Dining Room: Day 13 - I damaged the walls and I'm not sure how to repair other messes.

So I started removing the tape today.

I managed to completely damage the wall above the doorway to the living room (above) and once the tape was off, it became totally obvious that the previous owner's didn't clean up after their own painting (below).

I'm going to spent the next few days detail scraping with razor blades to try and clean up the previous paint that is on the baseboards and along the window trim trying to make it look solid and clean and straight.

Taping the molding up top also didn't produce as clean a line as I need for this room to look ok (above).

I'm going to have to figure out a way to fix this without removing that shitty molding and then renailing it.

I still need to 3rd or 4th coat that shitty molding too.

Dining Room: Day 12 - In which the Mayan Treasure is applied.

So I got 2 coats of the "mayan treasure" on this evening.

The photos don't really look like it does in real life.

Well... and it hasn't fully dried yet either.

Once the first coat was up I sat back and realized I really really really like it. It will work well with the stained glass, sorta-ok with the trim color, very well with the wood floors, and very good with the deco furniture set.

Now we gotta find the right lighting, the right window treatment for the west side, and the right floor rug.

Tomorrow I'll tacking spot painting the ceiling and that crown molding. Man that paint I used did not work well.

Dining Room: Day 12 - The morning after.

Man I did a shitty job.

Or should I say the stress of attempting to perform a "quality paint job" on that shitty textured ceiling resulted in a shitty job.

I'm going to have to run to Lowes and snag another gallon of the ceiling paint to try and touch this crap up

I really really really wanted it to come out ok so I could immediately start on the 1st coat for the walls when I get home.

Alas, that will not happen.

Dining Room: Day 11 - Sanding, cleaning, and priming!

I'm sorry if this applies to you but...

There is a special place reserved in Hell for those who put texture on their ceilings.

Awful.

Awful.

Awful.

I wish I had the time right now to rip the entire f'n ceiling down and install a new smooth one.

I HATE TEXTURED CEILINGS!!!!

Even with the color-changing ceiling paint I can't what's getting paint and what is not. This color-changing shit is just not practical for anything other than a smooth surface.

I've used an entire gallon of paint and yet I cannot say for certain if I managed to paint everything!!!

I did 2 entire circuits around attempting to put 2 coats on and I don't know if I succeeded!

I HATE TEXTURED CEILINGS!!!!

Never ever ever have I encountered a surface so f'n messy to deal with!!!

I am going to do everything possible to avoid trying to paint the living room ceiling!!!

Lighting... gotsta find some!

Now something that we still haven't found is a new main chandelier for the dining room.

The Domicile was built around 1925 and while a lot of original style has been killed off here, the house's soul still has a lot of Mission and Craftsman style to it, unlike the House of Love's heavy Arts and Craft design.

We need to find a lighting fixture that will make the room feel like it did 60 years ago but not accent the flaws of the horrible textured ceiling or mediocre trim.

Now truthfully, any Arts & Craft, Mission, Craftsman, or even Art Deco style would work for the room.

I'm all for finding something cheaper but quite frankly, your standard Lowes/Home Depot selection is godsawful and every time I go into other people's houses I keep finding the same light fixtures over and over.

Rejuvenation Lighting, while pricey, does have some nice stuff.

We need to find one soon though.

Dining Room: Day 11 - Sanding, cleaning, and priming!

So I spent this afternoon wet sanding the 3rd coat of plaster and doing a general clean-up and scrubbing of the walls.

Everyone's old friend the blue painter's masking tape visited and all of the trim and baseboards got covered. (What sucks is there's previous paint on them because someone didn't clean it up during the last time it was painted!!!)

I noticed that the ceiling under the light fixture didn't look painted properly so I removed the base to prime there and I made an amazing discover.

The ceilings were apparently wallpapered at one time, and then some kind of moisture or water damage had a significant impact on them.

You can see the stain all over the place under the fixture.

Based on evidence in the basement, Giga suspected that they had done some kind of carpet washing in the past and the water had soaked through the carpet, then the pad, and into the hard wood.

Well... that may just be what has destroyed the ceilings and why they put that awful textured paint up there.

The priming went fairly quickly.

I decided that instead of going with a tinted primer and risk having waste I could not use elsewhere that I'd do a good foundation coat of a quality stain-blocker overlay primer. This is usually thicker than some of the cheaper shit I've used in the past and also will hopefully be thick enough to hold the slightest bit of roller texture and make the freshly plastered areas less noticeable than the other parts of the walls.

Even with the primer up the room has now started to come together in my mind as a cohesive whole.

I don't think anyone will be able to really tell there was ever a chair rail up or that the corner where the hutch was is really that much different from the other corners.

After dinner, and back and shoulders willing, I'm going to try and get the ceiling painted and that pointless dull crown molding. It isn't even that really... just a piece of trim around the room. That'll just be the ceiling flat white.

If I had the time, and was 10 years younger, I'd consider ripping it down and replastering perfectly up to the ceiling. The thing is that I just can't do the standing on the ladder for a long time thing. And that would be a shitload of ladder time.

Dining Room: Day 10 - Wet sanding and 3rd coat of plaster.

So today was the first really messy day of work.

I spent the afternoon wet sanding everything I've plastered these past two days.

It really is a thousand times better than electric sanding or standard dry hand sanding.

Last January, when remodeling the small bedroom, I was generating dust left and right and I could barely see.

Now?

The wet sanding drops most of the dust only 14" or so from the wall. Totally acceptable.

Sure. Some does get in the air but on the whole not that much.

After a break and talking to The Cousin for a bit, I started back to cleaning and accidentally knocked over my bucket of filthy water.

There's nothing quite as shocking as watching gallons and gallons of dirty water spread over your hardwood floors. It was like a slow motion nightmare.

It cleaned up though.

Deep down I knew I had to do it.

This was confirmed by both The Cousin and even Giga when he got home.

Yup. I woudn't be happy without another coat of plaster.

So I've done a third coat (above) on areas I feel I want to have in as good a shape as possible.

Tomorrow will be the final sanding, washing of the whole room, and then hopefully a full priming of the ceiling and walls.

Dining Room: Day 9 - Final plaster and the beginning of the messy stuff.

I decided to do a 2nd coat today over the areas that I did yesterday, trying to ensure I can create a surface that will sand smooth.

Well... or as smooth as I can make it.

I put up drop cloths to try and contain the dust since I had to do a brief sanding.

The dust (and dachshund) containment shield, along with using the shop vac while sanding will hopefully keep free floating dust down to a minimum.

I really forgot how much I don't like doing this.

I mean, if I did it all the time I'd have some technique and do it well but man, I'm hoping I can make up for the errors in today's work during the sanding phase tomorrow.

Dining Room: Day 8 - The plastering begins!

And so today I started on the first skim coat of plaster/joint compound to try and smooth out the walls where the hutch resided and also where the chair rail was around the entire circumference of the room.

It has been 11 months since I did any work like this. I completely forgot how messy even the simplest mudding can be! Ack!

I'm rebuilding the two north corners where the plaster behind the chair railing has totally broken and degraded.

I was going to totally rebuild the entire corners from ceiling to floor but I decided against it for now for the sake of momentum and getting the room done by the middle of the week.

