A lot is going on in the attic

As you may have heard, there are a couple of rats in the attic, and we need heat ducting installed in the attic. The house needs to be rewired, and I'd like to drop down ethernet cables. Not too long ago we had our old asbestos-y insulated ducting removed from the attic. We have all kinds of reasons for needing access to our attic as of late. There are a couple of ways in to the attic. I think you could climb up there if you could make your way around the false ceiling in the garage. (I'm going to tear that bullshit down someday.) There's a tiny attic entrance in the closet of the 4th bedroom (the add-on room). This thing is probably 12" x 12". You couldn't really get in through there. I don't know what's up with that thing. Finally there is a door in the siding of the house outside of the 4th bedroom.

See the outline in the upper portion of the siding above the window? That's the attic door. Real handy, huh? Observant readers will have noticed that the roof wasn't installed properly on the add-on. There isn't any overhang or gutter. Water seems to have found its way into the attic door. It's not too bad, but there is enough water damage that the hinges are useless. There is at least a small amount of water damage to the door frame, but it mostly seems to be to the door itself. The siding seems to be okay mostly. The attic door frame is made of 2" x 4" pieces, and it's decently damaged.


So, to recap, the hinges are useless. To get in to the attic, you need to climb a ladder, pull the door out of the wall like it's a plug, and either hand it to a nice person standing by on the ground, or walk yourself back down the ladder with it. This is a dangerous and difficult situation. So, before we have ducting work under way, I'm going to rebuild this door. This is a very simple project, but I'm excited because it's my first woodworking project. So, the door is simply a 2x4 rectangular frame with a diagonal crosspiece. The hinges are mounted on the frame. The siding is nailed to the front face, and there's a latch attached to one side of the siding. I purchased a circular saw to cut my wood. I have a large heavy desk in the garage that I used as a workbench. It worked so well that I'll probably keep it out there for that purpose. Here's my new door frame:

My grandfather used to build furniture as a hobby. He would make us little wooden toys for Christmas. He made such beautiful pieces. A part of me has always wanted to be like him and be able to make woodwork. So here's my first small step. I'm mostly finished with my door. I just need to install the hinges and nail on the siding and the latch (I'm reusing the siding from the old frame). My next woodworking project will be to build raised redwood garden beds. After that, I'm going for something a little more ambitious. Marth and I want to get chickens, so I'm going to build a chicken coop for them. Now that will be quite a project! I intend to post many pictures as I progress through that endeavor. I'll be sure to post some before and after pictures of the planter boxes. I don't think there are any garden pictures up yet.

On traveling

When I'm traveling...

Cats don't follow me into the bathroom and jump on my lap. Sometimes there are dogs instead!

I'm always surprised at how everyone arranges stuff in their refrigerator.

I'm amused at how other people's towels match.

Every morning I wake up and wonder where the hell I am.

It's so easy to get dressed because all my clothes are all together and there are so few options.

I like doing everyday things with people like going to the grocery store.

I never know how other people's stoves work so it's easier to make mistakes when cooking.

I get to sit on full-sized couches! We don't have one in the house yet, so it's a novelty.

Rats

We've all heard the rats. I've seen one. It was dead. I found it when I was investigating our attic. I need to retrieve it at some point.

We hear them in the walls. It's time for them to go.

I think we're going to get some traps for them instead of poison. I read some message boards about getting rid of rats, and traps seem better than poison since they die at the trap instead of wherever they choose, so disposing of the bodies is easier.

I'm not looking forward to checking on the traps, but we don't want our new insulation being disturbed, and we don't need any more rat droppings in our attic. Ew.

I know what 4 is

In the two apartments we lived in from 2008-2011, we had gas stoves. Each of them had dials for the burners that had at most 45 degrees of useful flame-adjustment range. In the house, our stove has dials that go from Lo to Hi, with six numbers in between them. The whole range stretches around probably 270 degrees of the dial. The numbers actually mean something. If I want to cook something quickly without burning it, I cook it on 4. It means something. And it makes cooking sooooooo much easier.

