When It Rains, It Really Rains

So, the last 2 days, mother nature has 'blessed' (insert HUGE sarcasm on that word) us with warm summer temperatures. Summer for me should not start until June 1st. May is a transition month. It is that time where my body adjusts to the idea that I will sweat myself for the next three and a half months whenever I go from house to vehicle or vehicle to another air conditioned building. I will tell you when temps go above 75 without a huge breeze, I'm uncomfortable, bitchy and not that fun to be around. I seriously need to think about relocating further north. Planted roots of good family and friends keep me here and I guess I shouldn't leave out the big yellow provider, that which is my husband's employer.

So, we moved during cooler winter months to this new house and never checked the AC. And it doesn't work. No surprise there. For the past 2 days I've been sweating my arse off just 'living.' I can't even think about doing dishes or throwing in a load of laundry without sweating. And giving the kids a bath...OMG... If someone could recycle and purify what comes dripping off me while I'm in the heat-laden bathroom giving them a bath, we could bathe 3 more kids!

And speaking of our kids, they are the reason I knew the basement was raining like a jungle today. I sent them to the basement this morning to play while I cleaned up the kitchen. They came upstairs after about a half hour with a backpack that had been leaning up against one painted cement wall in our basement. They said the wall was raining. I asked how fast the rain was falling and they said, 'well, it's just wet.' I thought, that is better than RAIN, but I better check it out. So, as I am going down the hallway to the basement, I looked quickly at the thermostat. 85..and it wasn't even noon!

I get to the basement and start looking at the walls and at first I didn't notice anything. As I felt them, it was like they were sweating..ALL OVER! Brilliantly (and in retrospect..not so much!), we thought we'd turn on the 'fan' instead of the AC last night just to pull the cool air (which is usually about 15 degrees cooler) to the upstairs. It worked for a bit, but not as good as we'd hoped. As the cool air dispersed upstairs, the basement was getting warmer causing the walls to get damp..and then as our kids put it, 'rain' and leave small puddles on parts of our tile. In layman's terms..a big mother-expletive-expletive mess!

So, I spent the better portion of my morning finding an AC repair company to come out ASAP. This is quite difficult on the first 90 degree day of the year. I wouldn't suggest it. I had two companies in mind and it came down to who could get here sooner. A friend of mine recommended a service person from one company, whom I actually know personally. I just felt weird calling when I knew he'd be booked solid, which he is until late this evening. I called the other company, booked the appointment and the earliest they had was tomorrow after noon. As I sat here thinking about how the other guy knew my family and would probably do his best for me, I thought what the hell and called him too. He was super busy, booked back to back all day and told me to call back at 5 PM and he'd see what he could do. I teetered with that since I already had the other appointment.

All the while, the walls continued to sweat and rain. I called my husband and asked what we should do about the walls because I didn't want furniture, toys, electronics to get ruined because of this and it would not have time to turn into something we couldn't fix. He suggested a dehumidifier, a hose so we wouldn't have to empty it and fans to direct the air. I went to local home supply store, dropped a load of money along with a $25 gift card (thank you to that housewarming gift giver) and came home with the supplies. After getting it all out of the boxes, to the basement and hooked up. I came upstairs and was no longer teetering about the phone call to the favored, yet extremely busy AC repairman.

Called the 'family-known and friend-recommended' repairman back and he said he could not get me in tonight and was very apologetic. He said he could try after 9 PM, but still wasn't sure if he'd be able to get to our place. I told him to not worry about it as I had someone coming at noon tomorrow. I was honest from the beginning about having called another company because they could get me in and his company wouldn't be able to schedule me until Wednesday and I was desperate.

Five minutes later my cell phone rang and it was the same repairman calling me back. Said, if I could call the office, he could come out at 8 AM. I told him he really didn't have to worry about it and I felt bad for having called him directly. But he said he didn't want me to get screwed over or talked into something we didn't need if it was just a quick cleaning and fix. So, he told me to call his office and give them my info and he'd be here at 8 AM. He's a good guy and I'm glad I was encouraged into calling him. I called the other business back and cancelled my service call and I'm guessing some other sweaty soul will be very appreciative.

Tonight we are headed out for dinner with some coupons given to me by a friend. And then to see a movie with coupons from the backs of Kroger receipts (buy one get one!). And we will soak up the air conditioning for as long as possible. The coupons hardly compensate for the dehumidifier, 3 box fans, one hose and a service call with the potential to be expensive, but for a few hours, 'I' won't be raining. I'm hoping for no rain tomorrow and much COOLER temps!