kistha | Entries tagged with house

In the end the house was cleaned the guests arrived, and absolute havoc happened with the XOBX connections, creating no less than three trips to Fry's and the last trip ended with a dud Ethernet cable. That was about when the swearing hit full volume and long length. In the end we used the shorter cable and had the guest's XBOX precariously perched - but it worked and much play was had by the boys. Lots of 2AM late nights. Good talk, good food and some costume based crafting trips for us girls. (Oh, and they brought us a wireless router, so now we have that for those guests who are laptop happy.)

Random good luck roll - getting lights at the Lowes next door, I finally found lamp shades for those damn lamps in the Library!

They are off back to home, but we had a great time and I can't wait to do it again - maybe for just a bit longer next time.

Just going to try to stay on top of the house work going forward. :)

PS - Thanks for the offer

twilight2000, but I didn't get back to LJ until after the deadline. :)

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: I Been Redeemed - Meryn Cadell -Angel Food For Thought

The stupid "stainless-steel" fridge killed me.

Fuck it.

We can finish the rest of it tomorrow.

Sure we can.We have to - all that's left is the rest of the kitchen, some mopping, and all the rooms that the guests will be staying in! LOL

Nothing like hysteria, is there? I hate you, fridge I hate you.

I'm going to go watch TV.

Current Mood: drained
Current Music: Turn off the Lights - Nelly Furtado -Whoa, Nelly

We have company coming this week. The house is a certified "Pit of Despair" and we're busily cleaning it in preparation for our guests.

Today, very late we started in the library or "pool room". Which is fine and all - except for the fact that we've finally accrued enough un-shelved books to require us to re-shuffle all of the book cases. Three hours later and we've dusted and adjusted two shelves. TWO out of six. I suppose I should point out that the shelves are 6 ft tall and just under 2ft wide. But, on the good news side, the reference section with all of the BIG books is done, and the ones that needed the most adjustment. I hate reclassifying books. Next is mostly paper backs and comics to be done after dinner, that at least, should go faster.

And then tomorrow I can dust everything else, Windex the windows and mop. And then we move to the next room....

Good thing they are coming late on Friday. :)

Current Mood: covered in dust
Current Music: Brand New Day - Neil Patrick Harris -Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Soundtrack from the Motion Pic

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Rolling dishwasher purchased in '99 or 2000 and hasn't been used since. It has been well kept inside, just not used. I'm pretty sure (currently in garage, under empty boxes) it's a non-icky harvest color, with a butcher block style top.

Chest Freezer purchased 2002-2003 used until 2005 in good condition, white.

Playstation 2, with two memory cards, two controllers and all cords, in good working order.

Make me an offer, in a couple of weeks, I'll be putting them on Craig's List.

The only thing I'd mail is the PS 2. *grin*

(What no one wants a rolling dishwasher of their very own?)

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: hummmmmmmm (I miss my iTunes)

Rolling dishwasher purchased in '99 or 2000 and hasn't been used since. It has been well kept inside, just not used. I'm pretty sure (currently in garage, under empty boxes) it's a non-icky harvest color, with a butcher block style top.

Chest Freezer purchased 2002-2003 used until 2005 in good condition, white.

Playstation 2, with two memory cards, two controllers and all cords, in good working order.

Make me an offer, in a couple of weeks, I'll be putting them on Craig's List.

The only thing I'd mail is the PS 2. *grin*

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: hummmmmmmm (I miss my iTunes)

This is the mantra that I repeat to myself nearly daily. Definitely weekly.

It's about the house.

While I am pleased to be a home owner, and happy to have a house I can call my own, unfortunately find that more often than not, it's one pain-in-the-ass job or disaster after another. This leads to the above mantra. Take this weekend for example -

We spent the entire weekend clearing out the garage. We are about halfway done with getting the "set up" finished. We still need to move boxes to the loft, create and collect and sort and do the "toxic chemical" run and the "dump" run. Going to need to borrow a pickup truck for those, I imagine. (The previous owners were very generous in their leaving objects behind, as well as badly executed remodels, the largest collection being of every cleaning supply known to man.) And, then, sort and store all the tools in a logical manner.

