What I'm Reading This Week #13

Finally we meet Friday, you elusive saucy beetch!  It has felt like Monday every stinking day this week.  A week of Mondays in every way.  Wednesday the plumbers came out and can I tell you something?  As someone who is chronically dehydrated and eats the same friggin' thing every day for the most part, I have never had to pee more than I did when they disconnected our toilet.  I mean I can easily go 10 hours without using the bathroom if I have to but no sir, not when there's no water in the house.  We had to go once when it was disconnected and just not flush and use hand sanitizer.  Then like 2 hours later any water I've held for days was like "I'm out" and the Mr was getting the urge to drop the kids off at the pool, we went to the clubhouse and thankfully no one was in there.  Might as well get some use out of it since we pay for it monthly. They showed us about a 7" snip of pipe.  It was hard as a rock but is supposed to be flexible.  This is the stage it gets to just before the major damage starts occurring. When they got to the shower, I guess it was almost completely blocked and they didn't know how we didn't have water pressure problems.  (We kind of did as far as draining but I just always chalked it up to my hair so I got one of those drain hair catchers and it seemed to improve it.)  So much cutting into drywall with the multitool which makes me cringe.  I loathe that tool from a noise perspective.  

Speaking of which, here's some perspective for you:

There's a special cut where he got to cut into both the ceiling AND the wall on the same part.

Oh, did you want to see the office?

Hello shower.

You know what else is fun?  Having a drywall repair guy come in and apparently think they can repipe an entire house and only make one hole because he recoiled in horror at the above.  Then having said guy look at the stuff you marked from the previous guy that you'd like fixed and declare you too picky saying you 'can't get much better than that.'  So I can't get better than 2 lumps and a seam?  I get that he thinks he's dealing with some person with unreasonable expectations where drywall is concerned after spouting off that 'drywall is not a perfect product' but the person installing it should know WTF they're doing, should they not?  He claims he will get the ceiling/walls to the point we won't know it was ever there but also he's got an impending grandkid so he'll maybe work on it today and Saturday.  The kicker?  $2100.  

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I'm typing this through sobs.  You look at all of the progress we were making in the few days before and that felt like a huge backslide and we also get expectation shamed for the pleasure.  No, we don't have to hire him but he's literally the ONLY 5 star repair person in a huge metro area so we have to put our feelings aside on that for now even though I do not get a good feeling about this.  I am so tempted to do that one spot I know I can't live with but I SUCK at mudding/feathering it out and don't want to make a bad situation worse.  Honestly, I don't see how it could though but this mentally broke me.  How I wish I could drop kick the original drywaller in his tiny ball sack but he's not worth jail time and in two days we'll know if I get to add another drywaller to that figurative nut punch list or if he's going to flake on us in the name of a grandkid.  I get it, you're excited but tell me you can't start until Monday because now you're effing with my weekend and giving me wishy washy Charlie Brown vibes.

Now let's vibe with:

Want To Supercharge a HIIT Workout Without Jumping? Try Adding a Weight   (Hmm, might have to try this.  I would think adding ankle weights would work?)

12 common habits that secretly sabotage your happiness  (I medal in #1 like an Olympic sport)

Can Beauty Filters Damage Your Self-Esteem? (ABSOLUTELY.  I have this one lady I follow who is gorgeous and she uses a filter 99% of the time and the 1% of the time she doesn't, she apologizes profusely because people start messaging her like she looks sick or tired.  My friend posts pictures of herself with eye whites completely brightened and it's effin' CREEPY.)

Living room color mistakes: 7 common errors to avoid  (I'll tell you the biggest one I don't see here.  Trusting your computer monitor to pick out your color.  They look NOTHING alike.  Always do a color chip minimum, paint sample for best results.  I know that's not quite what the article is about but still- learn from me.)

20 Money-Saving Tips to Take the Pressure Off Your Wallet Right Now  (Good Lord, we need all the help we can get)

Getting Lilacs To Bloom! How To Fertilize, Prune & Care For Lilacs  (I've got one in the back with buds on it and I need to actually pay attention to it.)

How to Remove Listing Photos of Your Home from the Internet  (Not something I ever thought of but definitely do it.  It gives skeezers the layout to your new to you home.)

A History of Abandoned Movie Props and Sets  (Love stuff like this.  I'd buy a house just to buy movie props to put in it.  We were seriously considering Brandon Lee's costume from The Crow when it went up for auction.)

Rick Steves Just Told Us His Top Travel Mistakes to Avoid — and His Best Piece of Travel Advice  (ROFL...I'm not traveling anywhere with just a carry on bag.  First off, when you're fat, you've got two outfits with socks, undies and stuff that could fit in there so fine for a weekend but not for a month Rick ol' boy!  I look like Princess Vespa when I travel.)

Gen X Tries Not To Feel Old - 80s & 90s Childhood Crushes  (I don't feel old but fun to watch.)

