House and Home

Attic insulation

I didn’t get the insulation in the attic finished the other night, but I did get a big section done, and I covered all the gaps where the old insulation wasn’t covering. I still have a lot of work to do up there, but it’s much better than it was before. Last night, I went home from work, tore out the drywall in the hallway near my back door, took out the terrible, poor insulation, threw it all away, and stapled new, thick, pink insulation up on the wall. Then I cut some boards and built up the threshold under the door so the inch and a half gap under the door is now filled.
The house is *much* warmer. Thank god. I hope my heating bill is less. No I need to edit my to do list and move stuff to the “finished” column.

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Plumbing Woes

So on Monday, I had some emergency plumbing done. Apparently, the pressure from the washer/dryer lines caused a leak elsewhere in the plumbing. So the plumber cut the lines to the bathroom I don’t use, and fixed the leak. I got the washer & dryer delivered (!!!!!) and did most of my laundry yesterday. I also got into the crawlspace and put in a bunch of insulation to help lower the gas bill.
On the agenda tonight: redoing the insulation in the attic to give greater warmth. Picking more insulation up on the way home tonight.

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Stuff I accomplished this weekend

Stuff I accomplished this weekend (so far): organized, packed, labeled and put away all the Xmas decorations. Organized the spare bedrooms. Hung curtains and wall art in master bedroom. Had plumbing and electrical installed for my washer and dryer. Got quotes for other electrical work. Purchased washer and dryer, and arranged for delivery Monday morning. Sorted out music collection. Rearranged office so computers are in the correct places. Went to stewart flea market and bought Nancy Drew books and old photos. Spent lots of time with Kathy. 🙂 So far, great weekend.

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Washer and Dryer

Yesterday, I got plumbing for my washer and dryer. On Sunday I’m getting the electrical outlets, and then on Monday I’m getting the washer and dryer I bought yesterday delivered and hooked up. So I will have laundry in my house. Happy happy joy joy. I will sit around watching TV and doing my laundry, just like the old days when I lived in the pumpkin house. Life is beautiful. All is right with the world.

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Furnace Issues

Well, the furnace wasn’t as big a problem as I was worried it might be. It was fairly cheap and I learned a hell of a lot about my furnace that wasn’t in any of my “do it yourself” manuals. The problem was a sensor that needs to be cleaned once a year — I didn’t know about it, and it hasn’t been cleaned since the furnace was installed in 1996. So now I know how to do that, and how to do other troubleshooting stuff if something similar happens to my furnace, so I can try to fix it before calling the maintenance guys. I also learned that my furnace is in really good shape and shouldn’t need anything major for five or six years at least. So, cool. The car problem still sucks, though.

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Crappy Weekend

I had a really crappy weekend. I worked all day Saturday on the house, especially the living room, and I got nothing at all done. I managed to get the old nails pulled out of the ceiling joists for only 1/3rd of the ceiling. I got the blocks of wood nailed up that will support the new drywall for only 1/2 of one wall.

For the backdoor, I put the second handle on the trap door, so it’s easier to open. And I ran the extension cord up from the basement. I shoved some foam around the top opening of the door, and tried to use the spray foam to fill in around the cracks on the sides of the door. That crap is really messy and hard to control and I got it on my hands and still can’t get it off. I got some of the leaves raked, but I still have to bag them, and I need to clean the gutters out again. And the rest of the leaves are falling, so I still have to do that. I need to cut back some tree limbs, and caulk the one gutter. And when am I going to find time to do that? I have to spend the evenings with the dog, to make up for the fact that he’s alone all day. The poor little guy; it’s not his fault the house is in such shitty shape.

I’m really pissed and frustrated with the house. It’s ugly as hell, and I’m not making even the slightest dent in getting it in shape. There’s only one room that’s even close to looking nice, and I’ve been in the house 10 months. At this rate, it will be 15 years before the house is in order. I hate this fucking house and want to move. There’s way too much shit to do, and there’s no way I can accomplish all this by myself. For some of these jobs I need another person, and I’m going to have to hire someone to help me. That just makes me more pissed off.

