Movin' on up.

Nine hours until the movers get here.

I am so. not. ready.

Internet is *supposed* to be hooked up at the new place tomorrow, but you know how that can work. Not like I'll have time to be here anyway.

See you in a few days, folks.

Be well.

Colours

Living room, blue.

Kitchen, yellow.

Spare rooms, green.

Bedroom, raspberry.

Explanations.

Ok, based on the comments I'm getting, I guess I need to clarify some things regarding the house:

First off, we *did* pay for a house inspection, BEFORE we bought. I also had two engineers from my firm check out the house at the same time. (I work for a consulting company, and we deal with soil mechanics, house construction, groundwater and stability issues all the time.) All of the problems that we are encountering were NOT visible during the home inspection, nor during the two following inspections that we had. We're finding all this stuff out because we have basically gutted the basement. How would *anyone* know that the wiring was wrong, when it's tucked up into the ceiling? Same with the plumbing, most of this stuff was behind the walls. We only found out about the mold in the bathroom and the overflow pipe being cut, because we removed the tub!

As far as the foundation crack, there were some signs from outside that this could be a *potential* problem. If we would have had typical January weather, we would have been fine. But we got a crazy rainfall, and there was nowhere for the water to go, but in. We don't know if the crack was there before or not. We're still trying to find out if the previous owners knew anything.

We certainly are going to go after whoever it was that cut the overflow pipe for the tub. In my books, that's almost malicious. We've got the lawyer working on things now.

Had we just slapped some paint on the walls and moved in, we never would have known any of this was wrong. But we didn't. We decided early on that we'd gut and re-do the basement, so that we would know it was done right, and we would know exactly what was under the ceiling and behind the walls.

And the saving grace in all this is that we caught all the unsafe electrical stuff, all the wonky plumbing stuff, and all that mold, BEFORE we were living there. BEFORE we carpeted, painted, and moved all our stuff in. It would be SO much harder to try and fix this while we (and all our animals) were living there. Now I know we will be living in a safe home, with no mold, and no fire hazards. That's worth the past few weeks of stress. Really, it is.

Anyone have any more questions??

Head rest

head rest
Originally uploaded by Jenn W.

Apparently, this is a comfortable position to nap in.

And it just doesn't stop.

Why, yes, that would be water leaking out from under the subfloor.


And that leak was caused by this big crack in our foundation.

*sigh*

I'm really having a day here, people.

The Money Pit.

Remember 'The Money Pit'? Film my life right now, I could re-make that movie.

*sigh*

I'm just point-forming this, because I don't even have the energy to complete full sentences. I'm a little upset, a little frustrated, and mightily pissed off at people who do things the 'easy' way.

· They* painted latex over oil paint, so my friends spent all of Saturday hand stripping sheets of paint off my kitchen and dining room walls.

· Instead of using mactac or shelf paper in the kitchen drawers, they* used wallpaper. And glued it down.

· The bathroom fan is vented only into the attic. NOT where you want your moist air to go. We'll have to climb up there and run a pipe to vent it outside.

· They* spliced the electrical line for the stove, so that they could run a stove downstairs. Totally against code, and really not safe at all.

· Their washer and drier were run off extension cords from an outlet on the other side of the room.

· They* joined the city water line and the soft water line. Which means ALL the water in the house is soft, even the lawn service line. Nothing like watering with salt to kill a lawn, eh?

· They* painted over EVERYTHING. I actually had to use a pry bar on some of the switch plates, because they were painted solid to the wall.

· There are tons of other things they did wrong, or not to code, or just the easy/lazy way. Incorrect/unsafe electrical stuff and lots of quick fixes. We'll have some digging up of the yard to do come spring because of the way the eaves troughs were installed under the deck, and at one point there was a serious mouse problem, if the amount of mouse poop downstairs is any indication. I guess we'll find all this out as we go along.

And finally, the worst thing they* did – you know the overflow pipe in your tub? So that if you happen to run the bathwater too high, it drains out that little hole and down a pipe?? THEY* CUT IT. Because the bathtub wouldn't quite fit in the spot. Which means any water that went out that hole just went out into the floor. The wall behind that shower was *covered* in mold. It's all been ripped out, and the bathtub is now in the middle of the kitchen floor until whoknowswhen.