Those of you on FB saw I ordered a sample for LVP for the bathroom.  I know.  😬  We know it needs done, it won't be within the month because we're tapped but if this sample matches the hardwood upstairs, it's literally the only waterproof option we'll have for the bathroom.  Given this unexpected expense, might have to hope for a Memorial Day sale or something.  Right now it's gray oak in there that we put in in 2017, I think.  Something told me that decision was going to bite us but it was a good way to cut our teeth on installation so I don't think it'll be nearly as big a deal as it was the first time.  Famous last words.  (I won't tell the Mr I was looking at herringbone patterns in there.  I know that will date quickly but thought with such a small space it might look nice but nothing matched.)  

So we'll either be cursing the newest member of our drywaller Hall of Shame or if it goes well, we'll be priming the patches/walls that are still gray and put the second coat of paint on the ceiling.  I won't hold my breath.  The hope for an Easter dinner in normalcy has swirled down the former calcium crusted drain and the Mr agrees.  Welp, there's hopefully next year. 🐇

You got something fun planned for this final day of March or April Fools Day tomorrow?  (I know who the March and April fools are in these parts. 😒)

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Clearing da Pipes Midweek Check In

Hello from the nuthouse!  (Can I still say that or do people get their panties in a wad?  Can I still say panties?  Or wad?  Oh well...said 'em all!)

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We got the ceilings primed and painted since you're supposed to do that before the walls.  Can I just say smooth ceilings may be overrated?  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we don't have to stare at stippling anymore but then you just get to stare at more spots that make you twitch where the persons trowel dug in or roll marks and that's stuff you wouldn't see if you just repainted the dust catcher that is a stippled ceiling.  OMG, nothing will kink a neck, sear a shoulder and flare up the worst tendinitis of your life in your hands than painting the ceiling.  I just have to keep repeating "we're saving $4500.  We're saving $4500."  I will also have to just get in the habit of not looking up again.  When you're in ceiling painting mode, you're just hyper aware and see/curse everything.

Our pipes are getting redone today.  

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I wish I could say I'm all jacked up about it but you know, at this point we're just hoping for the least invasive technique to be used while still doing a stellar job.  It is scheduled to be 10 hours.  TEN.  When?  Starting at 10AM.  Shouldn't you be starting that like around 8am?  That means if all goes well, we'll have strangers in the dreadstead until 8pm and that's IF they arrive and start on time.  (And since we are, after all, us, you know they'll be leaving at 10:35pm after likely flopping an unexpected dead fish of something we couldn't have seen coming in our laps.)  Let me rephrase that.  We are hopeful they shall start and end on time with no drama, exorbitant grunting and leave us with an utterly stunning home that makes us wonder if they were even here.  We are praying this is the last major thing and we can cool it on the money front.  Oh wait, that's right, we have to have a different drywall company out on Thursday to give us an estimate on the patch job that'll be needed for the office and wherever else the plumbers have to cut into.  😖  This is a place that is a family owned business and all they do is drywall patching because they're apparently that good at it and are done with the grind of actual hanging of drywall.  If they suck as well, that will be the THIRD drywall company in less than a year that I will have put a hex on.  (But this one gets 5 stars and you have to ask yourself does a true 5 star company exist anymore and I would be beyond gleeful to report back yes on that one.  🤞)

Then that SHOULD be the green light we need to get the walls painted and begin the path back to normalcy.  This assumes that my hand will cooperate.  I have a thumb compression sleeve for it while I paint that the Mr got me and a splint to wear on my left hand because that hand was already shot before painting and now it's practically non-functional.  Using a pole sander on the ceiling got real interesting trying not to completely lose it and I had to stir peanut butter for my breakfast oatmeal Monday and bawled because it hurt so bad.  I'm going to have to ice this lil lovely every night and pray for the best so maybe one day I can brush my hair without wincing.  I have hopefully one more week of pushing through this before we have to unload the basement. (Well, that's assuming the drywall people are able to get us in asap and not drag their feet on it.)  

It is always an "adventure" in these parts and I'm ready to hang up my cord and stop bungee-ing into projects that cause us nothing but grief.

Oh look...Amazon just delivered our replacement balusters.

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Shenanigans and Attempted Productivity Weekend Recap

Hello hello hello and happy Monday to you sassy beasts!  I hope your weekend was full of a good balance of productivity and shenanigans like ours was.  I am happy to report we finally got our estimate from the plumber lady on Friday.  The Mr booked another plumber but a little research showed red flags on them so I had him cancel and a few hours later she came through. It's a reasonable price that is $500 more than drywall dude (who is still hounding us about it and I told the Mr to tell him this is not a right now project) and I think $1000ish less than the other plumber who was a condescending prick which I am beginning to believe is a prerequisite for being in the trades.  So for just under a 1000 square foot home, it's $6500 to have the whole house re-piped in case anyone needs a ballpark.

