Monday, October 30, 2006

Moved in

Mari in the dining room with boxes.

We finally moved in last Thursday when 2 Men and a Truck delivered our big furniture. In the final rush to finish all the painting, there just hasn't been time to update the blog, and I have been living in the house with only dial-up for a week now.

We only got mom's room painted the day before the furniture arrived and the trim wasn't painted until after the furniture was delivered. I painted the crown moulding over the bed by standing on the bed!

The dogs are enjoying their backyard, but I do want to get it fenced all the way as soon as possible.

We are finding the house a tad cold and I'm worried about the gas bill so I've been trying to keep the furnace turned on for the shortest amount of time possible. We also worked at weatherstripping around the windows. I have a quote to insulate the attic and hopefully that can get done after my next payday.

The house was looking REALLY good until we got the rest of the stuff from the apartment in here, now it is a real mess with bags everywhere. Hopefully tomorrow we will get the kitchen cabinets lined and get things put away in them and it will start to look better.

I was supposed to be off all day tomorrow, but due to a death in a co-workers' family, I have to go in and work in the evening. Also, the maid service we hired to clean the apartment did not do as good a job as we had hoped, so I'm going to have to go back over to the apartment tomorrow and clean around the stove some more, which is what I had hoped to avoid by hiring the maid service. Then, we turn in our keys and are done with the apartment.

Tomorrow is Halloween and many of the houses in the neighborhood are decorated, but we never got around to buying anything in the way of decorations. Also, talking to George across the street, he said that we will get a lot of trick or treaters, so I don't think our 3 little bags of candy will be enough. We have to buy more candy tomorrow, then mom will be left with the dogs to answer the door while I am at work.

The house looks great in the areas where we have things unpacked and don't have boxes stacked to the ceiling. We did run into some trouble when we tried to hang the blinds. The window casing is real HARD wood, and we could not get the screws in, even with an electric screwdriver. So, I am going to have the husband of a lady I know from work come out and hange the blinds for me (and probably help install some wire shelving, and install the kitchen and bathroom faucets). James never came back to finish the work on the outlets in the kitchen, so the money I had set aside for him will go to Derek to work on the blinds and maybe even do something about fixing the wall where the water heater had been.

I am very happy to have my DSL back as I feel reconnected to the world. I could use a break from the house though! We have the cosmetic paint job mostly finished (still need to do trim in the laundry room and paint the bathroom and kitchen walls) and then it will be on the the not so fun stuff. Still do want to replace some doorknobs though...

Monday, October 16, 2006

Still painting

Have not updated the blog in several days. We have been busy still painting at the house.

Thursday we planted the 2nd smaller beautyberry as it was starting to look somewhat wilty. I was not able to plant it opposite the side door as that area is nothing but rocks, so I moved it down closer to the first beautyberry and it was much easier to dig in that area, though I ran into some large roots. I did not manage to dig the hole quite deep enough for the whole plant, but at that point it was cut out of its tub (no easy feat) and set in the hole and I was exhausted, so I just piled up some additional soil around the root ball part of the plant and actually got a decent moat built around it.

Friday I spent all day at the house. I started by touching up the woodwork in the living room, then primed all the woodwork in the dining room.


Living room all painted except the crown moulding.

Saturday after work I started painting the dining room woodwork and got one window and one wall painted.

The dining room looking into the kitchen, with the woodwork partially painted.

Sunday, I spent 9 hours at the house and got all the woodwork in the dining room painted. I also sanded down the walls in my bedroom and caulked around both windows and a large crack between the closet door and the wall.

Today my goal was to sand down the last wall in my room and prime my entire room. I was able to get all that done and finish up the laundry that I had started on Sunday. Being so far away from the laundry room makes it easy to forget I've got laundry in there...

The house was not nearly as cold today as it has been other days. We had left the thermostat set at 65, which seems to help some. I DEFINATELY need to insulate the attic and try to stop as many drafts as possible. I am probably going to caulk under the living and dining room windows, even though that will require a little paint touch up, I think it will be worth it to remove more drafts.

I noticed on Sunday when I was painting the baseboards that there is a definate draft coming in under the baseboard, probably coming up from the crawlspace. I also really need to get the crawl space insulated, but I think that will have to wait for a while as the one quote I've gotten was $650, and I don't think I'm up to crawling around down there on my own with the pink fiberglass stuff. I am going to try to shove some weatherstripping under the edges of the baseboards where the carpet is loose and see if that helps.