That last one was enough to send me off the deep end. This was a rough weekend, and I'm tired of backpedaling. I just got off the phone with my lawyer, to see if there is anything we can do to recoup some of the financial losses we're taking on this. We'll never get back the time we're spending, but some coins in our pockets would help a bit.

Cross your fingers for me, ok?



* I don't know specifically who 'they' are. It could have been the most recent owners, or it could have been the 'do-it-yourself' dudes who lived there before.

House stuff....again.

I spoke to a friend yesterday, and uttered the sentence "The electrician will be in next week, and we need to call the plumber again, and then I still need estimates from an interior decorator." I felt all pompous and uppity. I never thought I'd have to hire so many people to work on my house.

I'm spending lots of my internet time here, lately. If you can think of doing it, they'll have an article on it. As much as I'm hiring the above people, it's only because so much of this stuff has to meet code, or be done by licenced/registered people. I still read all the articles I can, though. It's like when you take your car in, I read as much as I can first, so that I know what the mechanic is talking about, and he won't be too quick to swindle me if I am educated about what he's doing.

I'm taking tomorrow off, so I can be at the house all day. I'm heading there straight after work tonight, and get to do my laundry in my new washer and dryer!! (oh, how domestic am I, that such a thing would make me so happy...)

Your mystery for the day.

Who Is Benjamin Stove?

:)

Reno update.

While my brother was ripping apart our basement yesterday, he noticed a few things. Like this:


That pipe is the main pipe from our toilet upstairs. Apparently the 'do-it-yourself'ers that lived there before put the light fixture *directly under* the pipe. Uhhhh. Not so smart, yanno?

The light fixture is all corroded, and so unsafe. (As soon as my brother saw this, he turned off the hydro and totally disconnected that fixture.) Not only did they do this, but they put some seal in the bathtub drain in backwards (or something. That's why we called the plumber yesterday), they jimmy-wired the dishwasher, and there are a couple other circumspect issues in the house.

All in all, it's all fixable stuff. It means a little more work than we originally anticipated, but that's ok. I'm excited to see how it all turns out, and I know we'll be extremely proud when it's all done, and we look back at what we started with. I'm documenting everything with pictures (big surprise), and this will be one of our 'before' pictures:

Excuse me while I focus on the internet...

I just opened my mail, and in it was a brochure from a Marketing/Graphic Design firm. It included an article regarding print media, and a card that read:

For the benefit of your colleagues that
underestimate the power of print, the Internet-
focused can also access the article on our website.

This 'internet-focused' person finds that little statement a little bit haughty, don't you?

All painted out

I love our new neighbourhood. Within a couple hours of being at the new house on Saturday, the guy next door came and introduced himself, five kids came to ask if we had kids who could come out and play, and every other neighbour who walked by waved at us. Today while we were out shovelling, a guy from down the block came and said hello while he walked his dog. Then today, when we needed some emergency plumbing help (more on that later), my brother called a friend of his to come over and help, and he lives seven houses down.

My arms feel like they're going to fall clean out of their sockets. I washed and primed (primered?) walls for most of the day. This week I have to go over a there a couple nights and steam the border off the wallpaper, and all the stupid sticky paper on all the closet shelves. Next weekend, more painting.

But for now, time to crash. Hope you all had a good weekend.

He used to be a cook, can you tell?

My house is gutted.

And although I was expecting it, and although I knew it'd be a mess, I don't know if there's anything that can prepare you for the first sight of your brand new (to you) home ripped apart at the seams.

I called my brother to thank him for getting started on the work so fast, and he had some words of wisdom for me when I told him it was a bit sad seeing my house like that.

He said "You gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette."

He makes sense, that man.

* * * * *

See you all in a couple days. I'm going gung-ho at the house this weekend. Hope y'all have a nice one.

Have a seat.

Bench
Originally uploaded by Jenn W.

Whew.

Bushed. No house visit today. I had a client, and then we went to feed my friend's cats while she's on vacation.

My brother has already knocked down one wall and will be there half of tomorrow to keep working.

Hrm. That's all I got. Too tired to think, right now.

Hope y'all are well.

*contented sigh*

Yesterday, I left work an hour early and went home to collect the dog, and a couple boxes of stuff for the new place. (The important stuff; toilet paper, paper towels, kleenex, hand soap, hand lotion, dish soap, stuff like that, and one little surprise for the husband.) Mike met me here shortly after, and we headed out. We stopped at Tim's on the way, so I could grab a coffee. Mike went in, since it was at one of the drive-thru-less ones in the city, and hopped back in the van with my coffee and a bag of...something.

