I know it has again been a long time since I wrote, but you know that old saying of "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all"? Well, if I am being honest, I haven't had much nice to say. It's been a tough few weeks ...... a tough month .......
I know I affectionately called the house a money pit early on, but it turns out that that moniker is holding on like a pit bull. I told Brad the other day that all I really hoped for these days was maybe two days in a row where everything went right. I am apparently still waiting. I have had some good days, but they don't seem to string together. It has been a tough "welcome home" to say the least.....
A lot of it centers around the house. I think both Brad and I wish we could go back in time and perhaps reconsider buying it. I suppose perhaps at some point I will stop kicking myself for it, but I am pretty sure I was the deciding factor in picking this house - just fell in love with a few of the features and it blinded me to a lot of the other things. And Brad just wanted to make me happy. Live and learn.
The advantage of writing each day would be that I could tell you each day about the antics of what went wrong on that day, but to be honest, by the end of most of the days lately, I am too worn out to want to sit and write and often I have just been ready for the day to end. At the least I should have taken notes, but I haven't, so here is what I can remember so far:
- Went into the attic to find window screens (where the previous owner said to look)
- Did find window screens, in addition to apparently their alternate trash depositing spot. Stuff everywhere!
- Found that said attic has three levels to it! First two are pretty easily accessible, with one drop down of about two and a half feet. (This was discovered when I made the step down into unknown territory and cracked the ceiling drywall below! Hooray!) Got to where there is a small opening to the third, decided I would have to go on a starvation diet to fit, so chose not to.
- But wait, what is this? Cold air in that part of the attic? That can't be good! Cold air comes from air conditioners and my attic should not be air conditioned!
- Looked all over the rest of the house for an access to the other part of the attic. None seems to exist. This means I will have to create my own! Oh joy!
- Got the electric bill for our first month in the house. I am too embarrassed to tell you how much it was, but let's just say it made me cry! Literally!!! Real tears! There are MAJOR energy issues with this house!!
- After the electric bill, the motivation to get into the attic increases. So I start taking down old acoustical ceiling tiles in the mechanical room off of the laundry room since it's the only room that is not dry walled.
- First large tile removed ...... you HAVE to be kidding me!!! A dog bed? Seriously?! They used a dog bed as attic insulation?!
- Removed more ceiling tiles - no more dog beds. Finally a space big enough for me to get into the attic if I move myself just right. It's a start, so up I go.
- Now in said attic...... dark, hot, .... Ceiling fan number three is not working. Height to move around seems to be about three to four feet at best, so spent the next hour either in a crouch or duck walking or crawling!
- Again, find three light fixtures with dead bulbs! Change bulbs but still not sure where they turn on, though am guessing they are tied in with the ones of the other side of the attic (note to self to check that). As opposed to previous occupants, I take dead light bulbs out with me when I go and don't just toss them aside.
- In search of cold air I felt from the other side, so head north on my hands and knees. Cool...... cooler.... coldest! There it is! I gigantic duct that looks to be about a foot wide totally disconnected from the hose and nicely chilling the attic! I was smart enough this time to take a camera up with me so I have proof!
- Try to follow all of the ducting to check it - cold air leaks in several places. Hooray for Home Warranty!
- Decide to check out the rest of the attic for anything I might find. Surprisingly, the rest of the stuff seems to be in order on that side, but there are wires EVERYWHERE! The house has an old intercom system and I am wondering if perhaps that is what some of them are – or perhaps an old alarm system (since we seem to have three in the house – one of which appears to be from the ‘50’s and even has a red panic button!!!)
- Down out of the attic I come. No way anyone bigger than me is fitting up there, so I expand the opening, brace a few of the joists and cut out a section of 2x4 so workers can get up there. It’s still a little tricky, but as long as they don’t weigh 300 pounds, I think we are okay. If they are 300 pounds, I don’t want them in my attic anyway!
- Wake up next morning to discover that the muscles in my thighs are on fire from having duck walked through my attic! Not a position or technique one should spend much time doing when you are 50!