The grossest part was all of the debris that gets in to the garage. Sure it's OK for water and stuff, but we are surrounded and buried in trees and the garage doors are old, and don't seal. So we have tons of spiders, and leaf debris everywhere!

But it just makes it all that much more clear, that the whole garage needs to be renovated. Really, all the way down to the studs. I don't think they insulated the ceiling, and that ceiling is also the floor this office, so it's hard to heat it in winter, and gets very hot in summer. *sigh* Add it to the list. (And why is it that every thing that we need to get done, that we can't do always is 22K? Why?)

Then the hot water tank sprung a leak. As of now, the leak had accelerated to the point where we had to empty the hot water tank. No more showers or laundry for us! Whee. So, until the repair people show up tomorrow "between 1 and 5pm" we're stuck with cold water only. I know bitch, bitch, bitch. But it does mean that I missed my work out today, and will tomorrow as well. I'm sorry - I don't like to stink. The good news here is that it is still under warranty (all hail Sears) and that Vomis' left us the warranty in the first place. Hopefully what is wrong, will be under warranty too, or there goes the money we've set aside for house repairs. *bangshead*

Oh, and my computer started to freeze at random. So I'll have to fuck with that all this week. I'm posting from

dthon's computer and checking LJ from here.

Add to that, now I have to go to another useless doctors appointment. Bleagh.

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: the huuuuummmm of the computer

So, for almost a week the kitchen sink faucet (a single handle with a pull out spout) suddenly had no water pressure.

dthon thought it was spout handle blocked with calcium deposits. I thought it was the faucet handle blowing out. We unhooked the hose from the spout handle, and discovered that it didn't have water pressure either. I felt vindicated, but there was a weird white thing in the hose.

dthon thought it was a calcium deposit, I thought it was odd. So we soaked the hose and the spout handle in hot vinegar water for 2 hours without removing any hardware from the sink. No change.

Now, I thought I was right, but was afraid to have my first plumbing experience be replacing a whole faucet. My Mom assured me on a scale of 1-10 it was really only a 5.

I dithered. I didn't want to pay 283.00 for a whole new faucet in case I was wrong, and I really, really didn't want to replace it at all.

dthon continued to advocate the something stuck in the hose/handle.

So, in compromise we spent 72.00 on a replacement hose by mail.

Last night I changed the hose. I got a crick in my neck, and water in my face. And everything went swimmingly with no leaks on the first try.

However, I forgot that I hadn't turned the faucet handle off, so when I turned on the cold water, we found out it had pressure all right.

We hadn't attached it to the spout handle, and so like one of those old sprinkler modifying toys the hose went wild spraying water everywhere. I turned off the water toot-sweet, and it wasn't too bad. But we did have a streak of water on the ceiling from the sink to the opposite side of the room.

After we finished laughing our asses off, we cleaned up the water and attached the spout handle, and low and behold it's fixed!

I plumbed!

ETA - Turns out the white thing was supposed to be there, but some how it got damaged. The new hose had one, but it was further back and not irregular.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: N.W.O. - Psalm 69 - Ministry

We are now missing:

One box of our crystal

One box of Kay's crystal/china

And probably, it seems one box of Hane's crystal/china

*bangsheadondesk*

Where the fuck did they go?

They were all packed separately, in different places and different times.

What the fuck is going on? One box each - Exactly?

*primalscream*

Headed out to go play with

twilight2000 and family, late due to a last minute house box check.

And I was going to make salad.

Current Mood: frustrated beyond belief
Current Music: confused screaming

Quick update about my lame weekend - and gentle highlights of the busy, manic but good week.

( Behind the cut for friend list kindness. )

So my weekend was pretty much a bust, but was productive on a house level thanks to

dthon.
Me - ~~I'm going to try a shower, and if that doesn't work out, I'm back to bed.~~ Nope it's back to bed the cold sweats just started. F*ck. Still sick.

Current Mood: sick
Current Music: huuuuummmmmmmm of the computers

( Long Update Inside )

I feel very accomplished and very pleased.

Current Mood: accomplished and tired
Current Music: Pink - Just Like A Pill

So.

Yesterday we were on a roll, did the living room and got the dining room set up - but the 30-40 boxes of crystal and china are just going to have to wait for the wash and "where the hell do we put this?" section of unpacking until everything thing else is done.

