Spoke to contractor today

He called and explained he had been out of town which is why he hadn't called (I did know he was going out of town). He received my letter and reacted well. His main problem is financial difficulties, which I also knew. He said he will call Tuesday and try to come up with a plan to get the job done.

Certified letter to contractor

This week is a semi-vacation week so we are not doing much house stuff. I did send a certified letter today to the contractor expressing our disatisfaction with the progress and suggesting some terms to settle the matter. We'll see what happens.

Third landscaper

Today we met with the third landscaper, and he was by far the best yet. He really got us and what we wanted from minute one. He came up with loads of money saving ideas that will give us a great yard for a lot less money and a lot less complexity. I liked that he didn't try to push us on things that we didn't want - for example, he suggested pavers with planting in the cracks for the patio. I told him that I like that look for an English garden or a cottage, but not for our house. We both like clean, contemporary design. He got that right away and everything else he suggested reflected this. He has to come back and measure, and we are hoping his price is good because he is our first choice so far.

Second Landscaper

Today we met with a second landscaper. He was better than the first guy, but unfortunately he is not licensed. This is a concern. We will wait and see how his price and contract is. It was good to hear the perspective of a second person though. It is interesting because everyone has such different ideas. It makes it really hard to compare. This is an instance where the "relationship" is important. I need someone smart and honest who will steer me right. The job will likely take several weeks, and I don't want to work with someone I don't like or who is annoying for that long. For shorter jobs, where the relationship doesn't matter as much, price is a much more prevalent factor.

Another contractor no show

Again the contractor didn't call or show up. He mentioned that he is going away next week, so now we are into January. Bummer.

Contractor no show

Today I finally hit the breaking point with the general contractor. He was supposed to be here 6 weeks, starting March 23. Even allowing for double the amount of time, he should have been done June 23. Instead, we still have holes in the floor, a missing threshold that lets heat out, and unfinished bathroom, no cooktop or oven, etc, etc. He has only been here once in the last month. Last weekend, he said he would be here Tuesday or Wednesday and that the cooktop would be in before Christmas. He called yesterday and said he had to come today (Thursday) after a morning inspection. Today, he didn't even call me (I called him, but he didn't return calls).

We are now looking at some sort of legal action. It's tricky because there are no good options. If we take some action to force him to complete the work, then we have to consider do we really want someone here against their will? I could try to hire other people to finish the work, but I don't know any reliable people and that puts me right back into trying to hire several people which in and of itself takes a lot of time. Also, I couldn't hire someone to finish the work for what is left outstanding on his contract. Due to economies of scale, you pay less in total when someone does a bunch of jobs than when many individuals each do one. One the contractor has a crew out, it is easy to add more work. So, we are kind of stuck, but I have been keeping records for over a month of all his flaky behavior so I do have that. I also did some poking around on the state contractor license site, and one of the first steps in any sort of complaint or action is to notify the contractor in writing that you are disatisfied (I guess my dozens of phone calls stating the obvious isn't enough). So, tomorrow is the deadline. If we don't have satisfactory action by tomorrow I will send him a certified letter outlinining my concerns.

On a positive note, we did meet with the first landscaper today. He was nice, but really thick. I repeated at least 50 times (I'm not exaggerating!) how high the patio was supposed to be and he kept missing the point. This happened with a few other things too. I just don't think I could work with someone who is so thick about simple things. But it was good to meet him, and at least get our feet wet with the landscaping. We learned some things, and now feel that we at least have a scope of work to start with, and we have his bid that we can compare to others.

Landscape calls today

Today I finally started calling landscapers. It's a really overwhelming - the yard is in such bad shape and there is so much to do. We almost don't know where to start. We had a plan drawn up in March, so we at least have that to refer back to. We are looking to hire someone like a landscape architect (not the kind of landscaper who just plants things and maintains the yard). We think we can handle any planting that needs to be done, but what we need to have dones is much more complex. The entire grade of the yard needs to be corrected. The yard slopes toward both the house and garage, which means water pools there. We have both left-to-right and back-to-front slopes in the yard. We want to have a level patio placed near the future back door. The concrete walkway on the side of the house needs to be fixed, and there are side stairs that need to be replaced because there is a gas meter there that cannot be properly accessed. We also need drainage put in (ties in with the grading) and sprinklers as well. All this will get us ready to put fencing in. It's a lot of work, and I feel much less able to take this on than I did the entire house remodel. It felt good to at least get started though.