Okay, so what we have at this point is a poorly-functioning, energy-sucking antique air conditioner (x 2), a old HVAC system that has a fan that won’t shut off and runs 24/7 and seems to be putting at least part of the cold air outside (imagine how hot Wichita would be if I was NOT doing this? Maybe 110 instead of just 106!), another HVAC system that has broken and leaking ducts, two out of three attic fans that don’t work, my refrigerator freezer that doesn’t get quite cold enough (all ice cream at my house is soft serve!), a cook top that has half of the burners that don’t work, a broken trash compactor, a few doors that scrape and stick, cracked ceiling drywall because of where I stepped in the attic and the sprinkler repair in the atrium that I have already done. That should be it, right?!
NOT! This morning it's cooler than normal for 7 a.m. (only 75 instead of 85!) so I decide to do a little work in the yard before it heats up. I go over to the hose bib behind the greenhouse.... only to smell natural gas! Great! Call the gas company. Long story short, I have a leak in a buried gas line in my back yard that leads to the pool heater! Not like I need the pool heater right now, but I have to find the source of the leak. Guess I will be spending tomorrow morning digging up the back yard in strategic spots!
It just seems like one thing after another and I am so tired of it! I really don't mean to have a pity party, but honestly, just when I think I have found out all of the things I am going to find something else happens! Forgive me my whining........
And it's not just the house. My 50th birthday was last Saturday ....... Brad forgot. I am usually not one for birthdays but this one was big and with everything else going on, all I really wanted was a hug and a happy birthday from him. He remembered when he asked me why I was moping around and I started crying and told him! Good times! I know we both have incredibly full plates and I have forgiven him, but it was a tough day for me.
On my birthday, my mom took a fall in her bathroom and hit her back on the counter. She ended up in Urgent Care (via my sister - thank you Mimi!) and they didn't see anything broken. She has had pain all week and ended up getting an MRI today. Won't know until Monday but they wonder if she has another compression fracture in her vertebra like he had several years back. Then I got an email from my sister this morning: mom accidentally locked herself out of the house yesterday when she went out to get something. My sister had planned to come over when she got off work, so knowing that, my mom just waited outside. Knowing it was also incredibly hot, she thought to turn on the sprinkler and basically sat for a half hour where the sprinkler hit her and kept her cool. While I applaud her resourcefulness, it's not something you want to hear. Still, ....... I am worried........ I see more and frequent trips to Pittsburg in my future......
So this weekend, I have a plan. I bought a sage smudge stick and I am going to burn it in the house. I have not done this before, but it feels like time. I need to clean the negative energy out of this house as it feels like that is all that has been around since we moved in. I am really not wacky but at this point, I feel like I need to do something! For any of you not familiar with this, the ritual of smudging can be defined as "spiritual house cleaning." In theory, the smoke attaches itself to negative energy and as the smoke clears it takes the negative energy with it, releasing it into another space where it will be regenerated into positive energy. Let's hope it works! I think Brad is a little skeptical, but like in so many other ways, he is humoring me. At the rate I am going, I will be happy if I just don't burn the house down!
There have been bright spots, don't get me wrong. Otherwise, I think I would have given up on life altogether! We went to a great beer and chocolate tasting the other night, went to our first concert at the Orpheum, had some great meals. I got some new fencing put up that looks amazing and we took a fast trip to DC where we were lucky enough to attend a dinner prepared by 5 chefs from the All Stars of America's Next Top Chef - Brad knows all of the right people and I just reap the rewards.
So I am telling myself that as long as the house doesn't explode or burn down and my marriage survives that it's all good. It's a challenge some days, but you just have to keep your chin up and keep looking to the horizon. There must be a "greater plan" but this is not exactly what I had in mind when I thought of coming home!
So I will try to write more often - though I have no idea if anyone at all is reading this! There are so many things that happen that I am sure I have left out many of them...... like my many adventures of working with the home warranty company and how somehow George has worms! But I will save those stories for another day! It's always good to keep the crowd wanting more!
Hey- Cheer Up Connie. At least you know what you are doing with all this. I would only have the option to call people and write checks!!!
ReplyDeleteGood Option - Come back to Utah!!!!