OT: Aren't teenagers great?

[Orcrone]

I got a frantic call from DW this afternoon. DD (who has a driver's permit) was driving the family car. Got into the garage and hit the gas instead of the brakE. Slammed into the hot water heater and heat exchanger for the heat/AC. Busted water pipes and natural gas pipes. DW ran in histerical because other DD was in the shower. She had to run out in a towel and they called 911. Fire department showed up, shut the gas and made sure it was cleared out of the house. Luckily no one was hurt.

 

Now I have a busted car, no water and no A/C. Not to mention two deductables.

 

I NEED A CRUISE!!!!!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Orcrone, Thank God everyone is safe and unharmed and all you do have to pay is two deductables.:)

 

I am so glad our son is now 25 and out of the house. We were very lucky nothing major happened thru his teens.

 

Just keep thinking of that up coming cruise this fall, it will all be better then.;)

[Orcrone]

Thanks Lisa,

 

We had a plumber out from 5:40 until 8:30 this evening. We now have a new hot water heater and the water is running again. Hooray for showers!!!:)

 

Tomorrow the claims adjuster comes out and hopefully we'll get the air back on soon. Considering we had a gas line split in two, things really didn't turn out that bad.

[chellbird]

Last time we planned a cruise, we put it on our credit card and had a schedule to pay it off during the months before we left. Sounds like a great idea!:p Sailing debt free!

 

Right after we booked the cruise:

the storm door shattered while my husband was mowing

the vacuum died

the cooktop ceased to cook

the dishwasher made one last horrible noise and quit completely

 

Needless to say, it was several months after the cruise before we got everything paid off. I've been a little leary since we booked this cruise.

 

I too am thankful that no one in your family was hurt - I'm sure it was all very scary. :( We don't have teenagers (yet), but can only imagine what exciting things we have to look forward to!:D By the time you sail, the bad day should be just a bad memory. Good Luck and God Bless!

[Tatka]

Uh oh... Thanks God your DDs and DW are safe now.

 

Btw it can happen to anybody. I myself pressed pressed gas instead of brakes on couple of occasions.

 

My 11 years old being home alone last summer decided to make himself burgers . When I came home and saw batteries from alarm on the table and asked "Why?" answer was "Alarm was too loud!". ;)

[tankerjo2]

Yep, we still enjoy our 29 year old teenager.

[sail7seas]

Sorry hear of your woes, Marc, but happy your family is safe and no one was injured.

 

 

Be extra nice to the a/c guy and the gas company. Hopefully, they'll get you up and running quickly.

 

Good luck.

[localady]

Orcrone-

Wow! My thoughts are with you and your family. My nightmare happened in your garage. You see my son also has his drivers permit and I do worry about those little, or not so little opps's......:eek:

Glad to hear no one was hurt. Heck after reading that, I need a cruise!!!:D

[Orcrone]

My 11 years old being home alone last summer decided to make himself burgers . When I came home and saw batteries from alarm on the table and asked "Why?" answer was "Alarm was too loud!". ;)

I know that 11 years old is not a teenager, but that is a classic teenager statement if I ever heard one.

[saltydog28]

Orcrone- I'm glade to hear your wife and daughters are fine. Everything else can be fixed or replaced.

Unfortunetly for your daughter, she will have to hear the "remember when" stories for many years to come.

I hope you have a better day tomorrow.

Pat.

[Orcrone]

Thanks everyone. Looking back at the frantic (and I mean frantic) call from DW and the fact that I had a totally busted open gas line, this has not been that bad a day.

 

My insurance company has been great. I called them at 1:30 this afternoon and they said they would classify it as priority 1, meaning highest priority. The adjustor would get back to me in 1 - 4 hours. He called me 15 minutes later. After explaining what happened, and that we had no water or A/C he said that he'd call some local companies they use and make speedy service the main criteria. Another 15 minutes goes by and he gives me the name of the restoration company that will handle it, and if they don't call me by 4:00 PM, give him a call back. Well around 3:00 they call and say that a plumber will be out after 5 and the HVAC company tomorrow. The plumber showed up at 5:40 with his son and they worked until 8:30 getting the water going and the hot water heater replaced. This included having to crawl through the crawl space to repair the gas line that was split under the house.

 

NOW THAT'S SERVICE!!!!!

[Tatka]

I know that 11 years old is not a teenager, but that is a classic teenager statement if I ever heard one.

 

He is getting ready!!!

 

Good thing is 12-13 years ago we also were teens so we are also ready! :)

[Jacqueline]

My son got his license last week and has barely been out of the car since...Sigh...

The only way to get better is with practice. I am just glad that I dont have to be a passenger with him any more. 8 months with the learners permit was enough for me !

[FlorenceItaly]

Marc - We have a 16 year old driving ds, so I can relate :). I am so thankful all is well with dw and dd. That must have been so scary for them. I imagine both are still shaken up. It sounds as if you have a wonderful insurance company...sure makes times like these more bearable.

 

You and dw are going to love your alone time on the Maasdam in October!

