Adventures in Homeownership, Part 1

It's official: I'm a homeowner! Okay...it's been 4 weeks (to the day) since I've moved in, so that would explain my lack of bloggage. Actually, not really, since I still have no life and could have written hundreds of blogs in my spare time. What can I say, I'm a work in progress.

Nothing very exciting has happened, until yesterday. Lets just say I was officially welcomed into to the condominium complex by being yelled and cursed at by my neighbor. Yeah...here's the story;

I have known about a problem with my washer hookups for a few weeks now, and have just gotten around to hiring a handyman to come fix it for me, since the only skills I possess involve all things banking. My complex is apartments turned condominiums, so all the water lines are connected to multiple units. I took the morning off of work, informed my neighbors that the water would be shut off from 8:30-11:00 to facilitate repairs, and waited for the handyman. After working on the problem for a few minutes, he realized he needed more parts. By 10:45 he was on his way to The Home Depot for the second time to pick up another part. At 11:10, I was sitting in my living room and the next thing I know I hear "GUUUUUUUUUUUUSHHHHHHHHHHHHH" realizing that someone had turned the water back on (mind you, the handyman had left the pipes open...) I RUN out side, and yell "TURN THE WATER OFF!!", and see the handyman yelling at my neighbor, who is absolutely beside himself that it's 11:10 and the water isn't back on yet. The handyman runs back into my house and begins his repairs, leaving me outside to battle it out with my extremely irate neighbor. Having dealt with my fair share of irate customers at work, I tried all the usual tactics to calm him down, but nothing was working...so I started yelling, too. By this time he was cursing at me, so I walked away as he yelled "I'm going to get my mail, and this water HAD BETTER be back on by the time I get back!" (Mind you, the mailboxes are about a 30 second walk away). I frantically call my friend, Michael, and plead for him to come rescue me, which he does.

About a minute later I hear Mr. Uptight Neighbor pound on my front door, and when I open it he yells: "TELL YOUR PLUMBER THAT HE'S A ****ING *****!" Well, Mr. Plumber hears this, and yells back, using a few choice words himself, and I'm thinking "What the **** did I get myself into?!" Handyman finished the job, we turn the water back on, Michael gets there and calms me down, we mop up my flooded kitchen, and all is well.

Some adventure, eh? And I have so much more to look forward to. Michael and I agreed that on my last day of living here, I'm going to shut the water off when I leave. Yeah, that'll show 'em. :)

Anyway...right now I'm painting my bedroom, the living room, the hallway, and my kitchen. Here are some before pictures, and I'll post more as the progress continues. More to come!

P.S. THE OFFICE! Gas station proposal! Let me know your thoughts!!! It was an amazing episode, no doubt.