Psychotomy

monday they came and finished the tilework for the bathrooms, including regrouting the shower.  apparently the shop had INSISTED that the sanded grout would be fine for the shower and wouldn’t give them the non-sanded grout.  that you’re supposed to use for showers b/c otherwise it doesn’t hold properly.  shockingly, the sanded didn’t hold properly and sunday it was dripping all over the tub :o

so they redid the shower, put in the edging for the bathroom walls and left.  the wood hadn’t come in yet :o

tuesday they were back and put in the quarterround on the vanities in the bathrooms.  and they brought wood, so they finished up the living room floor, yay!  then they waited in their truck for an hour till I got home so I could write them the check for the remainder of the fee (ouch).  apparently the wood didn’t realyl come in, either, they’d had to go somewhere else and just buy it.  eeeesh.

but everything looks so nice now!  the living room looks huge, I don’t know if that’s the wood floor vs the old carpet making it feel larger, or just b/c everything’s still boxed up so it’s markedly uncluttered.  I’m hoping that when I put it back together I can keep the unclutteriness.  Spent the evening putting the computers and electronics back. now we have to start bringing everything ELSE back too *sigh*

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well, thursday my folks were here for the house again. they tiled the three bathroom floors (basement was left un touched so a toilet worked). there was a bit of a scare when my dad said the tiles were brown and i’m thinking mud/chocolate (the floor is sand, the walls are a somewhat darker color in green i’d guess; he was looking at the wall tiles, and i’m color blind, so meh)

that was thursday. my mom left a note about the grout color so kiir and i picked one.

friday morning, 9:15 or so, they came by to find out which grout color i picked so they could buy it. great. 10:30 or so they come back. the shop doesn’t have the “border tiles” for the shower (the ones that edge off rather than just end, to give it a rounded look). they’re on the truck, but not unloaded yet. great. wtf did you drive 45 minutes this direction to tell me you were going back? W T F?

they go back … about 1:30 or so they call me (yay for phones) and tell me the truck is supposed to be en route, and if it arrives in the next 30 or so they’ll come. otherwise saturday morning.

meanwhile, saturday morning they come and do the edge tiles and grout the three rooms, tile the basement bathroom and put in three toilets. yay!

the shop doesn’t have the wood, yet, so they’ll be back monday to finish that. assuming the shop gets the wood. isn’t this why you order shit in advance? *sigh* i hope they finish monday, or i have to extend K even more!!! :(

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but you can’t blame us!

took my shower at the gym this morning, they arrived ~10 (they told my dad last night 9-9:30, so i ended up more than a little late to my 9:15 appt; resched’d to 10:45) they did some in the living room until about lunch when they had to go to the store/warehouse.

turns out the warehouse ordered the wrong quantity of the wood (christ!) so, uh, they stopped working on that for today. it’s supposed to have come in this evening, or tomorrow morning latest. yeah, uhhuh. then they went to work on the bathrooms. one of the toilet cutoff valve handles wouldn’t turn, so they took it off and asked me to get a new one so they could turn off the water properly. they put in the backing for the tile into three of the bathrooms, there was much hammering. and i had the headache to go with it, JEEEEESH PEOPLE!!! they also scraped and patched part of the shower …

see, part of the shower walls, where the faucets and handles are? yeah, apparently someone (previous owner, builder, someone) wasn’t that hot at it. so they’d kinda cut out a random ass chunk of wall (or broke, whichever) and then patched it by putting the broken bits glued to a couple paint stirring sticks like you get free at home depot or sherwin williams or whoever, and then kidna propped it in the wall. apparently when they took the tile out, it fell out :o so the guy cut out bits of wall to make a patch fit reasonably (squared out the edges, but left the kindof T-shape instead of making a huge hole) and put in a piece of waterproofed drywall/sheetrock stuff so it’s much more properly done now :o

today’s tally: about 6′x8′ of hardwood (maybe 8×10, at the outside) done into the dining room almost done. they took out the living room toilet and put it in the hall in front of the pantry (on cardboard on the unfinished section, so as not to futz up the good floor now), took out the hall toilet and put it in the tub, backing boarded the floors in the master, hall, and living room baths.

