Changing the balance of quality of life and financial independence

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Things continue on. More or less successfully. Perhaps Nords will provide some cuts from the email I sent him so I dont have to retype anything. Hotmail sucks for keeping your sent messages

With regards to upgrades, i've discovered good success in ordering hot/closeout/big sale/big rebate items that will draw a lot of buyers and then setting a late delivery date...rather than the next day or a few days, as if often touted, set the following week as the delivery date.

Store oversells, runs out, cant restock in time, and often bumps you to the next level or two up.

I just bought a new Bosch washer and dryer from Lowes, about $700 each, and set the date 7 days away. Along comes the next level up, about $1000 each, as they ran out.

So anyhow, the short story is that all the critters have been rounded up and moved, most of our stuff is here, most of the work is done, we're living here permanently, wife starts her new job on monday, now I just have to go finish cleaning up the old place, carpet and paint it, and put it up for sale.

My two biggest problems at this time are finding a replacement gasket for the joint between the jet and heater on my tub, and replacing the missing door holder brackets for the doors to the fireplace at the foot of the tub.

Pity me!

 

[Nords]

Perhaps Nords will provide some cuts from the email I sent him so I dont have to retype anything.

Well, I can't resist-- you asked for it, fella! And in my defense, the board was down at the moment I sent that e-mail. I was asking for one more round of technical affirmation before we go buy a color laser printer to replace our #$%^ing Epson Stylus Color CX4800 inkjets. Yes, they're both plugged.

I swear or affirm that the following text has only been edited to remove personal identifying information that hasn't (yet) been revealed on the board:
"Wow you caught me on a rare email reading spree. Haven't even touched the computer in about 3-4 days and the internet connection stuff was shoved in a closet for almost that long. In fact, I haven't browsed since throwing in that comment in the 359th mortgage thread after SG just couldn't help himself. Haven't had a chance to see if he decided to reciprocate the diatribe again.
Move is going well. Our new dishwasher was installed yesterday, we got a new fridge, washer, dryer (samsung, bosch and bosch), new livingroom and dining room sets, my bathroom retiling expedition is complete and the new custom shower doors are on the way. Dang tile guys lost the gasket between the pump and the heater on my tub, so I have to play "go to home depot and buy 35 gaskets until I find one that fits", and they lost three of the four door springs for the fireplace doors at the foot of the tub. Oh well, they did fabulous tile work...I'll have to send you a before and after shot once the doors are mounted, I finish setting the tub, etc.
Animals are doing good so far. Our 3rd dog, Jake the captured stray, was an adventure. He fully trusts DW but has always had a "you can pet me but I just know you're going to do something to me eventually" relationship with me. Probably fomented by my throwing him in the truck 3 years ago and absconding with him to our last house. However, DW cant pick him up to put him in the car.
Sooo...he often becomes a puddle of passiveness if I start petting him and then push him on the ground, I figured I'd go up to the old house, get him on the ground and haul him off.
Four hours later, I've chased him around the yard so much we're both totally winded. I've erected a temporary fence across about 50' of a corner of the yard using bits and pieces of wood, old baby gates, brush and anything else I could get my hands on, and I've cornered him.
This is when he decides that the old passive routine isn't in his repertoire any longer and he decides he's going to try to bite me. Something completely alien and new.
So, deciding that a major dog bite from a huge dog isn't going to make my day, I abandoned ship. Next day DW spent all day long trying to lure him into the car with no luck...got him to put his front feet up onto the inside of the back of the Rav4, that's as far as it went.
So yesterday we go up, she spends an hour trying to lure him into the house but he's not even going to go THAT far this time. I'm keeping an eye on Gabe, who has developed the fabulous tendency to climb over and out of things and disappear around the corner of the street in 4.2 seconds. And idle hands and minds being the tools of the devil, I also decide to lash both of my big screen TVs (65 and 56"ers) to my 4x6 lawn trailer using a precarious web of ratcheting straps, bits of foam, old mattress covers and a sheet.
Clearly, as you can probably imagine, this is not going to go well. In a flurry, DW gets Jake into the house and slips a leash over him and gets him to the back of the car. I'm hiding in the back bedroom changing Houdini's diaper when she calls me. I come racing out, grab him and throw him in the car, [Nords note: I think he's referring to Gabe here, but I've lost track too.] while he both poops and pees on me in a spectacular and massive fashion. Gabe goes flying down the driveway, diaper halfway off, and starts making for the main road. I lasso him, get him straightened out, get him in the car, and off we go.
Three unscheduled stops to readjust the 'load' which is desperately trying to turn the cloth padding items into parachutes and both sets have moved around on the trailer so much I'm certain that neither will work any longer, I've decided that I'm the stupidest person on earth because a) I should have paid a mover to do this, b) putting $4000 worth of TV sets on a lawn trailer is ridiculous, c) I've apparently chosen a route that unbeknownst to me was attacked by pavement eating wolverines, and d) I'm covered with dog sh*t and piss. [Nords again: Maybe I was wrong about those other pronouns.] And it's now past Gabes dinner/bedtime, he's pissed about all this travel, we still have to introduce/settle the new dog at the new house, etc, etc.
So good news is he settled in fine, we got Gabe fed and to bed, both TVs are unmarked and still functioned at a basic level when plugged in, although I haven't gotten either of them off the trailer yet (rained today in the middle of my re-roofing) and all is basically well."