Quesadillas with black beans and avocado

Yield: Two dinner portions and some leftover quesadilla filling for one or two smaller quesadillas

Quesadillas
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 sweet onion, sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced
Juice of 1/2 of a lime
1/2 medium green pepper, chopped or diced
~2 cups fresh mushrooms, cut into chunks
1 can ready-cut tomatoes, thoroughly drained
Cumin, to taste
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Flour tortillas
Shredded cheese (we like to use mozzarella or Monterrey Jack)

Pour a bit of oil into a medium nonstick frying pan, and saute the garlic and onions until the onions start to look translucent. Add the lime juice. Throw in the green pepper and saute until they start getting tender. Then add the mushrooms, and finally add the tomatoes. There might be a lot of liquid by this point. If you haven't already added your spices, stir them in and taste if things are spicy enough/balanced well. When things are hot, transfer the veggies into a glass container so you can store the leftovers (or just into a bowl if everything will be eaten in one serving). Turn off the eye. Add a bit of oil to the pan and add two flour tortillas, so that they make a sort of upside down T shape with the inside halves sticking up vertically from the pan. Add cheese to the horizontal halves, scoop some veggies onto the cheese, then add more cheese on top. Fold down the tortilla halves and turn the heat up to medium and fry to your desired shade of gold/brown. Gently smoosh the ends down with a spatula so the cheese acts as a glue. Then flip the quesadillas over (I like going side-over-side, not open-over-closed) and fry the other side.

Black beans
We use canned black beans, but this recipe should work fine with dry black beans if you hydrate/soak them first. Drain the canned black beans and pour them into a colander. Rinse water over them until all of that salty soupy stuff is gone. Add a bit of oil to a small saucepan/pot, then pour in the beans. Add the juice from the other half of the lime. Add garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, and parsley (or cilantro if you prefer). Stir and let sit until you're frying the quesadillas. The beans hardly take any time at all to heat up and it's best if you don't overcook them. Turn the heat on medium low and stir occasionally until they're hot enough for you.

Avocado
While quesadillas and beans are cooking, wash and halve a ripe, medium avocado. Remove the pit with a sharp knife or a spoon, then use a butter knife or spoon to take out the avocado flesh in big chunks. Divide the chunks into two portions.

Serve and enjoy!

Talking with heating service companies

I call a nearby heating supply/service company to ask if they sell heating system parts. I explain that I need a supply plenum for my gas furnace and he says they make them there. Then he's all:

"And are you going to install this yourself?"

The emphasis on the yourself was priceless. I could almost feel his eyebrows raising through the phone.

I love being talked to like I'm clueless. And (this was later) it's always professional to call someone "lady" over the phone when you're in a business conversation. /sarcasm

Luckily the guy wasn't all bad, and explained that plenums are manufactured and that he needed dimensions for it. And now it makes sense why we couldn't find them at Lowe's. Whoops. And the guy referred me to another heating parts maker/retailer that was closer to me, which was nice of him.

Unfortunately, when I called the place he referred me to, I was told that they don't sell parts; they only do installations and repairs. I asked if I could send them an email but I didn't get to finish my sentence because the woman interrupts me with, "WE DON'T SELL PARTS, MA'AM."

*blink*

What I was going to say was, hey, can I send you an email explaining the situation and ask how much it'd be for you to install the parts we need? But, you know, no need to let me finish. I couldn't have been asking about how to use your services. You wouldn't want my money, right?

After that awkward moment, she tells me how much it'd cost for them to send someone to our house to look at our setup and give us a quote. I told her to have a nice day and I sincerely meant it since anyone with a stick up their butt needs a nice day once in a while.

So now I'm off to read more about heat ducting design. Wheeee...

Wired connection: Complete!