I'm taking a stab at trying to repair the holes in the ceiling where the previous owners had plant hangers.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why they did not remove the damn plant hangers before they textured the ceiling.

I mean, I wish they hadn't destroyed the ceilings by texturing them but at least remove the hardware when you are doing work like this!

I'm using spackle and trying to pull it a bit to make peaks to hopefully totally hide the holes. We'll see how the first attempt worked tomorrow.

The thing that I really can't believe the previous owners survived without is an adequate basement utility sink.

I've had to commandeer the crappy 1st floor bathroom sink as my tool wash-up area.

How can you live without a utility sink?!?!?! Arghhhh!!!

Tomorrow: First wet/damp sanding and possibly a 2nd skim coat of plaster. I'd really like to have all prep work done by Saturday evening and have everything primed Sunday morning. I could get the walls started Sunday evening then.

Dining Room: Day 7 - In which final cleaning preparation is done.

So Giga did a great job last night and I wanted to keep the momentum going as best I could without Hallowe'en getting in the way tonight.

I got the rest of the wallpaper border along the north and east walls down and then started scrubbing the remaining ancient wallpaper glue off.

All in all, I've done a pretty decent job. Between the scraper, the Krud Kutter, the soap and water, and the douching Giga did last night I'd say another bit of spot cleaning will do it.

The only area that really needs delicate attention is directly under the stained glass window to the north.

This is where the ancient electric outlet is.

There's obviously been some plaster patching around this area already.

While I really wanted to hold off on moving this down to the bottom of the wall I'm tempted to just do it since I've got so much plastering and sanding to do anyway.

I mean, why make a future dusty mess, in the dining room no less, when I can get it all done now.

I'll think about it some more tonight and look at the wiring later.

Dining Room: Day 6 - Corner clean-up.

My neck and back are still hurty so I slacked off.

Giga however spent a couple of hours cleaning up the remnants of 60+ year old wallpaper glue in the old hutch area.

With the wallpaper and glue off, you can see the age of the plaster and the cracks due to settling and such. There are quite a few more than I expected so obviously the paint on the walls hides quite a lot.

For the most part, the Domicile's plaster walls are a thousand times better than the House of Love III's walls.

The HOL3 walls constantly got new cracks every season.

From the general look of things, the Domicile is a lot sturdier. I'd imagine a lot of it has to do with the poured concrete foundations versus the more flexible (and damp) HOL3 foundation.

Tonight's Hallowe'en so I don't know if I'll do much at all. Perhaps get the last strip of wallpaper under the chair rail down.

Dining Room: Day 5 - Wallpaper and stuff.

My cameras acting up.

I think it may be going the way of all 2-year old technology.

Anyway, no photos to get you all moist.

I managed to get almost all of the wallpaper down with a smattering of wallpaper glue here or there in the hutch area.

I'm not too worried about it.

I'll get the rest down today, and then if Giga can do a good scrubbing/washing to prep the surfaces, I can start the spackling and smoothing of the walls.

I'll be building up a bit of plaster/joint compound and feathering it out onto the greater part of the wall to try and reduce the severity of the depression left by the hutch. It won't be too bad.

Hopefully it'll also make it look like there never was a chair rail there.

I won't be redoing the electric for the old heavy duty or really old non-polarized outlet at this time though. Too much room for error and I'd rather just do it when I can figure out how to get all the wiring upgraded.

Got some more biomass removed the yard too and surprisingly the shoulder/neck isn't too bad this morning.

I'll be happy when I can be normal again.

Well... as normal as I ever can be.

Dining Room: Day 4 - Sample swatches up (and a tree chopped down)!

So I've decided to work through the pain and try to get as much done as I can.

Sure I'm a mess. Have been for 37 years now. But I may as stop being depressed about it and just deal with it.

Anyway, stocked up on supplies today and got the first gallon of that Mayan Treasure color.

It is kind of goldy-squashy but I'm actually pretty happy with it. It'll go well with the dining room stained glass, the color of the floor, as well as the kinds of brushed/bronzed metals I want to put on the walls.

Jay stopped by on his way back out of town and has given the color his seal of approval. Not quite the "Baby Diapers on the Ganges" color of his bedroom but not all of us can be so lucky.

I also chopped down that one tree randomly in front of the evergreens and the other one kind of randomly growing up in the evergreens. I'm no fan of things just there for no reason and I don't get these. I don't know why they were planted or what the intent was. Anyway, it all has to come out along there anyway so I can trench and run the gutter drains from the rear of the house to the front so out it comes!

Certain dachshunds, known to readers of this here fine blog, thought they'd just walk down the block unattended today.

Um. No.

I gots spiders on my lattice too! Two of 'em to be precise.

I tried to surprise you with vodka...

So we picked that "Mayan Treasure" color but Giga's image seemed more yellow so I tried to adjust it a bit but I know this isn't quite it either.

Let's just say the color is so amazingly awesome that no tool created by the mind of humans could remotely reproduce it on a monitor.

Yeah. That's it.

Oh. And I think we'll hang the John Wayne Gacy clown picture in the dining room.

Never let it be said I'm not all about class.

A color is chosen.

Well it took about 20 minutes of back and forth but a color for the dining room has been chosen.

And it is quite different from the direction we were originally heading.

We'll be going with an Olympic paint color called "Mayan Treasure".

It is kind of a brownish-gold with hints of orange-yellow in it.

If that makes any sense.

But it really doesn't.

You'll just have to see what it turns out like.

Well it finally has happened!

Not that you care, but I just made the first mortgage payment on the new house today.

Scary.

So very very scary.

The new neighborhood was obviously the right thing to do and the culmination of a lot of events over the past 5 years but oy koledy! That's one bad crazy check to write.

Now i just need to win that damn Megamillions shit.

Just a couple of millions after taxes.

Let me pay off the house, redo the kitchen and bathroom and finish the basement, buy the Nalamatka and NalaOjciec a new Glass City pad, and I'll be done.

That's all I'm asking for here.

I won't even buy any toys. Well... except if I came across a Lucky Draw Black Fire God Magnus.

Domicle: Unexpected funds

So an unexpected check arrived yesterday for a little under $1000.

It was the reimbursment for the remaining escrow for the House of Love III.

(Obviously, I'd pretty much decided to call the new place "The Domicile". I though I'd just use "dom", the Polish word for house, but that requires too much knowledge to connect it to a house.)

Anyway, with this surprise money I basically have decided that I'll get a new decent queen size bed in the next few days.

The neck and back problems I have are compounded by an awful 30+ year old hand me down mattress and box springs (sorry Jay).

Last night we headed to The Original Mattress Factory and based on their pricing for sets (mattress and box springs) I'm likely to shop there.

Many friends have got their beds there and while I've shopped all around the past few weeks, I feel fine with a bed from there with the cash I gots ta spend!

So I'm moving on up to a queen size bed for now.

Once the bedroom is redone and the electric is rerun (or just moved) I'll consider going to King in there and replacing the old full (which will replace the twin in the guest room when the queen arrives).

I'm looking forward to a decent mattress.

