it's one day from december, and the day has been pissing since before i woke up (which is ungodly o'clock every morning)
it's evil dark out all the windows, and a plague of rain.
WHERE IS MY SNOW???
(mid-grouse, i decided on a sip of tea, which promptly slipped my lips and took a vacation down the front of my shirt - - that will teach me for being a foul-mooded ingrate)
honestly, the rain is probably a blessing - - were it snow, i'd be forced to pack up my things and head home to work out the rest of the day there... oh agony!
probably i should stop before this turns into one of those abysmal rants that does no good and spirals me a little deeper down the path of all out pissiness
30 November 2006
28 November 2006
turd
that's me.
a right turd
it's been too long since i've been on
but come on, it's been thanksgiving weekend
and we did a LOT of work on the house (i.e. the play room is completely painted, the kitchen and dining room each have one coat of paint, and the dining room and the living room each have their shiny new lighting fixtures installed, and the glue on the stairs is being ground away, and the floor has been repaired in the w.c., and we have two new toilets waiting for installation, and a new switch for the light, and well, so so very much!)
and my health is improving (i.e. I can smell things again)
and i'm catching up at work.
more to come...
a right turd
it's been too long since i've been on
but come on, it's been thanksgiving weekend
and we did a LOT of work on the house (i.e. the play room is completely painted, the kitchen and dining room each have one coat of paint, and the dining room and the living room each have their shiny new lighting fixtures installed, and the glue on the stairs is being ground away, and the floor has been repaired in the w.c., and we have two new toilets waiting for installation, and a new switch for the light, and well, so so very much!)
and my health is improving (i.e. I can smell things again)
and i'm catching up at work.
more to come...
15 November 2006
why to stop smoking
this is the bucket i mentioned
every time i see it, i think of what those poor folks' lungs must suffer on a daily basis.
p.s. - - it's a cold. i have a cold, a good old fashioned head cold, complete with sneezes and coughing and the whole 9. i've been better, sure, but it could be a lot worse (debilitating) so i'm not grousing.
13 November 2006
poser big mac
waiting for work to catch up with me - - don't worry, it will - -
in the meantime - another story about the house.
i have chemically enhanced sinus gunk flowing BURNING the back of my throat like acid from the work we did yesterday. it started with washing the walls in the "play" room. I washed ONE - one span of about 5 feet from top to bottom - wall and my bucket of TSP had gone from cloudy white/clear to the color of root beer - - with a stench something akin to dog pee in an ashtray.
i'm not kidding. the color of root beer.
after that we painted the second coat of primer on the dining room. this went fairly smoothly.
and then - - sigh - - the primer in the play room.
after three washes and a rinse, the walls were still covered in enough nicotine that the white primer turned orange. as if that's not enough - - try mixing kilz 2 (the latex version) and nicotine fumes IN YOUR LUNGS at close range. by the time we were ready to leave the first coat to dry last night i didn't know whether to throw up or pass out... and felt inclined to do both.
instead we came home and made dinner and i vowed that today, after work, we'll be going grocery shopping, spending some quality time with the baby, and making dinners that can go from freezer to oven or freezer to crock pot for the rest of the week.
p.s. - - i was FOOLISHLY optimistic. to date the living room, dining room, and kitchen are primed to the point of being able to accept paint. the play room and study have first coats of primer. the hall/stairs to the upstairs, and all of the upstairs rooms are not even spackled/sanded (nor is the back entry and stairs to basement). we have ordered appliances, and should be able to order flooring sometime this week. the downstairs toilet is out so that we can paint unimpeded and put in the new peel and sticks. tomorrow after work is going to be another busy day.
in the meantime - another story about the house.
i have chemically enhanced sinus gunk flowing BURNING the back of my throat like acid from the work we did yesterday. it started with washing the walls in the "play" room. I washed ONE - one span of about 5 feet from top to bottom - wall and my bucket of TSP had gone from cloudy white/clear to the color of root beer - - with a stench something akin to dog pee in an ashtray.
i'm not kidding. the color of root beer.
after that we painted the second coat of primer on the dining room. this went fairly smoothly.
and then - - sigh - - the primer in the play room.
after three washes and a rinse, the walls were still covered in enough nicotine that the white primer turned orange. as if that's not enough - - try mixing kilz 2 (the latex version) and nicotine fumes IN YOUR LUNGS at close range. by the time we were ready to leave the first coat to dry last night i didn't know whether to throw up or pass out... and felt inclined to do both.
instead we came home and made dinner and i vowed that today, after work, we'll be going grocery shopping, spending some quality time with the baby, and making dinners that can go from freezer to oven or freezer to crock pot for the rest of the week.
p.s. - - i was FOOLISHLY optimistic. to date the living room, dining room, and kitchen are primed to the point of being able to accept paint. the play room and study have first coats of primer. the hall/stairs to the upstairs, and all of the upstairs rooms are not even spackled/sanded (nor is the back entry and stairs to basement). we have ordered appliances, and should be able to order flooring sometime this week. the downstairs toilet is out so that we can paint unimpeded and put in the new peel and sticks. tomorrow after work is going to be another busy day.
