It’s amazing what you can get done between diaper changes and feedings…as long as they can be done on the phone.

Last day to pay property taxes before late penalties is today, and when we refinanced our house to take advantage of lower interest rates, the mortgage company insisted on taking money out for a tax impound account. Last week, Mr. W and I both paid property taxes online for our separate rental properties, and then this weekend he thought to check on our house’s tax status. It showed “unpaid.” Weird, because when he checked our mortgage’s impound account online, it reflected that the correct amount of property tax was taken out of the impound account to pay taxes on November 17. Where has the money been for the past month? Both our rental properties already have a status of “paid,” so we know the tax website is updated. It was unnerving to see this on a weekend when nothing could be done and no one could be contacted until the next weekday. This morning after our pediatrician appointment, I actually managed to find a live person calling the mortgage company. She investigated the situation and confirmed that a consolidated check (which I gather means they paid for multiple properties with one check) was sent out to the tax collector in November, but that the check is still “pending.” The parcel number for the property is correct. She opened up a request for the tax people to call them to see why the check hasn’t cleared after all this time, and assured me that with the check number and a date/time stamp for receipt of the check from the tax people in the mortgage company’s records, we would not be charged a late penalty.

I also received a text from Maggie’s awesome husband Tom, whom I’ve burdened this month with practically being the management for my rental property. With his professional contractor connections, he’s been coordinating, supervising, liasoning, even participating in getting my property ready for the next renter. Josh and his wife moved out earlier this month and the next renters, a coworker with her adult son, are ready to move in at the end of the month. That gives a couple of weeks for a contractor to repair the drywall on the ceiling where it’d been leaking every rain since the flatroof had been done and scrape the popcorn off the ceilings to replace with ceiling textures, patch the nail holes on the walls, and for another painting contractor to paint everything. The problem was that the roofing company which did the flatroof, despite coming out many times after significant ceiling leaks from rainfalls, kept insisting that the leaks weren’t coming from their work on the flatroof; they say it’s coming from the composite shingle sections. Tom, however, took advantage of the rain today and crawled into the ceiling “attic” section and found the leak. It was coming from the flatroof section, he said 4 feet from the composite roof sections, which were totally dry. I called the roofing company as my roof was still under their warranty, told them the same leak is recurring, and where Tom described it was coming from. The receptionist remembered me and said they knew exactly where it was coming from — the drain. I said no, not according to my contractors. I explained the situation about the work being put on hold while the ceiling leaked, and hearing the house is vacant, the roofing company offered to go there immediately to check out the leak. Within half an hour, I received a call from Bobby, the roofer guy. He was at the property, had gotten in and seen the ceiling hole, the ladder set up to go in there, and the bucket holding the drippage, and he said he still thinks the leaks are coming from the composite roof and not their work. “Maybe your contractors didn’t know that the composite roof extends out over that section,” he said. It sounded like he didn’t go up in there the way Tom had so he didn’t see what Tom did. Bobby said he wanted to bring someone back with him later today or tomorrow morning so he could have one guy on the roof while he tapped on the ceiling at the leak site to figure out exactly what was above the leak — flatroof or composite roof. “He is wrong,” Tom texted when I told him what the roofer said. “I could see the entire comp section starting at the transitional metal flashing and it was dry. Leak was on flat roof side of mansart. Possible seam leak where it curves up onto wall?” I’m sure Tom’s right, but if Bobby needed to be proven wrong to himself, I was going to let him. He’s aware all workers have been told to stand down and work halted until the leak could be repaired, so that the ceiling could be closed, so that painting could be done, and people could move in.

I also made appointments at Kaiser’s optometry department for me and Mr. W. Unfortunately, along with a $10 copay, there is a $80 mandatory fitting fee for contacts, and Kaiser won’t release contact prescriptions until they know the contacts have been properly fitted. I’m trying to find a live person to speak to at the optometry department at Costco cuz I think even with an eye exam paid for out-of-pocket, they can beat $90.

Our crib people seem to have forgotten they still owe us the railings and accessories that will turn Allie’s crib into a toddler bed. Mr. W called the company and they’re going to try to deliver the missing pieces later this week.

On top of my productive phone calls, I also received a phone call from the fertility doctor’s nurse, checking up on my delivery, asking whether the baby ended up being a boy or girl, and asking for details to relay back to the doctor. She said the doctor remembers his patients and would love to see photos, and to meet Allie. She invited us to come by after Allie’s had her 2-month vaccinations. Meanwhile, I promised to mail them a birth announcement, which I designed and ordered the end of last week and should be receiving this week. I would recommend that fertility clinic to anybody. Everyone I know who has gone there got pregnant first shot. Excellent customer service, as well.