we have apparently moved back to canada, *grrr*
another odds and ends update.
well, the weight went up to 264.4lbs this week, and i don't have last week's excuse *scowls at self*. i have to do better, even when i'm PMSing. in other news, sometimes google really gives you a giggle: i entered 'sudden velocity increase' into the search engine yesterday, and one of the hits came back with the wikipedia page for flatulence, which included the nifty fact that livestock contribute about 20% of the atmospheric methane - but 90-95% of that is from burping, not farting. i was mentally five years old the rest of the day, it was so funny.
in other news, boogie the inveterate modder is thinking about painting the appliques and some of the trim on her electric fireplace. this line of thought actually started out as a wish for cheaper but better-looking computer desks with hutches than what's out there. apparently, no one makes computer desks anymore unless they're making full-on home office arrangements worth thousands of dollars - and even then, they're not big on the 'frilly' stuff. so i was looking into buying some wood appliques for the computer desk i did like, and then decided i really wanted to pain them in a spiffy gold instead of the darkish/ cherryish stain of the desk proper, and hmm, i should get some old pulls and knobs and maybe add some kind of trim to really trim this out, and i realized, 'dude, you need to buy that desk before you mod it!' i'm not slated to buy it till later this month, or maybe next month depending on other bills, so i settled for a while.... but then i looked at the esspresso-colored fireplace and thought, 'i bet those appliques would look better in gold!'
more research, and i came up with a list:
1) i need to buy primer, gold paint, and an acrylic protector to go over the paint;
2) i need to buy some sanding pads, and check my stash of rags to see if i have any
3) the sequence here will be:
a) sand lightly to rough up the appropriate surfaces
b) clean with wet rag; let dry
c) primer, if needed
d) fine sand, clean, let dry
e) paint with gold paint
f) touch up/ second coat if necessary
g) protective clear coat
h) may need to fine sand, clean, dry and clear coat again
and just now i thought maybe i should look for wood appliques and trim for the entertainment center thing, which is finished in a darkish oak. if i do that, i need wood-glue, spray-paint, and newspaper, and i'll work outside. we shall see.
and i'm also looking at houses again, since someone snatched up the tudor i was in love with. it's a buyer's market out there right now, and the number of foreclosures on the market are increasing again. even so, it's kind of amazing to me that i could potentially get a house with 4bed, 2.5bath, a fireplace, and more than 2acres of ground for less than 100k. 150k is a fairly firm limit, for 175k, you better be selling me the Biltmore, but i'm really not adverse to going lower than 100k in a foreclosure if the house is good. i'm jotting down some notes here so i don't forget them.
things i'm not willing to compromise on:
1) has to be at least 3bed/2 bath
2) 1/1 of those has to be the master bedroom and ensuite
3) has to be at least 1500 sq ft.
4) *must* have good foundation and structure, with no problems in either.
5) the same goes for wiring and plumbing - if it's not up-to-date, it must at least be in good working condition.
6) septic tanks, wells, or septic ponds must all be in good condition, without issues
7) must have a fireplace (prefer wood-burning)
8) must have at least 1 acre of ground, as i fully intend to put in an in-ground pool, food and ornamental gardens, and need room leftover for a great dane or greyhound to run around and burn off energy.
9) must have a garage, and 2-car preferred.
10) no flood zone issues.
11) must be move-in ready, even if it's butt-ugly.
12) must pass inspection by qualified,experienced inspector. (i'm actually thinking of hiring a co-worker's hubbie to do the inspections, because he's not only in the construction biz, but they do the whole buy-renovate-resale thing, so they know what's a serious issue and what's not.)
things i'll compromise on:
1) it doesn't have to be a tudor, or brick, or even a tudor style. ranch is the preferred style of house down here and although i'm not fond of that, i can live with it. it doesn't necessarily have to have a lot of curb appeal, as i can see myself wanting to redo the facade down the road - into a tudor, of course. (however, it shouldn't be falling down or have maintenance issues.)