i started with 4 toilets, 1-3 showers (3 showers, but one was busted and one had stuff in it from the sink changing i did, but could have been usable). i now have 1 toilet and 0-1 showers (i could TECHNICALLY put some towels on the floor in the basement and use that shower now, but i’m not sure if it’s really OK or not, so i’m not :o)

i don’t think they can finish by friday at this point.

i don’t think they could have finished by friday even if they had started monday. unless, like, they’d started on the bathrooms like they said they were and were fucking supposed to, then they MIGHT have pulled it out. but they can’t even START tiling the basement bathroom until friday, earliest, since i’m supposed to have 1+ bathrooms (toilets) at all times … and so they tile tomorrow in the master or living room (probably both actually), but have to wait until friday to start the basement b/c you can’t walk on the new tile for 24 hours. actually, i don’t know if that’s after the laying, the grouting, or both … i think it’s both ….

which means, uh, they can’t even start the basement by friday … anyone else noticing a problem with the master plan?

but i’m sure it’s my fault for not having the LIVING ROOM done in time even though they didn’t have the RIGHT QUANTITY of wood to LAY in the living room …

shoulda started on the fucking bathrooms like you told me, folks. b/c i ain’t paying any more here :p

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tuesday was day 2=1. i had scheduled to go to work tth this week, figuring i wanted to be home monday (when they started; oops), friday (when they finished …. uh) and wednesday (well, actually, i had a dr’s appt, had to be home anyway)

so my mom came in the morning to let them in. since it was the first day, after monday’s fiasco, i was hoping they wouldn’t need much from her, but i kept calling during the day to check in. was shocked when she told me they had the first floor stripepd of carpet and linoleum already!

got home, dad tells me they’ve stripped 3 bathrooms, but notthe upstairs hall (why strip 3 and not all four?) then he told me it was tiled (uh? they FINISHED that fast? christ, why didn’t they do this monday???) then i found the living room hadn’t been touched, and my dad says “oh this one’s tiled too” … uh, no, it’s linoleum/vinyl/whatever. we’re putting in real tile. ceramic. oh!

they stripped the master bath’s floor, and pulled the toilet (it’s sitting in the shower). they stripped the basement bath floor (but the toilet and shower are both “functional”, except i’m not sure i should take a shower with the floor stripped; or if i’d want to walk on the floor then, either). they stripped the hall showertub (it needed retiling, which was where this all started …). they stripped the living room carpet and the kitchen linoleum. and they put in hardwood for most of hte living room, up to the dining room-half of the living room. i was impressed.

I was also without a shower. i went to the gym this morning to take a shower :o

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sunday, after dropping K at camp and kiir at the airport, I came home and cleaned out the bathrooms and decided to patch the two drywall holes.  since they were doing the bathrooms.

wow, cutting drywall makes a lotta dust!  and apparently I’m not real clear on how to make straight cuts with my dremel in drywall.  but i managed to get things reasonably cut for the holes.  put in some 1×3 cuts that I screwed into the drywall that was there (when they’ve done professional, they’ve always screwed the cuts to the studs, but i’m not that skilled to put a screw in at an angle through wood to more wood while holding everything up)  then apparently the “drywall joint tape” isn’t so much tape.  i thought it was the cloth mesh tape stuff that they put over the edges of drywall cuts so that the mud (compound) can cover the hole nicely … no, apparently not.  it’s basically paper.

I don’t know what i was REALLY supposed to do with it, but i put a bit of mud on the wall, then slapped the “tape” on it and pressed it down to smooth … figured the compound would hold it in place ;)  then i slapped more on top to cover it up

there’s a few places where the screws didn’t go quite flush (well, like, most of them), and the mud didn’t ge smooth.  but they always do a lot of sanding and multiple coats.  i might sand later.  but i doubt it, i’m a lazy jerk ;)