SpectroScott's guest room mattress, along with the NalaMatka and NalaOjciec's guest room bed, are two of the most insane beds I've ever slept in!

And I deserve a decent bed at my age.

Domicile: Possible colors for the dining room.

So momentum hasn't built up yet on the dining room, especially with my recent neck/nerve problems.

But rest assured that we have spent countless hours looking at kitchen options that we won't be able to afford for at least 2 years!

Man... have I told you how much I hate my kitchen?

Really! It sucks the balls!

Anyway...

So if you've been reading (and probably not been able to comment since for some reason some people, including myself, can't) you know we got the hutch out as well as the chair rail.

Before:

The wallpaper still needs to come down and the walls need to be spackled, some plaster repaired, and so forth.

Hopefully, with Giga's assistance, that can happen this week. If he can get the wallpaper down and I get a few days of neck rest I'll hopefully be good to go on the rest maybe Thursday or Friday.

Possibly After:

So we've been going through colors and such and I found this one called Carnelian which is sort of an orange-red that totally caught my eye and is still my fave.

Marcie was over the other night and she too picked the carnelian. I don't think we had the swatches when the Geek Family were over picking up the hutch so we didn't get their input.

Anyway, Giga ran a pic through some site and got a sample of the carnelian in it with a new chandelier.

I'm all into this.

Sure the color will vary in reality but man, I think with a nice chandelier, and plenty of candles and wall sconces we can get a really nice warm dining room.

Hell... I think I want a dining room sexy enough that you want to just knock off all of the items on the table and go to town!

Actually, I think I'd settle for just a really nice dining room that feels like it is ours and not theirs.

Dining Room: Day 3 - Say goodbye to the hutch!

Mister and Missus JackOfAllGeeks are now the proud owners of the hutch that was removed from the dining room.

We ended up having to take it in the pick-up since it was bigger than their new Jeep.

Dining Room: Day 2 - Just call him Hutchy McHutchison

The hutch removed (above). You can see how they just fit it over what existed.

Except the baseboards which they totally cut out.

The 60-year old wallpaper is amazingly intricate.

But look at that wallpaper under the chair rail!!!

This room has seen an amazing amount of styles in the past 6 decades.

However, the Supervising Stank Meow approves of the refacing.

He made sure Giga didn't hurt himself or get too dirty.

However, if he did, his clothing could be washed in the awesome new high-efficiency washer!!!

Dining Room: Day 2 - Dehutchified?!?!

Woah! Talk about unexpected.

I came down early this morning to head off to the gym and there before me stood a fully removed hutch!

Giga managed to get the whole thing out last night with minimal destruction!

Alas, I can't post the pictures of the amazing wall paper that was behind it until later this afternoon.

So... obviously that thing was not original to the house but it has been up for many decades and was probably not installed by the previous owners.

The 60-year old wallpaper is amazing! I'm fairly certain it is original to the room since there's only plaster beneath it.

What's even more amazing is that the room looks just a bit bigger now when viewed from the kitchen.

Unfortunately, the person who installed it cut out the baseboards to do so.

Giga discovered that some of the trim is not original and while an attempt to match it was fairly successful, upon closer inspection you can see that it isn't all what it is cracked up to be. Not that it can compare even remotely to the House of Love III's trim and baseboards.

Dining Room: Day 2 - Will it come out in one piece?

So following Giga's lead I removed a few more screws from the corner hutch thingie and after really looking at it I'm kinda thinking this isn't coming out in one piece.

There are some obvious nail action going on inside but it is hard to tell if it is just nailing it all together or actually going into the wall or studs behind it.

I think I'll wait until G gets home to discuss this further.

I've got some other work I need to do anyway.

Dining Room: Day 1

Work has finally started on getting the dining room redone.

Giga and I moved out the bulk of the furniture and he started working on the removal of the hutch/curio/hideous monstrosity taking up the corner of my dining room.

Hopefully it will come out without damage.

What's sad is that whoever installed it cut the baseboards out to do it.

That's not going to be an easy fix and I don't plan on doing it during this phase of the house work.

The chair railing is going to be removed and for this initial "remodel" the room will be a currently undecided single color.

Perhaps the chair rail will return in the future. Not sure yet.

I'm not a big fan of them.

There's a 20amp/220volt outlet under the window that needs to be removed and rewired for 15amp/120 service.

We definitely need an additional outlet in this room so I figure, depending on how hard it is, I'll try and tackle this myself. I haven't followed the wires yet though.

Hopefully, we can find a new chandelier in a few weeks.

We never did find a better one for the old house but I think that without the much-missed ceiling cross beams we can try other styles we may have not gone with before.

So basically, the next few days will include:

1. Removal of the hutch.
2. Removal of the chair rail around the room.
3. Repair of the holes in the ceiling and general plaster wall repairs.
4. Priming the room + the closet.
5. Painting the room ceiling + the closet ceiling.
6. Painting the room + the closet (likely the same color but who knows).
7. Installing new outlets and a new modern style dimmer.
8. Rewiring the heavy duty outlet to a conventional one.
9. If possible, installing a new chandelier/light fixture.
10. Finally set up the dining room!

This time, I'm going to do any associated closets when I do a room.

I didn't do this during the past couple of years at the old house and when I moved out it really angered me that I didn't take the time to do them.

So... refreshing the closets will happen everywhere here.

The discovery of a new law of nature.

I discovered a new law of nature today.

There has been much talk in the scientific community about this for decades but there hasn't been much progress made in the past few years.

In case you need to know, it takes exactly 13 days for the combined hair of 2 cats to accumulate and become noticeable in this house.

You can take that to the bank!

Domicile: The true insanity begins again...

So I talked to Giga today and he agreed to live in squalor for a few more weeks.

I've decided I want to focus on getting started on the repairs and repainting of the dining room and living room immediately instead of later.

I'd be a liar if I said the move to the new house hasn't depressed the shit out of me.

The new house has done nothing but make me more depressed as the weeks have gone on and I have to start working on it to make it mine.

I think that's part of the problem.

Sure it has my shit in it but it is still someone else's house even though my name is on the deed!

So tonight we are going to start moving the contents of the dining room out of there and tomorrow after work I will begin the process of redoing that room.

The goal is to have it done in 2 weeks or so and them immediately get on the living room so that those 2 rooms will be completely done prior to Thanksgiving and what I hope will be a 2nd Annual Pierogi Making Day sometime in early December.

With any luck we'll find a new chandelier too and some affordable but new decor for the living room that goes with the new house.

On top of all this, I have to get back into the routine of 5am Gym, then work, then 3-4 hours on the house, then sleep cycle again.

In the end, that is the healthiest thing for me regardless of how monotonous it can get.

I manage to get massive momentum going on the house work and also stay healthy.

I haven't gotten on the scale since early September but I'm fairly certain I've put on about 20lbs since then.

That has to stop.

And hopefully with that, so goes the depression and my negative feelings for towards the house.

And if anybody wants to gift me $18,000 to get the kitchen redone by my 38th birthday please let me know.

I so want to be rid of The Worst Kitchen in Clintonville™!

House: A busy but satisfying Saturday.

My back was killing me and my neck and shoulders are a total mess these days but I managed to get quite a bit done outside yesterday.

