Home, Sweet Home

I'm back.

As good as it was to see my mom and two brothers, I'm really happy to be home. I worked my tail off in Florida.

After 30 years with Liberty Mutual and only a couple of small claims during that time, my mother's home insurance had been cancelled as of December 15. Liberty Mutual refused to give a reason so I was forced to conclude it was because (1) The house's age, (2) my mother's age, or (3) the fact that we'd cancelled her auto insurance with the company.

No new insurance company would accept her application without a four-point home inspection (air conditioning, electricity, plumbing and roof). I managed to get the inspection done on Monday, interview companies on Tuesday and to contract with a new company on Wednesday.

I also discovered the house has a hot water pipe leak in its foundation (the inspector didn't find it; the lack of hot water cued me to start looking). Major clues were the fact that the thermostat and a heat element had already had to be replaced on a two-year-old water heater. I spent the rest of the week interviewing plumbers. Rather than repairing a single leak in the 48-year-old house (and tearing my mother's bathroom tile up), I opted to repipe the place. In exchange for letting the plumber have the old copper pipes, he's replacing all the faucets, too.

So, it was great to get back to Texas . . . to relax after my working vacation.

I'll be back later today with a new post.