It's Raining! Inside?!

Tuesday morning we awoke to massive amounts of water in the kitchen, dining area, and livingroom.  It was raining from dozens of spots in the ceiling and the latex paint bulged from the weight of the water that was pressing against it and trickling out.  There was literally about a 1/2 inch of water in the kitchen.  Thankfully, only those areas were affected.  Cameron's keyboards and audio equipment were untouched and so was our bedroom.  I guess we're lucky we hadn't been able to afford any livingroom furniture, otherwise that would have been soaked.  We still had some boxes around, but the contents seem to have fared pretty well.

Within 15 minutes, maintenance was knocking on our door.  A neighbor had notice water pouring from the balcony above our unit and reported it.  No one lives up there, but apparently, the previous occupants had covered the the overflow drain for the water heater.  The water heater had burst, and the water had saturated the upstairs and was moving through the floor, our ceiling, as gravity intended.

The situation was quickly sized up and before long, sections of drywall were being cut from our ceiling.  Extractors were used to remove the water on the floor, and then the carpet was removed.  I've attached a link to a slide show of pictures of our torn up place.  They have since removed more drywall and pulled our water heater.

So began a struggle with the apartment management as to what we were to do while all this was being fixed.  At first, they were totally uncooperative as far as paying for our hotel or providing any suggestions as to how we were supposed to vacate the place as instructed.

Slowly, their attitude changed as Cameron moved further up the management ladder.  It's taken 2 days of arguing and frustration, but they are finally going to pay for the hotel stay until tomorrow, and then will put us up in another apartment for the remainder of the time.  The workers are anticipating that it will be at least until Tuesday or Wednesday before we can move back in.  I would just have them move us entirely to the other apartment, except that it is smaller and would be a little crowded for Cameron and I to share the 2nd bedroom office, especially with all the keyboards and recording equipment.

So, it has been a frustrating last couple of days.  On the flip side, I started my part-time job on Monday.  Thankfully, they have been incredibly understanding about my situation and given me flexibility in regards to my hours.  I am working at a mall kiosk, The Piercing Pagoda, which is sort of a pain, but the pay is OK and will provide us with the financial cushion we have been lacking.  I do like talking with new people and the products are pretty.  I will be learning how to pierce ears on Friday, which should be interesting.  I'll probably have more holes in my own, in time, who knows?

The "kids" of our household have not been very happy about all of this upset of their surroundings.  It has been very stressful, and will continue to be so, until they are back in their normal home.  JarJar, especially, has a hard time with it.  He's kind of the strong silent type, who ponders his own reflection in the mirror and sulks terribly when he feels things aren't the way they should be.

Us humans are doing our best to hang in there while all this is going on.  We had only been in the apartment for about 5 weeks and then all this hits us.  This is, of course, after spending 2 weeks in hotels looking for an apartment and then for all the checking they do to be processed, etc.  Ah, this, too, will be another thing we will laugh at in the coming years (right...) I guess, so as this little adventure continues we will keep you posted.