I knew we mentally needed some time away from the dreadstead, so we planned to go to a park we like about two hours away.  It called for rain and high winds though but we didn't care.  I put on makeup and made a little effort which made me feel like a human being instead of a bridge troll from a Grimm fairytale.  We stopped at some old school donut shops we try to get to once a year and got extras with the intent to freeze.  (Sadly they didn't make it.  🙄 We need to reel it in because using the horror show at home is no excuse to make bad choices.)  One of those shops has to be knocked off the list.  It was make or break visit after a few years of getting mediocre goods and it tipped to break.  It really sucks when an institution goes south and raises prices.  

We headed to the park where we usually tried to get in at least a yearly paddle.  Unfortunately that hasn't happened in two years but maybe we can rectify that this year.   There were pops of spring here and there amidst the dull browns.

The water was all muddy from the torrential rain the night before so it kind of looked like Augustus Gloop's river of chocolate but not.  We were also able to enjoy just pulling over by the water and listening to the waves lapping against the shore.

We reminisced about the first time we went there when we were 18 and 20, broke and saved up to rent a crappy cabin there.  To us, it was like heaven because no worrying about his Dad charging down the stairs when we were making out and just getting to pretend it was ours for the weekend.  I was wearing his bomber jacket (remember those?!) on hikes and looking cute with my growing out Sun In hair.  Man, that feels like a lifetime ago.

We drove a little and saw some moo cows.

We lucked out with very little rain but the wind was atrocious and it was a very long drive home for the Mr who was regretting not taking my low to the ground sedan at that point.  We encountered a traffic jam which we assumed was an overturned semi due to the wind and the trouble all of the truckers were having but we discovered it was this:

I'm glad no one was under that when it happened.  It was a nice day away even if our food choices were completely disgusting for the second weekend in a row.  (As someone who has to hold down retches when she finds hair in her food, I really hit the jackpot yesterday with both lunch and dinner containing someone else's locks.  🤮) I really don't want to have to cook all weekend but we seem to be down to three dependable restaurants and the one is newish and will dip in quality as they all do in the second or third year.  Plus with the price of everything, it's insanity.  Anyone else experiencing this in their area too?

We picked up the paint I ordered from the Depot on the way home and settled in to finally start binging Daisy Jones and the Six on Amazon Prime.  I haven't been mentally in a place where I could with Lisa Marie passing because Riley looks so much like her and has so many of her mannerisms.  She is doing such an amazing job and I'm so proud of her.  We got through five episodes and I knew we were at the Mr's limit before head bobbing would ensue.  It was a nice day away from all that needed done and a good mental recharge because we knew Sunday we'd need to get to it.

Sunday morning as I thought about the sanding, dusting, vacuuming, priming and painting ahead of us, I was wondering why the heck we didn't pay someone to do it.  Oh, that's right, it would be $4500, that's why.  😳

As I went to sand the two seams he let dry and said would need a "light sand" I could feel the wonk and found other areas that needed spackled where he did a crap job or ignored the mark tape we put up.  😤  Look, maybe because we found out you are a slumlord you have that landlord mentality of what people should live with gouge wise in their walls but not when we pay you.  So my burning rage returned at the idea I can't go full throttle on every area when I had psyched myself up for it because I found stuff that needed patched everywhere.  Things I know I would see and of course things like a wonk to the wall that cannot be fixed which is why I went with eggshell sheen paint because I can't have a satin sheen highlighting his greatest misses.  The Mr worked on priming the ceiling while my patches dried.  I went over all of the walls on Dbag's side because you have to sand primer especially when the jackhole installing your drywall uses his big ol' sanding machine over the drywall paper and furs it up.  He'd better hope I never see him again or I will be forced to figuratively slap him with a leather glove old timey style.  Then I just saw so many areas that were going to need a thick primer so I called Sherwin Williams and asked what primer they recommend when your drywaller doesn't do their job.  She laughed and recommended Wall and Wood Primer since it's their thickest and since it was 35% off (well, as long as you make an account for them), we decided to get two gallons at least for the seams and any other problem areas we ran across and we assumed there would be many.

I was right.  I will say, despite really not wanting to get that primer, it worked.  It was recommended by drywall man as what they would use if they painted because "it covers a lot of imperfections."  AKA- It allows me to not do my job completely and pass enough to have it be too late after you've given me the price of a hooptie to paint your interior.  It's not a miracle worker.  It doesn't fill holes and stuff he claimed it would if we'd just bought that originally and I guarantee he would have tried to pass it off.  Neither of us are sorry we used the BIN 123 as the initial primer over the bare drywall but if you're using green glue or a colored drywall, it will take multiple coats- three at minimum but likely four.  We used two coats of BIN and one coat of the Wall and Wood Primer for a pretty even base for our paint.  If there's one thing I hate it's having to reach up high.  Even with the telescoping paint roller attached to a long attachment pole, it was grueling.  Your hands get all cramped into a ball and your lower back is like "yeah, I'm done."  

