One Sixty: Sad

Sad

I've been feeling down the past few days. It's been rainy non-stop and my truck hasn't sold. I've had some offers - but none at the price I was hoping for. It's very sad - I was really excited about having some extra money for once. Now I'm worried that it won't sell at all.

Plus I hardly got anything done over the weekend because the guys were over allll weekend. Not that I would normally mind, but I was just bored to tears.... and poor to tears, so I couldn't really do anything. I installed the dimmer and fan control that I wanted to install. I tried to put together my new fluorescent lights, but messed up and couldn't get one of them apart again! (Mike helped me out with that last night.) And I bought a few small things at the DeepHo with a gift card from my friend Kie.

That's it.

I'm not really looking forward to this upcoming weekend because I'm going to be poor again after filling my oil tank. Joy, right? I need to bring the last bag of cans to redemption and count out all my coins... which should be enough to purchase coin wrappers that I need to wrap the coins. So ironic.

Maybe the truck will have sold by then, if I'm lucky.

Blog Story

My now husband Mike and I purchased this quaint home back in spring of 2004 - our first home - and, being the handy folks we are, expected to have the entire thing renovated in about a year or so.

And here we still are... renovating away.

This house needed a complete overhaul. Its plaster walls were uninsulated, its attic floor covered in 2" of bat guano, its basement - dirt and snakes, its exterior - asbestos siding, and lead paint windows in every room. The electric had not been updated and light sockets hung bare from the ceiling. Plumbing featured cast iron radiators - and only one for the entire upstairs.

We began by gutting almost the entire house from top to bottom. (sans bathroom - we needed to pee) We rebuilt the entire upstairs, with a new floor (not new carpet or wood - the once unstable framing underneath) and turned 3 small rooms into two. We reinvented the downstairs by turning a closet into a hallway and eliminating interior exterior windows and doors from old half-assed additions.

New insulation, windows, electrical wiring (including phone and CAT-5 internet), plumbing and baseboards, and drywall were all added.

We purchased kitchen cabinets from a yard sale. (None existed previously.) Our families helped us replace and purchase new appliances including the once also missing washer & dryer.

Then we had the entire house lifted - straight into the air - dug out the dirt, and had a real basement foundation poured. We updated our oil tank and burner and created heating zones.

Outside, we took down trees and planted grass. We dug out an awkward hill to create a 2nd part to the driveway and used the rocks our house once sat on as a retaining wall. We electrified and repainted the garage.

And of course, we spent many an hour on finish work like paint, trim, closet doors, lighting fixtures, hardwood floors, curtain rods, dimmer switches, and many other things everyone else takes for granted. We are still working to complete all this final finishing, but happy to report that we are FINALLY nearing completion of all little things in all rooms!

In 2008 we began overhauling the exterior by creating a new french door entryway and building a farmer's porch and garage addition. We replaced our roof and then stripped off our siding and replaced with new clapboards. We then planted two new flowering trees and a maple in the front yard - our first major landscape purchases. I'm happy to report that here in 2011, the porch is nearing completion and the back yard is on the road to recovery with some new loam and grass. More plantings soon to come!

In 2012 we plan to attack the last MAJOR (emphasis on major) job in the house - the dreaded BATHROOM! We plan to first add a second bathroom in the basement. Then, demolish our current bathroom and rebuild it, adding a second bathroom on top for the upstairs.

And that pretty much brings you up to date. The battle continues day to day as we try and complete everything.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: Try not to let the truck not selling get you down too much.

I had a house on the market in Texas for a year and it never sold after oh so many promises from realtors and out-of-pocket expenditures on my part to the tune of about $10K.

I was really down but then got it rented. It's not what I would have liked, but it freed up some much needed money each month.

Someone will come along who loves your truck; it may just take a little longer to sell.

Also, be glad you've had offers. I got one offer the entire time my house was listed and the deal fell through.; 7:15 PM
Maryam in Marrakesh said...: I thought I would drop in from Marrakesh to say that I hope you sell your truck soon. I know that is stressful - give it some time.

PS I married a guy from a blind date, too.; 8:47 PM
kitrainia said...: Thanks everyone! It just makes me feel better when people I don't even know comment on this blog. I don't know why - I just love it! Bloggers are the nicest people, I swear!; 10:12 AM
Anonymous said...: Oh, I love "DeepHo"! Can I borrow that term?; 9:31 PM
kitrainia said...: Well, that's actually copywritten... just kidding. I love spreading new lingo around. My boss likes to use, Home Shlepo.; 9:24 AM

One Sixty

Sad

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