Yup! I'm still unpacked but stuff's gotta happen with autumn now officially here!

Guttermania

It blows my mind that the previous owners, having a yard situated between 3 large massive trees, with three smaller magnolias, didn't put gutter screens/tops on any of the north side gutters.

There is so much leaf debris that comes down that I can't imagine not doing this years ago. The 2 walnut trees alone are some of the messiest things I've ever seen. And loud too! They drop down onto the roofs and you think someone shot a gun.

They fall down green and quickly rot into decaying black mess. What sucks is they stain the concrete too. We have to park the cars back a bit down the drive to avoid getting walnut dents.

It sucks.

Anyway, I got up on the ladder and got my hands dirty and cleaned out the gutters.

The one on the garage was awful. It was completely filled and clogged. I got it all cleaned and put on the gutter screens as best I could (the whole gutter needs to be replaced) but it should last until I have more time to redo it. The other side of the garage needs a whole gutter and drain system installed. That has to happen soon but I've got trees to cut back before that happens.

The lowest rear house gutter was pretty bad too. Got that cleaned and screened.

The higher gutter wasn't too bad so I took out what leave were there but I'll watch it and see how it does before spending the money on screens.

The Yard

Autumn has officially arrived and the temperatures have dropped to the 40s. We are due for the first real freeze soon.

The hosta garden (pic above) started to yellow and I decided to cut down as much of the foliage as possible.

It cleaned up well and I probably picked up 80 or so walnuts. I need to cut down that tree in the center (above) sometime today. It is more of a weed/tree that should never have been allowed to grow. It serves zero purpose.

I'm going to leave that compost pile until springtime but it will have to come out when I repair and repaint the garage in 2008.

I'd like to heave a compost area but I don't know if I want it against the garage like that. At least the debris is not directly against the wall.

I took out most of the herb garden. I'm going to save the bay leaves and try them for use this winter.

The rear magnolias are of the variety that doesn't drop the leaves early. At the House of Love III, I'd have likely done a real solid raking already. Not here.

These will probably drop by the 2nd week of November.

Other

I've got to replace the half-broken exterior light with a motion-sensor one. Maybe today. Once I found out the neighbors use the rear bedroom as their bedroom I think only have the lights come on as needed has got to make it darker for them at night.

Plus, it'll save electricity.

Giga got the shelf removed from above the stove the other day.

I won't even go into how bad the electical outlet was installed in that wall. They broke the lath and just shoved it through the plaster. They didn't even attach it to a stud!!!

House: I have broadband again!!!

The internets are alive and well again at the new house along with a new N-level wireless router.

Here's hoping the old Powerbook G3 works with this new stuff.

My Inspiron's built-in card seems fine with it.

House: The new 'hood!

I've said all along that the new House of Love IV is a major major major upgrade neighborhood-wise from the House of Love III.

And after a few days and nights there so far the contrast between Clintonville Proper and what I used to refer to as Clintonville Lite is immediately noticeable!

The Walking of The Hoont

When we left Victorian Village in May 2003 taking The Hoont walkies pretty much stopped.

The House of Love III was surrounded by a neighborhood where people regularly threw bottles and shattered glass everywhere and while larger dogs may not have a problem with it, small short-haired black and tan hounds couldn't handle it.

I think we went for walks about twice in the entire 4 and a half years we lived there.

The new hood?

It is like dog walkies heaven!!!

It is very much a dog neighborhood and I'd hazard to guess 85% or more of my new neighbors have dogs from small terriers up to great dane sizes.

And they take these dogs for walks regularly!

In the morning. In the evening. Whenever! There are dogs and people about Clintonville! It is pretty amazing!

What's even more shockings is how conversational the people are!

Clintonville Neighbors

My new neighborhood is a sharp contrast to the old.

In Clintonville Lite OSU campus area, if you are older than 30 your are pretty much invisible. For the most part, we didn't really exist to any of our younger renting neighbors. We only existed to those who also owned homes around us.

I didn't really think of it like this until last Friday when I met a 30-something married couple taking their baby for a stroll past they House of Love III. They were amazed that it sold so quickly and for so much money.

This couple was, like me, hoping the neighborhood was turn and moved in a few years ago in the hopes that things would continue to improve.

Like me, they were also sad that things had gone downhill quicker than they expected.

Anyway, they mentioned that they regularly talked to the renting college 20-somethings but once their child arrived they completely became invisible to them! It was like they transformed into totally different people merely by the fact they now had a child!

The guy even said that he was walking his dog with the baby in one of those chest-slings and some college kids basically called him a queer fag or something as he walked by them?

Huh?!?!

Only college retards could possibly mix and match slurs to call a father walking with his baby daughter a queer fag!

Oh... I so love the retarded 20-something set!

But I digress.

Over the past few days...

(1) I've had one neighbor down the street stop by bringing lemon-poppyseed muffins as well as a Nivea gift bag (possibly for my non-existent wife). Inside the bag was a welcome card from their family.

(2) The neighbor from directly across the street walked over to say hello and welcome us to the block. He is obviously good friends with the previous owners.

(3) The married couple across the street (in one of the Tudor-style architectural historical houses) came over to welcome us. They were coming back from their run and saw us in the garage with the appliances.

(4) We've been invited next door this Saturday to a cookout/OSU football tailgate party.

Now we've only barely moved in and 4 different times people have made an effort to say hello and be neighborly.

This is like... not right. We are truly in a parallel universe from where we were less than a week ago!

And I can't say I dislike it.

Silence

While there may be a lot of dogs around, and cars do occasionally come flying down the street (speed bumps would be a nice deterrent) the neighborhood is extremely quiet.

Almost unnervingly quiet.

I still sleep with some white noise on but on the whole, I think I can wean myself off of it.

What's scary is I think I have psychological scars from living in the campus area.

I'm actually thinking I am hearing things when they possibly cannot be there!

I now expect that when I'm on Percocet or Vicodan but there's no way I can possibly be hearing distant rock music and bass at 2am! No possible way at all!!!

Even the marching band practice from nearby Bishop Watterson High School doesn't bother me.

New House: Updates elsewhere.

No time.

You can read the recent stuff over at Giga's site.

new w/d, and stove stuff

parallel universes

New House: Day 5

Now the fun begins of discovering all the real stuff that is wrong with the house.

I spent yesterday trying to put some order to chaos in the basement and get it ready to bring the new washer and dryer down.

Well... the plumbing is totally shot there.

The hoses, which are now bonded to the plumbing by rust, will not be coming off anytime soon. I'm going to have to have a plumber remove the four faucets and install new clean working ones (2 for the washer and 2 for a future utility sink that I cannot live without).

Let's see... oh... I installed a new shower head/hosed thinging combo as well.

The tub doesn't drain well. I've tried some chemical clog remover but that really didn't make much of a difference.

I'm wondering if it will be worth it just spending the money to have the whole house snaked to the sewer.

I mean, I have zero history on this house at all and from the general upkeep, I don't think the people who lived here for 20 years really did much of anything. So many things are so shoddily done.

The final countdown. T-Minus 4 hours...

In less then 4 hours the House of Love III will no longer be mine.

