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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