The month from hell!

Well, this month isn't even halfway and I already feel like calling it a day...month, whatever! This is going to be a looooooooong post, filled with lots and lots of venting and quite possibly some swearing, so bear with me!

It started out with a very unpleasant shocker from SARS. I'm not even going to go into it, you can figure it out for yourself.

On the 3rd, we came home to a flooded house (see my post). Were we stand with this little 'problem' at the moment, is that the carpets in all three bedrooms have been ripped out leaving us with these 'beautiful', 'rustic' cement floors, covered with bits of orange underfelt that stick to your shoes and in this way gets distributed throughout the entire house. Pretty..... Basically all the furniture from the bedrooms are crammed into the patio (thank goodness the previous owner had the vision to close up the patio, so we have an extra 'room'). I won't even begin to describe the frustration when you need something that was packed right next to the opposite wall, right at the back where you just can not get to (which, of course, as dictated by Murphy, WILL inevitibly happen).
But don't think the rooms are empty, ooooooh no! We are going to put in wooden floors and the Floor People (FP) were there on Thursday last week. Unfortunately, the Cupboard People (CP) decided to wait until Thursday to pitch for the first time, and promptly stopped the FP in their tracks, saying that the cupboards have to be replaced first. That leaves Bedroom 1 full of FP-stuff... Hubby decided that since we painted the two spare rooms last year before Shevaughn was born, he'll now paint our room while there are no carpets or furniture in the room. That leaves Bedroom 2 full of paint-stuff. And since hubby wanted to paint our room, our bed and Shevaughn's cot is currently in her room. (A big step up, as we were sleeping in the living room at one stage.....)
Then, of course I have to empty out all the cupboards so that the CP can replace the cupboards. Which, at the rate they are going, may or may not be before the turn of the century... The good thing that has come of this, is that I am in the perfect mood to throw away all the crap sentimental-little-me is always gathering!
I am happy to report, though, that at least the toilet has been replaced!

On the 7th, I was on my way home, when all of a sudden there were a number of lights shining on the dashboard of my car that really aren't supposed to be on (the airbag light, for example...). As I stopped at the traffic light (about 1km from home), I switched off the car (it's an Alfa, it sometimes helps to just 'clear its head' a bit when it does something stupid) and when I wanted to switch it back on again...NOTHING. Not even a stutter! So there I am, next to the road with a baby in the car (in Gauteng, aka Crime Capital), going nowhere. Luckily hubby was home already and got to us within 5 minutes. Diagnosis: dead battery. So beyond repair dead that hubby couldn't even jumpstart it!

But wait, there's more! Saturday morning, hubby noticed a wet mark on the ceiling and against the wall in the corridor.



Went into the roof to check, only to find that the geyser is leaking. As hubby didn't even know where to start to fix this, he phoned the plumber that fixed the loo, who told him that he'd suggest we contact the insurance and have it fixed ASAP as it sounds to him as if the bloody thing is about to pop! We are just soooooooo incredibly grateful that this happened when it did and that he noticed the mark against the wall. Imagine us two weeks from now, brand new cupboards, brand new wooden floors, furniture all back in its place...and the geyser bursts. I can guarantee you that would've sent me straight to the looney bin!!!

So, a recap on the past two weeks:
SARS - An unmentionable amount of money... Check
Cracked toilet - An unmentionable amount of money to the insurance (cleverly called 'Excess', as if we had it just lying around)... Check
Alfa - An unmentionable amount of money for a huge new battery... Check
Leaking geyser - An unmentionable amount of money to the insurance (oh yes, this counts as a whole new insident, so there's that 'excess' again)... Check

Budget? What budget?

I am hoping, praying, pleading that my house will be back to normal by the end of this week, but I am affraid with the standard of service we are receiving from the CP (or rather lack thereof), it looks to be high hopes.