Small progress today

Today I went to the city planning office to get answers to some permit questions and fence height issues. Since our grade is below that of our neighbors, we wanted to know how hight the fence could go (i.e. is the height based on our grade or theirs?). It turns out the fence height is based on the lower grade, so we will try to raise our grade to get better coverage. We need to have protection for our future dogs, and sadly enough, people in the neighboring apartment building have started to throw trash and cigarette butts in our yard. I am concerned about getting our permit closed by January 20, which is when it expires (it's been a year already). Due to the lagging efforts of the general contractor, we aren't even close to closing it. I may have to extend it, which will cost more money.

I managed to get one more window ready for trim today. I can't put the trim on because the general contractor has not finished patching the windows. So far, 1 of the 13 windows is completely done (trim and all) and now this one is ready for trim. The other 11 are in various stages of completion. Each window has to be done in phases so the shellac doesn't stick to itself. Each surface needs three coats of shellac, which a steel wool buffing in between. The surface is finished by polishing with old denim. It's a lot of work, but they really look great and we are saving thousands by doing it ourselves. The progress is slow though - I try to work a half an hour a day on the windows. It's easier than trying to find a 6+ hour block of time that would be needed to do an entire coat in one shot. A lot of the work is tedious too, so it helps to break it up.

I also spend about an hour every day cleaning and unpacking. It helps keep the chaos at bay and makes a difference over time.

We've only had one dog poo left in the last week, which is progress from one per day. The spray seems to help, if not stop the problem. I have noticed the dogs seem a lot less interested in our median strip. I think the smell of the spray obscures the previous dog smells which makes current dogs less interested and less likely to go potty there. I've been diligent about spraying daily, and the cumulative effect seems to help.

A short but productive day

Since we were seeing family tonight, we had a short day but made a big difference. C cleaned and rearranged the office, giving us a lot more space. Before, you could hardly walk and now you can move more freely and there is space to use the computer. He also did a bunch of vacuuming, which is a constant need in a construction zone. Our shop vac gets a lot of use. I managed to clear the kitchen countertops of all the debris from the last few weeks. It takes daily vigilence to keep up with construction debris - manuals, packages, misc parts, trash, etc. We are looking forward to finally getting rid of a bunch of empty boxes - before we had the filtered water tap, we were buying bottled water all the time and the recycling was too full every week to fit much beyong what daily living generated. Now I'm pleased to say we are generating a lot less recycling and will be able to start tackling the pile of boxes.

Dog repellant only repels humans!

This morning, about 16 hours after I sprayed the "repels dogs and cats for one full week" repellant we found a dog poo on our median strip. Nice. I'm sick for two hours, and it has no discernable effect on the dogs. This is the first incident since I first sprayed on Tuesday though, and we were averaging once a day so perhaps it is an improvement.

The plumber called this morning and said he could have someone here this afternoon. I of course dropped everything and said yes, I'll be here. The guy got here and finished just about all the plumbing work. Now I'll only have to fight with the plumber to fix all his mistakes when we get dinged at inspection. That's progress. We are almost ready for final plumbing - we just need the general contractor to install the cooktop, and then we can have final plumbing (there's a gas line to the cooktop which is included in plumbing) and final mechanical (heater, venting, etc). The GC said he would be here Tuesday or Wednesday, so that's a good sign.

It is so nice to have the sink completed. We dug real dishes and bowls out of the garage today 0 we've been using plastic and paper for 7 months because we had no way to wash them. Unfortunately, we haven't found the silverware yet, but progress comes in small steps. I love the filtered water tap too - no more buying bottled water! Every week, the bottles alone almost fill the recycling bin, which means I have a bunch of boxes I haven't been able to throw away yet. I am looking forward to being able to get rid of all my trash soon!

Here is a picture of the completed sink. The filtered water tap is on the left, the soap dispender is next, then the regular water tap, and on the right is the air gap. The air gap is an alternative drain for the dishwasher. In the event the plumbing becomes clogged in the vicinity of the garbage disposal and the dishwasher cannot drain properly, the air gap provides an outlet for the wastewater so it doesn't back up into the water supply. It's required by code. On the right, we have freshly washed dishes drying on the integrated drain board. It's really nice to not need a dish rack. The drain board is attached and slopes into the sink to allow water to drain.