 

[justin]

Sounds like the $hit almost hit the fan, missed by an inch then landed all over CFB.

 

[BUM]

Now THATS ER. Way to go CFB.

 

[happy2bretired]

Sorry to have had a great laugh about your misfortunes I'm glad I am not planning to move for awhile and that I have a very small dog.

 

[Outtahere]

Sorry to have had a great laugh about your misfortunes I'm glad I am not planning to move for awhile and that I have a very small dog.

I'm glad for the same reasons except my dog loves the car. What a pain moving is.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

You did mix it up Nords, it was the dog that let fly, not Gabe.

Other than that, good recopy...

Good day so far today, the garage is almost clear of boxes, I dragged the 56" set up three flights of stairs by myself, only making three small wife-grumble-inducing scratches on the walls, got all the other heavy furniture upstairs, and we've got the kitchen, living room, dining room and our bedrooms just about straight.

I've got a couple more truckloads of crap out of the old house to go, then refurbing on that end and hopefully a quick sale...

 

[Martha]

Poor troubled Jake. I think he isn't going to be doing any more moving. So I take it he is happy in his new yard? Has he forgiven you?

 

[wabmester]

I dragged the 56" set up three flights of stairs by myself

Ouch. My back hurts just thinking about that.

 

[Dreamer]

I had a good laugh out of that one too! You are making us all healthier by making us laugh.

I am amazed at how much stuff that you have done in such a short time. I wish that I had your energy and your know how!

Glad to hear that the dog is to the new house. We have a stray cat that feels the same way about my DH as your dog does with you. She is slowly coming around and he tries to be so nice to her, but we think she was abused by a male before we obtained her.

Good luck with the old house. Hope it sells quickly.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ouch. My back hurts just thinking about that.

Yeah that was a peach. I was 'taking a few hours off' watching the crappy 27" set I hauled down a couple of weeks ago and I thought "gosh, this would look a lot better on that 56" set...but there isnt anyone around to help me haul it up today..."

And the brain started whirling...

Hmm...I have that big two-wheeler, but its just three bars and thats not stable enough for the tv base...but I have that big hunk of 2x12 in my spare wood pile...and a piece of 2x4 nailed to the bottom will make a 'stop'...lay the 2 wheeler down, strap the 2x12 to the bars...set the tv on it...strap the tv to the 2x12...stand it up and roll it up from the garage to the house and then up all three flights to the master suite.

The second story landing was a trick, as the handtruck added too much 'thickness' to the whole assembly and I had to grab it and lift the whole mess up six inches, rotate it 90 degrees and set it back down. Thats when I scuffed the wall a little.

If I decide to move again, someone shoot me. Twice.

My next engineering feat is pulling in the 65" CRT set thats still sitting on the trailer in the garage. I've already worked out a scheme...

 

[wabmester]

My next engineering feat is pulling in the 65" CRT set thats still sitting on the trailer in the garage. I've already worked out a scheme...

This is seriously why I decided to get a 37" LCD. Largest TV I could easily carry by myself without mechanical intervention.

 

[unclemick]

Keep up the great work - CFB - cause you are curing any thoughts of remodeling more things this year - let alone entertaining my sisters suggestion that I consider moving Back to the old PacNW.

heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh eh!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Got the 275lb 65" CRT set in today, and it was less trouble than the 55" LCOS set was. Probably because there were no interior stairs to manage...

