My house is conspiring against me and winning

I think my house is conspiring against me. I know you may think I’m being dramatic or that I’m kidding. I’m not.

Everything is going sideways all at once. At least it feels like all at once. I can’t even pinpoint the order in which they all occurred initially, but these are the current problems:

Air conditioner

Just as the New York weather has touched into the humid 80’s, my 3-year-old air conditioner decided to die. And any air conditioner that would fit the opening cut into my wall was out of stock.

I’m not so spoiled as to be a big baby about not having an air conditioner. The problem is that multiple sclerosis makes a person extremely vulnerable to overheating. When that happens, the nervous system malfunction gets worse. My one-handed typing gets even slower than it normally is. Something that might take an able -bodied person 2 hours to type will normally take me at least 8 hours. If I’m overheated, it will be at least that or longer.

Washing machine

This is the washing machine/dryer unit we have.

All of a sudden, the washing machine stopped working, while in the spin cycle it gave up. We tried everything we could, but we ended up needing to call the appliance repair people. He came four days later, spent over 2hrs servicing it, and after we did two loads of laundry it died again. So now we’re waiting for a new pump for the unit, and who knows when that will arrive.

Motor for the hot tub

In our yard, we have a small Softub type hot tub unit. It does not have piping of any type. The tub itself stays outside year-round. The separate small unit with the pump and filter gets attached for this season, and then detached and stored in the house. When it was bored outside a couple of weeks ago to hook up, surprise, it doesn’t work.

Now we have 2 options. I can ship it back to the manufacturer and in about 6 weeks they will tell me if it’s fixable, and if So, what it would cost. If we want it repaired, it will take 4 to 6 weeks at that point. So basically, it’s a total of 12 weeks. And that brings us to the very end of August or start of September, when school starts again.

All the sinks

Yes, all the sinks were backing up, at one time. We tried all the home remedies and none of them worked. So, it was plumber time. Everybody knows that we really need plumbers, but nobody ever wants to call one because it’s always expensive. The plumber came and snaked all of the sinks and flushed the main lines to the street. And now today…our basement reeks of sewage. That means a problem with the main line again, so ill be calling a plumber again today.

Melted siding on the house

Good one, right? My daughter barbecued for Memorial Day, with the grill too close to the house. So …

On the plus side, at least the house didn’t go on fire. We have lived here for almost 18 years and this never happened before.

Garbage disposal

After having the garbage disposal repaired 5 times in 4 years and replaced twice in 5 years, it’s now removed and gone and good riddance.

Pipes in kitchen

I’ll just say this disaster was lots of fun and move on.

Basement toilet

Bathroom that supposedly Nobody uses, and it’s been fixed at least 5 times in 5 years. Now it’s apparently leaking again.

Sprinkler system

A few weeks ago, I had this system primed and started for the season.  A week or so later it dawned on me that I had never heard them come on in the evening. So, I started watching on my security cameras. Sort of watching at least. Most days I would be caught up in something during the time range when the sprinkler system should have come on. And the sprinklers get set for alternate days, making it even more complicated to track. After a couple of weeks, I came to the conclusion that the sprinkler system was not coming on at all.

Trying to deal with it all

The dark cloud of one thing after another seems to be lodged firmly above us again. None of these are life and death issues of course, although the melted siding could have definitely been much more serious. But these are the things that constantly nibble away at your nerves and at your bank account.

If you’re a religious person, I can assure you our house has been blessed multiple times over the years. Just a month or so ago a priest from our parish stood on our front walk to bless our house and family during the ongoing pandemic.

If you’re not necessarily religious but are a spiritual person, know that I take the spiritual cleansing of the house fairly seriously. Today we saged yet again, sweeping away any bad vibes that might be lurking in the corners.

In case anybody is wondering let me explain the figures behind the sage stand. On the far left is Saint Teresa, the Little Flower. She was given to me as a gift about 10 years ago, during one of my stints in physical rehabilitation. The message of that saint is to do one little thing at a time, and it will all add up in the end. The second statue is Saint Joseph, the patron saint of fathers. He is a reminder of the strange and support of my late husband.

The third statue is a replica of The Pieta, a sculpture by Michelangelo. The original is on display at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, Rome. My mother in law displayed a copy on her family’s fireplace mantle in their living room, and my husband and I saw the original while on our honeymoon. This particular copy came as a decoration for the side of the casket I chose for my husband’s funeral.

The fourth figure is that of Mary, the Blessed Mother, who is remembered with honor to varying degrees by many religions.

So, I tried to stay on top of things and enlist whatever other worldly aid we can, religious and non-religious alike. And still my house is out to get me it seems. They tell us that quote, “The secret to life is putting positivity out into the universe.” Well, I do that on a regular basis and its still chaos all around me. It’s hard to keep a positive outlook when everyday brings another problem or obstacle to overcome.

I literally just got off the phone with the plumber. Again. There are water spots all over the basement floor and the smell of sewage in the air. So, he will be making another visit to my house this afternoon, which is a Sunday by the way, so Sunday rates apply. We all know how that goes. I will let you know another day what happens. Do you ever feel that your home is out to get you too, whether its an apartment, condo, townhouse, or some other abode? Tell me, I’d love to know.