We took hot showers and ordered dinner and hobbled to the bedroom, our only useable room for the past three weeks.  We watched an episode of Daisy before settling in for some Chateau and groaning with every move for the rest of the night.  Nothing like making a 20 point turn just to flip on your side.  Then we hunkered down and blew through the rest of Daisy Jones and I can now see why Riley is posting everyone's sobbing selfies.  OMG just when I recovered from one ugly cry they sucker punched me with a grenade.  I cannot recommend this series enough especially for you Fleetwood Mac fans as the book is inspired by the 1997 reunion tour, which the Mr and I went to, called The Dance.  The way Stevie and Lindsey sang to each other during Silver Springs on the prime time special?  As they say, if you know, you know.  If you don't, this video of the performance should tell you everything you need to know.  All of us fans were eating that shizz up with a spoon back in the day! 😆

How was your weekend?  

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What I'm Reading This Week #12

A happy first Friday of Spring to you all!  (It is the first Friday of Spring, right?  I have no concept of time anymore.)  As I type, the 80th stranger to enter our house in the last month is arriving.  This is the plumber to install the new hot water tank.  We went with a Rheem 12 year tank because I do not want to do this anymore than I have to.  When I was younger, I always thought hot water tanks were meant to last for like 20-25 years and who knows, maybe back in the day they did.  Now you're lucky to get 6-10 years out of them.  Our first one we got with the place in 96 and seriously lasted like 15 years or something like that and I surely don't think they put a long term tank in as builder grade.

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It decided to poop out on Christmas Eve.  By some miracle we were able to have it replaced the same day and so began our journey into "things you will fix because you were too stupid to leave before the 'big things' decided to give way."  You know, stuff like HVAC, replaced our windows, our third or fourth hot water tank now and that's not including all of the remodels we've done over the years.  Get a townhome, they said.  There's no maintenance, they said.  Oh you mean how they shovel your sidewalks in the winter and weed in the summer?  No they don't.  They stopped doing that 15 years ago.  So any of you people wanting to throw your parents into condo living because of the 'convenience', it's all a lie.

These plumber people we started out so impressed with have slowly been sliding onto my sh*t list because the woman is not getting back to us with an estimate for the pipes.  I don't know if she needs to take her socks off to count or what but it should NOT take four freaking days.  (Five by the time you read this and I say that because I'm counting the day she came out and said we should have the estimate that day.)  The Mr talked to the installer about it and he seemed to be puzzled why there was no estimate as well and he agreed that just because the pipe is flexible doesn't mean the inside isn't a crap fest.  (I mean, obviously he's going to say that, he wants our money.)  

How much money?  I.STILL.DON'T. KNOW!!!!  

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Sorry.  Breathe in, breathe out.  

Getting our life back is hinging on this crap and I absolutely refuse to use that asshat that we finally got out of here with the drywall.  The Mr is 98% sure if we didn't have the potential of the pipe replacement to dangle for him that he would've ghosted us and left us with crap walls.  I told him at that point I would've gotten involved because he's been lucky to deal with the Mr thus far and my filter is frayed and non-existent at this point.  I don't want him back here.  Just looking at the ruined carpet on the stairs every day spikes my blood pressure to unhealthy levels and wondering how the hell we're going to get that out due to his incompetency.  Yes, go ahead and break up my walls so I need you to drywall it again.  NO THANKS!!  

Sorry again.

It would be one thing if this was like a random thing that happens but I cannot tell you how many reviews I read or stories I hear from others who talk about half the contractors they call/email won't even bother calling them back (had that too), they'll come out to do an estimate and never give you one or flake on you.  HOW do these people get good reviews?!  I don't even bother with people who get crappy ones but these are more than four star people we call and they can't seem to locate their asses with both hands, a GPS and search party. 

Triple sorry.

I'm going to go pop open that wine I forgot about the other day while you all peruse:

Do Resistance Bands Build Muscle?  (I can tell you they kick our butts when we do them.  Every time the Mr sees the bands come out, he immediately groans.)

3 Nutrients That Might Improve Your Wellbeing  (I'll take all the wellbeing I can get!)

"Is This It?": 4 Key Reasons for Midlife Languishing  (We can relate.  LOL)

Don’t Dread Menopause. Prepare for It Instead  (How exactly do we do that when doctor's dismiss your symptoms or want to throw you on an anti-depressant or whatever.  As I get closer to this delightful time of life, I find myself paralyzed by the shroud of secrecy/shame and lack of concrete information that still seems to be prevalent about it.)

10 Spice Rack Storage Ideas That Will Put an End to Kitchen Chaos  (Uhh, they forgot the solution I use for people who have ZERO room to make a nice little nook somewhere!)