We had lunch (totally normal lunch Spaghetti-O's and sandwich) and suddenly I was ill - like lie down or puke ill. So I was out for the rest of the evening, and we didn't get the bathrooms or the guest bedroom done. Damn it! Maybe I should have just thrown up - but the lunch didn't bother

dthon at all, so I don't know if that was it or not. But it was very sudden.

So today I'm going to try and putter around the bathrooms and try and make some kind of sense out of all the stuff (that now will spread across three bathrooms instead of two.) I won't be able to install the shower bar in the guest bathroom by myself, that takes two people. Maybe once Scott gets home we can do that. Another difficulty is that we're half in the Master and half not because the grout has cracked in a new place in the shower. *WHEE* Lawyers should not do construction - unless they've moonlighted with real construction people. *ARGH*

Hopefully as we narrow down boxes and rooms we'll find the missing stuff. (Gods forbid any of it is in the Garage.)

Which brings up a weird note - we found the cord to the deep fryer, but not actual fryer. What is it with this particular deep fryer that half the time either the cord, or the fryer is missing? Last time we lost the cord I was going to trash it, and lo the cord appeared. Grumpy.

Moving, no matter how careful you pack and plan, it's like playing Roulette with your belongings - where they stop nobody knows.

Current Mood: determined
Current Music: Weird Al Yankovic - Jerry Springer

The kitchen is done.

It is totally unpacked, and all of the regular things are put away.

OK there are somethings still missing (rest of the coffee mugs, the deep fryer) and we haven't integrated all of the pans and such from

dthon's Mom's stuff. But it will fit, somehow once we find them....

Kitchen and TV Room completely done.

Now to get the Bathrooms sorted and the linens, finish off the Pool Room, Spare Bedroom, Dinning Room, Master Bedroom, Craft Room and the Living room and we're done unpacking all the rooms that are finished. Then we can hang art and then start remodels on the Laundry Room and The Gift Room.

Oh, and don't forget the hellhole of the Garage....

OK I don't feel so special anymore....

I'm for bed.

Current Mood: accomplished (well, kind of)
Current Music: Faith No More - The Perfect Crime

So I decided that I should start looking for work seriously on Wednesday. I start a temp gig doing data entry (oh whee) on Monday. It will run anywhere from 1-6 weeks, and starts at an unholy 7:30 in the morning. On the plus side it's working for a reputedly tasty soup company that has it's own cafeteria; where apparently I will be able to lunch for quote "almost nothing".

I am however wondering if I'm totally insane taking this gig. The house is half-assed unpacked, almost no 'holiday' shopping has been accomplished, but with the counters going in yesterday most of the big construction is now out of the way. It's going to be a busy weekend. I still have at least four rooms (including the kitchen the most evil room to unpack) and the bathrooms to unpack. I also still have painting, some light remodels (fixing the stairs and the bathroom mirrors and lights) that I want to do, and no art has been hung yet either.

I know these things take time. I've realized that part of me was trying to get the house up to a standard of 'perfect' before we moved in, and while it was a nice goal, it just wasn't going to happen. I also have remembered by living here, that I'm not really a showroom perfect kind of person. No matter how much I like the way it looks, I want to live in my house. And make it look like I live here. Not immaculately dusted with everything in it's place in perfect symmetry all the time with no signs of life. I need to remember this is my house, and my life - and if it takes a while, that's totally OK. I don't live in a Better Homes and Garden's add and that is also OK. My pets aren't color coordinated show pieces, they are pets.

But still, with all there is to do...I wonder if I misjudged money vs. time.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: Mal, Simon, Jayne - Need A Couple of Bodies

The wood floors are lovely. Just beautiful. They make all the paint colors look even better. They are gorgeous!

Of course...

Now we're going to have to re-drywall the stairwell.

*bangs head*

Repeat.

Current Mood: hysterical
Current Music: Pat Carroll - Poor Unfortunate Souls

So.

Things have worked out with the floors, so we'll be moving into the new house on the 22nd. Our current phone service and internet will be cut off at that time. We should be back online by the E.O.D on the 26th. We'll be forwarding email and contact info once we get moved. Let's not jinx it, 'kay?

