O.....M....G

Hello!
Wow - what a week. I had planned on doing a post every day - day one -  day two - that sort of thing but it just didn't work out. Who knew these house fixing things could be so exhausting and painful? I didn't - that's for sure. Paint? No problem. Pull staples? No problem. HAAA think again!!

So, we signed for the house on Friday Oct 11th. First fly in the ointment.... no water. I had called earlier in the week to get gas, electric and water switched to our names. First sign of a small town is the water guy made me call back to talk to Tiffy - because she is the one who handles this and she only works until 3(all in a Southern accent). Unfortunate delay. So when I call back she says first that the current person owes money so no switching for me and that the water has been off there for over a year. Another delay.  Water was on every time I was at that house before signing. The other party goes and pays the bill - they switch it to our names. Now it is Friday. So I tell her that the water has been on every time I've been there - she says nope it's off. OK, fine I am not going to argue. Soonest they can now come is Monday to "turn it on" haha whatever, I still think the water is on so no big deal. We sign on the house aaaannndddd the water is off - so the contractor we bought this house from clearly figured a way to turn the water on and turned if off before I took possession and since I am not having it turned on until Monday - no work can be done. Ok, fine. We go pick out carpet - it will be a few days before they can send a guy to measure. We go pick out 3 or the 4 appliances we need. We were talking about having a gas line brought into the kitchen so we could get a gas stove - more on that later - so we didn't want to pick the stove yet. We ordered the washer, dryer and dishwasher - a few days before they can deliver. We pick out paint - historic colors, we are trying to stick with an Arts and Crafts style

We ended up at a Wild Birds Unlimited store - turns out they were having a raptor presentation

screech owl - blind in one eye

barn owl - missing a wing

red shoulder hawk - head injury

 

Kestrel

Very cool presentation. They only keep birds that are injured - that is why I put what injury - can't remember the last one though. The man in the picture is the founder of the store - neat. When we were headed home we saw a Trader Joe's - never been in one and have always wanted to so we stopped. What a fun store!! I bought a few things - hummas, spiced cider, chips - fun things!! I asked the cashier if there were any more in Indiana - hoping there would be one in Bloomington. She said yes - 7 miles from this store on the same street. Well that is dumb. We got a bottle of their well known wine - two buck chuck which is now four bucks I think Ü

lobster ravioli I bought at Trader

Day two: Sunday we went out to the house. Scott decided we would pull the carpet and padding - if they do it they charge you. Scott used to lay carpet  - they are only charging $97 for installation so it is not worth having Scott do it - lots of carpet and he works all day. He pulled it out all up and we drug it to the garage

That was a lot of carpet to carry down - first day of soreness!! We did find a few treasures....

hardwood steps

one room with hardwood floor

wood banisters

I was hoping for more hardwood but I'll take what we got!! The guy painted over ever damn thing ugh

Day three: Monday Scott had to work so I went out to the house alone. Water guy came and turned on the water. I started removing staples from the steps - not as easy as it sounds. Plus there were about 50 per step. You have to remember when you are a few steps off that if you pull hard and it releases - and you were not ready - you might fall down the stairs - ack!! I did not fall - whew!  I started cleaning the paint off the banister. When I got bored with that I went upstairs and removed staples from the master suite floor. I could hardly walk the next morning! You may think it sounds easy - like I did - but try squatting around the perimeter of your room with pliers - yanking out staples. 

staple free

Day four: Tuesday I started taping rooms to paint and had to be there for the carpet measuring guy and plumber - we needed the sump pump checked - not working. The water heater checked - needs replaced. Water softener checked - not working. and the gas line? They would have to dig a trench so it will be 2500 for everything YIKES (not including the pump) We will wait until we remodel the kitchen in a year or so to do the gas line. Plus, now I need him to put in my dishwasher - more on that later. I left to go do laundry - still at the laundromat pththt.
Day five: Wednesday I went out  and started painting - not the room I taped, of course. I am doing big sections and Scott will edge. Started in the master suite - big room - with the brown. Guess what? We bought mid-grade paint so it should be good - nope needs two coats. I bought a big damn house I can not paint every room twice. OMG!!! Luckily we only bought 3 gallons. I painted the master suite and one of the smaller bedrooms - used all the paint.

