Alright, now that moving is off my “to do” list I can now focus on the rest of the list. Yes, I will bore you with the list tonight. Here we go in no particular order:
Get money / spend money – there is a laundry list of items that never got done. All the trades cashed their checks and left us high and dry to figure out what in the hell to do next with their unfinished tasks. Only a marshmallow like me rolls over and lets this happen. I can’t imagine anyone else who pays this much for a house spends the first few months spackling cracks to keep ants out. These are things I will just pay someone to do or finish up paying these people so they don’t sue me.
- painting guy, he’s done now I gotta pay him – I’ll dig out the pea gravel near my studio and paint the ends of the trim boards in case they didn’t do that. Doing so keep water from migrating up the board via capillary action and ruining the life of the paint job.
- I’m going to hire someone to come out and help me finish the exterior columns and screen porch and steps. My family ditched me on this one. Our $2,000 pile of lumber has been weathering in the back yard for going on six weeks now. Time to get it wrapped up.
- Ditto paying someone to finish the upstairs hall doors. We’re giving up on the hidden hinges and push button operation. Better to go with more reliable mechanics while sacrificing some aesthetic appeal.
- pay off the landscaping. The yard was a disaster. But maybe it’ll pick up again in the fall. The field stone walk is divine as are the planting beds. New plants will wait til fall to be bought and planted at this point as we suffer through a drought.
- get money by selling old house, selling art, selling bodily parts and fluids.
Crap I have to do myself. All these things take priority over playing with my kids, working on my art business, keeping my sanity, and being nice to my family, friends and co-workers. Resentment is a bitter drink and I’ve got one of those 64 oz. convenient store cups full of it.
- move boxes into basement. We have so much crap it will almost cover 1,000 square feet of basement. I need to get my studio cleared out so I can paint again.
- figuring out how to keep ants from nesting in my house. Today we discovered one ant going to town in the upstairs closet. Seems there are huge gaps above each of the previously mentioned hall door openings. The drywallers, trim carpenters and everyone else just left them there. One little ant was pulling insulation out of the openings like there was no tomorrow. Caulk was impossible to get in the openings so I started dumping gobs of spackle in there. “Whatcha doin dad?” “Son, daddy’s in the midst of a fit of rage. Please stay in the Family room until daddy either calms down or drops dead.” Sealing these up should help our air leakage significantly as well.
- kitchen cabinet doors. I need to order these and I’ve got one of them hole saw looking bits that I can drill the hinge mounting holes in the cabinets. At some point you just have to “little red hen” it. Nows the time.
Fun stuff that we need to do. All things on my to do list that will get done at somepoint….right?
- organize garage. It’s a two and a half bay garage and it is literally filled from wall to wall with my crap. I need to organize it so I can figure out where my tools are.
- hang pictures and a mirror. We found a mirror for the half bath at Target so that needs to go up. I also want to start hanging art to make the joint feel more like home. Other things like hutch tethers, coat racks and what not need to go in as well.
- install cabinets. Our Lowes cabinets will show up soon. Christine and I will try our hand at installing those ourselves. Wish us luck. Then we’ll be able to organize the art studios and office space.
- organize closet. Self explanatory. I’ve been wearing the same five casual / dress shirts to work for six weeks now.
- clean garden pots and implements. Everything smells like old dead people and / or our potting shed at the old house. Everything is covered in mouse poop. It’s all sitting in my yard waiting for me to clean.
Alright my “to do” list tires me just writing about it….I’ll share more as things get added or come off.
-chris
nine apple trees 