I'm sick!

I sprayed the dog repellant about an hour ago, and I am nauseated and have a headache! It smells so bad! How can plant oils smell so gross and have such a nasty effect? After handling that stuff, I continue to "smell" it - you know how a song gets stuck in your head? This stench gets stuck in my head and I keep smelling it in everything and nothing. I was really careful to have as small exposure as possible. Yuck. I sure hope it works.

Nobody shows up around here

There has been very little progress this week. Nobody likes to show up any more. The general contractor was last here a week ago, and three weeks before that. The plumber hasn't even bothered to call (I guess he didn't like the fact that we cut holes he couldn't do using an $8 part, heh, heh, heh).

We sprayed the dog repellant on Tuesday, and so far no dog poo has been left. It's only been three days, but we were getting one a day left here so maybe that's progress (or maybe I'll be picking up a lot of poo this weekend). I sprayed again today, but was extra careful to not get anything on my clothes. I wore rubber gloves that still smelled after being thouroughly washed in the hottest water I could stand and lots of soap. They are outside drying now.

Punched our own holes

We started the day going to the hardware store to buy the wrench we needed to use the Ikea cutter. After looking at the myriad of options for ratcheting wrenches, we finally settled on a set with metric measurements, thinking that Ikea stuff is usually in metric. We got home, and none of the heads worked. One was too small and the next up was too big. We were about to go back to the store to exchange it, and we found the spark plug head worked perfectly. We were able to used the wrench on the Ikea cutter and cut our own holes in the sink. They look great - there is no warping of the surface and the hole has nice clean edges. Why can't a licensed plumber do this? It wasn't even that hard.

I took great joy in telling the stainless steel guy and the plumber that I was able to make the holes with an $8 part. While it was a bit of a trial to get it done, we saved $92 and got to tell the plumber about it.

Dog repellant stinks!

I started the day by washing the clothes I was wearing when I sprayed the dog repellant yesterday. I put just three items in the washer - my jeans, t-shirt and sweatshirt and did the heaviest wash I could do - hot water, bleach, extra soak, extra rinse, extra soil level, etc. After two times, the jeans still had the smell on them! It was very faint, but still there. I hope it fades to nothing with time. We can really smell the repellant out front, but unfortunately, C spotted a dog leaving a pile less than 24 hours after we sprayed. The person picked it up, but as bad as it smells out there I can't believe he was on our grass.

We didn't get much house stuff done today as we spent time doing Christmas related stuff. The plumber's stainless steel guy did call in the morning and wanted $100 to come out and cut three holes (about 10 minutes work). Not only did we not want to pay this, I wanted the satisfaction of sweetly telling the plumber that we were able to do it ourselves. We did try to use the cutter we bought at Ikea, and found we needed to make a starter hole of 1 centimeter into which the cutter goes. I went to Home Depot and bought a set of titanium coated drill bits made for hard metal. C did the drilling, and based on prior experience drilling into metal, he started with the smallest bit. After an hour and two broken bits, he finally got the hole drilled with the third smallest bit. Once it was drilled, we were able to easily enlarge it. The next hole took him 30 seconds because he started with the 1 cm drill bit right away and it went right through. It's just one of those things that you have to learn by doing. Unfortunately, by the time he finished it was after 11 pm, and we didn't have the correct wrench to use the cutter. That's our first project tomorrow.

Passed Final Electrical today!

YAY! YAY! YAY!

We passed our final electrical inspection today. This is our first final that we passed, and it makes us one step closer to closing our permit. It only took three tries - that's a record I think! I was able to get the same inspector to come back both of the second two times so we didn't get completely new correction lists. Now we have final mechanical (heater, oven vent, dryer vent, etc), plumbing (all fixtures, gas lines, etc) and possibly building. We don't know if we have to do a building inspection since we didn't move or build any walls. Then they check the permit to make sure fees are paid and all contractors have a valid city license. Then with any luck you get to close your permit. Passing one inspection may not be a huge step, but it is a step.

The dog and cat repellant I ordered arrived yesterday. Here is the product here:

http://www.liquidfence.com/dog-repellent-bottle.html

There is a lot to like about this product (assuming it works). It's non-toxic to plants, animals and people. It is biodegradable and made only from plant oils. Dogs and cats don't like the smell, so they won't come onto the lawn or into the backyard. Also and dogs or cats who habitually mess in one spot in the yard will be less likely to go there because the smell will mask the odor of previous messes. (Background here: We LOVE dogs, and hope to have two soon but we were getting dog messes left out front almost once per day. Also some neighborhood cats thought our backyard was a huge litterbox).