Problem: only 3 ways into the house...one is through the garage and the stair well is too small to accommodate the tv...around the back to the sliding door is problematic because the fence gate is too narrow, and the steps up from the patio into the house are narrow and tall, so I'd need four guys to pick it up and carry it in. Front entry is long, tilted curved concrete steps...eight or nine of them...with a total rise of about six feet from the edge of the driveway up to the front door...manageable for two guys but I aint two guys.

So I unhooked the trailer from the car with the tv on it, dragged it up onto the lawn next to the concrete walkway/steps, hauled it up the hill to the edge of the entryway, dropped the ramp, built a little trestle from 4x4's with a big piece of OSB linking the back of the trailer to the front entryway, put a thin rug over the whole thing to minimize lateral movement, wrapped a strap around the tv and myself, then backed up pulling the tv off the trailer, across my trestle 'bridge' and into the entry way, and...voila...rolled it into the living room.

Fortunately Costco sells those big bottles of alleve very cheaply.

More fortunately, thats the last of the large heavy things I have to move and the last of the items going up any sort of stairs that I cant easily carry.

Whole move done with a honda pilot and a 4x6 lawn trailer during trips I had to make for other purposes anyhow.

And yes, i'm supremely satisfied.

 

[Nords]

Whole move done with a honda pilot and a 4x6 lawn trailer during trips I had to make for other purposes anyhow.
And yes, i'm supremely satisfied.

I think among all the discussions of packing, hauling, physical exertion, the ibuprofen expenses, and the cost-benefit analysis of running two houses for a few days longer instead of paying the movers to do all this logistics, there's one very important factor to consider: it all got done the way we'd like it to be done without having to supervise a bunch of people determined to do it the wrong way. Assuming that they show up to do it at all.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Thats the gist of it.

I didnt have to buy a billion boxes, pack everything up all at once, watch someone else drop my stuff or smash up the walls, and then live out of boxes for two weeks until we finished unpacking.

Impact on me was pretty high - impact on my family was minimal. One day they were all living in our old still fully functional home with adequate, if spartan, furnishings and the next they were living in our new home with more than adequate, far from spartan furnishings.

The only thing thats sucking is that while the value on our new home is rising, the value on our old home is sinking like a rock. Which is not entirely unexpected. New home builders way overbuilt and are now competing to see who can give the most away to buyers to get their units sold. And pricing is completely schizophrenic in the neighborhood...three substantially similar homes are selling for $399, 343 and 339. The 399 one was dropped from 450 (a truly stupid price, as is the 399), and the 339 one has been for sale for 2 years starting in the 370 range and steadily dropping.

Oh well, other than paying a few hundred a month in amortized property taxes, $15 a month to water the lawn and maybe $80-90 to cool it once the heat kicks in...it aint costing me much to keep it. Good neighbors will keep an eye on it for me.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Well I finally got the dang tub to seal. Had to drive half an hour to get a special gasket made for the purpose which looked to me to be infinitesimally different from the one I hand cut that didnt work.

Still havent tackled the broken irrigation pipe and replacement of some dead ratcheting sprinklers, but other than that most of the major jobs are behind us, except for finishing the last dregs of the move and getting the old house up for sale.

In exactly one month of ownership we reroofed, repainted, ripped out a major bathroom to the joists and redid it top to bottom, reroofed, recarpeted, bought and installed all new major appliances, bought a lot of new furniture, fixed a million small problems, moved six animals and a 2 year old and all of our stuff.

 

[REWahoo]

In exactly one month of ownership we reroofed, repainted, ripped out a major bathroom to the joists and redid it top to bottom, reroofed, recarpeted, bought and installed all new major appliances, bought a lot of new furniture, fixed a million small problems, moved six animals and a 2 year old and all of our stuff.

At the risk of being accused of heresy, sounds to me like you need to find a j*b and go back to w*rk. That should give you a chance to recuperate and seek help to stop this abusive behavior.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

As I mentioned to someone else, this beats the crap out of driving a desk and dealing with corporate BS.

I am however suffering from extreme attention deficit disorder. I start out to do something and an hour later discover I havent done it yet, but i've spackled, painted and reattached four other things.

I went out for a pump gasket yesterday and came back with a gasket, a new weed whacker (40cc's!), a bunch of slide out shelves for the pantry, groceries and I had sushi while I was out since it was taking so long.

This cannot draw a comparison with listening to a couple of 40-50something guys whining for three days straight about how they want a program renamed to what they like, because the whole thing is similar to an idea they had three years ago but never were able to get approved by management.