2) the carpets and paint can be ugly, as long as the walls are complete with no holes, no structural issues, etc. as mentioned before, i'm an inveterate modder, and am likely to tackle home improvement projects and love them.
3) i've seen some houses with broken kitchen cabinets and the like, and no appliances. again, as long as the walls are sound, i'm not dealing with fixing wiring or plumbing or patching the cement-board/ drywall.
4) lousy landscaping, unless it contributes to structural problems that need to be fixed now. i'll end up changing most of it anyway.
5) room for a woodshop/ outbuildings/ storage buildings. if it doesn't have one, i'll probably put one in.
6) it doesn't have to have a pool, hot tub, or spa already, and i especially don't want it to have an above-ground pool.
7) it doesn't have to have a deck, or a particularly good deck; i'll probably want to design and build my own. or at least design and hire friends to help me build my own. or maybe i'll just have Dad and Kirk come down and put it together for me. ;)
8) floor plan. i prefer more formalized spaces and divisions between 'family space', and 'entertaining space', but ranches don't lend themselves well to that.
9) fenced lot. i prefer fence, doesn't matter what kind, but i can always make fencing in a yard for the speculative dog the first DIY project.
turn right offs:
1) structural issues, holes and cracks in walls, tubs, toilets, tile, brick, etc etc.
2) if it's falling down, just say no.
3) i don't want a pond or lake on my property, especially if it's less than 10 acres.
4) don't want to live with neighbors right there.
5) no mobile homes.
6) no ocean-front, either. in fact, ocean, lake, or river-front is a sure sign i don't want to be in that area.
7) small bedrooms
8) not enough wall-space for my bookcases
in addition to the house, i've been thinking i really want to get a landscape designer in to help me with the gardens and stuff itself. i'd want to be able to do a lot of the stuff myself, if possible, and do it year by year, but i'd really like a master plan to work off of...
one more thing, which is that apparently the plague has struck work. coworker T has been sick since tuesday, coworker E called in sick today, and i'm fully expecting to walk in to work tomorrow to find that 1/2 the people are home with the flu. possibly, we shall declare a 'bring your facemask to work' day...
-bs, noodling
well, the weight went up to 264.4lbs this week, and i don't have last week's excuse *scowls at self*. i have to do better, even when i'm PMSing. in other news, sometimes google really gives you a giggle: i entered 'sudden velocity increase' into the search engine yesterday, and one of the hits came back with the wikipedia page for flatulence, which included the nifty fact that livestock contribute about 20% of the atmospheric methane - but 90-95% of that is from burping, not farting. i was mentally five years old the rest of the day, it was so funny.
in other news, boogie the inveterate modder is thinking about painting the appliques and some of the trim on her electric fireplace. this line of thought actually started out as a wish for cheaper but better-looking computer desks with hutches than what's out there. apparently, no one makes computer desks anymore unless they're making full-on home office arrangements worth thousands of dollars - and even then, they're not big on the 'frilly' stuff. so i was looking into buying some wood appliques for the computer desk i did like, and then decided i really wanted to pain them in a spiffy gold instead of the darkish/ cherryish stain of the desk proper, and hmm, i should get some old pulls and knobs and maybe add some kind of trim to really trim this out, and i realized, 'dude, you need to buy that desk before you mod it!' i'm not slated to buy it till later this month, or maybe next month depending on other bills, so i settled for a while.... but then i looked at the esspresso-colored fireplace and thought, 'i bet those appliques would look better in gold!'
more research, and i came up with a list:
1) i need to buy primer, gold paint, and an acrylic protector to go over the paint;
2) i need to buy some sanding pads, and check my stash of rags to see if i have any
3) the sequence here will be:
a) sand lightly to rough up the appropriate surfaces
b) clean with wet rag; let dry
c) primer, if needed
d) fine sand, clean, let dry
e) paint with gold paint
f) touch up/ second coat if necessary
g) protective clear coat
h) may need to fine sand, clean, dry and clear coat again
and just now i thought maybe i should look for wood appliques and trim for the entertainment center thing, which is finished in a darkish oak. if i do that, i need wood-glue, spray-paint, and newspaper, and i'll work outside. we shall see.