I also need to weatherstrip my one closet door that leads to the attic entrance, as a lot of cold air is coming in through that closet. I am hoping once I actually have stuff in the closet that it will help cut down on some of the drafts.

Tomorrow's goal is to paint my bedroom. Mom is off the whole day and will try to work on painting the laundry room woodwork and priming the bathroom. If she can get the bathroom primed, I may be able to get it painted on Wednesday AM before work.


Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Hot Water- Finally!!

Yesterday I worked at the house in the PM after work and got some more woodwork in the living room painted. Working on the windows and the doors was slow going, but I think they are looking good.

This AM went over to the house before work and tried to plant the 2nd beautyberry, which had started looking not so great the yesterday. Originally I was going to plant it just opposite the side door, but when I got digging, the area seemed to be all rocks. I ended up giving up on that spot and moved down quite a ways and found the soil MUCH better and not too hard to dig in. Unfortunately, there were some large roots running through my hole, but I was able to break them up and get them out of the hole. But, at this point, mom had to leave for work and I couldn't plant it myself so it will have to wait until tomorrow. Some branches have leaves that are looking pretty dead, but there are other branches that still look decent, so I'm definately hoping this one makes it for sure. Still have no idea about the other one, but we are soaking it daily.

I went inside to strip wallpaper until it was time to leave for work and just a short time before I would have left, James called to say he was coming over. So, I called in to work and told them I'd be in late. Amazingly, James DID show up and got to work on my power box. I was stripping wallpaper in my room and he was working right outside. He probably had no idea that I could hear a decent amount of his conversation with Norman, including that he needed money which is why he was working at my house.

I ended up calling mom at work to tell her to come to the house and keep supervising when it was getting closer to 4 and they still weren't ready to start on the indoor work (what I was going to pay James for). Finally got power to the AC and heater, the heater came right on, but the AC didn't want to start up right away which freaked me out for a minute, but James said it would reset and it did come on, which was a major relief. A short time later he came back to say that I should have hot water, when I first turned it on, there wasn't any, but then a minute later I had HOT water!

Then all that was left was the original additional work, repairing the non-working outlet in the kitchen and running the water line for the icemaker in my fridge. We also agreed that for additional money, James would add 2 outlets to my bedroom (which currently has only 1). They are also supposed to cut the plywood to fit in the hole where the water heater used to be and said they would attach my dryer cord.

I went to work and mom said. James ran the water line for the ice maker, but somehow the line got kinked and started to leak, so he said he would buy a new line and install it tomorrow. They did get my dryer cord hooked in and tested that the dryer does work. James asked for part of the remaining money, which my mom gave him. At this point, I hope he does come back as I WOULD like the 3 outlets and the water line to the ice maker, but if he is a no show again at least the MAJOR work is done and the rest I can live with until I can hire someone else, and basically I have gotten all the work I paid for now. But, I know he needs money so hopefully this will work in my favor and I will be able to get all the work he promised done.

Still in all, the house is now in livable condition and we can finally do laundry.

On tap for tomorrow after work will be planting the 2nd beautyberry and more woodwork painting. Friday, still more painting and some more laundry. Pretty soon we are going to need to break from working on the house and start working on packing up the apartment.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Painting woodwork

This AM Dipple Plumbing came out to replace the water pipes for the washer and also hooked up our washing machine, so we now have a functional washer! James *SAID* he would be over this AM to work on the house when I talked to him on the phone, but he never showed up, so it has now been a week without any further work on the power box.

I stopped and talked to George for a few minutes when I stopped by the house after work, then Bobbie came over to help out, so I didn't get a chance to check on the plants, but mom had watered them this AM.

Bobbie lent me her sander and it really helped with one window sill that had TONS of splotchy paint on it.

After she left, I went to work on painting the woodwork in the living room. Made decent progress, about 1 1/2 walls done with two doors done and all the baseboards done on those walls. The part that had dried looked great from across the room, IMO. I also developed my own technique for painting down by the carpet and hopefully didn't get too much paint on the carpet. Of course, forgot my camera again, so still no photos of the work I have done.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Lazy Sunday

Decided to sleep in today after mom basically came home and collapsed last night. We ended up not getting over to the house until around noon and mom was too tired to work today.

