Have I married Tim the Toolman?

My mom has been complaining to me and others for months now that her stove in her kitchen hasn't worked since Thanksgiving Day. As she was preparing their Thanksgiving feast ~poof~

It isn't broken ~ it is new.
The problem with her stove is that the electricity line that runs to it seems to have a mind of its own and only works when the wind is blowing. It is an on/off situation.

Obviously, this is a safety hazard.
Apparently, my stepfather doesn't see this as one.
He gets upset that meals aren't prepared but there is only so much a person can do with a crockpot, microwave and a George Foreman grill.

As I sit here steaming mad about my stepdad, I guess I didn't fall far from the tree. At this point, I really don't see a need to panic due to fire issues but am dealing with my own set of things with my own husband.

For example:

Right now I am dealing with a shower head that has 1 little spitter that is completely out of sync with the others -- it is spraying above the rest and seems to have direct aim at my left eye when I look at it. It makes me want to scream I get so mad. I know I am not the only one that realizes it is doing that.

The other thing is the piece of paneling my husband used to enclose the hot water heater. At some point it must have gotten damp and hot so his "glue" (I'm sure he used) has come undone and everytime I walk in the laundry room I either have to prop it back up or it comes crashing down on my head.

The seal stuff that you stick around the outside of your bathtub to cover up the edges and corners of the bathtub to the wall are not on right. There is now moisture behind the $30.00/each sheets of backboard. Who knows what it is doing to the walls.

The cabinet that is above the bathtub faucets that has our towels in it has a door that is warped now from the shower and has to be slammed to shut....not gently, I mean put everything you have behind it to shut it.

My dresser that sits in our bedroom by my computer is leaning forward like it is going to fall over any second. My husband says it is doing that because the house is so unlevel. That may also explain why my wall is slanted, my chair keeps sliding back away from my computer desk trying to roll me toward the center of the room, and may also explain why when I shut the bathroom door I'd better just crack it or it will literally trap me in....the doorknob doesn't turn right so it is only a matter of time before someone has to break the door down to get my 8 year old son out.

Everything is warped and unlevel in this house. It's like one of those rooms you go to at a carnival and everything is screwed up and it makes your stomach queezy.

When I stand outside I can clearly see how it is drooping at the back of the house. Even driving down the road the roof is slanted.

Now I realize that this house was built in 1912 -- it will have some problems. I am just wishing that someone (i.e. my husband) would not only acknowledge the problems but actually do something about it.

If I needed to mow the lawn I would need HIM here to start it. If my well breaks, HE has to be here to fix it. I say the word "fix" lightly because it's more of a bandaid way of fixing.

Sometimes I wish I had a new house ~ a normal house. One that was built in the last say.....20 years. A house that was built by a builder ~ someone who knows the size a door is supposed to be and how high an average ceiling is to be. Apparently, back in the days of 1912, they must have been short, tiny people. My ceiling is about 8 feet high, it is about 1000 square feet and my front door is the size of a closet door. I would have to have one custom built to fit if I wanted to replace it.

The only good thing about our house is that it was passed to me from my grandfather and is full of memories and is very sentimental - it has about 10 layers of shingles layer after layer over each other so in the event of a tornado, my roof will stay intact, and well,........I guess that we don't owe any money on it so that is a good thing.

I have been told to enter us into the Extreme Home Makeover show but I haven't done that. I just know that there are more "needy" people out here. I have never watched the show because even though they do such wonderful things for people ~ I just cannot handle watching them have these houses built for these people when we are sitting here, deserving in our own respect, of something like that. It is too depressing for me to watch and do not want to feel sorry for myself. I can't even watch the commercials on TV about it....I can't watch the Sears commercials because that guy is on them.

I realize that there is only so much a person can do with our house and it probably would be best to start over. But at this point, and not in the near future will we be able to do anything about it. The hardest part of having a house this old and this house in particular is that it has asbestos siding. I'd have to call the haz-mat team to come remove all of that in their white special suits and haul it to who-knows-where to get rid of it.

So, in the meantime, I just keep praying we stay safe and the electrical lines we have are in good condition, pray that nothing happens to the siding to give us all cancer, and that it doesn't fall off of its pier and beams.

Gotta love the country and the way the ol' timers used to do things.