and i'm also looking at houses again, since someone snatched up the tudor i was in love with. it's a buyer's market out there right now, and the number of foreclosures on the market are increasing again. even so, it's kind of amazing to me that i could potentially get a house with 4bed, 2.5bath, a fireplace, and more than 2acres of ground for less than 100k. 150k is a fairly firm limit, for 175k, you better be selling me the Biltmore, but i'm really not adverse to going lower than 100k in a foreclosure if the house is good. i'm jotting down some notes here so i don't forget them.
things i'm not willing to compromise on:
1) has to be at least 3bed/2 bath
2) 1/1 of those has to be the master bedroom and ensuite
3) has to be at least 1500 sq ft.
4) *must* have good foundation and structure, with no problems in either.
5) the same goes for wiring and plumbing - if it's not up-to-date, it must at least be in good working condition.
6) septic tanks, wells, or septic ponds must all be in good condition, without issues
7) must have a fireplace (prefer wood-burning)
8) must have at least 1 acre of ground, as i fully intend to put in an in-ground pool, food and ornamental gardens, and need room leftover for a great dane or greyhound to run around and burn off energy.
9) must have a garage, and 2-car preferred.
10) no flood zone issues.
11) must be move-in ready, even if it's butt-ugly.
12) must pass inspection by qualified,experienced inspector. (i'm actually thinking of hiring a co-worker's hubbie to do the inspections, because he's not only in the construction biz, but they do the whole buy-renovate-resale thing, so they know what's a serious issue and what's not.)
things i'll compromise on:
1) it doesn't have to be a tudor, or brick, or even a tudor style. ranch is the preferred style of house down here and although i'm not fond of that, i can live with it. it doesn't necessarily have to have a lot of curb appeal, as i can see myself wanting to redo the facade down the road - into a tudor, of course. (however, it shouldn't be falling down or have maintenance issues.)
2) the carpets and paint can be ugly, as long as the walls are complete with no holes, no structural issues, etc. as mentioned before, i'm an inveterate modder, and am likely to tackle home improvement projects and love them.
3) i've seen some houses with broken kitchen cabinets and the like, and no appliances. again, as long as the walls are sound, i'm not dealing with fixing wiring or plumbing or patching the cement-board/ drywall.
4) lousy landscaping, unless it contributes to structural problems that need to be fixed now. i'll end up changing most of it anyway.
5) room for a woodshop/ outbuildings/ storage buildings. if it doesn't have one, i'll probably put one in.
6) it doesn't have to have a pool, hot tub, or spa already, and i especially don't want it to have an above-ground pool.
7) it doesn't have to have a deck, or a particularly good deck; i'll probably want to design and build my own. or at least design and hire friends to help me build my own. or maybe i'll just have Dad and Kirk come down and put it together for me. ;)
8) floor plan. i prefer more formalized spaces and divisions between 'family space', and 'entertaining space', but ranches don't lend themselves well to that.
9) fenced lot. i prefer fence, doesn't matter what kind, but i can always make fencing in a yard for the speculative dog the first DIY project.
turn right offs:
1) structural issues, holes and cracks in walls, tubs, toilets, tile, brick, etc etc.
2) if it's falling down, just say no.
3) i don't want a pond or lake on my property, especially if it's less than 10 acres.
4) don't want to live with neighbors right there.
5) no mobile homes.
6) no ocean-front, either. in fact, ocean, lake, or river-front is a sure sign i don't want to be in that area.
7) small bedrooms
8) not enough wall-space for my bookcases
in addition to the house, i've been thinking i really want to get a landscape designer in to help me with the gardens and stuff itself. i'd want to be able to do a lot of the stuff myself, if possible, and do it year by year, but i'd really like a master plan to work off of...
one more thing, which is that apparently the plague has struck work. coworker T has been sick since tuesday, coworker E called in sick today, and i'm fully expecting to walk in to work tomorrow to find that 1/2 the people are home with the flu. possibly, we shall declare a 'bring your facemask to work' day...
-bs, noodling