Friday, January 4, 2008

It's Always Something

What now, you ask? Nothing too horrible that it's truly bad, just enough to be really annoying and make me sigh and shake my head and say "really?" I'm very good with perspective in life - I pretty much figure that if everyone you love is around and doing well, you don't have much to complain about. Having said that, we found out last Friday that B was driving on a secretly suspended license and had he been pulled over at any time in the last two years he would have been thrown in jail, and then Sunday the entire septic system in our house backed up and every appliance and bathroom fixture flooded all over the floors. In jail and covered with poop - yikes.

Two immediate thoughts - thank God B didn't get pulled over, and thank God we're only renters.

When B went to the DMV to renew his license he found out that the plates from his old beater car were never received by the Albany DMV, even though he mailed them in. Major suspension, though we've never received so much as a letter. It's not your fault, but there's nothing you can do, the nice lady told him. Unless you can prove you sent them, your license is suspended until July... it just happens, I'm sorry. (Insert a healthy dose of Friday Flip-Out here) Luckily B's brother-in-law is a cop and told us to go to the local police station and see if they could help. They definitely looked like they had zero interest in helping until he dropped the "My brother-in-law is a cop and thought you might be able to help me out" and then we made significant progress from there. After we got some other forms from our car dealer, B is headed back down to the DMV today to try again – cross your fingers. In the meantime, I’ve been his permanent chauffeur.

As for the septic... I went into the bathroom on Sunday and saw that the floor was covered in clear water. I figured it was just a bad seal on the toilet until I looked in the bathtub and it was filled with black water. No good. B immediately ran to the washing machine (which was running) and found our entire entryway and the second bathroom covered in not so clean water. Many, many phone calls and plumbing appointments later and this is what we found: The septic tank out back is completely illegal. Instead of having a pipe from the tank into the leech field, the pipe comes out of the ground and stops. All of the overflow and grey water run straight into the stream behind our house!! Nice, huh? So not only is the septic tank in need of being pumped, it's going to cost our landlord anywhere from $7k - $14k to redo the entire system. Right now we're allowed to use the water in limited quantities, but there is still quite a bit of clean up to do - the carpet in our bedroom smelled like a bus stop bathroom until we sprinkled it with coffee grounds and baking soda (at the advice of our landlord for a temporary fix).

But like I said, we're renters not owners, and B is a very safe driver and was never pulled over - thank God for small favors!

3 comments:

Strongmama said...

What a mess! I'm sorry that happened and hope everything is back to normal soon. I hope nothing got ruined. Do you have renter's insurance just in case?

I had the same thing happen to me when I moved to PA from NY. Supposedly they never got my plates. But I figured since I no longer had a NY license it was no big deal and the two years would be up by now anyway.

die Frau said...

Oh, dear Lord. Good luck with all of that!

I sent a check in to the DMV before I switched banks. They sent me a nasty letter months later saying the check hadn't cleared and I needed to send a certified check, etc., etc. or my license would be suspended. I wonder if they simply took too long to clear the first check? And I almost sent the second one certified mail--I KNOW did that when I sent info for my passport. It's the only way I can have some form of assurance that someone got it and signed for it so when they say, "You never sent this ," I can reply, "Oh, yes I did, and someone signed for it on this date." I hate the DMV.

Glad the coffee grounds and baking soda worked--never would have thought of that.

feather nester said...

Oh my gosh, how awful! Any improvement since then? Are you able to take showers? Do you have to go to the laundromat? Ugh, so sorry that happened to you.

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