27 Ways to Organize Your Small Closet for Maximum Storage  (Some good tips I need to put into practice once I can get back in there.)

7 common mistakes which are making your bathroom dirtier  (Oh my)

26 Best Perennial Flowers and Plants That Come Back Every Year  (I love our phlox.  They seem to be the only thing that grow in clay.)

50 Easter Gifts for Kids That Will Have Them Feeling Festive  (Some adorable ideas but scroll past the expensive ones.)

The Cure frontman Robert Smith says he's "sickened" by Ticketmaster fees  (GO ROBERT!!!  1) Good on you for not charging hundreds for your tickets and 2) if only other artists would stand up to them like he did concerts might actually be affordable!)

I feel like we can't plan anything since we're in a limbo as far as getting the house back into some kind of shape.  I have two weeks before Easter in which I would like to actually be able to sit down and eat at our table for the first time in a month.  At this rate we may be getting a Honeybaked Ham box lunch, grab our Easter baskets and go to the park until we can't take screaming kids anymore and then go back to the dreaded homestead.   I can't help but look skyward and how all of this remodeling crap that initially started in 2020 was meant to give us a more peaceful abode and now we basically hate it here.  

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Guess I'll pull the blinds, turn off the lights and wait for the voices.  😵

Oh wait!  We did have one good thing!!  So I painted some primer on the wall and reapplied the Wheat Bread paint.  The more we kept looking at it, the more pink it looked.  (Both that and Taupe Tease)  I was not going to repaint everything just for it to have a hue I didn't ask for.  So off to da Depot to look at paint samples as the paint guys at the counter did everything but help us.  I painted a slab of wood with the Wheat Bread and took it in to compare with other similar shades.  The one we felt was closest to what we were thinking is called Studio Clay so we go a paint sample.  Yahtzee!  I painted it just below the other samples and it's the perfect shade of beige with no pink or weird undertones.  So I think we have our shade of wall paint if we can ever get to that point!  

OH and I also ordered some canvas prints and some sound absorbing panels to tuck into the back of them to hang on the walls in the hallway which is now SUPER echoey which was the opposite of what we had it drywalled for.  Five 20x30 prints for $145 through Canvas Champ.  

OH! OH! and we also ordered square iron balusters that we think will work with our stairs since it's been a big fat fail up to this point.  Yes, that means another project down the pike which means more pressure on future us.  That was me....trying to not be a permanent downer but still circling the cul de sac right back to Poopietown.  

😁

Any plans for your weekend?  Have you started thinking about Easter yet?

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Midweek Madness

It's hump dayyyyyyyyy.  Time for a check in.

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Priming began Sunday and went into Monday.  At that point, we saw what I consider extensive fixes will need to be made.  You can see the seams on 70% of what they did.  For those not in the know, that ain't right.  If I wanted to see seams, *I* would've done the work!!  Seams are what show either after 1) years of your house settling or 2) shoddy installation.  

Also:

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Those are just two of I think 5 seams he needs to redo.  

I want my damn living room back and we can't even get on that road until he comes out to fix stuff which after telling him we weren't available today is obviously the only day he has available.  Because of all of the ways I had to twist, contort and push on the rollers while priming, my hands were of zero use to me later.  How do I always forget how badly everything hurts after one day of painting?  Monday, the plumber lady came to do an estimate.  She said $1600 for the hot water tank install (that was before mentioning the expansion tank that the previous 5 star rated company didn't replace and according to a quick search, is code.)  Since we have a leak and she was much nicer and cheaper, the Mr booked her for today so that'll at least be done and given it's the only day schmuck boy can come out then fine- trip all over each other.  The Mr feared he was going to try to ditch us and he was pressing hard for the repipe to be done through him once we asked him to come fix his mistakes.  You've heard the phrase 'jack of all trades, master of none.'  Well, I'm not having master of none touching our pipes!

Anyway.

She looked at our PolyB pipes and was the first one to say...'actually, these don't need replaced.'  She said they would turn colors and get brittle and at that point they would need replaced but she understood if we were still thinking about doing it.  She also said if we were replacing with PEX that she didn't think they would need to cut a wall at all, just snake it through as long as there were no weird spots.  She also said she's old school and would probably recommend copper which given how expensive the PEX adapters are would actually not be much more expensive.  She saw a clip she didn't like that the water filter people installed called a 'shark bite' and said they'd replace that.  The Mr asked why because she was the second person (drywall dude was the first) to poo poo those.  She said they're notorious for failing/leaking so they would just take care of that so we wouldn't have a point of failure.  She said either one would be recommended though so it was up to us.  

