Anyone mind if I scream now?
We’re in the midst of moving right now. Wre dong so in a rather hurried way as we’re escaping a water-damaged and toxic mold-ridden apartment. (One room’s so bad that I start coughing if I’m in there for five minutes.)
That’s sub-saga one. Sub-saga two is that we’re cutting our rent payment in half as the uninhabitable room (out of a 2-room apartment) violates what California law calls the implied warranty of habitability. Our landlord took offense and gave us a three-day notice to pay rent or quit. The key word there is “gave” - they did not have us served (as in, by a process server) with the notice, making it legally meaningless. So, on top of uncaring and unpleasant, add clueless.
Meanwhile, we’re not paying and not quitting. Little does the landlord know, but the housing inspector will be here shortly and I expect he’s really going to ruin the landlord’s day when he tells them what do do about the wet plywood underlayment and the lovely black stuff growing in here. And, if they push on the three-day thing, I’ll just ask them for a copy of the Proof of Service document that they filed with the court. 
So, back to the packing… But, it’s Christmas, and we have to have it somewere, and didn’t want it in Casa Stachybotrys, so we went off to the new place. We brought the gifts, a couple dishes and the coffee percolator. So far, so good. Woke up this morning and went to start coffee. <GASP!> Where’s the cord for the percolator?? Ummm… at the old place. :smack: How about breakfast? Waffle iron? Check. Waffle/pancake mix? Check. Bacon? Check. Nonstick spray so the waffles don’t cement themselves to the waffle iron? Nope. Frying pan for the bacon? Check. Any sort of spatula, flipper, tongs so we can handle bacon without buring ourselves? Nope. Anything open so we can go for breakfast and get coffee? Uhhh…I remember seeing a McDonalds half a mile down the road. Open? Nope. After driving around and around, I find a Dennys with a mob waiting out front. Across the street is a Burger King. Just the drive-up is open. Whatever. Fine. Gimme two double Whopper meals.
Get back to the new place with the grub. While we’re eating, hear a faint beeping. We don’t have any gadgets that beep like that, so we ignore it, figuring someone forgot to turn off their alarm clock. Finish eating and go to shuffle the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Approach the laundry room and <SQUISH!> Sonofamotherdangratzenfraggling washing machine’s overflowing!
Turns out the beeping we heard ten minutes earlier was from our downstairs neighbor. The washer’s overflow was pouring into their apartment and shorted out the smoke alarm. It also got into their electrical panel and tripped most of the breakers. :eek:
So, the Christmas carnage stands at:
No coffee.
Christmas breakfast is a fast-food burger.
Unusable washing machine.
Soggy carpeting, and it had been replaced right before we moved in.
Meeting our downstairs neighbors on less than ideal circumstances.
No coffee.
UPS turned a 4-place set of china into a maraca - only one of the plates survived.
About a third of our gifts collectively found on eBay are yet undelivered.
General chaos of moving.
Did I mention that I didn’t have any coffee today?
