(no subject)
What a whirlwind the past couple weeks have been! Work has been amazingly busy and the construction has started. We had so much happen the first week - porch demo one day, trees down and stumps ground the next day, cement broken up the next day, excavation started and old cess pool dug up the next, and then excavation finished and the cess pool decommissioned and filled that first Friday. Whew!
Week 2 was a little less dramatic except that our poor house and yard looks like a disaster happened. I think a lot of drive-bys initially thought we had a fire or some water damage or something. The erosion control inspector decided an erosion control fence was necessary even though our property has zero elevation from the street. Then the bales of hay came and were broken up around all the piles of dirt. For me, going off to work each morning, it's been kind of fun to come home each night and look to see what's different. I have to admit, it's a little disappointing after the first week's activities to have nothing "major" happen on a daily basis. But the foundation work started yesterday with the wire or metal that goes into concrete to give it extra umph (I guess). Today (Saturday), the crew is here putting up the wooden framing and Monday concrete pours. Kathy said she was told by one of the crew that construction should happen very quickly after that.
As exciting as all this is, I've been surprised at how it's affected my sleep. Generally, I sleep extremely well, seldom having any difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep. I've been tossing and turning, waking up several times a night and just not feeling adequately rested. The hot flashes don't help and my body just feels extremely hot all the time. Poor Kathy says she's not warm at all so it's just me. There's a weird misery level when your body is excessively warm all the time. Especially when at the same time, one part or another will actually be cold. No, not usually my feet. Sometimes it's something stupid like my knees or just my toes, or something very isolated like that.
Work has been quite busy, too. Generally we have only a couple vacancies at a time and we've had a lot. Some are from new properties. Vacancies generally mean extra maintenance work, including painting, lock changes, carpet cleaning, etc. Plus there's been lots of maintenance on other properties. Clogged sinks/tubs/toilets, ants, overflowing gutters, plumbing leaks, broken steps, etc. And then there are the endless calls asking about vacancies. We get a lot of calls just from two apartment buildings that we manage that have our name and number on a sign outside. One is located in SE Portland on Belmont. I must get a call almost daily about that building. The other one is downtown almost kitty corner to PSU and we get at least two or three calls a week from that one. Which would be good, I guess, if we actually had vacancies in them. But they're generally rented. Plus the calls we get are usually from people wanting to pay less rent than are available. I feel a little sorry for renters right now because rents have been leaping up rapidly. One bedrooms that were $600 or $650 a year ago are leaping to $800 and higher. Good for owners, bad for renters.
Yesterday was actually a really good day for me. I was busy at work but the phone was nearly silent most of the day. I feel like I actually got a good night's sleep the night before so I felt rested (somewhat). It just felt like a quieter, more peaceful day than I've had in weeks. I also slept well last night so maybe I'm getting used to the construction. We'll have to see how next week goes.
Week 2 was a little less dramatic except that our poor house and yard looks like a disaster happened. I think a lot of drive-bys initially thought we had a fire or some water damage or something. The erosion control inspector decided an erosion control fence was necessary even though our property has zero elevation from the street. Then the bales of hay came and were broken up around all the piles of dirt. For me, going off to work each morning, it's been kind of fun to come home each night and look to see what's different. I have to admit, it's a little disappointing after the first week's activities to have nothing "major" happen on a daily basis. But the foundation work started yesterday with the wire or metal that goes into concrete to give it extra umph (I guess). Today (Saturday), the crew is here putting up the wooden framing and Monday concrete pours. Kathy said she was told by one of the crew that construction should happen very quickly after that.
As exciting as all this is, I've been surprised at how it's affected my sleep. Generally, I sleep extremely well, seldom having any difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep. I've been tossing and turning, waking up several times a night and just not feeling adequately rested. The hot flashes don't help and my body just feels extremely hot all the time. Poor Kathy says she's not warm at all so it's just me. There's a weird misery level when your body is excessively warm all the time. Especially when at the same time, one part or another will actually be cold. No, not usually my feet. Sometimes it's something stupid like my knees or just my toes, or something very isolated like that.
Work has been quite busy, too. Generally we have only a couple vacancies at a time and we've had a lot. Some are from new properties. Vacancies generally mean extra maintenance work, including painting, lock changes, carpet cleaning, etc. Plus there's been lots of maintenance on other properties. Clogged sinks/tubs/toilets, ants, overflowing gutters, plumbing leaks, broken steps, etc. And then there are the endless calls asking about vacancies. We get a lot of calls just from two apartment buildings that we manage that have our name and number on a sign outside. One is located in SE Portland on Belmont. I must get a call almost daily about that building. The other one is downtown almost kitty corner to PSU and we get at least two or three calls a week from that one. Which would be good, I guess, if we actually had vacancies in them. But they're generally rented. Plus the calls we get are usually from people wanting to pay less rent than are available. I feel a little sorry for renters right now because rents have been leaping up rapidly. One bedrooms that were $600 or $650 a year ago are leaping to $800 and higher. Good for owners, bad for renters.
Yesterday was actually a really good day for me. I was busy at work but the phone was nearly silent most of the day. I feel like I actually got a good night's sleep the night before so I felt rested (somewhat). It just felt like a quieter, more peaceful day than I've had in weeks. I also slept well last night so maybe I'm getting used to the construction. We'll have to see how next week goes.