Started off by trying to spot paint over the patches we missed in the dining room and finish up a few places that didn't get painted yesterday. That took a while, but the dining room looks good. Then it was back into the living room to keep at it with the grey primer. Got the tops of the doors I missed yesterday and all the windows, plus got done prming everything except the crown moulding (which oddly enough, is actually a plate or chair rail instead of true crown moulding).

Checked on the beautyberry I planted yesterday, which had moist soil around it but is not looking good. Some of its leaves are starting to turn brown and all of them are shriveled up and dry feeling. I will call the nursery tomorrow. The other beautyberry still in a pot and the Rose of Sharon both look good. Added some soil to several of the pots of mums and decided that one pot that kept blowing over was a total goner (plus it is full of earwigs- YUCK).

We left around 3:30 so we could go to the mall, so we didn't get a lot of work done today, AND I managed to forget my camera again.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Planting, painting

Have not posted in a few days. Some painting took place during the week, including the dining room and living room ceilings and the living room walls, all done by mom.


Today I started off by talking to James, who again said he would come over and finish the work at the house. I heard him sawing over a George's house for a number of hours, then when I looked out the window one time, his car was gone. And, the work is still not finished at my house. Currently I have no hot water and no climate control.

Did get a call on my cell phone yesterday from Dipple Plumbing. I am not sure what it is about, but it was from the manager. I'm guessing that they are the ones who did the pipe replacing under the house, so I am HOPING that maybe they will come out and replace the washer pipes next week so I can finally use my new washing machine.

I am totally overwhelmed on the plant front and really think we overbought. I definately still need to get the plants from Underwoods. Yesterday I called JFS to have them deliver my two beautyberries, rose of Sharon and 3 hostas. The BIG beautyberry that I tried to talk my mom out of arrived with a HUGE root growing out the side of the pot that had been cut. By this AM, it was looking pretty wilty and dying. So, even though they haven't been out to mark the water and gas lines, I decided that we had to plant it or it would not survive. Spent most of the morning trying to dig a hole deep enough to plant in. Then, I ended up throwing dirt all over the place so I didn't have quite enough dirt left to fill in the hole, even though I was ammending what I had with mushroom compost and Miracle Grow potting soil, so sent my mom out for some garden soil to cover the top (not quite how the books tell you to do it). Also ran out of mulch, so it is not mulched quite all the way around. Did try to give it a soaking water part way through planting, then soaked it again once we had all the dirt in. And, this evening it is raining, so I'm REALLY hoping that it will perk back up and live, as my mom loves it.

The large beautyberry in its new home toward the back of my yard.


The smaller beautyberry, Rose of Sharon and the hostas are all still in their pots and all seem to be doing well. I'll wait until after the lines are marked before planting any of them as none of them seem critical. I seem to have horrible red clay everywhere except right by the side door. That obviously is an area that has been cultivated in the past, but due to the irises coming up, I can't dig there right now.


I can't decide where to put the hostas, so they stay in pots for the time being. Did find some cheap pansys and dusty miller at Home Depot, just should go ahead and buy a fiberglass pot and try to make a container. And, with everything else, I still didn't get around to adding soil to the mums that aren't looking so hot. Plus, as we were leaving today, I realized that I had left my rake and shovel outside, now out in the rain, and had to stop and rush them indoors.


On the inside today, I continued to strip wallpaper in my bedroom and finished off taping off all the walls to prepare to paint the woodwork in the living room. I had started taping last night and got it finished up this AM. My original plan had been to try to get all the woodwork in there primed today, but with the beautyberry taking up most of the morning, that didn't happen. Did most all 3 door frames and baseboards on 1 1/2 walls primed up.


Finished up today by helping mom finish painting the dining room, which is looking good too I think. Bobbie came by briefly, and was more positive than she has been in the past, though she hates the living and dining room color and doesn't get the dark brown woodwork. She did like the laundry room color.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Not too much progress

On Monday it was back to work for me, except I went back to work at the wrong time, so had a little time to go back to the house. Started out the day at Home Depot buying a new outside power box and breakers.

The morning was mainly spent trying to track down an 8 or 10 foot dryer cord. The store I went to originally said they didn't have any 8 foot cords and that the 10 foot cords weren't made anymore as they were not code. I went back to Jeff Lynch, they called two stores (including the one I had been to earlier) and both had the 10 foot cords in stock. Got my cord at the store that DID NOT claim they weren't made anymore.