Ahhhh...my own private sanctuary in the fourth bedroom. Today I finished the ethernet wiring project. My sides hurt (from working with zip ties above my head), and I'm sure they'll hurt more tomorrow, but for now, I am a happy panda. I ended up with less CAT 6 left over than I prefer, but I figure I can slap on an extension if it really gets out of hand. For now, my desk is where I want it to be, and everything is working swimmingly.

We bought a masonry bit so I could drill through the stucco, but the bit turned out to be too big for my drill. So I resorted to chipping away at the stucco to widen the hole so both the CAT 6 and coaxial cable could fit through. Who knew a crow bar could fill in for a chisel? I guess it's not that far of a stretch, but it was my first time using a crow bar for that application. After I'd fixed the hole, I found my drill bit set. As it turns out, I already had some masonry bits in my set. *facepalm* Well, at least I know for next time. Ike's been wanting to install a hose holder on the side of the house, so now there's nothing holding him back.

In the middle of all the wrongs

When we moved into this house a couple months ago, I put my desk and computer in the living room. The modem and router were stationed there because that's where the cable line comes in and all the Xfinity magic happens. So I set up camp and figured I'd move my station to the fourth bedroom in a week or so once we got the network cables sorted out.

Well, October passed and November came and went, and I was still in the living room. I'm still in the living room, right now, actually. But that's about to change.

For the past few days, I've been thinking about how I could move my desk and computer into the fourth bedroom and still keep my wired internet connection. As lovely as a wireless network can be, I've become spoiled on my wired connection. I have a desktop station, so the portability advantage of wireless isn't appealing. The fourth bedroom is the furthest room from the living room, if you walk it inside. There's a shorter path to it outside, though, and I wanted to capitalize on it. While I have a 50-ft ethernet cable, I'd still rather have some slack on both ends when I'm connected.

Today I decided to see what I could do to make that connection happen. I started looking around the fourth bedroom walls and floors for outlets or other outdoor access ports. I found one outlet in the room that had a mirrored outlet on the outside of the house. I thought I'd see if I could somehow run the ethernet cable in that space without obstructing the electrical outlet.

I don't know much about electrical outlets, but from what I learned today, they're pretty simple. There's a faceplate, which comes off easily. The actual outlets themselves are connected by metal and are housed in a metal casing. Those pieces all come loose when the screws are removed, but they can't just be pulled out of the wall because there are electrical cords running out the back of them. I know that totally makes sense, but I expected way more give from the casings and was sorely disappointed. I'd gotten into the meat of both outlets with a bit of hope, but had to replace everything and start over.

As I was reassembling the parts on the outdoor outlet, I noticed a cable that was running along the ground right up against the house. I brushed some leaves to the side and saw that there were two cables parallel, sort of stuck to each other. Nails pierced through the center and held the cables on the ground. I'm not sure what the cable used to do because it didn't seem to go anywhere. One end was cut and laying in the brush nearby. I pulled that end up and tried to see where the other end led.

I pulled and followed the cord around the corner of the house. After just a few inches it went into the house! At this point, there was a good bit of searching and measuring, which would all be pretty boring to describe. I guess the most fun part was that a shrub was in the way and I had to do some pruning and sawing to get it out, which was a nice stress reliever.

At the end of my searching, I'd discovered a hole in the fourth bedroom wall behind the baseboard that led to the hole outside. After that happy verification, I yanked the cables out and started planning how I'd run the cable along the house.

I haven't set up the ethernet cable yet because I'm working on another hole where the cable will go back into the living room from the outside. But that's not the point here.

I didn't have a realistic idea about how to accomplish this task until I got up and started working on it. I wasn't even headed down the right path, but that wrong path let me see one of the paths that would let me solve the problem. Sitting and contemplating is useful for planning, but getting out there and trying things was so much more helpful. Sometimes the right thing is in the middle of all the wrongs, and I have to fail before I can be successful.

