Posted by K
Mon, 19 Jun 2006 04:16:00 GMT
Apologies to Howard Jones. Or, I should say, apologies to you for bringing up bad songs from 1985. I have no idea why my brain does this to me. This is, I suppose, the price I am paying for sort of being able to sleep the last few days.
Right now, other than moments of hot-flush-inducing absolute terror I have when I flash on thinking about how horrible it will be flying with the cat (very unhappy, and I will have to go through security and deal with taking the cat out of the carrier and carrying him through, while also taking off my shoes AND proving to the TSA that my laptop is not a bomb) or wondering if all our stuff really has a chance of fitting in the space in the truck we have reserved, I am kind of OK. We have to get rid of a bike and some plants and pots and various things like that, and pack the dishes/bath stuff/clothes we have been using and haven’t packed yet, but things seem under control.
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Posted in Remodeling: General, Moving cross-country | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Thu, 15 Jun 2006 03:10:00 GMT
Things are just getting worse.
- the AC guy may or may not have fixed things (and wants more money for it, and this is where I guess things get sticky, since yeah, he had to do extra work, but then if he hadn’t messed things up in the first place/had consulted with us before taking drastic measures he wouldn’t have had to redo anything) but we have no idea because we haven’t seen anything
- the LR floor is hosed—plywood—and we have no idea what to do (there is some old/reclaimed floors guy I got in touch with today who is hopefully going to come tell us what to do, even though our contractor might not like that because it will take some time and he wants us to put down whatever and be done with it)
- I am on the verge of crying 24-7, having breakdowns over things like drawer pulls (while simultaneously realizing that drawer pulls are the least of our worries), and am getting choked up randomly thinking about leaving here.
- I seem to be unable to actually sleep without medication of some sort. Or alcohol, which seems to work until 3 or 4 AM at which time I wake up in a panic (so I am not going down that route, in any case, since that is almost worse than not sleeping at all, and besides, who needs a drinking problem)
Because I need to be able to knock one thing off the endless Stuff To Do List, I am looking for a litterbox. Thank god for the Poop Boxaroo. I think the Poop Boxaroo sums up how I feel right now.
Note that I am not (not a chance!) getting the Poop Boxaroo, even though it claims:
“Why not give your kitties the privacy they deserve while disguising the litterbox?
Features a removable top for easy cleanup that doubles as a resting spot and four cute carpeted ball feet.
The outside of the litterbox enclosure is completely carpeted and the inside has been polyurethaned to reduce odor and to make cleanup a snap.”
I am not sure that a carpeted box with huge pawprints on the side is really a good disguise for a litterbox.
So maybe as of yet I have not figured out what to do about the litterbox (get one and send it, buy one online, make someone I know in DC go get one?) but I did manage to buy a range hood tonight. GE Profile JV536 30” blah blah highly rated by Consumer Reports and I was smart enough to order it from the place that was a little more expensive in actual price but didn’t charge NINETY-NINE dollars in shipping on a 200-odd dollar order, which is insane. Although I was still too dumb and hasty and just now found it for 30 bucks less. If I wake up early enough to call New Jersey tomorrow morning maybe I will cancel and reorder in the name of saving money.
I have also decided (with Matt’s approval) to get crazy and mix black and stainless appliances.
Posted in Miscellaneous | 2 comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Mon, 12 Jun 2006 02:13:00 GMT
Kristin just sent us some new pictures of the house, so we can see more of the duct fun, and the bathroom tile (which is moving along at light speed, it seems). Check out a few I grabbed from her and put up, over here.
Posted in Remodeling: Bathroom | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:16:00 GMT
The thermostat (which, by the way, didn’t work anyway) is being moved to the other side of the wall. Jorge and the AC guy (who wants to make us happy with things, it seems) are brainstorming about what to do about the ginormo-mess in the living room floor and I am trying to not think about what that means for the actual floor that was cut out for ginormo duct. I also told Jorge about the bad duct in the back bedroom (and I think Matt told the AC guy too, or is going to) and I also asked Jorge to hang the DR windows as low as possible in the frame so that we can fit molding in.
Basically, I emphasized that I don’t want any messing with door and window molding for ductwork. I am not sure how it will work out, but I guess we will find out more tomorrow.
We were about 15 tile pieces short, which would have been a travesty, but it turns out Morris Tile in Tuxedo MD (hooray for Tuxedo and the Friendly Inn if it is still there) has the pieces we need so Jorge can pick them up there.
On the west coast, packing continues. Other than some clothes, bedding, dishes, appliances, and the back porch/plants (which I started dealing with and would deal with more but have some awful illness or sinus thing, and have had it for two days and am tired and headachy), most things are packed. I did manage to get everything else done this weekend, so I guess the rest of plant-sorting can wait (this is all very stressful, since what do I do with the plants I can’t take?).
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Posted by K
Thu, 08 Jun 2006 05:08:00 GMT
Well, today was a day of highs and lows. Actually, it started out good and ended up bad. So, not really highs and lows, but more of a slippery slope into misery.
The good: THE DAMN TILE IS HERE. Thanks to our friend S and her trusty Golf, (and under the disbelieving eyes of the tile guys who thought it was impossible to put all that tile in a Golf and drive it into DC and, uh, I guess we should have sent Jorge to get it in his truck), the tile is now safely in the house. She even carried some in. We sent grout (yes, we shipped 16 pounds of grout across the country because the alternative was too tiring to consider) on Monday so grout will be there very soon.
Also, I have a ticket on a plane that will get me into DC at 10.33 PM on the 29th of June (and supposedly the house will actually be mostly done at that point). I am usually happy about this, although right now the thought makes me want to cry.
The reason I want to cry: the AC ductwork. Right now I think the AC guy is crazy and I have no idea what the hell he was doing when he put in some of the ducting. I understand that not all of it could be put in the walls the way he wanted. That is fine. What is not fine is the enormous and crooked double duct in our living room, that, when framed in, will obscure some of the doorway trim behind drywall. Also, an upstairs bedroom has that problem with some trim at the top of a door. Beyond that, there appears to be a (crooked) thermostat installed where there are going to be cabinets on the kitchen/dining room wall. Check out the horribleness here.
Sigh. I sent Jorge a What The Hell (I said it all as nicely as I could) email and I guess now I will go sleep fret.
Posted in Modern amenities, Remodeling: General, Remodeling: Bathroom | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by K
Fri, 02 Jun 2006 05:38:00 GMT
The hipster and fancier version of the tire planters we have in our neighborhood is <a href=http://shop.theurbangarden.co.uk/product_info.asp?prdID=1589&n=recycled+tyre+planter&usrID=73EBBBE7-8741-4479-894C-76F79BEE5D83
>these and I don’t know how much shipping is but I think I need two or three of them for the porch.
Also: I think I fly out with the cat in four weeks, we have a million things to do, still, and our tile still appears to be missing.
I am right now obsessing over sinks (I went from thinking single bowl to double bowl and back to single bowl again) and countertops, even though there isn’t much we can do about any of that right now. I really wish we had some damn tile for the bathroom. I think that at this point maybe we SHOULD cancel the order and take our chances with a tile place that has half an idea as to what is going on. Matt doesn’t think Ramon (at Evil Nash Tile) even knows he sells tile.
Posted in Remodeling: Landscape | no comments | no trackbacks
