Archive for March, 2008

grrrrrr

Monday, March 24th, 2008

The mold man came today. I knew he was coming, I gave him a housekey. He told me the offending areas would be partitioned off with thick plastic. And that there would be loud particle scrubbers in the house, one on the main floor and one in the master bath upstairs. I was prepared for this.

When I came home, poor little Havok came down the stairs, crying all the way. He did not approve of what had been done to the house. After some poking around, I decided I did not either.

I have been blocked out my kitchen. So, ok, it’s just aluminum poles, plastic, and masking tape, so I could get in if I wanted to bad enough. But this plastic is protecting me from potentially toxic stackybockus. So I dare not mess with it.

My kitchen is where I keep a lot of important stuff.

Like the cats’ food and water. They have not been able to eat all day.

Like the husband’s heartburn drugs.

Like my zyrtec. My dear, dear zyrtec that I bought at the pharmacy counter at Target after they scanned my drivers’ license so I could be put into the national meth-head database.

Like MY FOOD. ALL OF MY FOOD IS IN MY KITCHEN. I must eat every 2 hours. Or I will surely die. You can ask the husband. You can ask anyone who has ever worked with me. You can ask anyone who has ever lived with me. You can ask anyone who has ever been to the Renaissance Faire with me. I am always eating. I eat a snack when I get home from work every evening. Except for this evening.

Like the answering machine for my home phone. I called my kitchen man over the weekend, to see if he’d come look at my bathroom. And now I won’t know if he called back till Wednesday …

Like the thermostat that controls the temperature OF MY ENTIRE HOUSE. I am wrapped in blankets and freezing. Because this is Virginia, tomorrow it will be 80 degrees. And I will be sweltering. Because I cannot access my thermostat.

If the mold man had TOLD me, oh, btw, you won’t be able to get to your kitchen for 3 days, I would have done some things differently. Like got the cats’ food and bowls out of there. And all the drugs. And some food! I guess there’s not much I could do about the thermostat.

So the husband and I just got back from a shopping extravaganza: cat food, new cat bowls, taco bell/kfc, zyrtec, snacks (slim jims and powdered donettes, mmmm), oh yeah, and DUCT TAPE. Cuz part of the kitchen-blocking plastic fell down. And because we don’t want to die, we decided to tape it back up. (The part that fell did not provide access to the kitchen. Otherwise, I totally woulda gone for it.)

So, yeah, don’t let your house get moldy. There is nothing good about it. The mold men take all your money, so you can’t even rebuild a nice bathroom afterwards …

my custom shower design!

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

One of my old coworkers tipped me off to google sketchup for 3D modeling, and I have designed a custom bath/shower for my upcoming bathroom remodel!  And the husband has agreed it is a nice design.  Now the question is, is it an AFFORDABLE design?  That remains to be seen …

what a perfect shower    my perfect shower!  

Here’s the google sketchup file, if you wanna see it in more detail: custom shower - google sketchup file

The total length of the shower is 8 feet, 2 inches, which means it’ll fit nicely in the space that is now my shower and bathtub.  It uses a 6 foot long drop-in soaking tub.  That means the inside will be at least 5′ 6″ - meaning I can lay down in it!  I’m not a big person, but a regular 5 foot tub is just not big enough for a bath - there always has to be some part of me that isn’t submerged.  It is NOT a whirlpool tub, because I just can’t maintain a whirlpool tub.  You have to clean those things like every 2 weeks to prevent stackybockus.  And cleaning something I use once every 6 months is really not anywhere on my list of things I’ll ever do.

The walls are lined with marble in my design, but I imagine that I can’t really afford that part.  So it will likely turn into tile.  Or maybe something cheaper than tile …

There is a seat at the end of the tub - probably too far away to use for leg shaving, but perhaps a hand-shower with a long enough hose will alleviate that?

There are shelves at the end of the tub for shampoo and such.  I’d like to think I could maybe keep some towels in there, but the husband thinks they’ll get wet …

I’m not a pro with the google sketchup, so the glass ‘windows’ into the shower are really supposed to be some kind of doors.  Probably the sliding kind.