Post-Tipsygiving

Well, it's been a little over a week since Tipsygiving, which really wasn't that tipsy after about noon, and I've got a couple pictures for you.

Here is the turkey with my hand in it, because that turkey rub needed to get on the actual meat, not just on the skin:

And here's the glorious bird before it went into the oven:

Note the tucked-under wings! I struggled to get them under the bird, but the effort was worthwhile; the wings didn't dry out like they usually do. I think we let the thing cook for about five hours, which might seem excessive, but it didn't come with one of the meat thermometers, and I sure don't know where ours are. I mean, I know they're on the property somewhere, but we haven't found them yet.

The turkey turned out pretty well. The flavors really got into the flesh, which surprised me. It's the first time I've put a rub on a turkey before, and now I'm motivated to do it again next year.

The turkey giblets were awesome this year. I think we got more meat from them than usual, so the stuffing was even more loaded with little giblet bits. Mmm...and that heart was delicious. Ike was sweet and let me have most of it. I feel so barbaric eating it, but it's so yummy.

Our other side dishes were mashed potatoes, steamed green beans (!!!), a yam and oatmeal bake, and cranberry sauce, as you saw earlier. There's still a lot of the turkey and some cranberry sauce left, but everything else is gone. Overall, the dinner was a success and I'm glad we tried a couple new things this year.

Tipsygiving! The pregame show

It's Tipsygiving, which means it's cookin' time! And time for drinks. AND time for football! I don't know how this holiday weekend can be topped. Halloween is pretty badass but it needs to up the football content to compete next year.

So here are pictures since you like pictures.

I'm glad I didn't look at the price of rhubarb before deciding to make a strawberry rhubarb pie, because ohmygosh, $8.98/lb for what looks like red celery is pretty steep. Does this stuff cure impotence or something? This pie required almost $8 worth of rhubarb and about $3 worth of organic strawberries (They didn't have any non-organic ones, that's the only reason I got the organic ones. I know some of you people are giving me that look like "Oh well of course she'd get organic produce because she's one of those hippie granola girls").

Anyway, PIE:

My mom has a habit of exploding pies, so I'm doing my best to follow in her footsteps. Step one: overfill the pie! CHECK.

Step two: Check to make sure the pie is asploding as hoped in the oven. CHECK.

Just look at that caramelized goodness. I'm a firm believer that the messiness of a pie has a direct correlation to how delicious it is. Step three: OMNOMNOM. That will be after dinner if we can wait that long.

Alright, then there were the pumpkin bars. These are pretty simple. I used this recipe but doubled the cinnamon, also added three or four teaspoons of allspice, and some nutmeg too, I think. Oh! And I used one of those big 29oz cans of pumpkin instead of the sissy 15oz ones the recipe calls for. You don't have to add anything else to make up for it. It just takes a bit longer to cook off the water from the pumpkin, and I'm hoping they'll taste twice as pumpkiny.

Pumpkin bars!

With the addition of cream cheese icing, these pumpkin bars now have to be served with a warning to sit down before eating them. They have been known to make people weak in the knees.

Cranberry sauce is so easy to make. One little bag of cranberries, a cup of sugar, and a cup of orange juice. I recommend adding allspice, cinnamon, and some nutmeg, too. Heat it all up in a pot until the cranberries pop. That's what the recipe says. I like to heat it a little more til all the berries have definitely popped and I can smoosh them a little with the spoon so the liquid turns that seductive wine color. Mmm....oh yeah, then let it cool and chill it in the fridge. Serve chilled.

Cranberry sauce! Or, is it cranberries in the snow?

Ok now it's really cranberry sauce. All done and cooling.

I guess this didn't include much about the drinks. Ah well. It's morning, so...screwdriver? Gotta get my Vitamin C somehow.