The product is mainly garlic oil, and also has citronella, cinnamon, clove, and a few other high-odor plant oils. The only think this product lacks is a STRONG WARNING against opening it in the house, or even bringing it into your house. It needs an even STRONGER WARNING against getting it on your hands or clothes. I opened the carton and put the spray top on the bottle and took it outside to spray. 8 hours later, the living room still smells! It is a horrible, nauseating, headache inducing smell. I'd almost rather smell dog poo! After using it, I washed my hands thouroughly 4 times with citrus soap, lavender soap and pear soap and they still smelled for hours! The carton it came in stunk so bad I had to put it outside right away (the product was in a sealed plastic bottle inside the carton). Hours later I was still smelling it bad enough to have headaches and nausea, and found two small drops on my pants. I tried to wash it out with soap and water and it did no good.

OH MY GOD, this is the smelliest stuff I have ever experienced! It was so bad we couldn't even eat lunch here. (C is on vacation this week). We went out to eat, and someone was smoking outside and I actually thought of smelling the cigarette (which I hate) just to clear this smell from my head. The parking garage elevator of our favorite lunch spot frequently smells like a combination of bug spray and nasty chemical cleaning agents. We never use it, but today we did because even that was preferable to what we were smelling.

So, I think the spray will work, but my lesson is learned! I will only use it with gloves on, it will never come into the house and whatever I am wearing will go immediately into the wash. Yuck! We were trying to spot some of the dogs reactions to it, but there was work being done on the street so there were very few dog walkers out today.

More plumbing drama - I called the plumber today to let him know that we had fixed the two electrical items that were holding up his completing the sink/dishwasher/garbage disposal/etc. His assistant told us last week that they couldn't punch holes in the stainless steel sink and would send someone to do it. Since installing the faucet often requires a hole, and installing the dishwasher air gap (required by code) definitely does, you would think they could cut holes. All plumbers do this! It is routine and shouldn't require them to have tools other than what they carry. But not my plumbers! When they said they would send someone, I assumed (falsely and foolishly) that it would be at their expense since it is something they should do and cannot. The plumber had not even tried to contact his stainless steel guy, and told me I should try to find someone myself! The nerve! I told him I would rather use his guy since the plumber had worked with him a number of times and he was good. At this point it was my belief that punching the holes was very difficult, and I did not want to risk having a non skilled person do it. Turns out I was very wrong about how difficult it is.

We spent the afternoon going to Ikea where we bought the sink. They sell an $8 cutting tool that is used to make 1.25" holes in the sink. We asked the staff about it, and it seemed to fit the bill. Hopefully this will solve the hole problem. If it does, I can tell the plumber that we were able to do what his licensed staff could not.

Ready for another try at passing final electrical

The electrician was here today for about 5 hours finishing all the work we think needs to be done to pass final electrical inspection. We had one final electrical inspection already, and got a list of corrections. In theory, you fix these corrections and an inspector comes out again, checks the corrections and signs you off. In reality, each inspector that comes out gives you a whole new list of corrections. It is very annoying and inefficient. We're not trying to get away with anything, and we will fix anything we need to, but give me one list! It is really hard for the electrician as well. Our panel had to be inspected 4 times due to this - each inspector found new things wrong. The guy that was here before signed off on our rough electrical and did our first try at final. He said he would be willing to come back so we don't end up in this time warp again.

I patched three holes in the ceiling left from when the electrician had to move closet lights. It was not easy! I had to cut a piece of drywall to fit an irregularly shaped hole (the other two holes I used the piece he cut for the new location of the light) and then attach it to the ceiling with blue tape and shored it up to level by wedging screws in. I then mixed thick drywall mud and filled the gap. I am hoping that by tonight the drywall mud is set enough to hold the patch and I can do a second pass. C commented that I am becoming quite the contracor!

I spent the rest of the day doing my usual routine of doing a little bit on a lot of different things. I got done sanding the last coat I did on the windows, and am ready to blow the dust away with the air compressor and do the next coat. I also spent about an hour researching exterior paint and stucco color coating. Like everything house related, it is super-complex, very costly and has important ramifications.