In less than 6 hours the House of Love IV will be mine and I'll take possession.

Funny how things work like that. And... all in less than a month!

This'll probably be the last post on any blog for day or so. The broadband will get shut off and transfered later today but there's entirely too much to do in the next 48 hours to both with trying to get the wireless router and all operational.

Plus, I'll be losing the use of my desktop PC, until I get the new N-Router and make this PC wireless for the new house. All the real work gets done on the desktop while all the low quality aimless blogging occurs on my laptop while I'm laying in bed or some shit.

Anyway, the house is a disaster.

Total chaos in pretty much every room with no room totally empty.

I don't know if I have to thank Set, Boreas, Rudra, or even that asshole Thor but the damn rain has finally stopped. It seems to have rained sometime last night too!

The truck barely looks packed even. As soon as I'm done with this post it'll be back to work until closing time.

It is finally hitting me that I am leaving the house that I've sank so much of my effort into.

It isn't a bad feeling since I know that the new neighborhood will hopefully eliminate all of my problems (vandalism, noise, trash, OSU game day, noise, retarded 20-somethings, roving bands of aimless vermin teens, trash, noise, etc.) but there is something very melancholy about it all.

No matter how much things change, this will have been my first house. And I'll never forget it.

I'll never forget the year of work on the basement, the dinners, the Labor Day cookouts, and pierogi day here. And hopefully 3 out of 4 of those will continue at the HOL4.

But you know what I think I'll miss most of all?

Something that greets me everytime I go and let the Hoont outside.

Yup! The tree limb that looks like a huge flaccid dong hanging high above my yard!

I think it is a cosmic marker that a total dick lives below!

Or maybe I'm just reading into that.

2 days to go...

So very much to do. So very very much.

We got possession of the new garage so we can take some stuff over and get it all in securely in there. Depending on Giga's washer/dryer quest we may be picking up a new set tonight and then can drop them off right at the new house.

I've started staging the tools in the basement. I've decided that since they are already in tubs and bins, I'd rather just bring them directly up into the car or truck and not rebin them. I'm setting them up on a table so we can move the shelves over first and then, once the small bins move, they can go right back on the shelves.

I got some glassware/kitchen stuff bagged and boxed too.

The final numbers are due in tomorrow morning so I'll find out how miserable life will be financially for a few years.

And life turns... turns along the golden path...

As Galaxy 500's Today plays... Nala packs...

When I started binning up all the robot crackage I kind of just threw everything into the closets and then Giga made those cheap sheets curtains to hide it all.

Thankfully the toys are all packed. That'd be drama I wouldn't want to add to everything else.

Giga's done an immense job packing up the kitchen and all the glass shit. We have boxes upon boxes of it stacked in the dining room.

Thankfully most of the basement, with the exception of the tools, is packed up more or less.

I'm just going to flip my cheap ass crate wall that I use in the attic and move those as-is too.

The more I pack, the more I realize I'm going to miss this house.

I'm pretty sure The Hoont knows somethings afoot other than his bad-ass self. There's so much shit everywhere packed up in this or that corner.

The attic is really muggy and hot today.

So I've decided to test out WordPress over at Adventures in The Fourth House of Love, a possible place where I'll post all the pictures of me renovating and redoing yet another house.

Less than 6 dull days to go...

So it hit me at work today (yes I worked on a Sunday) that a week from now I'll be in at the new house.

The NalaMatka and the NalaOjciec will be down for an overnight visit next week too which is a first.

I'll be sending out an email of desperation shortly to see who can lend a hand for a few hours Friday night and Saturday morning to help move.

The goal is to have a 24' rental truck here by Thursday afternoon. Giga and I will then start to load up the major furniture and probably miscellaneous boxes. That way, since I'm to take immediate possession upon closing at 2, we can drive and start trying to get some large stuff over.

Then (and this is where the lucky volunteers come in) we'll bring the truck back to the House of Love III and continue loading it up with as much large stuff as possible. There will be the beds, the freezer in the basement, and miscellaneous other stuff.

Hell... with any luck, we might be able to get all of the large stuff completely over and return the truck early on Saturday, leaving us with the smaller stuff to move by pick-up, Deluxury (new word) New Beetle, and the vehicles of whoever volunteers.

Hopefully my back and shoulder will hold out.

I'm already in pain and the stress of the past 20 days hasn't helped much.

I can't recall a month this insane in my life.

House of Love IV inspection today!

So the inspection is over with.

This one was so much better than the last house and after spending 3.5 hours there I know it is the right choice.

The house and landscaping is a blank slate to work with and I just love that.

So we're going to ask to have the following fixed:

1. Have the termites and carpenter ants taken care of in the garage and shed.
2. Fix the gas leak above the hot water tank.
3. Fix the hot water tank venting into the chimney. Something is no working right there.
4, Fix the leaking laundry faucets. (Haven't fully confirmed this one yet!)

I think that's about it.

Yes. There's a shit load of other stuff but I'd have to say those are the major things.

There rest will come in time after we move in and plan our own remedy attack and the remodels of the 1st floor bathroom, 2nd floor bathroom, and the kitchen. Not to mention the creation of a full finished room in the basement.

Anyway, here's a quick down and dirty gallery of the pics from today.

Stuff!

Well yesterday the damper was installed in the fireplace, completing the remedies the buyers of the House of Love III agreed to.

The chimney guys also moved the cap from the main fireplace (replaced by the flue damper) to the small no longer used chimney at the back of the house for free. The other chimney was for venting cooking heat a century ago.

The appraiser was also by and he's the only thing that could currently throw a wrench into the sale of the house, and hence into the purchase of the new house, and basically make a month's worth of stress and expenditure for nothing.

At 3pm today the inspection is happening at the House of Love IV. I'll have photos later tonight and then you can all rip it to shreds.

In contract on the House of Love IV!!!

So it was a rough day again but I'm in contract on the House of Love IV!!!

And yes, it is definitely a House of Love as opposed to the other one.

There was definitely a reason why I couldn't give it that name, or any other, and when it comes down to it everything about the house was just wrong and would have cost so much money to have fixed yet never have been worth it.

Now I did have to up my offer even more. But I'm just not in a position right now to lose out on this one.

Sure something may come up in the inspection but quite frankly, this one feels good.

It feels solid.

It makes me happy inside.

And even though it will take a few years and some decent scratch to redo the bathrooms and the kitchen, I know that every day when I walk out onto my deck, and down onto my brick patio under the 3 magnolias, and out to my car parked in my garage, and down my street of nicely maintained homes, every dollar spent now will have been worth it.

And believe me, I'm not kidding myself that this is worth it. I'm going to totally feel it in the pocket book for a good 2-3 years at least.

But there really isn't anything that can give one piece of mind like this anymore.

It was so long in coming.

Here's hoping that all goes well with the final aspects of the sale of the House of Love III tomorrow and the purchase and acquisition of the House of Love IV over the next 2 weeks!

House of Love IV?

So the original house has issues. Major issues.

Of course, if you've ever owned a house or went out looking you know that initial appearances can be quite off.

Suffice to say that the inspection is the best money you can spend to help you make your decision about a property.

