My House is a Home... Again.

I haven't posted in a month (say what?!?!).  It's time.

I've maybe been a tad bit psychologically damaged for the last month.  Maybe.

It started a month ago when one morning (early afternoon...) I woke up and went into the kitchen and stepped in a decent sized puddle of water.  I was so mad that one of my roommates spilled that much water and then was too lazy to clean it up.  I wiped it dry and left the room.  I came back awhile later and there was water there again.  And then I felt bad that I had thought harshly of my roommates.

Over the next few weeks the puddle spread throughout the kitchen and dining room.  When you stepped on the floor water would gurgle out.  We had half a dozen towels placed strategically in the areas that were more prone to leaking, but the towels were often soaked within 24 hours.  The third maintenance man that came discovered the mold.  It had creeped up behind the bread maker I had placed on the floor and was covering the lowest portion of our dining room wall.

Over the next few days the smell of mold permeated the apartment.  I had slipped several times on water (never actually to the ground, mind you).  Another maintenance team came and "discovered" a leak in our dishwasher.  They left us on a Friday afternoon with a dishwasher that wasn't attached to the counter (let me spell it out:  it would start to fall over when we opened it) and butter knives holding up our hallway carpet where the water had reached and soaked through.  Over the weekend no one came.  We heard nothing.  Could we use the dishwasher?  Was the problem fixed?  If so, why was there water still seeping through the floor?  And then... because they had removed the carpet the floorboards weren't held in place and combined with the water seepage they started sliding out of place and that was when people started unexpectedly falling to the ground (luckily not onto the tacks sticking out of the exposed carpet).

We contacted management.  They were planning on doing a few things to the apartment.  When would it be best to come?  IMMEDIATELY, was my reply.  Nothing.  I emailed again.  Silence.  I sent pictures.  They apparently went into an internet black hole.  I was literally coming home from work every night and crying because I couldn't take it anymore.

My roommate Jess contacted BYU Off Campus Housing.  Kevin (who I knew back when I worked at little ol' Helaman Halls) came the next day.  He walked around and commented "yeah... you shouldn't have to live like this."  Within a few days the maintenance people were back.  They took out the floor so we walked on concrete (this was so stress relieving, as we weren't getting our socks wet or slipping anymore) and spent another week looking for the leak.  After three visits next door they finally figured out it was the neighbor's dishwasher backing up into our apartment.

We had literally the kindest maintenance man ever.  He came over at least twice a day for a week and a half.  He wiped the mold off our walls and cleaned them with bleach.  He brought his own towels from home to use while they were still looking for the leak so we wouldn't have to keep using our own.  He offered to buy us dinner one night when they were putting tile into the kitchen making it out of order for 24 hours.  And he did it all with the most cheerful and loving attitude.  He is one of the most Christlike individuals I have met.  His name is Alma, and he's a retired accountant.  Not only that, our landlady owes him something like $6,000 dollars, and even though she hadn't paid him in awhile he was over all the freaking time.  One time he thought he had found the leak (he hadn't) and left on a Friday night.  The towels continued to get soaked and I added some more to the pile.  On Sunday afternoon he stopped by and commented that he knew he should have come the day before and that it made him feel sick that we were living with the problem.  AGAIN he wasn't being paid.  I seriously love this old man.  You know how it's kind of annoying when a stranger comes in to do maintenance work?  It was always a pleasure to see Alma.  In fact, I'm kind of sad that the problem is fixed and we won't be seeing him again.

That's right!  After finding the leak we got new tile, a paint job and new, clean baseboards.  Jess moved out because of the nastiness (and is maybe being sued because the landlady thinks she was committing fraud by not telling them she was getting married when she asked to be released from her contract) as did Julia--who slept on her friends' couches for a week and a half and just moved back in tonight.  It's been an experience.  But finally, FINALLY our house is suitable for living and also for guests.  Which means book club is back on, BABY!