happy tears

A couple of weeks ago I was shopping in Uptown and noticed this big old black dude that appeared to be homeless sitting next to the doorway to The Gap. (cardboard sign and all) 3 pre-teen age girls walked up to him and gave him a coffee, bagel and some cookies from Brueggers. I could hardly hold back the tears. It was really sweet, the went WAY out of there way to walk down to Brueggers and get him something. It was just really nice to see and still chokes me up to think about it. Not all people suck.

Furnace cleaning and duct cleaning

I had my furnace and ducts cleaned yesterday. I've been having issues with asthma so I thought I should start cleaning everything I can. The dude said he sucked up about 20 lbs worth of sand, dirt and toys out of the cold air returns. Of course, nothing goes smoothly. It took them 2 hours to get the furnace up and running again. The pilot light wouldn't stay lit. The previous duct cleaning company cleaned the vents in 1993 and stupidly cut holes in the asbestos covered air ducts in the basement so when it was cleaned this time my basement was coated with a thick layer of dust/dirt. The rest of my house was extremely dusty/dirty today too so I spent the morning swiftering and mopping the floors. Not good for asthma. I called the furnace cleaning company today to tell them. They offered to send someone over to clean but I've already done most of it so they're refunding me $30. Big deal. I suppose I could have asked for more.

I had a visitor

I found a half eaten piece of pizza on my porch the other day and the cushions on my love seat moved around. I guess its time to find a carpenter to get a locking door on my porch. I've also been waiting for a package that I should have received by now... I hope my visitors enjoy New Orleans coffee.

First house payment!

I made my first house payment on December 1st and 3 days later my kitchen faucet wouldn't turn off and the pipes under the sink started leaking. I had to wash my dishes in the laundry tub in the basement. I'm going to try and fix both myself this weekend. Hopefully they'll both be easy tasks otherwise you might want to screen your calls on Saturday!

before and after - basement stairs

I hope this was for halloween!

New basement windows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOO HOOO!

Toddler graffitti!

My garage was tagged by babies!

before / after

new floors!

Damn it! I forgot to take more "before" pictures! When I ripped up the carpeting, this is what I found. They are much worse in person but they are being refinished right now! They are maple so I'm having them refinished to their natural color. Apparently maple doesn't stain well. I really like darker floors but gotta live with what I have.

more basement shots - the cage

before, during and after

Basement bathroom. Ya, I know - ick but look how much better it looks already!

I spent the day in the basement -- cleaning

It took like 2 hours to take apart this beast of cage that someone built in the basement. I still don't know what kind of animal it was built for but this thing could have housed a bear. There were probably 100 screws and washers that I had to remove. I then had to haul all the junk out of the basement and then proceeded to vacuum the WHOLE basement with my new shop vac. The best $60 I've ever spent. Tomorrow we are going to paint the basement walls and floor. More updates tomorrow.


















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was I voodoo-ed?

This was sticking out of a hole in my garage - - its dead.

details

even my doors are cool!

another treasure uncovered!

Ripped up carpet in another bedroom and found a square piece of floor had been removed and replaced with an ugly painted chunk of wood.













I pried that open and found this note:

surprises!

I ripped up the carpeting in one of the bedrooms and found this

I'm a home owner!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is the day!

2pm closing!

Secret door

Yep. That's a secret door. What it leads to I don't know. We're hoping its a pantry. For some reason the door won't open. Maybe painted shut. One of the first things I do after closing is take it off its hinges. (After I crack the champagne!)

I think I'm a homeowner!!!!

We signed Purchase Agreements and agreed to everything. As far as I know, closing date is October 5th! WOOOO HOOOO and its not even a fixer upper. I started looking LAST October! Who would have thought it would take a whole year. Good god. What an awful experience. I think this was the 6 or 7th house I made an offer on. Updates to follow.

This is so funny

I'll keep this short...

cuz I'm bitter. My dream house is gone. There were 3 offers on this house. 1 for $141,000 - no inspection, mine was for $145,000 with an inspection and the winning bid goes to.... the other bid was for $5000 over the highest bidder. Ya, I know. Not really an offer. We counter offered with $155,000 and that was not enough. They finally told us that they liked the other people better. 2 lesbians and they'd be better neighbors! Can you believe it???? How do they know what my sexual preference is? Maybe I'm a lesbian. Did they meet these people or just assume lesbians because 2 women where buying the house? Don't ya just love reverse discrimination...

Freaking out - volume 2

Ok, the first house didn't work out. Damn investor submitted an offer at the same time I did and got the house. Fucker. I will be watching to see what they do to the house and how much they sell it for.

So... onto the volume 2 segment of this post. I found another house! My offer will be submitted on Monday. YEAH. I'm trying to not get to excited after all of the drama with the first house. Apparently the seller isn't looking at any of the offers until Monday. They've already received 1 offer. GRRR. I don't know if this is some kind of realtor game, list the house low and start a bidding war or what. I guess I'll find out next week. The house is completely brand new inside, the outside needs to be painted, it doesn't have a garage, its in the hood and its on the frontage road of the freeway. So its not like its in Kenwood or anything! Geez. Updates will be posted.

Freaking out!

I signed a purchase agreement on a house today. Oh my god. What the hell am I doing? No, I am excited but its a really big step. I'm guessing we won't hear back from the seller until late next week which is ok because my realtor is going out of town for the week. If the offer is excepted I will have 7 days to get an inspection, contractor bids and then I have to decide if I want to go forward with the purchase. Did I mention that it's a fixer upper? Oh ya. Part of the offer is for the seller to put $5000 in escrow for repairs. I am also borrowing an additional $5000 for repairs. Hopefully I'll be able to get the basic necessities done for under $10,000. Furnace and water heater bids came in at just under $10,000 but I'm going to get some other bids. It will still need a lot of work - but will be a work in progress. I have to learn to be patient and do a little at a time. So... Don't be surprised if I hit y'all up for various home repair help! I will post updates.