The house would need major money put into it to bring it to even remotely the price that they were asking, and then it probably still would not be satisfactory.

Now this morning I put an offer in on another place (pic above) that totally meets our needs and has a solid garage and from all appearances a solid new roof.

It is sans 1 bedroom but the other 3 are also larger.

I've had to make the same offer on this one that I did on the other since that's pretty much my maximum.

I'm so hoping they accept.

Tomorrow's the appraisal at the House of Love and we have to find a place that meets our needs.

I definitely think the new one will. And then some!

I am so running out of time!

Some pics and more updates.

This entry is all about some pics.

I made the Flickr gallery private since really it isn't my stuff.

Continue with this post but I warn you it'll be graphics heavy.

Continue reading "Some pics and more updates." »

The House of Love Wedding.

So.

It was a nice evening actually.

There was me, Giga, the buyer, her Hungarian fiance, a minister/something guy, and our two realtors.

I was the photographer, but I didn't use my camera so I don't have any people photos to show you.

Plus, it wouldn't really have been appropriate.

There was champagne, and I even pulled out my grandmother's wedding crystal for the bride and groom to use.

I learned a bit about the buyers.

She's a teacher that recently got a permanent position at the University. They met in Hungary. This is her first house. They looked at houses all summer and found nothing they liked until they opened the front door of the House of Love and immediately fell in love with it.

They love the stairwell. They loving the dining room. They love the living room. They love the kitchen. They love the way the bedrooms come together at the center of the stairs. They love the Attic of Love. They especially love the Hoont.

I didn't bother to ask if they liked the *cough* lovely *cough* bathroom.

The irony of it all is that it somewhat mirrors my own experience in finding the house after looking at 49 places in 2003 and then only going on the last run with my realtor to tell her I was totally over looking at houses. They had been looking for months and this was pretty much the last one before they were going to throw in the towel.

But all in all, it was nice, and it was special for them in a city where they don't really know anyone at all and are buying their first house together.

Continue reading "The House of Love Wedding." »

Things and stuff

So the remedy stuff was faxed to the buyers yesterday evening.

As of this morning I haven't heard back or not and today's the day they want to get married in the house.

The inspection of the new house is tentatively set for 1pm tomorrow. Expect all kinds of photos and thoughts on the place.

I'm still in that strange head space about it.

I so wish I could move my house to this neighborhood.

I know a lot of you don't care of the House of Love III but I stand in my living room and look at the huge open space, the huge dining room, the long kitchen, and my wide stairwell and I realize I'll probably never find a place like this again.

The new house is ok but it doesn't have the full charm and appeal that the House of Love has to me.

I don't think many places could.

I didn't call it the House of Love for nothing now did I?

This just in...

I just got a call from my realtor with what may be the most bizarre request I could have ever imagined coming.

No where in my mind could I have ever thought this would come up from the buyers.

Ever.

Continue reading "I didn't call it the House of Love for nothing now did I?" »

House of Love III fix'n and stuff.

House of Love III

Things are moving fast on the House of Love III sale.

Giga chose wisely with the plumber and the repair of the basement pipe that had a small leak was both quoted and repaired in less than 2 hours! That's one item to completely check off the list!

I had an electrician quote all the work, including the items that would result in the cutting and/or downright destruction of the kitchen counter. I thought the price was ok (it was less than I expected) but my realtor though it was high.

The buyer's electrician was also supposed to give a quote at 1pm. I'd rather just float them cash to have the work done by their guy but definitely no more than what I was quoted.

The chimney guy will be out tomorrow. This will likely be the costliest thing from my end.

Sietch Clintonville

So I called to rework the loan and apparently, according the the loan dude, I am officially "in contract" on the new sietch. Though that may just be a clerical thing.

Anyway, I've decided to put more of my savings into the downpayment to rid us of that PMI bullshit right out the door. I'm sure PMI did such a good job with all.

The seller did not counter offer so it is now onto the House Inspection and Giga's handling that. We need to get that done ASAP because it is conceivable that we could close very quickly and take occupancy!

There's a new sietch on the horizon...

For the second time tonight I was startled out of bed by the phone ringing.

Obviously, in the realms of real estate transactions nothing is set in stone until the loans are closed, the names are signed, and the deeds and titles are fully passed over, but the final call was that the owner finally returned to town and had agreed to my offer.

My realtor suspects there will be a counter-offer of some kind, and tomorrow the appropriate paperwork will have to be signed and the earnest money paid. Of course, it always involves the money in some shape, way, or form.

Ok.

I'm going to go try and sleep now.

Maybe... just maybe... I can finally get a good night's sleep.

And maybe my zits can clear up.

My favorite part?

You know what my favorite part of this house drama bullshit is?

The stress that has caused my A-list model looks to break out in zits!

Zits!

Like I'm 13 again!

Grrrr!

(I hope this isn't a revisit of those f'n shingles from February!)

Happy Birthday Sanjaya!

So my realtor has a chimney guy coming out. It'll probably be around $500 to do the chimney.

Giga's got the plumber coming out.

I've got an electrician coming out, but the buyer's realtor says they want more electric work done after they move in. With a few of the issues, it makes sense they should just have their own guy do it afterwards and maybe I'll just throw a few bucks at it.

Sorta-maybe-kinda good news on my new house front.

My realtor talked to the other and I've upped my offer substantially to $4K less than asking. I'm going to throw part of my savings into the house too to bring the mortgage down to where it will be more manageable. I didn't want to, but this house will not only be my home but will truly be an investment in terms of the neighborhood it is in. I have to look at dropping into the savings as a positive thing here.

Most unfun.

Well today was a real bummer.

We even looked at a place in Worthington.

There was only 1 house that had potential but it was 1 bedroom too small and Giga hated the kitchen. The price was very nice though, but honestly, it was worth the full price if you ask me.

So.

I can't exactly say things are looking good for a new house right now.

There is absolutely nothing left in Clintonville to look at.

Eight more to go...

So in an hour I'm off to see 8 more houses.

I know we've seen one on Tulane at an open house a few weeks back. An ok house with a phenomenal 2 story garage but not in the neighborhood I want to live in.

No matter what else I see, Blenheim keeps calling me. The neighborhood is just the dream neighborhood, and nothing south of North Broadway can compare to it.

It has been pouring rain today and I hope that keeps people away from the open house at Blenheim.

I'm ready to up my offer a bit.

I want it that bad.

This just in...

So.

While I haven't officially seen the list of things for remedy, my realtor did mention them to Giga, and one of them I didn't even know about.

1. Move the garbage disposal switch under the sink. (Was always something I thought of doing.)
2. Have a damper added to the chimney and certify it for woodburning. (I just always burned logs there without the damper/flue.)
3. Repair the leaky tub faucets. (Was always planned for the remodel of the bathroom.)
4. There's apparently a leak on the somewhere after the water meter that I didn't know about.
5. Change the 30amp breaker for the stove to a 40amp breaker.

Obviously, none of these hampered my enjoyment of the house nor have we ever tripped circuits.

So. Tomorrow I'll begin looking for a plumber and a chimney guy. The simple electrical stuff I should be able to do myself.

The inspection of the House of Love III is over.

