Things to do...
I need someone to organize my life for me... ok, not organize, but handle the niggling details.
Home repair:
Major issues:
1) Chimneys are lined and up to code the first time since the house was purchased.
2) Back wall of the house has been waterproofed (=dry basement! yea!)
3) The sewer connection between the house and main has been fixed. There was a break in the line somewhere that I have known about for a decade (stupid tree roots!), but had not fixed because there was no driver for fixing the issue (no muss, no worries, right?). Since the whole length of the house was excavated (see #2), the problem was exposed and fixed during the fix for another issue.
Big negative: all this is done, and I am now in debt. I do not like this, but it needed to get done. It is not unmanagable, but it does impact quality of life; time to skimp until the bill is paid in full.
Minor issues:
As is the usual case, one thing fixed another breaks.
1) Dryer issue resolved; hooray for Craig's list!
2) Dishwasher issue ensues: Dishwasher will run ok until the middle cycle, then at some point the solenoid water valve gets stuck and it keeps filling up until the stupid thing overflows. unfortunately it is a newfangled dishwasher with a computerized front, so I am unable to manually move the cycle forward. BOO to electronics. With the repair bill for the basement leak fix still looming in my budget, there will be no new dishwasher until next year. I may try to clean out the water float switch first, but again, this is a simple process that just takes time... More Immediate Solution: time to teach the prgretchin to wash dishes and pots by hand. (This should be fun, eh?)
Around the home:
1) Clean the clutter. I have so much stuff. I just hate to toss it all. Hooray to Freecycle!
1a) But really, I have an entire box worth of photos that are years old that are still in the original envelopes. Photos from the second wedding? Should I really hang on to memories of the guy who ditched and ran after a mere year? Ugh. I really do not want to take the time to go through all the photos and put them in albums....
1b) Old College Notes. Why, you might ask? One day I do want to teach, and this way I do not have to build syllabuses from scratch. The plan should be to scan them all and save them to PDF and save them on disks. Wonder if I can fit an entire course on one disk? That would probably be too convenient.
Still to do:
1) Fix the first floor windows (rehang the lower sashes). Not hard, just time consuming.
2) Kill my back yard. I need to kill the Privet and Rose of Sharon plants (invasive species that I have been trying to kill - unsuccessfully - for a decade with BRUTAL pruning techniques), then kill the lawn. The plan is to replant the lawn with Zoysia seed. Less water, less mowing, less weeds. The only issues would be: greens later in the season (mid-June), and is a creeper so I would need to build raised garden beds to keep it at bay.
3) Grill repair. I found a cheap replacement of the drip bar, only to realize that the burner bar was also completely corroded from years of hot grease. Oh, well. That is now on order, along with a replacement set of ceramic briquettes. So $55 later, I will have a grill with completely new guts. Not as cheap as I was hoping for, but still cheaper than a whole new grill! Looking forward to a grill that cooks evenly once more...
4) Refinish the Crate dresser. With the delayed work on the back wall of the house and all the trips to Montreal this summer, this didn't get done.
5) Get the prgretchins old dresser disassembled and the already disassembled clothes armoire into the attic.
When this list is done, the projects for 2012 will be done! DONE!
Yes this is a snapshot of my life, sorry for the bore, but this list-ing type activity helps me to stay focused.
Home repair:
Major issues:
1) Chimneys are lined and up to code the first time since the house was purchased.
2) Back wall of the house has been waterproofed (=dry basement! yea!)
3) The sewer connection between the house and main has been fixed. There was a break in the line somewhere that I have known about for a decade (stupid tree roots!), but had not fixed because there was no driver for fixing the issue (no muss, no worries, right?). Since the whole length of the house was excavated (see #2), the problem was exposed and fixed during the fix for another issue.
Big negative: all this is done, and I am now in debt. I do not like this, but it needed to get done. It is not unmanagable, but it does impact quality of life; time to skimp until the bill is paid in full.
Minor issues:
As is the usual case, one thing fixed another breaks.
1) Dryer issue resolved; hooray for Craig's list!
2) Dishwasher issue ensues: Dishwasher will run ok until the middle cycle, then at some point the solenoid water valve gets stuck and it keeps filling up until the stupid thing overflows. unfortunately it is a newfangled dishwasher with a computerized front, so I am unable to manually move the cycle forward. BOO to electronics. With the repair bill for the basement leak fix still looming in my budget, there will be no new dishwasher until next year. I may try to clean out the water float switch first, but again, this is a simple process that just takes time... More Immediate Solution: time to teach the prgretchin to wash dishes and pots by hand. (This should be fun, eh?)
Around the home:
1) Clean the clutter. I have so much stuff. I just hate to toss it all. Hooray to Freecycle!
1a) But really, I have an entire box worth of photos that are years old that are still in the original envelopes. Photos from the second wedding? Should I really hang on to memories of the guy who ditched and ran after a mere year? Ugh. I really do not want to take the time to go through all the photos and put them in albums....
1b) Old College Notes. Why, you might ask? One day I do want to teach, and this way I do not have to build syllabuses from scratch. The plan should be to scan them all and save them to PDF and save them on disks. Wonder if I can fit an entire course on one disk? That would probably be too convenient.
Still to do:
1) Fix the first floor windows (rehang the lower sashes). Not hard, just time consuming.
2) Kill my back yard. I need to kill the Privet and Rose of Sharon plants (invasive species that I have been trying to kill - unsuccessfully - for a decade with BRUTAL pruning techniques), then kill the lawn. The plan is to replant the lawn with Zoysia seed. Less water, less mowing, less weeds. The only issues would be: greens later in the season (mid-June), and is a creeper so I would need to build raised garden beds to keep it at bay.
3) Grill repair. I found a cheap replacement of the drip bar, only to realize that the burner bar was also completely corroded from years of hot grease. Oh, well. That is now on order, along with a replacement set of ceramic briquettes. So $55 later, I will have a grill with completely new guts. Not as cheap as I was hoping for, but still cheaper than a whole new grill! Looking forward to a grill that cooks evenly once more...
4) Refinish the Crate dresser. With the delayed work on the back wall of the house and all the trips to Montreal this summer, this didn't get done.
5) Get the prgretchins old dresser disassembled and the already disassembled clothes armoire into the attic.
When this list is done, the projects for 2012 will be done! DONE!
Yes this is a snapshot of my life, sorry for the bore, but this list-ing type activity helps me to stay focused.