We have stucco now, and it is trashed and nasty looking. We also replaced the windows, so where they are patched the stucco doesn't match. After spending a bunch of time doing research and talking to a painter, I've decided we need to do a stucco color coat instead of paint. It will last much longer (lifetime vs 3-10 years), it never fades, it is better at handling moisture, and it will blend in the old stucco and the patches around the windows. The stucco person has to sandblast off the top layer of existing stucco (after masking the windows and doors), and then they apply a thin layer of new stucco with color blended right into it.

This is one of the things where, even though I've made progress nothing shows. So many of the projects for the house are of this nature. They require a lot of research, planning and interviewing contractors to get them done. Most of the remodeling is not hands on work.

Not a good weekend

The electrician was here all weekend fixing things so we can pass final electrical. We were here all day Saturday and by the time he left Saturday night and we were ready to go out for a walk, it was pouring rain, windy and cold. So much for that plan! The good news is that the new roof we had installed in April held really well - there were no leaks at all!

Sunday was pretty much the same - the electrician was here all day, and by the time he left it was too late to do anything fun. Oh well.....

A few nice items

After postponing for 2 1/2 weeks, the contractor was here today. As I feared, it is getting harder for him to pull himself off of his new jobs and finish mine. It's a really common problem for anyone dealing with a contractor. Fortunately, he is a good and honest person, and I don't think he's blowing me off to be a jerk.

He dry-fitted the cooktop, and I'm thrilled with how it looks. I was debating getting stainless steel or black and I choose the black because it has a porcelan surface that I thought would be easier to clean and I liked it better for the cooktop. I'm so glad I choose black (although I would have liked the stainless too, I'm sure). He couldn't finish installing it because of course nothing is simple. The cord isn't long enough to reach the outlet we have for this purpose, so the electrician will have to rewire it to make a longer cord or move the outlet.

Here is a shot of the cooktop. All the stuff on the countertop is installation stuff for the sink and cooktop.



After much todo and fiddling, he finally figured out what the oven problem was. It was leaning to the side and taking up the space for the dishwasher. We thought it just needed to be shimmed and bolted, but he tried this and it didn't work. It turns out the electrical was in the wrong place and the oven was sitting on the conduit. He told me how to tell the electrician to fix it. Fortunately, the electrician is here tomorrow.

A very nice surprise is that we now have doorknob on the bathroom door! It sure beats the balled up papertowels we had in the hole. I love the way the knob looks. It is brushed nickel, which matches the other finishes in the bathroom and goes with the contemporary look we have all over. The handle functions really well too - it closes and locks smoothly.

Here is a close up of the door handle. I bought the same one for the bathroom and all 3 bedrooms. All of the hinges and the hardware on the future back door match this brushed nicke finish as well.


Here is how the door looks with the handle on it. We are leaving the doors with a clear shellac finish. It still needs to be trimmed.



We also got the first few drawer and cabinet handles in the kitchen. What a treat after using fingertips to pry them open everytime. It's funny what you take for granted when you've never lived without it. I've found myself on the way to the bathroom sink several times to rinse food. I'm just not used to having all these luxuries - a sink, doorknob, and drawer pulls!







Late tonight I made my weekend trip to Home Depot. No weekend is complete without it! I had to buy patching materials because the electrician has to move the closet lights and the holes need to be patched before the inspection on Tuesday.

Lots of little progress

Today I got a little bit done on a lot of different things. I finished the temporary fence out front, and made an appointment with a painter for the outside of the house. I filled all the trash cans and managed to clear most of the debris from the backyard.

I also spent two hours researching fence matarials. Like everything house related, it is not simple. There are so many different materials to choose from (various types of wood, aluminum, steel, vinyl, wood composite, etc) and they all have pros and cons to be considered along with their price. We also have to consider how all the fencing will tie together and how the gates will be integrated. Finally, we have very strictly-enforced city codes about fence heights. I need to look into this though - next door there is an apartment building and their grade is 3-6 higher than ours. I'm not sure where this leaves us with fence height.

In addition to fence materials and design, there is installation considerations. DIY or hire someone? Posts every 6 feet or every 8 feet? How to treat the post before putting it in the ground? Dirt, concrete, or concrete and gravel in the post hole?

Even though I'm more confused now than when I started, I did make progress on this. You have to find out what you don't know before you can make sense of anything.