before

pretty right? - nice view too

out the window

 That took all day - by the end of it the roller must have weighed 10 pounds - or maybe I was just tired. New muscles to be sore yay We went to Lowes to buy a water heater, a softener and a stove - nope did not happen. They want to put the stove on the card with the carpet but since we haven't gotten the carpet quote yet...blah blah blah. Plus the guy who - the night before - said "you can install your own softener no problem - just bring me a picture and I will tell you which hoses to use" was not at work - he's off for the next two days and none of the people on duty are plumbers. *sigh* So we bought high grade brown paint for the rest of the rooms and one gallon of the crap one so Scott can edge the two rooms I painted and went home.Another delay the chimney people can't come out until November - this is the busy time for them. I need that thing cleaned!

a little mist rising

Day six: Thursday we have our three appliances delivered. The dippy girl at Best Buy did not mention we had to have a different person come install the dishwasher - she said "it will all be delivered and installed" even sold us the proper hoses to install it. The delivery guys get there - park at the bottom of the steep driveway HA Ü

makes the room look much smaller

Delivery guys says - we don't install dishwashers. Plus, the contractor installed the flooring in front of the current washer so even if we had someone from their company come out - they would not touch it. What? Really? Great. Lucky for us - we didn't think it was great when we figured it out but.... the contractor did not bolt the counter top down. I asked the plumber if he would do it - yes. whew. One funny thing he said though - (he also has that Southern accent. I asked him where he is from - so many people in my new town have this accent. He was born and raised in Martinsville - they all have accents - really? It's Indiana - weird) I said the house previously had mice - was he ok with that and he said "well they only bite if you lay on them" HAHAHA!! Biting was not my concern - but ok. Yes, there used to be mice - I've cleaned and have had no more droppings and no sightings. When I pulled up one morning....

 These two may be living under my porch. Plus a fox or something big (bigger than a coon - according to the water guy - I could look and see if there was any poke berries in it - no thanks) has been pooping on my porch - at least we hope it's not the neighbors ha ha Ü I hope that is the reason for the mice being absent.
On the way home that day I saw three turkey vultures eating a possum - I called Scott and said "where the hell am I?"  Anyway I painted our guest room green

not really that bright

The paint samples at the top show it's truer shade. It's pretty - also the mid-grade two-coat paint so look at the top - I had done two coats around the top. I also started the dining room - it will be an office until our kitchen remodel. We had planned for 6 months to a year but now we found out carpet will be about 8000 (and that is with us doing the removal yikes) and the additional waterheater etc  it may take us awhile to pay all these things down. Anyway, dining room was this...

We will paint the grey part -  red and the upper part brown. The accents will be the cream color ...

that is a concrete floor! There is a basement under that!!!

The red really shows paint strokes and is also two-coat. It is also not that bright - again the paint sample shows truer. I then removed all the tack strip from the stairs and the room with the wood floor - omg was  I sore by the time I got done. Have to squat down - hammer the prybar under the nail and then pull it up. It has a nail every three inches or so all the way around the room  - plus they put two strips around the fire place. So after the first week I don't think there is a muscle that doesn't ache. I still have three rooms, two hallways and the rest of the dining/office to paint. I still have a hall and three rooms to pull staples in. I need to clean the kitchen - including inside cabinets and put down liner. Plumber comes next week. I hope we get our stove ordered for delivery. Tonight we go look at out carpet estimate - may be two more weeks before that happens. I didn't think it would be this hard or take this long - all we needed was carpet, paint and appliances. Today would be day seven but this weekend Scott will be able to go with me. We will be there ALL weekend and I needed a day off to rest my aches. I wanted to stitch but I don't know if I will get to it. I am going to cook some things so we don't have to eat out. That is ALL I am doing!!! Oh wait - we have to go to Lowes. drat.
I hope the rest of this goes off without a hitch - wishful thinking. Hope you all have a muscle-ache free weekend!