Vegetarian meal: Spaghetti and salad

It's vegetarian recipe time! Spaghetti is a pretty standard meal around here. We used to get the "whole wheat" pasta but I (we?) really prefer the texture of the regular semolina, so we've gone back to that version. While we make spaghetti pretty often, it's seldom that we've paired it with salad. But this salad? This one has won us over. We hardly ever made salad before I stumbled on a Greek salad recipe one evening. Now we look forward to this mixed greens salad, and we've had it three weeks in a row. This meal is quite hearty and has excellent leftover potential.

Delish! Those big chunks in the sauce are portobello mushroom.

Spaghetti
The spaghetti noodles are just regular semolina spaghetti pasta; we get it at Costco. For the sauce, we start with Classico's Tomato and Basil sauce (yes, I am Italian and I use tomato sauce from a jar, whatever). Then we add a little canola oil (to saute the garlic and onions), freshly chopped garlic, sweet onion, black olives, a big portobello mushroom, a few smaller white mushrooms, and some dried oregano. Top it off with Parmesan cheese!

Salad + Dressing
Our favorite produce market sells a blend of salad greens where you just pile them in a bag. The blend has arugula, baby spinach, some of those weird viney greens, and some purple lettuce/spinach. I don't know all of the types in there, but it's like "mixed greens." We chop up red onion and soak it in cool water for five minutes, then drain; it's way easier to eat raw this way. After adding the onion, we'll add kalamata olives and feta cheese.

For the dressing, we use a modified version a recipe I found online. Mix 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 2 cloves minced garlic (or more! Yum!), 1/3 cup olive oil, oregano, black pepper (freshly ground is best), and a sprinkling of salt. I like to prep it before the salad veggies so the garlic can lose a bit of its bite. If you plan on having salad leftovers, only add the dressing on the portions you're serving. Olive oil congeals in the refrigerator, so it's best to keep the veggies and dressing separate until you're ready to eat them.

Enjoy!

Return to Sender

Today we got seven pieces of mail for seven people, none of whom live here. I suspect two of the addressees are the same person, because how many Lizas could have lived here before us, really? These people also have some obsession with fashion and fancy things. I have never received so many perfume sample cards in my life.

Also, there's a jury summons in that stack of mail, so I hope that gets to the right recipient in time. Eep.

A hearty vegetarian meal or snack

I love Chipotle. I especially love their rice and whatever it is they do to their veggies that make them taste so tangy and spicy. I've been fooling around with rice dishes for a while, trying to get somewhere close to replicating the flavor. I think lime juice is a key factor.

On Saturday I threw together this dish after reading a few recipes and getting spice ideas.

Spicy Lime Rice with Black Beans
2 to 3 cups cooked white rice
Water
Canola oil
2 limes
Cumin
Crushed red pepper flakes
Garlic powder
Salt
1 can of black beans
Greek yogurt (can substitute sour cream or maybe plain yogurt)

Time: Under 20 min, start to finish, if you start with cooked rice.
Yield: About 3 main course portions or 5-6 side helpings

Directions: Spoon the cooked rice into a frying pan or skillet (I used a nonstick pan). Gently break up any clumps. If your cooked rice has dried out in the fridge like mine had, add some water so you can see a bit of water in the pan below the rice. Pour a bit of canola oil on the rice and mix it in (a couple tablespoons). Cut two limes in half and juice them over the rice. You can leave the lime halves on top of the rice while you cook if you like (I'd take them out once you add the beans). Open the beans, drain and wash them using a colander. Set aside for now.

Sprinkle the cumin, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic powder, and salt onto the rice. Mix the rice and turn on the heat to medium. Give it a couple of minutes to warm up, then mix it and taste to gauge if you want more spices. I made it a little spicier than I'd want because the beans will take up some of the spices. Once it tastes citrusy and spicy, add the beans. Stir them in and let them heat up with the rice. I don't like to stir the beans too much because they can mush. As the beans get hot, taste the mixture once more then either add more spices and repeat or kill the heat.