After locating the cord, it was back to Home Depot, as the breakers didn't fit the box, and we needed more pipe and conduit.

Finally went in to work after taking a break to go to the Dr about my completely shot nerves. The Dr said I am suffering from anxiety. Really... I'd have never guessed...

Today (Tuesday) it was off to work at the normal time. Didn't hear from mom at all today at work. Found out after work that James had not been by all day. James called in the evening and he had been at the Dr all day with his wife. So, outside box wiring is still not done, as it needs to be grounded and the AC still needs to be wired in. Also think the water heater may need to be wired in as well. The dryer connection is supposed to work and the range does currently work.

Mom got her room primed, but the primer made the wallpaper glue that would not come off come up in some places, so we may now finally be able to get off all that paste, but it will be a massive undertaking. Either that or we will just strip the bubbling up parts.

We also did some more wallpaper stripping in my room. It is slowly coming along.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

I Attempt Gardening

Today we had a bunch on errands that we needed to run and not much to do at the house as we are waiting on the whole water/electricity thing to be fixed, so it was off to the mall first.

On the way over to the house, we decided to stop at the Farmer's Market to see their fall festival, which turned out to be a LOT Of plants.

We looked at several of the set-ups and found one that was Carolina Wild, who I had found online and had wanted to visit their store. So, I ended up buying three little pots of creeping phlox, which can live in all my shade and are a native plant.

Went to another stand and that had chocolate chip ajuga for only $2 each, so we ended up buying 5 of them. Then it was off to Home Depot (where else) to buy mushroom compost to ammend my soil with, some mulch, kneeling pads and a hose. I wasn't feeling great and hauling the mushroom compost into the cart was not easy.

Got home and decided to start with the ajuga, which I planned to plant around the tree right in front of the porch. I started by raking away all the leaves and grass clippings in the area. It looks like there is some clover (maybe??) already growing there as well as something with very fine almost little grass like shoots, so I left those two plants wherever I found them and concentrated on getting up the weeds. I found MANY MANY weed roots. I did not even BEGIN to get rid of all the weed roots. In fact, I'm afraid there were cut ends of weed roots in the sides of some of the holes I planted the ajuga in. Hope the ajuga does okay.

It took me quite a while to try to pull up weed roots and then try to dig little holes, clear MORE weed roots and then finally plant the ajuga. The final ajuga I planted is not in quite as deep a hole as the others as I encountered a HUGE root down there that I wonder if it might be one of the tree roots, so I just sort of shifted the hole a tad and planted the plant.

I also tried to clear all the surface debris off the dirt right in front of the porch in case I want to do a foundation planting. When I was done planting the ajuga, I watered each plant a little bit and then spred mulch over the whole area. I really have no clue what I am doing or how to mulch, just tried to copy what I've seen on the ground elsewhere. The front of my house does have the red clay, it was quite hardpacked some places, so I tried to loosen it up some. I did mix in a little bit of mushroom compost with the soil when I was refilling the holes. I am wondering now if I should have added more of the mushroom stuff, or just tried to work it into the whole area. But, I'm only planting ajuga and there were A LOT of weeds.

Ajuga (it is the little dark green clumps) under the tree, with mulch.


Then it was on to the creeping phlox, which I was going to plant over by the gas meter, in a shady area along the side of the house. I was pretty tired at this point and the soil over there seems better, so I spent less time digging up weeds (did find some sort of vine growing along the ground, but it seems dormant right now) and ammending the soil for these three little plants. Did get all three in the ground, hopefully they will thrive and aren't too close to where there is water runoff from the roof and that whatever that vine is won't get them.

Creeping Phlox- pre-mulch. This is a native plant. Hopefully it will survive.

My next project is going to be finding someone with a pickup truck to help me get my big shrubs, especially the ones at Underwoods as they have been there quite a while now. Almost went and got the hydranga and camellia today but I was too tired to try to dig a hole big enough for a shurb. I'll need to be REALLY energetic to plant the beautyberries, they are HUGE!.

While I was gardening, mom got the laundry room painted with a second coat of paint and then used the same paint on the ceiling, which looks REALLY good. She will finish that up with another coat on the ceiling tomorrow, then I just have to paint the trim and we have one room done, 5 to go.