I have to do something totally different than the direction I’ve been going with the house. I need to clean out and rearrange something, or move something around. I’m thinking of just closing the living room off altogether. Maybe moving all of building supplies and materials out of the back room into the living room, putting up a door, and closing it off altogether until spring and not thinking about it. I may do that this week during the week.

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Weekend Update 2001-11-11

I had a fantastic three-day weekend in which I accomplished a ton of stuff around the house and otherwise, complete with photos.

  • I raked all the leaves around my house, raked them off the roof, and cleaned out the gutters.
  • I finished the cellar door and opened up the blocked off back door, trashed all of the refuse wall board and particle board, and cleaned out the new little entryway in the back.
  • I put together a storage shelf for the bathroom.
  • I put together a floor lamp for the living room.
  • I had the new floorboards for the living room delivered.
  • I did all my laundry and got my hair cut.
  • I played with my doggie and took pictures of him.
  • I set up some additional security electronics for the house.
  • I bought wall sconces for the living room, a couple of cool lights to make a lamp from, and the remaining trim pieces I need to redo all the trim for the foyer.
  • I settled on a color scheme for the living room.
  • I bought sheer curtains that will go in the living room, and curtain rods for the foyer.
  • I stripped the tile around the fireplace in the living room.
  • I organized the storage room off the kitchen.
  • I e-mailed all sorts of people.
  • I read three magazines and a started reading a new book.

Photos of all this activity will come shortly.

(2014 update: I swear I was not on crack.)

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Talbott Street Bar Issues

Here’s the whole story on the previous rant I posted:

I live next to the Talbott Street Bar, and I’ve had a lot of problems with the bar patrons parking in my backyard and also parking in front of my house, waking me up late, leaving piles of beer bottles and fast food trash in my front yard and trespassing through my side yard on the way to the bar.

In addition to this, some of my friends have been less than considerate while attending the bar. They’ve come by late at night when I’m in bed and either awakened me or tried to. They’ve parked at my house without permission, etc.

A couple weeks ago, I invited some friends over to my house, including a woman I recently met named Pepper. We all went out later to Talbott Street Bar. Since then, Pepper seems to think that she has free reign to park in my backyard whenever she wants to to go to the bar, without letting me know or getting my permission to do so.

The night after we all went out, Pepper parked at my house with a friend. I didn’t recognize the car, so I called the tow truck to take the car away. When I went out to meet the tow truck, I realized there were people in the car having sex. I didn’t know who it was, so I called the police to have them arrested. Turns out it was Pepper and her friend. I was really embarrassed, and angry, too. They apologized, took me out to dinner, etc., but Pepper never seemed to really understand, despite the fact that I said it about 20 times, that I don’t want anyone parking at my house.

So last night, I met friends out at Utopia. Pepper mentioned that she and her guy friend were going to Talbott Street. I said 3 times, “Have fun. Don’t park at my house.” Apparently, she thought I was joking because she went right ahead and parked at my house late at night. I discovered her car because I had a guest coming to visit me, and she couldn’t park at my house because the space was taken by Pepper’s car. So my guest had to park down the street and walk to my house.

I was incredibly pissed off. Twice I picked up the phone to call the tow truck, but I decided to try to manage my anger. I wrote a polite note asking her not to do it again, and went out and put it on her car.

At about 2 a.m., I got an unbelievable answering machine message from Pepper. She ranted, she raved, she cursed at me and told me to fuck off. It’s an amazing message. You’ll get to hear it yourself soon, because I’m converting it to mp3 for download, so that the 22,000 people who visit this site every day will have the chance for a good laugh at her expense. It’s always nice when assholes shoot themselves in the foot, so you don’t have to.

I now have the tow truck on speed dial.

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house plans

I’m going to finish working on my living room, and open up the back door for entry and exit. Then I’m going to close off the extra entry doors and make them back into windows. Hopefully I’ll have all this done by spring, because at that point I’m going to put the house on the market and move.

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