The Mr came in yesterday afternoon for a 'gut check' and are we just wasting our money replacing these now that we've had two plumbers that we have a little more trust in over the years say 'eh, these are fine.'  After a little research on both and some talking, we decided based on the potential for a 'surprise' denial of insurance claims that alone would be worth some peace of mind.  We also feel like there aren't any really good options for piping as both have pros and cons but copper is more prone to pinhole leaks that could potentially be an issue.  The leaching of both pipes is obviously a con but supposedly after 30 days the PEX leaches far less and we use hot water ALL the time and that can be a big con with copper because that causes it to leach more??  It's all maddening the research you have to do on crap you don't give two squirts about.  We have a whole house filter and a filter in our fridge water which is where all of our potable water comes out of anyway so we've decided the PEX is probably the way to go for us.  It will mean less work for her too but we do appreciate her honesty in that the pipes may be fine.  What we do know is even if PolyB feels soft on the outside, it scales and erodes from the inside which is the issue.  This is more than I ever wanted to know and more than you ever wanted to hear me ramble about!  😄

So once again, we've got a house full of people that we didn't want and now we just have to pray that he does a good enough job that we can be done with his sorry butt and she said she could get us scheduled within the week for the re-piping.  I told the Mr to tell her not to mention it in front of drywall dude because he thinks he's got skin in a game he's unaware he's not playing with the pipes.  He already seemed irked that we are having the hot water tank replaced by someone else and it's like mofo, I don't know WHO you think you are but do the friggin' job we hired you to do and leave.  Like he said he could replace the carpet on our stairs.  Oh, you mean the carpet you RUINED!?!?!  Unless you're replacing it for free due to your asshattery, then 

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Seriously, I'm so d-o-n-e.

So say a little prayer we get through today unscathed and can move on to the next poop bomb.

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How's your week going so far?  Anything fun going on or counting down to the weekend?

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Hamster Wheel Weekend Recap

A beautiful Monday to you all!  Did you rock it out this weekend?  I hope so.  Did you sit on your couch?  Be thankful.  Some of us have couches sitting on top of our tables or leaning against a wall!  😄

It was one of those weekends where you felt like you were running on a hamster wheel and getting nowhere.  We ran the gamut of emotions from being mad at the drywall dude to being mad at each other to being mad at the jackass that came out to give us an estimate for whole house re-piping and his arrogant tude to everything in between.  To put the cherry on it, anything we got food wise tasted like utter crap.  There is nothing worse than when you want to stress eat and it's all in vain.  I know, we shouldn't stress eat but if you were dropping what's going to end up being just over $20k in a month's time for improvements no one will even see/notice, you want whatever will make you temporarily feel better.

Let me give you an idea of our world right now in the form of pictures so you can understand why we're both clinically insane.

When they don't put down a canvas drop cloth and drip green glue all over your stairs whose carpet you weren't planning to replace immediately so now despite using rubbing alcohol to remove it (recommended) it's not working so now more and more dirt just accumulates on the spots.

Yarf.

(too friggin' lazy to redo that pic)

When they know you have to replace the outlets/switches after they're done.

The condition they thought it was okay to leave the garage in upon departure.  Actually this was after the Mr cleaned up a bit.  This company got many compliments about how clean they'd leave the jobsite.  😐

We had to get a Bagster from Waste Management to chuck all of the extra drywall left behind since bulk pick up doesn't take construction materials.  That'll be another $250 please.

What the view would look like from the couch if it wasn't sitting on top of our dining room table right now.

So that should give you a bit of an idea of how utterly chaotic it is here and why we are pissed, over having brainless idiots passing as contractors in our house and feel like every project reinforces the born under a bad sign theory.

"Maybe you could go down and get in a workout?"  Sure!  Let's go downstairs!

😒

Priming was yesterday's formal workout and then mama needed to break out some wacky juice.

Thanks to those who responded to the FB poll on keeping the walls Driftwood Gray or switching over to Wheat Bread now that we basically have an entire house to paint.  Wheat Bread won overwhelmingly.  I did paint it on the wall:

I swear it just looks like another shade of gray in pictures but that's not what it looks like in person!  It's one of those 'griege' colors but I think it's heavily picking up on the gray on the walls despite two coats on that sample.  So we'll go with that when we're paint ready.

Wanna know something else fun that happened?  So after we got our $8500 re-piping estimate and then a $2300 estimate for the hot water replacement from this jackhole who had a snooty tude and told us something like we "didn't have time to wait on the hot water tank"...a day later there was a leak on top and the pilot mysteriously went out.  Now I'm not accusing anyone of anything but I did ask the Mr if the guy was left alone with it at any point because we've gone 3 years with it sounding like that.  He said he wasn't anywhere near it.  Sounded like sabotage to me!  😆  So apparently hot water tanks are lined with glass???  I did not know this.  I guess that is the underwater buckshot sound we've been hearing/ignoring.  Now I want to make clear if I'd known we had glass knocking around in there I would've immediately had it replaced but we thought it was like big rocks of calcium knocking around in there.  I feel like the stupidest person on Earth when it comes to homeownership and I've owned for 28 years!  Why do we not have classes on this crap in school?  Like mental health classes and homeownership classes should be mandatory.