Serve piping hot on a plate. Spoon a hearty dollop of Greek yogurt on the side (we like Fage Total 0%). I like to grab a bit of rice and beans and a bit of yogurt on my fork at the same time. The hot and cool contrast (in both temperature and spiciness) is very enjoyable. Have fun and enjoy this dish!

Additional notes: I already had cooked rice on hand, so I don't know about proportions. Just play around with the flavors. They go together pretty well so as long as you add the cumin/red pepper/garlic in semi-even amounts, they should blend well. The dish doesn't really need a lot of salt; just a little salt tastes so good with the lime flavor.

This recipe is vegetarian and rich in protein and fiber. It's also almost as tasty as a microwaved leftover as it is straight from the frying pan. So you can make a bunch and save it for lunches or a hearty snack. If it dries in the fridge, just add a bit of water before microwaving to perk it up a bit.

Now with modern conveniences!

For now I'm classifying October weather here as comfortably bizarre. After previous chilly week, I thought we'd fully switched into Winter Ahead mode, but it seems I was wrong. This week has been positively delightful and bordering on (gasp) too warm. It's still 60°F and it's the middle of the night! So that's been nice.

What's been nicer? Clean, fresh from the dryer clothes. I'm not saying I was wearing dirty clothes. I'm just saying I was wearing dirty shirts. And sometimes dirty pants. But that's as far as it went. I swear.

Anyway! We have a washer and dryer and they both work well. The dryer works so well that it will dry your clothes forever or until your house loses power! We haven't touched the "more dry" setting because the "dry" setting is bloody hot enough as it is. The washer works just fine, but the piping for it is almost certainly where the Crawlspace Leak originated, seeing how the floor directly beneath the piping is discolored and the piping itself is in desperate need of some PVC cement. But it goes in a neat loop-di-loop, so it wins in cuteness.

So until Ike fixes the piping, he's got the water dumping into a trash can (a very nice trash can!) and then he's dumping it in the yard. The trash can has ambitions of becoming a rain barrel one day soon. And I think we can weave the hosing through the laundry wall and out to the backyard so the trash can won't be sitting between the washer and dryer like it is now.

The going price of a used large appliance is between $35 and $40. Not bad at all.

The fridge is in the kitchen now. I got to power lift it onto the cart in the kitchen, because even though my upper body strength pales in comparison to what it was five years ago, my quads still have it in them. Plus I was already on the right side of the fridge to lift, and Ike had a hell of a time keeping the cart steady on the other side. I really don't know which task was harder. And this doesn't make much sense without a schematic. So here:

I'm the one on the right with the nice legs.

I will say that having a fridge in the garage is a great incentive not to eat things from it. I bet it would be a weight loss supplement. Or you could move your whole kitchen into the garage! But then a chair would appear in the garage and you'd just end up there, slightly less comfortable, but eating as normal.

Can you tell it's late?

But wait there's more! Pictures! Since I know you like pictures. Here is one of the sheds on the side of the house. One of them looks like kid play house, but it's nice. Double pane windows (right? I think it has those), electricity, and a lockable door. The other one is directly to the right of the wooden one in the picture; if you look closely you can see the corrugated metal. It's much more of a shack-type shed. It's got an old, deteriorating wooden floor and it used to hold boxes of xylene products. *blink*

And here's one of the sunset, which I hardly notice since most of the windows on the west side of the house are high and/or small. But I caught a glimpse of it tonight while working, and I swear the clouds were a much more vibrant pink. The image is unedited (aside from resizing and cropping), so perhaps I didn't use the correct camera setting to capture the lovely colors. That electrical tower buzzes at night like a gigantic bug zapper. But you only hear it if you're outside, so it's not bad.

Goodnight!

All in

The asbestos guy made it seem like the ceilings would be incredibly ugly after the acoustic popcorn coating was removed, but in reality they're just flat and boring. Each room has a few scratches and inconsistencies, but it's definitely not cringe-worthy. I'm so glad we didn't drop more money on having them redone. I think we can refinish them ourselves (would that be with plaster? not sure of the materials needed yet).