Or having the thirtieth 'cost cutting' meeting where we decide to keep all the 100k a year people, but take away their cell phones so as to make them unreachable when someone needs the important knowledge they have that is the reason for paying them the 100k in the first place.

 

[REWahoo]

I am however suffering from extreme attention deficit disorder.

Just wait until your 60's and 70's (assuming you make it that far). You ain't seen nothing yet.

This cannot draw a comparison with listening to a couple of 40-50something guys whining for three days straight about how they want a program renamed to what they like, because the whole thing is similar to an idea they had three years ago but never were able to get approved by management.

Or having the thirtieth 'cost cutting' meeting where we decide to keep all the 100k a year people, but take away their cell phones so as to make them unreachable when someone needs the important knowledge they have that is the reason for paying them the 100k in the first place.

I can see that your w*orkplace wounds are still raw and bleeding. Sorry to have rubbed salt in them.

 

[samclem]

As I mentioned to someone else, this beats the crap out of driving a desk and dealing with corporate BS.

Couldn't agree more. It is very satisfying to look at something that you've done to make the home better. None of it may be very complex in itself, but it all adds up. And a fixed sink has more real impact than crafting and coordinating some obscure new policy that will be forgotten or OBE in 6 months.

I'm getting better at deciding which jobs shold do myself and which I should hire out. A big part of the decision is how much fun the work will be. Regardless, I've found it useful to do enough research to know exactly how I'd do the job IF I did it myself. It's the only way to know if the tradesman I eventually call in for an estimate (if he will show up) knows what he's doing. \

 

[kcowan]

I went out for a pump gasket yesterday and came back with a gasket, a new weed whacker (40cc's!), a bunch of slide out shelves for the pantry, groceries and I had sushi while I was out since it was taking so long.

I think you are just experiencing a very full job jar. It will continue until you make the place yours. Not ADD more like JJD (job jar disorder). I had that affliction after I bought an acreage for about three years.

But you will really enjoy it when the job jar returns to a reasonable level.

Also the memories of work probably bounce around in your head while you perform simple physical tasks. I always used to come up with work solutions while riding the lawnmower.

 

[Nords]

As I mentioned to someone else, this beats the crap out of driving a desk and dealing with corporate BS.
I am however suffering from extreme attention deficit disorder. I start out to do something and an hour later discover I havent done it yet, but i've spackled, painted and reattached four other things.
I went out for a pump gasket yesterday and came back with a gasket, a new weed whacker (40cc's!), a bunch of slide out shelves for the pantry, groceries and I had sushi while I was out since it was taking so long.
This cannot draw a comparison with listening to a couple of 40-50something guys whining for three days straight about how they want a program renamed to what they like, because the whole thing is similar to an idea they had three years ago but never were able to get approved by management.
Or having the thirtieth 'cost cutting' meeting where we decide to keep all the 100k a year people, but take away their cell phones so as to make them unreachable when someone needs the important knowledge they have that is the reason for paying them the 100k in the first place.

C'mon, guys (and I mean that in every Dave Barry testosterone-poisoned sense of the word), are you really paying attention to what we're reading here?

While enjoying this impassioned indictment of the modern American workforce, one incredibly significant and culturally critical phrase leaped off the screen at me:

40 ccs!!!

Dude, I'm impressed. I'm envious. I'm feeling incipient consumer lust. Does that come with a fuel backpack and its own wheels? More importantly, does it come with its own Kevlar apron & chainsaw boots? Exactly what steroid-fueled weed needs a whacker with that horsepower?

Just to level the playing field, I'm sure that next year's celebration of the Darwin Awards will come with a separate 40-cc category... "Hold my beer, Bubba, while I start this puppy up and show you how to git 'er done!"

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Hey, if you want one you better run fast to Sears, they're clearancing the 40cc models out for $179 and I got the last one at my sears, with another guy buying the second to last one right in front of me. The replacement is a 31 or 32cc unit. Useless.

Do bear in mind that this has the click-lock attachment setup and I have a whole shed full of those, including the chain saw, the tiller, the edger and the humongous hedge trimmer. My old 31cc unit used to cough a bit on the tiller and the hedge trimmer.

 

[Nords]

Do bear in mind that this has the click-lock attachment setup and I have a whole shed full of those, including the chain saw, the tiller, the edger and the humongous hedge trimmer. My old 31cc unit used to cough a bit on the tiller and the hedge trimmer.

I'll have to take a look at that. I'm using separate machines for the bougainvillea hedge (10' high) and the back slope weedwhacking, and the storage is getting a little out of hand...