So that’s my dream tub/shower!  Here’s to hoping I can afford it …

bad bad news from the mold man

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

The mold man gave his diagnosis, a shower wall and floor full of the oh-so-scary stackybockus

The worst part isn’t the toxic headache and fatigue inducing substance.  The worst part is the price tag for removing it all.  And, after forking over a few thousand dollars, we will be left with a giant hole in our living room ceiling.  And an unusable shower in the bathroom that already has an unusable tub. 

So, it looks like that trip to Italy will have to be postponed, as we get ready to remodel the bathroom.  Which sucks and all, but I do realize I have a pretty awesome life if my choices are: go to Italy, or get a new bathroom?  In an economy where many are choosing between groceries or gas, I’ll gladly take my lumps.

5 down, 3 to go

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

This week I finally made it back to the dentist.  For just a little more torture, because the root canal just wasn’t enough.

I had 5 cavities filled on the right side of my mouth.  With my previous fillings, I think that means I don’t have any original chewing surfaces on the right side of my mouth. 

I’ll be back in a few more weeks to have the last remaining whole teeth on the left side of my mouth patched up.

Thank goodness for modern medicine … I’d hate to have to live out the rest of my life toothless.

march = maintenance month

Friday, March 21st, 2008

The other evening my biggest (and, lets be honest, only) fan was forced to talk to me via IM as I have not posted in awhile.  And how do I know he’s my biggest fan?  you might ask:  google stalk-a-lytics.  That’s right, there’s a GIANT dot on my parent’s hometown.  And then a similar GIANT dot on the town my dad works in.   I mean, seriously, dad, I only post a couple times a week max … no need to hit my blog 8 times a day … though, my google analytics numbers do appreciate it …

So, March has been a month of getting everything fixed.  I have had to leave early and go in late so much, I’m sure my coworkers are starting to wonder if I really work anymore.

From vent cleaning to oil changes to new tires to 5 fillings, (and I’m not even done yet …) to having a plumber cut a hole in my ceiling, to having a mold-man take a closer look at the hole in my ceiling, to a new cruise control sensor, everything just seems to be needing work.  Which means doling out an awful lot of money …

I. paid. a. plumber. $200. to. cut. a. HOLE. in. my. LIVING. ROOM. CEILING. so. she. could. tell. me. the. pipes. were. fine.  And then she left.  And now I have a HOLE in my CEILING. 

I am currently waiting for the mold man.  I am going to pay him $150 to LOOK at my water damage situation.  He was cheaper than the first guy I called.  (Oh, btw, my shower is leaking into the living room.  Because the husband and I are caulk-deficient slubs.)

Depending on what he finds, I will likely give him much, much more money to destroy my house.

And then I may need to find someone else to fix the rampant destruction.  I’m sure the mold man could do it, but I hate my tub and shower.  I don’t want him to restore my bathroom to its previous state.  If it’s going to be torn up, I want to put something better in.

So, for all my fans, that’s where I’ve been.  Giving all my money away so I can get my house, my cars, and me fixed up. 

spring is here!

Saturday, March 1st, 2008

I don’t need no stinkin’ groundhog to let me know when winter is over.  And sure, it may be 45-but-feels-like-35 outside.  But spring is here.

And how do I know?  you might be wondering.  The first official day of Spring isn’t till the end of the month.  And Phil told us that Spring wasn’t coming till mid-march.

I know because I am exhausted.  And my head hurts, right across my forehead.  And my throat itches.  And because pollen.com reports that pollen counts have reached medium levels.

I am glad that the bitter cold is (cross my fingers) finally behind me.  And I do like the arrival of all the green that will be coming in the next few months.  I’m not a big fan of all the pollen (if only I could convince my body that it is all perfectly harmless …), but Zyrtec is OTC this year! 

No trip to the primary care physician that I don’t have to get a prescription!  Last year I slogged through on claritin - it took the edge off, but didn’t quite clear everything up.  Zyrtec was a wonder drug in my college days, I relished all the free samples my doc gave me.  Hopefully it works as well as it did back then.