All of our belongings are here. We moved in over a long, grueling weekend. My back has mostly recovered, but I still need to catch up on sleep. Since the asbestos removal involved all the ducts being taken out, we couldn't turn on the heat even if we wanted to (and since it's 44°F right now, I want to). Taking a shower at night has made the cold evenings much more bearable for me (especially considering my circulation issues). I'm all toasty before sleeping now, and I sleep more deeply.

The cats have settled in well. They love all the extra space and the windows. It's so much quieter here, too, and I think they appreciate that as much as I do.

This place doesn't really look like a home yet on the inside, but it feels like one.

Seventeen days

...until we have to be all moved out of our current place. I guess we technically don't have to be all moved in to our house, but it'd be more convenient if we were.

We had some big issues with the house:
1. There was water under it. This seems to have lessened since the previous owners left and turned the water off. Go figure. After replacing some faucet hardware (stay tuned for pictures) and capping the leaky refrigerator line, the house appears to be leak free, with the possible exception of the sprinkler system. I think we're going to choke off the sprinkler system so it doesn't get any water at all. There's not much grass to sprinkle and who wants green grass when you can have that classic near-dead golden California grass anyway?

2. The electrical wiring is just baffling. There are some lights and some electrical outlets that don't work. Okay, I get that. Then there are other light switches that only work when in counterintuitive combinations. Still other switches can't turn off the lights they're connected to--you have to pull the string on the fan itself. So we're going to make some electrician really happy soon, but I don't think the electrical issues will stop us from moving in.

3. Asbestos. We're pretty sure we have it, but we aren't sure which areas of it need to go. This issue is the main one we want to resolve before we move in.

Yardwork thus far has made me mostly hate jasmine. It is parasitic and it releases this white oozy sap when you prune it. Annoying.

Anyway, people have asked for pictures, so here are some for you! Three are outside pictures and the last one shows one of the many oddities of the house. Click for the full-sized versions.

Here's the front of the house. Part of that big green mass in the front is a blackberry bush.

Here's the side of the house, with a little porch and one of the sliding glass doors.
The other two are in the picture below.

Back of the house, with annotations showing the yardwork/destruction that has occurred since this picture was taken.

Yeah, that door brushes by the toilet when you open it. Its lid-bonking days are numbered.

Secured

We closed. That was almost three weeks ago.

Advil should make a special blend for homebuyers

There would be a day pill, which would be mostly Advil and just the slightest bit of valium to take the edge off so you don't yell at your well-meaning, but pushy loan officer. Then the afternoon pill would have a little kick of pseudoephedrine and caffeine, because you know your sinuses are going to need it, and you'll probably be up past midnight reading, signing, and scanning a 40-page document. The night pill would have less ibuprofen and instructions to take it specifically with a glass of milk. You thought it'd have a sleep aid? Ha! No way, we're plenty tired by the end of the day. But everybody needs their calcium!

Home Inspection

Our home inspection was a huge day for us. I was really excited about it because we picked out an independent inspector who seemed like he would be really thorough. At the beginning of the inspection, our inspector (Paul) was very eager to talk to us about anything we could think of to ask. We followed him around the outside of the house as he worked. He talked us through what he was doing and seeing, like it was a home inspection class. Once we were quite familiar with the outside of the house, Paul decided it was time to check out the attic. The only access was from the outside of the house in the backyard. It was a hot day. Paul was gone for awhile.

When Inspector Paul returned, he was covered in sweat, and he had a few small pieces of insulation stuck to his face. He looked pretty tired. He reported some electrical issues and disintegrating asbestos. Paul took a break to have some water and dried fruit. Afterward, he seemed mostly perked up. We continued on, inspecting the garage. After the garage, Paul exclaimed, "Now for the easy part!" It was time to inspect the inside of the house. Little did Paul know, but those words would come back to bite him in the ass.