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yesterday was the first day of the contractors working on the floors & bathrooms.  i spent sunday night moving stuff and making sure all the bathrooms were cleared out (i also did some drywall patching, since i figured i might as well hit that step BEFORE they put in fancy brand new floors ;)

so yesterday morning (10:30) they arrive, and tell me they want to start on the hardwood floor for hte living room.  uh.  crap, i didn’t finish clearing that out yet!  ok ok , they need to go get the wood anyway, so i’ll have it cleared when you get back 30-60 minutes.  sure, not a problem, sorry i thought you were starting with the tiling (since as i understand it, it takes a minimum of two days for a bathroom due to having to let things set overnight an’ stuff)

work hard, running up and down the stairs with computers, boxes, the new tv, etc (god my legs hurt!!!) and i’m 90% done when the phone rings.  OK, he’s calling to see if it’s clear so they can start when they get here with the wood, fine, no problem.  it is mostly.  but NO!  it’s the contractors office calling to tell me htat, since it wasn’t cleared yet, they’ll be back the next day so I have time to clear it … but, it’s already done, are they not coming back ?  no?  *sigh*

so yesterday was a complete wash :o  but i got a lot of exercise, and the living room did get cleared, at least, even if i moved the tv back down then back up in the evening ;)

what I don’t get?  why didn’t they just start with the effing bathroom yesterday, since the living room wasn’t clear?

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someone stole my trashcan!

it’s the same one that’s been there for the last 5 years since we moved in! it’s just like 75% of the OTHER trashcans on the street! what is there worth stealing???

the ONLY distinguishing feature(s) about my can, at this time, are: it has random papers kinda permanently encrusted to the bottom (and actually, i think they came out last big storm when it got filled with like a foot of water), and the fact that it’s the only bin on the street that DOESN’T have a house number painted on it!

now, i’d say “well, maybe they took mine by mistake” but, yo! that means that they had to NOT NOTICE that it DIDN’T have their house number! what, they figured the spray paint just magically washed off? maybe the trash people put a layer of “old grungy dark plastic” paint on it to play a joke? wtf people!

(ok, so, technically this is the third or fourth time it’s gone AWOL … and i’m not really 100% sure that the one someone just swiped was really mine or not, since there USED to be more than one unlabelled one; but it fit my lid and looked like mine, and was unlabelled … close enough right?)

actually, it’s probably the mexicans. they stole my neighbors at one point (hers are labelled … oh, and she watched as they took it from her carport and started trying to take it around to their backyard … uhhhh). they have like 5 already, so whats one more. and it’s not like their trash ever FITS in their bins. trash day: wednesday. by friday evening, they’re usually spilling over and making a crap mess … i’m fairly sure thats where the half-eaten roast chicken came from last week (k kept wanting to ‘investigate’ that … but he wasn’t keen on getting too close to their trash bins … the dog is scared of your trash, this tell you anything, yo?)

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kiir went to some dar thing with my mom today (agreed, largely AfAIK, b/c i wasn’t going to be home so she figured she could keep my mom company, get brownie points with the inlaw, that kinda thing … two hours later, they declread today would be a holiday, but she’d committed :o)

as she was leaving, she admonishes me to clean, then comments “who am i kidding, you’re just going to play video games”. I’ve been cleaning for the last HOW MANY MONTHS? and now i’m getting grief b/c the last two days i didn’t? ;) (i know she was joking)

so i cleaned some more. filled two more bags of trash. shred bin is getting full-ish again, too. took down another few boxes of stuff to the basement, although we’re in the “not fitting so perfectly” stuff now, so boxes fill up fast. still have a bunch of stuff, but not sure how well it organizes. cleaned up my desk a bunch, finished assembling the entertainment center, partially so i didn’t have to worry about any (more) screws and bits vanishing when it’s moved all over next week

i hate cleaning. I realllly hate having to clean ALL OF THIS CRAP UP! b/c, yaknow? there’s a LOT OF CRAP! *sigh* i should go back to cleaning now. or maybe play video games …