So, that wraps it up on our end.  Every single day there is literally a new problem.  Given we have another estimate being done, I'm just going to pray that is the only disturbance in the force for today.

PLEASE tell me you had a better weekend!  Share the deets so we can live vicariously!

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What I'm Reading This Week #11

Happy St Patrick's Day to my Irish peeps!  Erin Go Braghless or whatever they say.  🍀 🌈

I hope you've had a wonderful week and are ready for a relaxing or fun weekend depending on how things went.  I am listening to the most heinous remix of Take on Me by Aha on Amazon music.  I'm sure it's fine if I'm sitting on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean but not when I'm trying to listen to my soothing sounds of lost youth for comfort, thankyouverymuch.  

Anyhoo.

It's been another dusty week at the homestead.  The only thing not wrapped in plastic is us and I'm sure that's coming soon enough.  I just want this jackhole out of the house and apparently that might be tomorrow if he doesn't jerk around.  I don't know why the highly rated tradesmen we seem to hire are complete and utter mooks or why drywallers think they have free reign to not protect your stuff  where they are going to be working or even attempt to not leave it 100x worse than they found it.  The Mr attempted to remove the top of the hot water tank because there's something called an anode rod that you're supposed to change yearly.  Are we the last friggin' people on Earth to know this?  We'll just replace it and see if the dudes can loosen the factory bolt so we can do the 6 month check then the yearly replacement after that. 

Oh and then the Mr decides to throw an online search into my lap about how our 28 year old PolyB pipes need replaced.   (We did not find out about this atrocity until after a lawsuit time period had lapsed, of course.)  So any potential happiness I had about being able to move on to painting and priming is now smothered by the money we just wasted on frivolous drywall that isn't making any difference when our whole house needs repiped and I can't stop crying.  So we have a plumber coming out today to give us the figure which we read could run upwards of $10K.  

I feel like I should just stop this blog.  I never have anything good to report and I'm tired of writing about our well of endless crap as much as you're probably tired of reading about it, I can't imagine how you all stay invested.  Adulthood is vastly overrated and I want off please.  Clearly no vacations for us next year except maybe our three day marriage retreat if we're lucky and don't need the money from our cashback rewards to put toward pipe #12 and drywall repair.  😞

Now let's rate:

Stop Eating the Same Meals Each Week. It May Be Affecting Your Health  (I'm super guilty of this  😕)

The Best Spices for Gut Health, from a Gastro  (Some good ones in there but a hard no on fennel.  RETCH)

Are protein powders safe? Read the label before you start taking them  (Does everything seem to be poison or is it just me?)

4 Stretches to Do Every Morning Before You Get Out of Bed for a Tight Back and Neck (Will do because every day is a stiff one.)

Does Your Nose Always Get Blocked on 1 Side? Here's Why  (Interesting to know!  A little squirt of Xlear Max always does the trick for me but obviously we have more floating around than usual around here!)

25 Tips for Organizing Small Closets That Will Double Your Storage Space  (I can vouch for several of these methods.  The over the door organizer has been a friggin' God send.  We've used multi shirt hangers that have worked well too and obviously our space bags.)

Can Ruptured Adult Sibling Relationships Be Healed?  (More importantly, would you want them to be or are they toxic AF?)

Here's Why Your House Is So Dusty and How to Fix It  (I know the source of my dust these days.  I can't wait until we can run our little robovac.  Right now he'd just be bumping into all of the crap we have upstairs out of site of drywall troll.)

Most midsize SUVs miss the mark in IIHS rear-seat crash test  (Great)

Here’s why you look better in mirrors than you do in pictures  (Mirror:  Damn girl, you're looking goooood!  Picture:

source

I would say we're going to have a busy weekend but who knows what drywall dude is going to get done.  I just know the only respite I was looking forward to is gone now since he'll be here.  (I know both neighbors will be slamming around in retaliation (already are) and I had no intention of being here for that.  God laughs.)  So maybe another weekend of twitching.

source

What's on tap for you this weekend?  Basketball?  Drinking green beer?  Rocking in a dark corner?

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All Over the Place Weekend Recap

Happy happy Monday!  Are you ready for your one hour less sleep week where everyone is basically a zombie before 11am?  

We are getting ready for what we think (pray) is the final day for this wall.  There are several things we're not super happy with that we want fixed before he starts sanding.  I asked the Mr if I have unreasonable expectations and he said no, we have expectations.  A wall should look like a wall which is why we hired people and didn't try to do this ourselves.  (Trust me, we couldn't have at ALL on that wall with all of the angles and places we don't have a way to reach in the stairwell.)  So much muck everywhere.  I can't even convey.  The part that stinks the most is not being able to have a place to sit that isn't covered in drop cloths, drywall dust (and sanding hasn't even begun yet) and there's nowhere to eat but the cold, cold basement sharing a wood stool for a 'table.'