We sorta-kinda walked in on the realtor and the potential buyers just now. I wasn't sure if they were still in the house and there was an SUV blocking our gate. It being OSU game day means parking is practically non-existent on the street.

Anyway... Giga and I left at 10am so the house could have the full building inspection. I left The Hoont here are well and apparently he behaved himself.

Now to see what they want me to remedy and if I'll even consider it.

We're going out to look at more houses at 4pm.

Some friends of Giga's who are currently selling a house are dealing with a "remedy the basement with $35,000 worth of work" situation. Um... Not for a $189K house near the Giant Eagle.

There's "remedy", and there's "REMEDY"!

Anyway, I forgot how much I hate the whole affair of buying a house. I think I now loathe the affair of selling a house just as much.

Well...

The owner of Blenheim is on vacation until next week and it sounds unlikely that she'll accept my offer.

And there's not much else out there worth looking at.

Certainly nothing I can think of looking at again.

The offer is out there.

And 12:50pm my offer for Blenheim was faxed to the other realtor.

I upped my offer by $5K and agreed to $1K earnest money down if they accept.

I said we didn't want anything in the house. I think the black (ugh) refrigerator is included but I could be mistaken.

So.

Now onto finding an approved mortgage.

Once more unto the breach dear friends...

More houses looked at.

More houses looked at with bad basements and in need of $80,000 of work.

But over dinner, we decided that one of them is worth it even with the work we'll have to do on it.

So maybe... just maybe... this will be the new House of Love IV in 5-6 weeks.

Four bedrooms, a 2 car garage, and a shitload of purple and lavender carpet to remove before we move in!

That is if all goes well.

I'm kind of making an initial low offer based on what I'm making off of the House of Love III sale but I'm inclined to make a slightly higher offer if need be.

This house is in the ideal neighborhood for me, and is a brisk walk to High Street, the Whetstone Park of Roses, and a library where we can have crappy VHS copies of Doctor Who episodes sent to.

There houses are maintained. There are no abandoned cars in yards and the lawns are cut.

I think it'll work out in the long run.

The best part is that every dollar put in this house will eventually come out of this house.

The HOL III is at its max.

So...

Once more unto the breach dear geeks...

I can see in the dark.

So another night of non-sleep... or should I say a very poor 2 1/2 hours of sleep.

I'm running on about 5 hours or so since Monday.

I got up around midnight and walked the house for a long time.

Finally, around 3am I just said screw it and came in to work so I could try to get some solid undisturbed time in on my audit project data analysis.

This house thing is making me a total wreck.

I don't like feeling like I'm not in control of the situation.

I swore to myself I would make sure the next house had the right amount of time invested in it.

It doesn't help that Clintonville has nothing totally right to offer and there are no other neighborhoods I really would feel comfortable living in.

More houses... few real stand outs.

After looking at more houses this evening all I can say is that absolutely none of them are perfect.

Either they are on nice lots or they are awkward properties.

One of them stuck out for me, but it has issues and of course would need work. However, it is on a huge chunk of land but far more north than I wanted to go.

I can't stand up in the basement. Yeah. That's a problem.

From a certain perspective that kills the usable space there and also brings into question a decent laundry area.

It is really only a 2 bedroom house too since some previous owner tore down a wall to make a huge master bedroom.

It is also set towards the back of a huge parcel of land which is what first blew me away.

It has a "plantation vibe" to it and I immediately thought of The Plantation of Love as a possible name.

I think the lot itself is the more impressive thing. With the right funds, I can totally see tearing down the garage to put a new one up that also has a livable second floor. It is also the area you'd add on to the house if you wanted to.

Tomorrow will pretty much wrap up the options available in the area I want to live.

Then I have to make the decision if it will indeed be possible to meet the buyer's stipulation or not and just walk away from the offer.

I hate to, but I knew their request to move in by the end of the month would not be ideal for me.

And thus it really really begins!

Well I accepted the potential buyer's offer, with the counter-offer that I have to have 7 days to find a new house and that they can take possession at 8pm the day after closing.

It appears they've signed the counter offer.

So.

Their building inspection needs to be scheduled, and then all the oh-so-fun-and-exciting remediation phase, and then the closing. All of that going on while the true bad craziness of finding the House of Love IV begins!

I looked at 5 houses today with another 5 tomorrow afternoon.

So far, out of the 10 I've looked at since last week, only the 1 today really had the potential to be a great home.

It needs work, and some "undoing" of a very 80s kitchen and a horrible built-in table, the removal of awful carpeting in every room and the return to hardwood floors, as well repainting of every room and new electric.

The garage is iffy but will last for a few more years.

The thing is, it is on the perfect street in the perfect neighborhood.

I am also fairly certain that every dollar put into the place will make it all the more valuable should I choose to sell it.

It really has massive potential.

Now it doesn't have the real charm that made me immediately fall in love with the current, and soon to not be House of Love III.

The moment I walked in the door here in 2003 I fell in love with it.

This house doesn't quite have that but I can see, after a year or two of work, and some substantial kitchen work, a home that I will love to have people over at and a place that really will make me feel happy to be a homeowner again.

That just can't happen here in the campus ghetto.

I'll see what tomorrow brings but I'm going to keep thinking about this place.

Should I still call it a CountUp?

Well.

They made an offer.

And for the most part, I couldn't refuse.

The only issue is that they want to move in by the end of the month which means I need to find a place, get a new mortgage, and close all within the same time frame!

They want the refrigerator, the Craigslist washer & dryer, and the window treaments, of which most of the high quality blinds were with the house when I bought it, the others are the cheapest Lowe's blinds, or curtains Giga made from cheap sheets.

I'm having my realtor write back that I accept with the conditions of finding the House of Love IV within a few days.

I didn't think it would be this crazy! I really didn't!

CountUp: Day 10

We tried to get the house de-partied last night and spent a good chunk of the morning today cleaning and trying to put the "photograph" look to the house with out any shit in site.

The call said that they wanted to see the house from 1 to 2 so that meant taking the Hoont out to a park and becoming scarce.

Well, we returned around 2 and they were still in the house.

They literally were in the house until 3pm, leaving just a bit after!!!

Now I know you aren't supposed to talk to the other realtor or anything like that but I was patiently waiting a few houses down and the realtor came over to ask my neighbors about the 'hood and all. Of course, I was trying to play it low key but inevitably it came out that indeed the house was mine.

She said that the couple wanted her to make an offer!

They are the first people to come through and it looks like I may be getting a call soon!!!

I'm kinda scared!

The 4th Annual Nala and Giga Labor Day Cookout

Yesterday was just too busy because of the cookout and all.

We had a ton of people come through and there was so much food we didn't even open of few of the things!

The yard and deck work so well for entertaining and the weather was just perfect! Not too hot. A bit of a breeze. Zero rain!

Hensley found a filthy dirty ball he'd hidden somewhere and conned a ton of people into throwing the ball for him for 9 or so hours all day long!

It was a great time.

But... while I was grilling I got a phone call that a realtor wanted to show the house on Monday.

So... my first potential buyer!

CountUp: Day 8 - Cookout prep time!