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on the salvation army thing, kiir decided not to bother with the furniture that was questionable upstairs.  so i took it apart and hauled it to the dump thursday.  we decided on what we needed for the bathroom, so saturday morning i tore it up and got the old vanity & sink out.  took it up to the dump.  guy at the entrance (it’s free to residents, so they check IDs) asked if i had jus the sink in the back, i told him there was more in the trunk.  he starts going on about building waste and mumbling something that sounded like iwas supposed to use the commercial dump entrance and pay by the pound or some crap.  i ignored him and dumped the stuff like i have been.  let’s recap:  last saturday, two sinks and related crappage.  wednesday: cabinet. thursday: furniture and a couple more cheap shitty cabinets.  saturday: sink and a handful of rotting plyboard.  and we only had issues  ONCE?

after that, switched up cars (i ruin mine with trips to the dump not hers; need hers for picking stuff up at home depot, though, b/c it needs to be in one piece, yadig?) and got the new vanity and sink (“these are all the 18″ depth sinks.  all we have is white” “uh, ok” ), get it home, work at hurting myself some more by hauling the 36×18 vanity into the house.  cardboard is ripping off all over the place, so it’s hard to pick it up :o  get it in, take it out of the box and … the drawer front is broken in half.  take the DRAWER back, b/c it’s a big fucking heavy cabinet!  go home, get the rest of the big fucking heavy cabinet, return it, buy the new one, take IT home, and it’s OK.

picked up a plane (actually a dremel and planing attachment) and started trying to trim down the door frame.  trim some more.  take off the gaurd b/c it’s getting in the way of what i need to plane.  plane some more.  bit snaps off (goes flying but luckily did NOT take my eye with it or anything).  use the crowbar to get the cabinet in since it ALMOST fits.  get the sink top and .. . yeah, right.  need more clearance.  ended up ripping off the moulding … the moulding i’d just spent 1.5hrs and a 20$ bit planing down.  got a new bit and a hand-held scraper (new bit for later; scraper to try to trim the little bit i still needed).  another few hours and ~2-3″ of sawdust/shavings and i can get past the doorframe finally.  then i had to cut a big hole in the fucking drywall.

JESUS!  got it in, though.  there’s a hole in the wall and the doorframe needs all kindsa fixin’.  but the sink’s in.  hooked up to the water.  but not the drain.  EVERY OTHER SINK has been 2-4″ gap between the drain out and the wall pipe.  this one?  no, this one’s b eing different.  it’s 1″ too LONG (and 1″ over, but that could have been handled).  I need to figure out what part to put there, now, or what needs changing up, or SOMETHING.  *sigh*

spent on and off the last couple days trying to work on the living room.  but it gets tiring and annoying.  and i have to do something with all these boxes i’m filling (4 with dvd’s, and i fear the bookshelves and the MASSIVE boxes they’re gonna take :/)

little over a week to clear the living room (and hall and kitchen and fix the bathroom and … *sigh*)

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was trying to move the old flat-screen (not panel) 32″ tv downstairs last night.  figured it was only a couple years old, worth keeping.  but it’s really heavy.  not out of the realm of my ability to move, but really heavy.  and then it’s really bulky.  and some moron decided NOT to design hand-hold places into it.

after a bunch of effort and a few tries, i decided i couldn’t move the thing more than a few feet.  and then i had to get it back up to get it onto the old stand again.  jesus that was hard.  we decided to let salvation army have the damned thing.  assuming they’ll take it.  if they don’t, i’m at a loss :o  it can sit in the corner or something.

the white cabinet we were giving them, when i tried to put it together it slipped and cracked.  so i took it to the dump, instead, this morning.  the two entertainment centers are good to go.  the armoir that was in K’s room, the base seems to be disintegrating, so they may not take it.  i’ll have to disassemble it tonight if they don’t.  the nightstand and one of the kitchen mini cabinets are good, but they may not take the other cabinet b/c the back’s coming off.  just needs a couple tacks, but i didn’t notice it last night and didn’t feel like fixing it when we were going to bed and kiir pointed it out.  if they don’t take it, i’ll rip it apart into the trunk like the armoir and the white box.

and this weekend?  i get to do the third bathroom, YAAAY!  just in time for xmas!  YAAAY!  then i get to clean the whole freakin’ first floor Y– aw hell, BOOO!!! :o

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