Home Ownership

So I've been a home owner for almost 3 years. My house is 3 levels. An unfinished basement, the main floor, and the upstairs. And I haven't had the best of luck with maintenance and repairs etc... In December 2006 Denver got 21 inches of snow in one day, and shut down the city for about 2 days. Well snow some how got in my plumbing. While I was stuck at home, I went to use the upstairs bathroom. Well it overflowed. It overflowed like crazy, and me being very inexperienced in how to turn off the running water, the water flowed down into the floor vent, out of a light fixture in the bathroom on the main floor, and then down into the basement. Not good. So I opened a claim with my home owners insurance and got it fixed and cleaned. I had to give my neighbor a key to get into my house-because I was leaving for NM for the Holidays. Then when my mother and I returned to Denver after the Holidays I had fans blowing everywhere from the guys that came in to dry out the walls. Now going home(to NM) for the holidays is stressful for a few reasons. One of which is my mother. When she comes to visit I want my house to be perfect. Very clean, and nothing cluttered. It is a challenge to make sure this is done BEFORE I go home for the holidays, because my mother comes back home(to CO) with me. So I have to make sure it is up to her standards(it never is) before I leave, and don't have a chance to clean up before she actually comes into my home. Plus I have 2 cats-and who knows what they have been up to while I have been gone. So bringing my Mom into my house with big fans blowing on all 3 levels of my house, is not attractive. ...This was also the first Christmas I had in my house, and I decorate a lot, and was looking forward to my mom seeing all the decorations, and well the fans took away from my over all look. Jump forward one year. Last Christmas(December 2007) when my mom and I landed in Denver it was snowing, cold, and late. ...I think we landed around 7pm, and didn't get home until around 9pm. We walk into my house, and it is FREEZING. I keep my heat on. Mainly so I don't go home to a cold house, and for my cats. I look at the thermostat and it is 54 degrees. I turn on the heat, and I hear it click on to warm up, but then shuts off. We go down to the basement where my heater is, and my mom says "It smells like gas." Not good. We call Xcel Energy-the guy comes out and says "You have a broken hot service ignitor." Well I don't know what that is, and the Xcel guy can't fix it. I have to call an electrician to fix it. By this time it is almost midnight. Thankfully the cats are fine, but my mother and I are super tired, and COLD. So we decide to check into an hotel for the night. I call around the next morning, get it fixed. And warm up. So unfortunately my mother has yet to get a smooth trip without having to help me with household repairs. Well at the beginning of the year I found I had a leak in my kitchen sink. I was in denial about it for a very long time. I wanted to get it fixed, I didn't want to pay for it. It wasn't a bad leak, it never even accumulated any water. But it was a leak. My parents came up in June. And my mother found out I had a leak. I also had a dying garbage disposal. I kept putting it off, then a few weeks ago I finally decided to look underneath my sink. There was a tiny pool of water in my sink, and some water damage. And well my garbage disposal was nonexistent. Afraid of the result(thousands of dollars in repairs-this was what I was seriously thinking) I finally made a call to my mom for help. She gave me the permission I needed-"Go ahead and get it fixed." I called Roto Rooter-the came out in an hour, advised the sprayer on my hose was lose and just needed to be tightened. That was it. That's all. That is what I waited 9+ months for. The guy tightened it, didn't even charge me anything, and advised I replace the garbage disposal. I took his advise, went out a bought a new garbage disposal-$100. My mother (bless her!) paid for the guy to install it-which happened the next day. $218-I had a coupon! What I thought would be a much much much more costly repair turned out to be nothing. Now I have no fear when I run water in my kitchen sink, and I have a very quiet garbage disposal that works! So the lesson here boys and girls-if something is broken, get it fixed! Now when my mother comes to visit again in November we won't have to worry about any repairs that need to be done!, well I hope anyways. And I truly pray that when my mom flies back with me to denver this holiday season, we come home to nice warm, well decorated, clean house!