overdue update part 1: pre-visit
Well of course the major bit of news that came and went is centered around the fact that I just moved into this lovely abode at the end of april. The move was very, very smooth. The weather was perfect, there were no hitches/damages made, my family was a huge help and my mom even commented on how thankful she was that I'd gotten so much work done ahead of time. The truck rental was fine, and only cost me about $100 when all was said and done.
Then I should mention how monumentally cool my parents were. Beyond buying the first dinner we had in my house, the next day I went out with them to buy furnishings since I now had two more bathrooms and one more bedroom than ever before to furnish. First, they buy me a brand new, nice vacuum cleaner as a house-warming gift, which was nice enough... then when mom and Alex went to wal-mart where I just asked them to pick up a couple things with me intending to pay for it, they came back with a bunch of new things... new trash cans, liners, pillows, mulch, and a bunch of flowers for my garden out front (some visible and some not in the above picture). All in all, spent like another $100 on me and the house just like that, wow x_x I'd spent a bit over $300 on furnishing the rooms, and my realtor had given me a $100 Lowe's gift certificate, -and- some family friends sent me a $100 check as a housewarming gift, so yeah.. huge outpouring of kindness and excitement from people.
All hasn't been rose-colored since then though. First, May was an absolutely brutal month on my finances. For one, it was the final month of paying my $900 apartment rent. For two, all of my utilities had begun charging me those crappy start-up fees, which added a bonus of 60 and 80 dollars to my bills. For three, I spent the several hundred dollars for moving and furnishings. For four, my car was acting up and it turned out to be an -engine- problem. Luckily everyone knows that engines are a cheap fix, so I only had to pay another $1,300 to get that in working order.
Oh yeah, and then the presents I found from the previous owners. Before we even moved in we noticed the downstairs toilet leaked when flushed. 60 bucks later a plumber visited, and after first seeing that the screws in the tank were rusted to pieces, he drilled through and figured it was just time having taken its course. After doing work, he found the real problem: there was a crack in the ceramic. Cracks in ceramics don't get fixed, they mean it's time to buy a new toilet... but that crack had been there a while and he found the reasoning behind my house inspector and us not noticing the problem before.. The previous owners, rather than replacing the toilet like they should've... simply put -glue- over the crack so it would hold long enough to sell the house >__>
So sure enough, by time I come in, the glue dissolves, the bolts rust, and it's back to leaking. Because they were too cheap to just replace the toilet, I got stuck with the problem x_x Annd it wasn't covered by insurance, so I had to buy a new toilet and my brother and I installed it succesfully. He also fixed the tank kit in the other one too. The spigots in my bathtubs were spitting out water during showers too, and the plumber figured out the problem.. my house's water pressure was at about 120 PSI... and houses should only be 50-60 >_> So again in may, another $430 down for a water pressure regulator. I haven't replaced/fixed the spigots yet either, sigh!
Beyond that, having the house is awesome. It truly felt like my home very quickly and I've loved all the extra space, the beautiful area, and where I live now in general. Sure, more needs to be done, but it's quite a feeling in general. Other than that, it's just been basic stuff.. work, mom's birthday, mother's day.. and some bigger things like Alex graduating college and family visiting in town. But really it's just been the usual grind, albeit more expensive, while playing pokemon diamond, and preparing for the awesome trip that has sadly just come to a close.
Well no, I neglected one thing. I love Verizon for their reliability and very affordable price. I hate them for their customer service >_> I attempted to transfer my service from apartment to hear in early april.. they said no, we can't yet, try back in a week! I did.. nope, try back later. Three weeks pass and I'm about to move in, they still say no... I start quickly researching other options, comcast wants friggin' $57 a month for their unreliable as hell service.. hell no. I call DirecTV to see about their partner internet providers...