Sink today

We have a kitchen sink! Yay! After 6 1/2 months living here, we have a kitchen sink! We can use real dishes! I don't have to rinse fruit in the bathroom sink anymore!

The plumber sent one of his staff instead of coming himself, which I was quite pleased about. The guy that was here is much nicer, and didn't yell, bully, or act like a jerk once. Of course though, nothing is simple. He had to make some adaptations in the installation because the clipes that hold the sink wouldn't work with what was under our countertop. Contrary to the way it looks, overmount sinks are not held on by their lip. There are clips underneath that support the weight and screw into the underside of the countertop.


He couldn't put the dishwasher in either because the electrical was in the wrong place. The electrician is coming this weekend, and I'll have him move it then. There was also a problem with the oven, which is right next to the dishwasher. It is not yet bolted into place, so it leans to the side and gets in the way of the dishwasher. The general contractor is coming Friday, so I'll have him look at this. The plumber also had trouble punching holes in the stainless steel sink. It came with one hole for the faucet. We need three more for the filtered water dispenser, hand soap dispenser and air gap. I love clutter free surfaces, so any time I can avoid having something out on a flat surface I do. By having the soap and filtered water, we don't need a water pitcher or soap bottle out. The air gap is an alternative drain for the dishwasher that keeps the dirty water out of the house's water supply in the event the dishwasher backs up. It's required by code, and the inspectors are very tough on this. A similar backflow protection is required on outdoor plumbing in case you use fertilizer or chemicals on the lawn.

Since the sink was quite inexpensive, the stainless steel is thin and the plumber didn't feel like he could be sure to make a good hole. He had seen them messed up before, and didn't want to mess up our sink. I appreciate the attention to quality even though it will delay us. He is going to send over stainless steel guy to do the holes. The faucet also wobbles a bit because the metal is thin. We may have a sink made in a few years - I don't think this one will last. I bought it before we were going to do a full remodel on the kitchen. I considered getting a nicer sink during the process, but I really like that this one has an integrated drain board. I don't need to have a separate dish drainer on the countertop which I like. Since it's not a standard size, if we end up replacing it we'll have to have one made. But that's in the distant future.

Here is a shot of the sink. The drainboard is to the right.

Another shot of the sink.



Today we found another dog poo right under the mailbox. It was on a 6" square pad of concrete left over from the wall the previous owner had. How did they even get him to go there? I cannot wait until my dog-repellant spray gets here! BTW - both C and I love dogs and hope to have some soon. We just don't like people who leave dog messes on our lawn!

I was really productive today, and worked a little bit on a lot of things. It really works well for me to do that. I can work all day and not feel bored or overwhelmed. Some of the taks are really tedious, like scraping paint splatters off of everything, and by tackling it in small increments I can get it done.

A few more things completed

Today, the countertop is finally, completely done. I finished the caulking this afternoon. While the caulking came out okay, I really don't like the way it looks. I may change it out, or we may live with it for a few years until we tile the backsplash. We'll see how bad it bothers us (or me I should say - I don't think C is that particular about caulk). The problem was that the gap was too wide for caulk, and I had to do two passes and let it dry in between. The first pass created a bottom in the gap so the second pass could fill it. The wet caulk in the second pass got caught on the sticky, rubbery sufaceof the dry pass and thus wouldn't smooth out properly. But, at least it's done. After two months, the countertop can come off my daily to do list.

Now we are into maintenance mode - waxing once a month and sealing once a year. A lot of people balk at the maintenance, but it doesn't bother me. There's really no maintenance free countertop except maybe formica, and we didn't want that for other reasons (wears poorly, burns easily). I did manage to pick up another polishing bonnet (those pads you use to wax and buff a car that look like sheep skin). I have three now, and I think I need 5 to be able to wax the entire countertop in one pass. The bonnets get gummed up with wax easily and I have to machine wash them before finishing the waxing. BTW - have I mentioned how much I LOVE having a washer and dryer? Doing laundry is soooo easy now. One of my favorite features is the timer - I can put the clothes in and set the timer so it washes at night (when there is less drain on the power grid) or when one of us won't be bathing. I haven't had my own washer in so long - it was always a mad dash to try to snag one of the machines at our apartment, or a whole evening at the laundromat. Laundry is a non-issue now - I just do it whenever, one load at a time.