 

Marie

[jfishe]

Oh My Gosh ! I thought I was the only frantic parent out there !! Our only child turned 16 on June 14th and took his driving test on June 15th. I would have PAID the driving test person to fail him... but nope, he passed with flying colors. And off to school for his parking pass. It truly is the most stressful thing... watching him drive off. But, so far so good... i'm a wreck though ! Cruise in August... whew

[Tatka]

Btw...It's kinda off topic but I was really impressed with this

 

review of a cruise by 12 years old!!! ( I actually didn't know about age untill I read description of kids club!)

 

http://reviews.iserver.net/FestivalCruises/Mistral2.htm

[jhannah]

Wow! Glad things are turning out okay. It's always much better when no one is hurt. BTW, have friends whose teen son was done mowing the yard. Took the lawn mower into the garage (which he wasn't supposed to do.) The gas water heater came on and ignited the fumes that had built up. Lots of damage to the house, burned legs on the boy ... but nothing real serious. They still felt blessed that the DS wasn't hurt badly. But it was a good lesson for him. Things can happen quickly. You can't turn your back on any danger for the slightest moment.

[Vicar]

Thank God no one was hurt, everything else is fixable, aggravating ... but fixable.

 

My daughter has been driving for a year now and *knocking wood* so far so good. I have actually been driving with her and she is very careful (of course that is with me in the car keeping an eye on her).

 

The teenage years are so scary. On one hand you want to let them grow and trust them. On the other hand you remember that this is the same child who a few short years ago decided to paint her room with a can of DAY GLO pink spray paint. The walls , the windows, the bed spread , the curtains .

[Orcrone]

The ironic thing about it is that she was driving home from driver's ed. It was her next to last day. Today she passed her road test. But I'm having the school keep it for a little while. I want her to get some more practice and probably go through another driving school course before she has her license. If she didn't do that yesterday she'd be a licensed driver right now.:eek:

 

Actually, the physical damage to the house and car doesn't bother me a bit. I just don't feel that I could have her out on the road right now in good conscience. I don't expect her to be Mario Andretti, but she needs for her skills to improve for safety's sake; for her and everyone else.

[Vicar]

OrCrone

 

Oh Absolutely

 

I agree 100%

 

it was quite a while before my daughter went gallavanting around on her own. Her mother and I always took her out to practice and then once she went to drivers ed and got her license we let her drive to the store with us in the car, and little trips like that.

 

Its only been a few months now that she has been taking the car alone to work or the mall.

 

Pretty soon we will be getting her a car . Nothing fancy but with everyones work hours it is neccessary for her to have one for school and work and such. But even after she has her own car its still not going to be just taking it all over willy nilly.

 

Like you said you don't expect mario Andretti, but they have to get some experience under their belt

[Jacqueline]

In NY the kids have to have a permit for 6 months before they can get a license. Its a good thing. Then there were the 20 hours of driving classes we made him take... But you can only do so much !!

[the2ofus]

Orcrone, so glad things ended well for all in your family. An expensive lesson and a scary one, but perhaps it will save heartache in the future.

 

My son had a wake-up call too, though not as expensive or dramatic.

My ds was 17 and seemed to be a good driver, although not as cautious as I would have liked. We were driving home on a snowy evening. He was scheduled to take his driver's test the next day. He confidently swung around the corner as we neared our home. There was a patch of ice and the next thing we knew we had narrowly missed our neighbor's tree. As we got out of the car at home I told him he could cancel his driver test and reschedule in one month. He was not a happy camper!

 

The best part was that we had below freezing temps that night and for the next two weeks. The rut in the snow beside that tree lasted a long time and he had to look at it every day. To my knowledge, he has had only one minor fender bender in the 20 years since he got his license.

[Orcrone]

As I reported, water and hot water returned Wednesday evening. On Thursday I went to pick up DW from work and when we returned the downstairs shut off valve for the toilet had sprung a big leak and we had water all over, including down the A/C vent. Called the insurance company again!!! Twice in 2 days. The next day (Friday) HVAC contractor came out, replaced A/C unit and totally saturated duct. The adjuster is going to come out this week and check for moisture content in floor. So I'm hoping for no damage there, in which case there won't be a second claim. Otherwise, I'll probably need to look for a new insurance company when this policy expires. But for now everything's up and running again and DD is going to go to driving school some more this summer before getting her license. She actually passed the road test on Thursday.

 

BTW, on Friday we had a tremendous thunderstorm come through (3 inches of rain in 1 hour) and took out both our electric and phone. Needless to say last week was quite interesting.

[jhannah]

Mercy! :eek: Flashback to the old "Hee Haw" TV series where Grandpa, Junior and others would sing "... if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all ..."

 

Hopefully your eventfulness will go away! Sounds like you need a cruise.

[imsulin]

Wow - You really DO need a cruise, Orcrone! Hope you don't have hardwood floors! My five teenagers (ages 22 to 31) still call me on a regular basis with their car "woes". I listen with the best sympathetic ear that a Mom can muster, and then keep my checkbook and CC in my purse, where they belong:)! It's funny, but when they were all at that young driving age, we had one "clunker" that they had to share. They spent so much time fighting with each other about who got to use it, that it sat idle quite a bit! Ah....the good old days! I'm just afraid that I'll be one of those little old ladies in the news who drove her car through the front of the drugstore, while trying to park (to pick up my Dentucreme and Depends).