So we really needed the weekend to have a few chill days.  We got some lunch and the Mr drove around like a LOT because neither of us wanted to be home.  We drove around what I consider my "childhood" home even though it represents two school years out of my life and I just cried most of the time.  The area is expanding rather close to it and I know there is going to be a day in the not too distant future that my home will no longer be my home.  Then come 5:30pm Saturday, our drywall dude (DD) shoots over the estimate for the other wall and says he can start Wednesday.  Okay so Saturday is basically shot because we can't start making a bunch of noise popping off baseboards and such so that leaves us Sunday to do as much as we can moving everything off of the wall that we'll BE doing and having to move it all back that night so he can hopefully finish the other wall he's currently working on.  Then have only Tuesday (of which the Mr is working) to clean up all of the shite he leaves behind from sanding (and believe me when I tell you that apparently any drywall workers job is to leave the rest of your house in utter shambles) to somehow move all of that furniture (love seat and couch, 6' table and two armoires to the other side of the room that has about 2/3 less room to work with.  What's that saying of trying to fit ten lbs of flour in a five lb bag?  That would be about right.  As the Mr was telling DD this, he's like "oh, you can just move that to the middle of the room, it will be fine.

😒

Perhaps you did not see how you and your crew treated our home on original drywall day?  Big ass glops of green glue ALL over the place that we don't even know if we're going to be able to get out of the carpet we had no plans of replacing just yet, all over every door handle that has not come off with 5 cleaning wipes yet and just the general mess left behind.  You would like me to just scooch everything to the middle of the room because you're going to suddenly be delicate with our white couches and all belongings?  I think not.  The prospect of all of this with practically zero warning in the scheme of things sent me into a tailspin.  We agreed that we wanted the other wall done sooner than later but we also said we needed a week away from this guy too so the prospect of getting no break in addition to having that huge drywall truck here the week they are also doing siding repair and crap with landscaping stuff means the gestapo of the homeowners association will be out and about and we can't sneak it in like we did last time.  I shot off a quick note to my friend in the midst of my swirl and she suggested we tell him Thursday.  I know that may sound like something we should've easily thought of but the Mr and I were both dug into our personal stances on this and I think we tend to think just because someone says they can start at X time doesn't mean you are obligated to agree to it.  I really wanted to wait until Monday to sign the new contract anyway because I want to see if this guy leaves us with a crap fest that we are not happy with.  (So far, there are a few things we need addressed.)

So Sunday we had a big breakfast to get us started, let it settle for a little then got to it.  I took everything off the wall and was left with a buffet of molly screw holes.

Time to grab the acoustic caulk and start fillin'.

Well, first time to throw on the GenX Amazon music station to make the tasks at hand more tolerable and this was about the only tolerable hip hop song I could stand of the ones they were throwing at me.

I shook my Oakland booty and got to work.  We took down the curtain rod overhead and I had my work cut out for me there too.

I will say I will NOT be sad to see that be covered because over almost 30 years we've hung a lot of curtains and repatched holes and I clearly suck at it if you can't tell by the spot just above the left set of holes.  There's also a horrible patch in the corner that kind of dips in and is wonky but has always been covered by furniture so out of sight, out of mind but I will be glad for that not to be the main part of the wall or worry about it caving in or something.  

The Mr popped off the trim around the patio door to reveal the gems of contractors past.

I took a boxcutter and took the 45 seconds they couldn't be bothered with to make it straight so I could start caulking.  I backfilled quite a bit with as much caulk as it would take because the witch neighbor who has full on conversations with her dog to the point you think she's on the phone with someone took to sitting outside in the fall and oh hell no are we listening to that crap if we don't have to.  (Yes, we talked to our dog when she was alive but I assure you, this is something completely different and perhaps only a small step below David Berkowitz dog level stuff.)  So anything we can do to not hear her canine conversations is a major plus for our sanity.  I think everything is pretty much done on that wall as far as what can be removed and filled in.  I feel better about where we are and that we'll have an extra day so perhaps one full day of not having to rush around next week before the next project starts?

We felt like there was no sense in priming and painting and doing the ceiling in bits and pieces and wanted to be able to do it all in one swipe.  BUT before we can do that, we have to replace the hot water tank too.  Yep.  It feels like it's at a critical point and unfortunately Best Buy doesn't sell them so we don't have $550 to go toward one.  So now we research those and call a plumber to install it and do it while the stair rails are still off and everything is out of the way and looks like a construction zone.  My goal is within the month to be back to pre-contractor looks.  I guess the only thing that'll be different is we're going to strip and sand the rails to stain them since we're not sure staining the stairs is going to be a possibility like we hoped.  Then I know what that means as far as the staircase is concerned but I'm not even thinking about that right now because there's a matter in the master/primary/main/your preferred adjective bedrrom that will need to be addressed soon as well.

How was your weekend?  Do anything fun?

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