This is a trick my contractor showed me - you use tape on the countertop and the wall and push the caulk into the gap with your finger. When you pull the tape up, there is (in theory at least) a clean bead of caulk).


Here is my finished caulk job. As you can see, it's a bit rough. The irregularities come from the shape of the concrete.


I also finished the bathroom window completely. The trim is done and it is completely sanded and buffed and the patching is done. 1 down, 12 to go!



We found today's dog poo left on the lawn early this morning. It's so gross, and it's becoming a near-daily event. My Pop told me about dog repellant sprays, which I didn't even know existed. After doing a google search, I ordered some spray from this company: www.liquidfence.com. I choose their product because it is made of plant oils, is biodegradeable, and non-toxic. It's just a bunch of smelly plant oils that dogs and cats don't like. I can't wait to spray it all around. I hope to catch the reaction of slobs who don't pick up when their dog won't go near our lawn. I am also thrilled that it works on cats - the neighbor's cats will have to find another litterbox other than our backyard.

In the meantime, I put this fence up to keep them off the lawn at least. There's nothing I can do to keep them off the median strip between the sidewalk and street, but at least this will keep them off the lawn until we do our landscaping. I put the rest of the fence up later in the week.





After not returning my calls for over two weeks, the plumber finally called today and said he would try to have the sink in by Thursday. I'm not hopeful, and if I were a "bettin' woman" I would bet no on this..... but I didn't buy my usual case of bottled water today so we'll see if I'm drinking filtered water from my sink-top dispenser by the end of the week.

A new month, a new attitude?

Today I felt surprisingly good about the house. I think it's a combination of things - acceptance, learning, and completing a few projects.

First, acceptance......whenever I talk about the project, everyone's first question is "When will you be done?" People ask when the housewarming party is, and say they'll come visit when we are done. I've finally learned to shut that type of thinking off in my own mind. It's not that I mind people asking, nor am I upset that they do, it's just that that particular way of thinking is counterproductive for me. The reality is, we live in a horrible construction mess, and in spite of our best efforts this will continue for the foreseeable future. Anyone who has been through major remodeling knows how something can take an inconceivable amount of time. We are also doing a lot of the work ourselves, which saves MASSIVE amounts of money but you have to add at least one zero to however long it would take a contractor to do it.

I think you can have any two of the following in home projects: fast, quality, and inexpensive. Our countertops are high quality and inexpensive but were not fast. The temporary fence I am putting out on the front lawn will be fast and inexpensive, but not quality (it's wooden stakes and plastic mesh). Finally, if you are willing to pay any amount you can have quality very fast (Donald Trump probably doesn't wait for marble floors!). The truth is we have an incredible house, and we already have a great lifestyle because of it's location. Our priorities are doing things economically and with high quality, thus it will not be fast. We also both think it is really important to do enough research before committing to anything, and this takes time.

Second is learning. I've learned not to expect anything to go right or on schedule. This may sound negative, but it is actually a reflection of reality in remodeling. By expecting things to right and as planned, you are setting yourself up for constant disappointment and frustration. By expecting things to go awry, you are prepared for whatever happens and if things do go right it's a pleasant surprise. For example, we had our first try at passing final electrical yesterday. The electrician said it would be no big deal and that we would probably have few or no corrections. The inspector actually found quite a few things which are not huge things, but will need more time from the electrician. The inspector made a comment joking around about me being upset, and I found myself saying "I'm done being upset." It was a funny moment, but expecting things to go wrong helped me not have an up-and-down day.

I've also learned how to manage my schedule better. When we first started, I spun my wheels a lot just trying to stay on top of everything. Now I have a much better idea of how to organize my time and I have been really productive the last few weeks. It's a great feeling.

Finally, we are starting to see some movement in the projects we are doing. For months, I had the master bedroom plywood subfloor and the countertops on my daily to-do list. The only thing that was done was the small tiled floor I did in the laundry area. This is not much to show for almost a year of work! This week I completed the master bedroom subfloor and just today I got the first pass of caulk on the countertop. One more pass and the countertop is done (like everything on the countertop, even the caulking is complicated. The gap at the back is too large to fill with one pass). That makes three major projects complete, and frees up time in my daily schedule to tackle the next few. I've found it works best to have several projects going at once and spend a little time on each project daily. It makes tedious tasks doable and keeps me productive (i.e. when one is stalled I can go to the next).