10 November 2006
hiccup
there has been a break in my continuity.
i hate it when i get this way.
but the truth is, things are just so "awry" in my real world right now that I have no idea, half the time, when i'm coming or going or if i'm actually sitting still.
progress:
we have primed the kitchen - 2 coats. it looks like it might actually be paintable
plans:
today we will be sanding and priming the dining room and the living room. depending on our progress with these, we may actually be doing the study as well
weekend plans:
we have shopping to do. fortunately our friends at lowes have decided to throw a "veteran's day sale" for us, and much of the paint we need to buy will be on sale - - not ridiculously low priced, but sale is sale. we also have to get the new door knobs and deadbolts (all 3 doors worth) which is not setting well on my imagined bank account. still, has to be done, so it has to be done.
once the shopping is out of the way, it will be back to the painting. i'm actually (probably foolishly) hoping to get color on the walls this weekend
snag:
we think our electrician fell through. something about the house spooked him, apparently (even though he's never seen it) and we're now looking for someone with skill and a sense of charity. it may come to pass that i'll only be able to afford to have someone who can find us a ground wire (we have one, but apparently it's not connecting to any of the outlets) and straighten up the woeful state of the breaker box. we may have to wait for, hold off on, and pretend we don't need the additional outlets in the bedrooms, dining room, and kitchen (where we really, truly, need them most).
such is life.
07 November 2006
Fever Blue
the little one is suffering a fever and a bad tummy.
and yes, i feel like the worst mama in the world for not being home with her... cozied up.
worse because she begged me not to go.
for those of you considering buying a house - -
TEAR OUT THE CARPET BEFORE YOU BUY...
this is what we have in front of us to clean up. this is just the stairs. there's more in the dining room, and the living room. they were, supposedly, going to replace the carpeting... when we told them that they could just have it torn up, they decided against any changes to the carpeting at all... can you even think to wonder why?oh but won't it be the prettiest little house when we're done.
it's a rainy day today - sort of typical of Michigan in the autumn - - we have three kinds of autumn weather here
- - sunny and crisp and full of everything that is good about the fall
- - rainy and bleak and the kind of weather that makes you want a good book and a cup of something warm to eat or drink and a fire in the fireplace and a cat at your feet
- - snowy and bitter (rarely is autumn snow the lovely big fluffy flakes) and the kind of weather that makes you want a good book and a cup of something warm to eat or drink and a fire in the fireplace and a cat at your feet
all in all, it's a good time for warm liquids, fireplaces, and cats.
06 November 2006
why?
because we bought a house.
we signed on it last monday.
tuesday was halloween, and since then the house has owned us.
it's already been a lot of work and expense, and we don't have a whole lot of progress to show.
seriously.
the ratty carpeting from the main floor and the staples and tack strips are up.
the floors (that need to be re-covered because they were neglected so badly that we can't refinish them without repairing them and we haven't the time or funds for that) have been scrubbed.
the walls downstairs are tsp'd and patched...
the walls upstairs are tsp'd, waiting to have errant nails and screws and mollies removed so the patching process can begin.
the foam (from the backing of the ratty carpeting that was on the stairs) has been scraped off, and we're determining what to do about the GLUE residue that is left behind... looks a lot like sanding is going to happen...
and the colors for the walls have been selected (though not purchased, because there's still too much to do)
we may be able to prime the downstairs walls tonight - - we're starting in the kitchen.
i still haven't been in touch with an electrician - - that is slated for tonight, I think. he has a lot to do too - - starting with straightening out the double lugs and crossed wires in the breaker box - - add to that that I want an outlet and switch for a garbage disposal and some additional outlets in the kitchen (and it would be best if they were all gfi) and some other additional outlets throughout the rest of the house... oh, and having the grounding on all these outlets actually work would be nice too...
i see the dollar signs spinning around my head like the little birds in the cartoons. i can almost hear the "cha-ching" every time i stop to think about how much needs to be done.
we are optimistically (aggressively) aiming to be able to live in the house sometime around thanksgiving. depending on how hard we work, it's still a wild possibility.
my mom and dad are helping, his mom and dad are helping, the baby is helping, the cat would help if he had thumbs - - even if not by choice.
but yes, behind all the complaining, and under all of the stress - - truth is i'm wildly happy to have the keys, and the mortgage, and the work and worry and everything else that goes along with owning our own home.
we signed on it last monday.
tuesday was halloween, and since then the house has owned us.
it's already been a lot of work and expense, and we don't have a whole lot of progress to show.
seriously.
the ratty carpeting from the main floor and the staples and tack strips are up.
the floors (that need to be re-covered because they were neglected so badly that we can't refinish them without repairing them and we haven't the time or funds for that) have been scrubbed.
the walls downstairs are tsp'd and patched...
the walls upstairs are tsp'd, waiting to have errant nails and screws and mollies removed so the patching process can begin.
the foam (from the backing of the ratty carpeting that was on the stairs) has been scraped off, and we're determining what to do about the GLUE residue that is left behind... looks a lot like sanding is going to happen...
and the colors for the walls have been selected (though not purchased, because there's still too much to do)
we may be able to prime the downstairs walls tonight - - we're starting in the kitchen.
i still haven't been in touch with an electrician - - that is slated for tonight, I think. he has a lot to do too - - starting with straightening out the double lugs and crossed wires in the breaker box - - add to that that I want an outlet and switch for a garbage disposal and some additional outlets in the kitchen (and it would be best if they were all gfi) and some other additional outlets throughout the rest of the house... oh, and having the grounding on all these outlets actually work would be nice too...
i see the dollar signs spinning around my head like the little birds in the cartoons. i can almost hear the "cha-ching" every time i stop to think about how much needs to be done.
we are optimistically (aggressively) aiming to be able to live in the house sometime around thanksgiving. depending on how hard we work, it's still a wild possibility.
my mom and dad are helping, his mom and dad are helping, the baby is helping, the cat would help if he had thumbs - - even if not by choice.
but yes, behind all the complaining, and under all of the stress - - truth is i'm wildly happy to have the keys, and the mortgage, and the work and worry and everything else that goes along with owning our own home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