We got to the house, and parked in OUR driveway. Unlocking that door for the first time was really liberating. I haven't lived in a house for...sixteen, maybe seventeen years. I can't wait to have a yard, and a walls I can put my photos on, and a workbench in the garage, and a run for the dog. And it's bigger than I remember, which was quite the nice surprise.

We wandered around a bit, took it all in, and came back into the kitchen. Mike opened up the Timmy's bag, and there were two small celebration cakes. I opened a box I had, and pulled out a small bottle of Ice Wine and Brandy. We had a toast, and a bit of cake. It was pretty sweet.

(ok, *barf*, I'm done being sappy now.)

Mike's mom came down to drop off some stuff she had for us, like our very first shovel, some garbage bins, and a lawnmower. The dogs had a run in the yard, and we packed it in and came home.

We went over again tonight, right after work. Brought a few more things, but went mostly to meet my brother and his family, my dad and his wife, and a couple we hang with regularly so they could all check out the place. My brother is doing all of our renovations for us. (Knocking down some walls, building a closet in the basement, helping with the floors, and some of the other finer details.)

My nephews ran around the house like elephants, but I think they liked it there. The oldest one says he's going to come back and visit very often.

I was pretty convinced that our dining room area was really small, but we had a table in there with two leaves in it, and eight people milling around the kitchen, and it really wasn't too crowded. Busy, yes, but I can deal with that. I'm really looking forward to having company, and dinner guests again. I haven't entertained in years.

Now, it's late. I can't wipe the smile off my face. I haven't slept properly in over a week (partially due to excitement, partially due to the killer cold I've had), so I'm turning in.

I'm sure I'll be relatively sparse around here for the next month, and when I do update, I'm sure it will be house-related. So, uh, thanks in advance for your patience while I'm on this one-track subject. :)

Ah, if you were here, I'd hug you all. I'm in *that* good of a mood.

Home Ownership

Oh, my, that was a nice phone call.

Seems I get to go

PICK UP MY HOUSE KEYS NOW!!!!

WOO!

Droplet

Droplet
Originally uploaded by Jenn W.

I can't believe I now have a camera that will actually take a picture of a water droplet.

Hee!!

(I know, I know....small things...)

Resolutions

Most people are posting 'year in review' blogs, or lists of their New Year's Resolutions.

Here's my really short year in review:

I got married, and we bought a house.

:)

As for my 'resolutions', well, I hate to say it but I do have some. I don't want to call them New Year's Resolutions, though. I prefer to call them 'New ME Resolutions.' I woke up this morning with a completely different outlook on things than when I went to bed last night.

So, for starters, here are things I'm going to do for the new ME, starting right now:

Listen more, talk less. (And I mean really *listen*, not just 'hear'.)
Drink more water.
Sit up straight.
Walk every day. (Except when it's minus anything below zero. Then maybe I'll just skip in the garage.)
Organize Organize Organize!!! I swear the clutter around my house is killing me little bits at a time.
Take a photography course. (Swanky new camera, it would be good if I knew all it could do.)
Save my damn money.
No junk food.
Pick my battles.
Mean what I say, and more importantly, say what I mean.

That's it for now. I may just update this list from time to time, to keep it fresh and in the forefront of my mind.

What are *your* resolutions??

New Year's Eve.

Last night was spent in the company of three awesome guys....my husband, and my two nephews.



My sister-in-law called us Friday, asking if we'd watch the kids as their sitter had not worked out. Of course, we agreed. They don't go out too often, and we can go out anytime, so it seemed silly to make them stay home when we had really casual plans that could be changed.

We had a *great* time. The youngest one (19 mo.) fought sleep harder than I've ever seen any child fight, but finally passed out on Mike's chest around 11:30. The oldest (3 1/2) stayed up to do a New Year's countdown with us, and then he too fell asleep shortly after, cuddling with Mike. (And they were both allowed to stay up as long as they wanted last night...it's not like we KEPT them up.)

The kids wanted nothing to do with sleep, but we couldn't keep the damn dog awake.

Today we *finally* went out to take some pictures. I'll be updating my Flickr site as soon as I have time, and I'm still totally floored at how awesome my new camera is.