (that had been installed by a fly by night do it yourselfer) and change out the hoses to the washer because they were BULGING and about to burst! Charming.
While the guy is there I look at the card and it says he is certified to work on furnaces. Great… I have another issue.
The furnace has some sort of problem and to fix it the neighbor removed a fuse to keep the furnace from coming on. They replace the thermostat and some internal components and leave for the day. Before they leave they have asked about the older large slate pool table and I tell them if they can move it they can have it.
I had stayed that night and the furnace still could not be regulated and it was about 80-85 degrees in the house. I called and spoke to the guys the next morning about the issue and they came back, take it apart and tell me actually I need a new furnace. Perfect! We make arrangements to have the new furnace installed and the pool table removed.
The guys take the table and the new furnace arrives without any further issue.
After the table is removed my mother rips out all of the tiles on the floor of the rec room. We know now they were probably all asbestos. Fabulous. We pick out flooring for the kitchen and the rec room and set that appointment up as well.
We need to get all of the painting done before the new flooring comes. So we work on this for what seems to be weeks on end.
My mom takes a day off to be home when the flooring is installed. Great Floors sends out two guys and neither is apparently able to speak English (this is pretty amusing to me). They go work on the basement and my mom had only peeked in the half open door and saw it was so much lighter and brighter.
Then they did the kitchen. She hears some raised frantic voices and as it turns out the crew has ripped the new vinyl (which was why we were having it replaced in the first place). She mentions this to me on the phone and says they are going to glue it down. I come up that weekend.. I spot the issue right away and No that’s not going to work out. I go to the basement and can only get my head in the door (the doors could not move because the carpet took up so much room). It is lighter but the carpet is hacked up into sections, one piece doesn’t even look like it was off the same roll. They had installed the pad upside down and nailed the carpet strip in but didn’t nail the strip to the wall.
I had a handyman come and use a plane to cut down the doors.
The house had been re-painted and my mother was working on the drapes. She actually sewed them together by hand at night when she was working on the house.
The house was supposed to go on the market that week (mid March) but the agent tells me she will be out of town for over 2 weeks on vacation. Figures. Oh well that gives me more time. Right?
Another week passes and the big boss from Great Floors has to come to the house to see the brilliant job Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumbass did. He agrees it is all wrong. As a matter of fact they have to re-do ten jobs. Another week and we have another crew come to the house, remove the carpet and reinstall new carpet and pad, re-do the kitchen flooring etc. It took both Saturday and Sunday to get the whole job done (it is April at this point). The house is not listed until April 8th.
The week of May 7th my mother calls me to say once again that the fridge is leaking. Great. I told her I think we need to just put all new appliances in. Mind you I said this earlier but my idea was shot down. I get a new fridge, dishwasher and range. I agree to meet the installer on a Saturday. He is bringing a helper so they will get it done in one trip. Rose gave me a great deal on the appliances.
This guy Jerry shows up by himself. He is a bigger man and I am nearly hysterical with worry when he is moving the appliances and looks as if a heart attack is imminent. He gets two in and a woman drives by rubbernecking as she drives by. I think oh no.. not now. I go to help Jerry move something and this woman is in the door when I return. It is my aunt. The woman is crazy… my uncle has recently passed. Considering she hates our family I have no idea why she is even here. Well except that she is hoping to get some sort of money from the sale my grandmother’s house. The woman is seriously crazy so I am actually feeling pretty unsettled. Shall I mention that the man that married the gal across the street come to talk to my appliance guy to ask why he is there, who he is etc no less than four times. UUUHH I don't even know him, WTF? Stop Harassing The Appliance Guy!
We had an offer the first week of June and then they declined within the three day period. Saying that the neighbors were rude to them. Of course they can choose ANY reason (like my eyes are green or the sky is too blue) to walk away, but it is very true that the neighbors were probably rude. We have one guy (in his 50's) and he goes nuts if you park on the street in front of his house (he doesn't own the street and has no say of course). We have a loud tactless pervert across the street in one house, several very nosey neighbors and lots of vicious gossip.
Then 24th of June the agent was going to do another open house and she calls in the afternoon to report that there is a problem. A- The water heater blew up and there is water all over the basement. B- There was a terrible smell and it was a rat in a toilet. EEWW I've heard about this happening but have ever seen it. It was dead (drowned because it could not lift the set off - thanks to thick oak seats). OMG I was horrified. So on the 27th I was up there having the water heater replaced.
We had a ton of work done on our own house. New roof, house painted and the chimney rebuilt.
In late August the House from Hell strikes again. Apparently the listing expired and I had calls starting at 8am and going until 10 pm that night and all the next day. Over 90 calls from Agents that want the listing. Basically I let our agent go, which is too bad because she is a friend and hired someone else.
I was having an issue with blood in my urine along with some other issues so I went to Thailand to have it looked at. I do not have insurance and couldn't afford to see the specialist here. Funny thing is the hospital there was far better than any I've been to here in the US. It was funny to be there in Thailand where you get so much attention (when do they get to see such huge Americans?). So 10 September days were spent in Thailand.
October and November brought several offers on the house. We accepted one of them and will close on December 6th. As soon as the right to walk away was over I set up a surgery date/time with Dr M. WHOO HOO!