It was nice to be inside, out of the heat. Once again we followed Paul around for a bit, listening to his observations about the bedrooms. When Paul moved on to the smaller bathroom, we decided to take a break and give him some space. Around this time our pest inspector arrived and began his inspection. The pest inspector was the first one to venture into the house's crawlspace. He immediately noticed how wet it was under there. His coveralls started to get soaked right away.

When the pest inspector finished with the crawlspace, he changed and talked to us about his report. There's a significant, unknown water leak under the house. There was about 4 - 6 inches of standing water forming a ring around the perimeter of the crawlspace and under the bathrooms. The source of the leak could not be confirmed, but the washing machine was suspected, due to the condition of the water. Our pest guy said that he didn't think the water had been there for too long, because there wasn't fungus growing up the beams that support the house. He said if that were the case, you'd expect to see large veins of mold in the wood. He did, however, see plenty of dead spiders. "They were hanging, all dead and covered in fungus. It was like a bunch of little white snowflakes." The water issue was a big concern for us, but our pest inspector didn't seem too worried about it. "Fix the leak, and ventilate the crawlspace, and you should be good. The house is older, but those beams down there still look good and strong. The good news is that you don't have any termites. Termites hate really wet conditions."

Some time after the pest inspector left, Paul emerged from the crawlspace. He looked tired and somewhat annoyed. We talked more about the water issue, and about the house in general. Then he took off. We felt pretty overwhelmed by the massive amounts of information we had obtained about the house that day. I didn't know what to think. Were the reports okay? Were they horrible? Should we run while we can? Should we hold firm and fix the problems? I feel a lot better now, but there's still a lot to think about.

I'm a big guy and I got my fat ass down here!

The title was what the pest inspector said when the tenant explained that some other inspector was a really big guy and couldn't get down into the house's crawlspace.

Yesterday was Inspection Day, which, if you didn't know, could easily be called Why Your Dream Home Might be a Nightmare Home, but luckily we didn't have problems that needed fixing immediately. We just had some that it'd be really good to fix as soon as we could. But, you know, people are living with them now, so it's okay, right? Right. I mean, mostly.

I didn't take pictures because it slipped my mind. In retrospect, it'd have been weird to take pictures because the tenant's stuff is all over the place. It's weird photographing someone else's stuff.

The home inspector's report will probably be treated (by us) as a to-do list, so I'm glad he's putting together something that's pretty thorough. As much as I'd rather have a healthier house, what do you expect on a 50+ year old house that attracts the poorest of homebuyers?

Hurry up and wait

This part of the home-getting process is not that much fun. We've read some documents and are waiting for others to be rewritten and approved. Everyone who's working with us is rushing us, except for the inspector people, since we just have to make appointments with them. The rest is all rush-rush-rush. I understand that there's a target end date, but the rest of my life doesn't disappear just because I receive a PDF that needs reviewing. My job still exists, my cats still exist, and so does my need for sleep.

Out to dinner

Veggie burrito bowl!

A New Record!

Instead of doing the whole first blog post meta-commentary thing I'm going to write what actually happened today.

Today Ike sent me a text that began with "HOLY SHIT AGAIN!" and that phrase still triggers an EMERGENCY PANIC ALERT response, so I thought something had exploded at his lab. But no, actually it was good news! Our offer on That House was approved by the seller's lender. We'd been kinda nail-biting about it ever since the seller approved our offer (short sales FTW), but I think in the backs of our minds, we figured it'd go through. And we are so glad it did.

Then, of course, today was a whirlwind of questions and conversations and planning that I really didn't have time to do, but I squeezed in phone calls where I could, and so did Ike. We're moving things along, except dinner. Dinner hasn't happened yet. I'm wondering if we'll still bake fish or if we'll ditch our plans and go out to celebrate. Hm...