At this point I'm hoping my towering pissy-ness and general hatred of the house will end once I'm enjoying the benefits of living in my very own house as opposed to running over there every time I turn around putting out fires at odd hours. Never in the middle of the day, of course, no it has to be 7AM or almost midnight. Fuckers. I've been actively on call every weekend, everyday since we took possession in September.

Of course there is still the counter tops (no kitchen until second week in December at the earliest *Whee*), the painting of the master bedroom (2 count 'em 2 cancellations there), creation and installation of the the new baseboards, unpacking, hanging art, buying lamps, finding bulbs strong enough to make light happen and rehanging all of the doors - not even mentioning the stenciling I want to do .... and I may be starting work sometime near the end of December. Woof.

It's hysterical, I'm not currently working - the house is my only real responsibility and I need a fucking vacation. Part of me is saying - yeah, you big baby, suck it up. The other half, however, is regarding the house with something not unlike the desire to burn it to the ground.

It's all just a phase, I'm sure I'll get past it.

No really.

Current Mood: focused hostility
Current Music: Avril Lavigne - Complicated

Not pouring concrete to the level of the foundation, and hiding it with extra carpet pads.

Putting any form of a bowl inside the floor under the leaky pipe and putting a tub on top of it.

Good thing we needed to update the tile and flooring isn't it?

Current Mood: cranky
Current Music: The Saga Begins - Weird Al

So the move in has been delayed by us deciding to just get it all done, get it done now, and then move in. So, in late November there will be a move-in. It will be glorious and most of the house will be done at that point. And I won't have to move over Halloween either, a major plus.

The gift room and the laundry room will be the only unfinished rooms. We have set them aside as experimental rooms where we will do all the labor, and we will piece together as time, creativity and such allow. Everything else though will be finished, which will make for a very nice experience - considering our previous inability to move in fully or hang art and so on. Finally the house will reflect something of who we are and our tastes. Except for, I suppose the kitchen and the master bath.

By the way, if you ever have to pull up carpet, the following tools will make your life 100% easier once you get to the bitch part of tack strips and staples.

The Roofing Shovel - Takes up tack strips in a quick snap.

This heel in the back means you don't have to get on your knees with a pry bar!

And this 'Spud' will scoop up your staples, once again without the need to crawl on the floor.

Good contractors are a wonderful gift.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: Window Of Opportunity - Meryn Cadell

So after much searching, making friends with our fabulous and hilarious real estate agent, and seeing some pretty wacky houses....

We finally found one we liked, had pretty much everything we were looking for in our price range. We made an offer it was accepted and we have passed the inspection phase. So barring a natural disaster of epic proportions - we have our house. We'll close in early September and will be able to take possession shortly thereafter.

It's lovely and has a nice small front yard, and a fenced dog yard in the back - it backs into a ravine so no one will be building right behind us, and while the back yard is weirdly terraced, which makes the dog yard small and impossible to connect to the rest of the "back yard" it's still good enough to have a dog. I would have liked more yard, but hey - nothing's perfect. It has huge front windows, living room, formal dining room, rec room and family room (here comes the pool table!) And four bedrooms. It has a nice master, a jetted tub *wheee* in the master bath, and a great kitchen. The back deck is huge, and there are lots of tall trees around to make shade. The front has these cute little bell lights up the front steps, and I can't wait to add some new plants, but that will probably have to wait for spring. I am curious if I could get grass seed to take if I got it down by...Late September, probably not huh? The back yard is currently wood chips and so is part of the side yard, and is so not....us.

We're talking about how much we can change on the inside in the cosmetic department before we move in, and it's so frustrating to know that we can't get estimates of bids in for the stuff that needs to be contracted out until we get into the house. The apartment lease ends on Halloween (I swore I'd never move on Halloween again, never say never) and I don't know if we can get it all done in the time frame we've got. There are some things I'd just rather not live through, like flooring changes. We'd both love to get everything we want done, but it all depends on what we can afford to do immediately.

But we are super excited and cannot WAIT to get into our own house...and do things like hang pictures, and paint the walls, and.....

It's so exciting!!!! * bouncing up and down *

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Doctorin' The Tardis - Timelords