NOT AFTER THREE
Today was one of those days. A day spent waiting for a promise of a noontime arrival of the 'professional' to look at the heating system. Noon ended up coming five and a half hours later and whilst I now have heat in the two bedrooms upstairs, the issue is not yet resolved. Thus my hesitation for having notified the landlord of a problem with the heating system.
'What do you think could be the problem?' I asked the guy after I explained the issue to him. I figured with all of his experience and especially after having had five other calls in the area before me today alone, he would have seen similar issues and had some sort of answer for me. Any answer would have sufficed. Anything other than the 'I don't know' answer I got.
My frustration with ignorance and incompetence did not go over well. It never does as I've seen this several times with repairmen at the other house and is the reason one should take to educating oneself in the case you own your home. Lessons learned for the future. I had already researched one possible solution with rebooting the system at the breaker box but that did not solve anything.
The guy arrived shortly after 17,30. Thankfully he took off his shoes but did not understand the concept when he walked into the garage to look for the attic with shoes in hand. I kept waiting for him to put on his shoes in the garage and gave up when he walked back into the house with the now dirty socks. I have and always have had a no shoe policy in my home. Most people notice the mound of shoes outside my door and are respectful towards my policy - something I greatly admire.
The attic turned out to be in my closet - the one filled with my yarns, knitted products, clothes, boxes, and camera equipment not yet organised since I'm not planning on staying here too long. It became a problem when the guy needed a place for his 10-foot high ladder. I'm sure he could sense my frustration. I was trying to make dinner for my kids, babysit this guy (who I later heard talking with someone on the phone in the attic), and race against midnight in Ireland in order to talk with my beau.
I looked forward to talking with him all day long. He emailed me shortly before 16,00 to let me know he was already home - earlier than expected as he usually doesn't finish work until much later. Immediately, he made me laugh and smile. I was at the pool with the children for Cinnamon's swim lesson so I couldn't take the time for Skype until I returned home.
Cinnamon did not wish to go swimming in this cold but the pool is heated so I insisted she needed to go. In the meantime, Sage read his sight words and a book called 'The Baby' as part of his homework. After reading, I held him tightly as we both kept each other warm as we waited for my daughter to finish with her lesson.
The bright sun was deceiving as it was too cold to be outside. We rushed to the minivan after the lesson and I had Cinnamon get in the warm shower as soon as we got home. Sage's turn was next. Both children got in their pajamas before dinner. Today we did things a bit backwards.
I was on Skype for mere minutes when I received a text message about the 'professional' coming to look at the heating system. I was hoping for a rescheduling tomorrow but I also wanted a warm upstairs. Our Skype session would have to wait for a while. The guy left almost an hour later having turned on the heat which now cannot be switched off upstairs unless you also switch off the system downstairs. He mentioned something about having to replace the damper in order for the system to work efficiently.
After the repairman left, I was able to revive the Skype session for a while. My beau sensed my irritation. 'Don't be angry' he advised me. It was frustration more than anything else. He knows my Croatian nature well and has learned how to deal with it and diffuse it as his Slovakian nature is similar. I felt bad he had to stay up so late but was glad he did and I know he didn't mind. Seeing each other this way is all we have for now until our visit early next year.
The children kept busy working on cards for me whilst I was on Skype. It was a surprise, they stated. At one point, Sage wanted to know the spelling of my name. He also wanted to know how to spell 'I love you so much'. His sister helped him and they had beautiful artwork for me which they presented to me right before bedtime.
Cinnamon drew two pictures of her and her sister with the words 'I love you so much' on the back. One she formed into an accordion - an 'instrument' as she stated. Sage also wrote those words and drew a picture of him and me with one big heart and many little hearts next to it. His letters were perfectly formed. On the back of the paper he had copied words from a Croatian book - animal names. Strangely, he wrote the words in the second column from right to left and backwards so if you held it up to a mirror you could read the words clearly. Strange because I used to write notes to my friend Dijana in such a manner at one point albeit I was in college and left these notes on her car windshield.
The day was not completely lost as I was able to go to the Whole Foods at The Domain before noon and get more food for the next few days. I did have an unfortunate incident with my iPhone dropping to floor. Luckily, it did not break. I needed more upbeat music whilst shopping. I decided in the future I will make sure to not schedule any repairmen to come over during the early evening. Evenings are a sacred time of winding down to a peaceful night. 'Not after three' is my new motto.