They said that my location had Verizon DSL... >____> So sure enough, I call Verizon, and they tell me they can do it no problem.. it'd be likely ready that friday, with the worst case scenario as May 9th. The morning of May 9th arrives and they send an e-mail saying "Congratulations! Your service will be ready on May 16th." .__. Then that arrives, and it's still not working, so first someone says they'll send a tech person out, who doesn't show, and I left work early for no reason. Then it's backed up until the Tuesday of the next week, where a guy came and had it working within 10 minutes. Yeesh >_< It's good now, but it was a huge hassle and was pretty taxing to not have my e-mail at all available, and I couldn't talk to ren outside of work without phone cards she bought =\
Okay, got two more entries to go, so better get crackin' here X)
Then I should mention how monumentally cool my parents were. Beyond buying the first dinner we had in my house, the next day I went out with them to buy furnishings since I now had two more bathrooms and one more bedroom than ever before to furnish. First, they buy me a brand new, nice vacuum cleaner as a house-warming gift, which was nice enough... then when mom and Alex went to wal-mart where I just asked them to pick up a couple things with me intending to pay for it, they came back with a bunch of new things... new trash cans, liners, pillows, mulch, and a bunch of flowers for my garden out front (some visible and some not in the above picture). All in all, spent like another $100 on me and the house just like that, wow x_x I'd spent a bit over $300 on furnishing the rooms, and my realtor had given me a $100 Lowe's gift certificate, -and- some family friends sent me a $100 check as a housewarming gift, so yeah.. huge outpouring of kindness and excitement from people.
All hasn't been rose-colored since then though. First, May was an absolutely brutal month on my finances. For one, it was the final month of paying my $900 apartment rent. For two, all of my utilities had begun charging me those crappy start-up fees, which added a bonus of 60 and 80 dollars to my bills. For three, I spent the several hundred dollars for moving and furnishings. For four, my car was acting up and it turned out to be an -engine- problem. Luckily everyone knows that engines are a cheap fix, so I only had to pay another $1,300 to get that in working order.
Oh yeah, and then the presents I found from the previous owners. Before we even moved in we noticed the downstairs toilet leaked when flushed. 60 bucks later a plumber visited, and after first seeing that the screws in the tank were rusted to pieces, he drilled through and figured it was just time having taken its course. After doing work, he found the real problem: there was a crack in the ceramic. Cracks in ceramics don't get fixed, they mean it's time to buy a new toilet... but that crack had been there a while and he found the reasoning behind my house inspector and us not noticing the problem before.. The previous owners, rather than replacing the toilet like they should've... simply put -glue- over the crack so it would hold long enough to sell the house >__>
So sure enough, by time I come in, the glue dissolves, the bolts rust, and it's back to leaking. Because they were too cheap to just replace the toilet, I got stuck with the problem x_x Annd it wasn't covered by insurance, so I had to buy a new toilet and my brother and I installed it succesfully. He also fixed the tank kit in the other one too. The spigots in my bathtubs were spitting out water during showers too, and the plumber figured out the problem.. my house's water pressure was at about 120 PSI... and houses should only be 50-60 >_> So again in may, another $430 down for a water pressure regulator. I haven't replaced/fixed the spigots yet either, sigh!
Beyond that, having the house is awesome. It truly felt like my home very quickly and I've loved all the extra space, the beautiful area, and where I live now in general. Sure, more needs to be done, but it's quite a feeling in general. Other than that, it's just been basic stuff.. work, mom's birthday, mother's day.. and some bigger things like Alex graduating college and family visiting in town. But really it's just been the usual grind, albeit more expensive, while playing pokemon diamond, and preparing for the awesome trip that has sadly just come to a close.
Well no, I neglected one thing. I love Verizon for their reliability and very affordable price. I hate them for their customer service >_> I attempted to transfer my service from apartment to hear in early april.. they said no, we can't yet, try back in a week! I did.. nope, try back later. Three weeks pass and I'm about to move in, they still say no... I start quickly researching other options, comcast wants friggin' $57 a month for their unreliable as hell service.. hell no. I call DirecTV to see about their partner internet providers...
They said that my location had Verizon DSL... >____> So sure enough, I call Verizon, and they tell me they can do it no problem.. it'd be likely ready that friday, with the worst case scenario as May 9th. The morning of May 9th arrives and they send an e-mail saying "Congratulations! Your service will be ready on May 16th." .__. Then that arrives, and it's still not working, so first someone says they'll send a tech person out, who doesn't show, and I left work early for no reason. Then it's backed up until the Tuesday of the next week, where a guy came and had it working within 10 minutes. Yeesh >_< It's good now, but it was a huge hassle and was pretty taxing to not have my e-mail at all available, and I couldn't talk to ren outside of work without phone cards she bought =\
Okay, got two more entries to go, so better get crackin' here X)