Almost Back

January 22, 2008 | Filed Under Friends, Family 

Many of you know that we had an interesting situation that started on New Years Eve. Three weeks later, it’s nearly over. By February, we hope it will all just be a bad memory. Thank you for your calls and emails. During this month, Kuei and the boys have been staying with Alonzo & Cora, with Seth and Ya-fun, and our friends outside the ward, Diane and Mike, while I get the apartment back in shape.

Some will recall that we moved from our previous place, in the same building, because someone above us, flooded their apartment, which damaged our place beyond livability. That happened about 10 months ago. Well, when living on the top floor of an apartment building, one never thinks someone will flood it, and moreover, one never thinks that it will be your own doing, that causes the incident. 

Talk about irony.

We had a small fire(ball) in the kitchen (thanks to yours truly) on New Years Eve, and it was a matter of seconds before those little annoying sprinkler heads kick on and the place is flooded in no time. Even after we shut the valve off on that floor, the way it is set up, the whole system has to drain out. The fire was manageable and out soon enough, but it was the water (like last time) that did the damage. As you can imagine, it wasn’t the best way to ring in the new year for anyone in our building. Firefighters and angry neighbors didn’t help either (2 apartments below us, and about 5 on our level were also affected). But the other apartments, luckily, only suffered minor damages (a piece of tile or something). Still, as you can imagine, we aren’t the most popular residents right now. 

While the family has been out, I have been cleaning, throwing out a ton of our stuff that was damaged, mopping, etc. Also, some friends of ours (Elizabeth and Patrick) are licensed in this type of repair work, and they have graciously approached the management, to assist in the repairs of our place, to cut down on costs. So I’ve spent the last weeks painting, caulking, sanding, and dry-walling (part of the wall had to be removed) with them.  It has been nearly a month, and we should have the carpet crew come in this week and get things deep-cleaned, so the family can move back in soon. 

We can’t begin to thank all of our friends that have been more than willing to help us with this little earthquake in our lives. We hope to be in a position at some point in time, to return the help and hospitality you’ve shown us. 

Comments