Today has been about getting the back yard set up for the 4th Annual Giga and Nala Cookout/Potluck tomorrow, as well as getting all the meats marinated, including the big portabella mushrooms.

I started out the day mowing the lawn.

Would you believe autumn as hit the Cowlands already?

The damn tree in the back yard is shedding leaves and will probably have dropped them all by middle of next week.

Insanity!

Of course, I raked up what I could and bagged it all.

I also got the 1 canopy set up but decided against the other one since it was so shitty. Hell, there was definitely a reason it was on clearance at K-Mart! It went right into the trash!

I also got all of my cooking prep for tomorrow done.

The steaks and chicken were all poked with this new multi-bladed tenderizer I bought and they're all marinating in olive oil, white white, garlic, pomegranate juice, and miscellaneous herbs.

I've also got 6 portabella mushroom heads marinating in a variation of this marinade that also includes onions and dill.

I kind of make up my marinades on the fly. Hopefully they'll all come together.

I made a roasted red pepper, artichoke, and cactus topping to put on the mushrooms once they are grilled.

The mizeria (Polish cucumber/sour cream/dill salad) is made.

The kapusta (Polish sween & saur kraut) is made and is cooking down on the stove as I type.

I'm pretty much done until having to grill tomorrow.

The kitchen is Giga's now for his stuff!

Oh. And the kielbasa is thawing too!

Yay!

No dachshunds allowed in the kitchen when I'm prepping!

CountUp: Day 7

Nada on the house.

However, it being the end of August in Cowtown means the alcoholic late teen/twenty-somethings with no real existence move out of their apartments and find other apartments to destroy.

The drunks next door put all of this f'n shit in my goddamn driveway entrance!!! Not even near the trash cans!!!

There was no way I could even get in to park the car!

Damn drunken retards!!!

I so love my campus ghetto. Really. I do.

CountUp: Day 6

Well, with the holiday and all I don't expect much until next week.

I'm hoping at least somebody out in the Cowlands wants to see the House of Love III and wants to make it their own personal House of Love.

Anyway, today at 4 I'll be going out with my realtor looking for what I hope is the future House of Love IV.

She had some she thought I'd like and I have a few I added to the list.

Not sure how many we'll hit today.

Tomorrow will be about finishing the planning for this Sunday's cookout. Weather.com says it'll be high 80s and partly cloudy for Sunday which is fine by me.

Tomorrow will also be shopping day for everything and making sure we have all the incidental crap for outside.

Since Saturday is the first f'n Game Day (which I hate and dread) I'll basically be stuck home since it is often impossible to travel around my neighborhood because of goddamn football.

Yes. Game Day is one of the major reasons I want out of this campus ghetto if you haven't figured that out after the past few years!

I'll be making some of my usual Polish stuff for the cookout. I'm going to make small amounts of kapusta too since I've been graving it. I'm going to experiment with some steak preparations, some chicken stuff, and other putz'n around.

I honestly don't know what to expect.

Several people who normally attend can't and several others that normally come didn't RSVP so I have no idea what this year will be like.

I don't even know if a few others I invited even got the emails since I don't know what current email accounts they use.

And no doubt, I forgot some people to because August has been hectic as hell.

Oh well.

23 minutes of work left and then I'm off until Tuesday morning.

CountUp: Day 5

So the second batch of realtors went through this morning.

Other than a "living room is too dark" comment which is just bs in my opinion, and a comment that we have too many scent plug-ins (to de-meow/de-hoontify) the place, everything is well.

In fact, the last comment I got was...

One Realtor said "I wasn't going to come thru-I thought you were smoking crack-$169,900 on B***e -it's worth every penny! I'm calling my buyer now!"

Oh. And Kelmeister looked up the House of Love on the auditor's website and found the pic the city took from early 2004.

The japanese maple is still on the side, and the horrid crumbling flower bed wall still exists out front. Both would be removed later that year.

Looks a shitload better now doesn't it?

House: Gotta sell to finally get a new mirror.

After my car being vandalized so many times, and the previous mirror getting ripped off on the street, I promised myself I would not spent the $300+ to fix it until I moved.

Now with the house finally on the market I can almost feel a new mirror in my future.

That is... I hope a new mirror is in my future.

House: Hoont Nose Prints From Hell!

I can scrub the glass storm doors but it doesn't matter.

The Hoont's nose prints find their way back within the hour.

It is much like his pooping capabilities: total magic!

CountUp: Day 4

So other realtors from my realtor's company came through the house this morning.

I think there were probably 25 or so when all is said and done.

Tomorrow there will be additional ones as well but I'm not sure where they are from.

Apparently there wasn't a single negative comment from any of them today about the house.

In fact, as I was bringing The Hoont back, several of them told me how fantastic the place is.

That makes me feel pretty good.

If you want to see the house flier or MLS entry, email me and I'll send you it so you can see what it is all about!

CountUp: Day 3

I'm not sure what's wrong with me but this morning I slumped into a huge depression and it has been really hard getting over it today.

It has to be the house shit.

Then again, it could be my general poor health (again), the knowledge that I really can't afford a better neighborhood other than this ghetto, or maybe even the upcoming cookout next Sunday.

Bah!

I've got grass to cut and leaves to rake.

Tomorrow morning the realtors are walking through. I'm going to work from home until they come and then take Sir Poops-A-Lot out for a walk while they do their thing.

There really isn't more to do other than maintaining the cleanliness.

Well that.

And controlling the fucking cat hair!!!

CountUp: Day 2

Ok. 99.95% of all things are done.

Spent all day working on the house finishing up this or that, especially the kitchen and the general organization of everything. I also scrubbed down the front porch. (Living near an alley really gets it dirty so quickly!)

I got the wrong size blinds for the kitchen so I need to do that tomorrow and reorg the packed boxes in the attic a bit.

The tour of realtors will be through on Tuesday morning. I'm going to try and work from home for a few hours that day to manage the Hoont.

This is the cleanest the house has probably ever been.

So very very tired.

I suppose it should be a CountUp now right?

So the house officially listed today. Still waiting to hear back on the MLS number and all. Still trying to get some more pictures taken now that we've had 2 more days to work on things.

I worked from 7am to 1pm today on the exterior, trimming trees, weeding, scrubbing down the deck furniture we never pulled out this year, and all around cleaning things up.

I fixed the mulch in places so it is nice and clean. Tomorrow (or hopefully later tonight) I'll do a bit of touch up painting on the front porch. We need to get a few more plants too, especially good looking hangers for the front porch.

So. Let's call this officially CountUp: Day 1!

Let's hope it is a very very very short count up until someone makes an offer.

The photo you've been waiting over 2 years for.

After 2 years, a lot of work, a few false starts, and major frustration here and there, the House of Love III is finally on the market.

For some reason I'm scared shitless.

House: More bathroom work.

More bathroom work.

I went to Lowe's and got a tub-to-floor caulk strip that sorta works to clean up that seam.

What's crazy is they don't have the same strips I bought last time. That, or I bought them elsewhere and can't remember.

I need to take all the stuff I did buy back and find a wider strip to finish off the tub.

However, I beat the shit out of my wrists scrubbing the vinyl splash. I went though a hell of a lot of Bon Ami but I got most of the calcium build up off.