In Which We Watch Paint Dry (I)
Aug. 11th, 2019 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aThe last week and a half were the most stressful time thus far of the move prep, as painters have descended upon our house.
The work began a week ago Wednesday, but it was a slow start. E., our painting manager, just looked over the project; and then that Thursday they brought in equipment; only starting to assault the stucco on the house that Friday.
But the big focus thus far, and the one that took up most of this last week, was the sun room. You see, when we priced out painting the house, our only real demand was that the wood on our exterior all get cleaned up and repainted. We were willing to consider the rest of the exterior being painted if the price came in right (and it did), but the wood was the priority. And a lot of that wood was outside of our sun room, which has eight nine-panel casement windows. So days of effort last week went into getting the exteriors of those windows all cleaned up (and painted).
This was all made more difficult by the fact that our lot is just barely bigger than our house, and the sun room, an overhanging part of the house, pretty much hugs the property line. So we had to work carefully with our eastside neighbors, and get access to their external walkway, and alleviate any concerns that they had about paint fumes and their newborn baby.
And it was all a pane. Much of it had to do with difficulty in getting them to unlock the gate to the walkway. After the first morning of that, when I was told that they'd given instructions that they weren't to be bothered until 11am (three hours after our painters arrive), I finally managed to get them to leave the key in a cunning outdoor hiding spot. But by the fourth day, when that work was supposed to be done (but wasn't quite), the key was gone again.
Sigh.
And I ended up as a middleman when there was a problem, such as the morning that our painters started painting without covering our neighbors' windows as promised. And that was very uncomfortable, because I wasn't a party that wanted anything (other than a painted house), but still I had to negotiate between two parties who did.
Anywho, this all led to the painters doing a lot of that extensive woodwork inside our house rather than outside, and that meant in the sunroom and/or in my office which is directly adjoining. So I was cast out of my office most of last week.
We fortunately have a mostly empty former-guest-room (now "the art room") that has Kimberly's art desk, so I was able to work there last week. But I didn't have access to my desktop computer or my files.
And I had two cats who were alternatively super affectionate or spazzy. And Callisto spent the first three days freaking out, constantly whining at me that something was wrong. I finally put some towels with catnip down at the end of day three. And on day four everyone was super chill, either because this was the new normal, or because the room now had a catnip odor.
Hand in hand with all of this, I've been waking up early, when the painters get here, and that's left me without enough time for packing or writing in the evening. (And I never entirely get that time back in morning hours.)
And I've been sleeping badly, probably due to stress.
And on top of that I woke up with a painful upper back on Monday which spread to my neck on Tuesday and didn't go away until Friday.
(No idea why.)
And meantime I was worried that my posture was poor at my temporary desk was making it worse.
So, sigh, tough week.
But that side of the house is done.
So no more neighbor interactions. Little more inside work. I can choose where to work (though unfortunately my office now doesn't have screens on most of the windows and the casement windows aren't opening right, and so the office is getting too hot, like it used to before it got screened, and the Bay Area started heating up today ...)
Meanwhile, I was really on my last nerve by Wednesday or Thursday last week, and simultaneously feeling like I wasn't getting work done with regard to packing and some freelance tech writing I have on the side, so I decided to cancel my saturday game.
I felt bad about it, as our saturday game sessions are scarce few left, but it was good. I did a bit of tech writing and tech writing organization in the morning, then did a relatively casual hike to Orinda in the afternoon, then refused to do any more work in the evening, and just read and napped. It definitely helped.
And today Kimberly and I celebrated our 19th Anniversary a day early at Millennium, where we've probably celebrated about half of our anniversaries in the last 20 years, at three different locations.
Happy Anniversary again, Hon (and for real, by the time you read this).
And today I also got a few boxes packed, and was able to move them back under some of the windows, clearing up space. (They'd been moved away due to the threat of powerwashing, which finally occurred on Friday; only two windows suffered any wetness inside, but one of them was above some of the boxes I moved, so good thing.) And put another hour into my freelance tech writing.
So onward.
Whew. But the painting starts again tomorrow, and likely has five days left.
The work began a week ago Wednesday, but it was a slow start. E., our painting manager, just looked over the project; and then that Thursday they brought in equipment; only starting to assault the stucco on the house that Friday.
But the big focus thus far, and the one that took up most of this last week, was the sun room. You see, when we priced out painting the house, our only real demand was that the wood on our exterior all get cleaned up and repainted. We were willing to consider the rest of the exterior being painted if the price came in right (and it did), but the wood was the priority. And a lot of that wood was outside of our sun room, which has eight nine-panel casement windows. So days of effort last week went into getting the exteriors of those windows all cleaned up (and painted).
This was all made more difficult by the fact that our lot is just barely bigger than our house, and the sun room, an overhanging part of the house, pretty much hugs the property line. So we had to work carefully with our eastside neighbors, and get access to their external walkway, and alleviate any concerns that they had about paint fumes and their newborn baby.
And it was all a pane. Much of it had to do with difficulty in getting them to unlock the gate to the walkway. After the first morning of that, when I was told that they'd given instructions that they weren't to be bothered until 11am (three hours after our painters arrive), I finally managed to get them to leave the key in a cunning outdoor hiding spot. But by the fourth day, when that work was supposed to be done (but wasn't quite), the key was gone again.
Sigh.
And I ended up as a middleman when there was a problem, such as the morning that our painters started painting without covering our neighbors' windows as promised. And that was very uncomfortable, because I wasn't a party that wanted anything (other than a painted house), but still I had to negotiate between two parties who did.
Anywho, this all led to the painters doing a lot of that extensive woodwork inside our house rather than outside, and that meant in the sunroom and/or in my office which is directly adjoining. So I was cast out of my office most of last week.
We fortunately have a mostly empty former-guest-room (now "the art room") that has Kimberly's art desk, so I was able to work there last week. But I didn't have access to my desktop computer or my files.
And I had two cats who were alternatively super affectionate or spazzy. And Callisto spent the first three days freaking out, constantly whining at me that something was wrong. I finally put some towels with catnip down at the end of day three. And on day four everyone was super chill, either because this was the new normal, or because the room now had a catnip odor.
Hand in hand with all of this, I've been waking up early, when the painters get here, and that's left me without enough time for packing or writing in the evening. (And I never entirely get that time back in morning hours.)
And I've been sleeping badly, probably due to stress.
And on top of that I woke up with a painful upper back on Monday which spread to my neck on Tuesday and didn't go away until Friday.
(No idea why.)
And meantime I was worried that my posture was poor at my temporary desk was making it worse.
So, sigh, tough week.
But that side of the house is done.
So no more neighbor interactions. Little more inside work. I can choose where to work (though unfortunately my office now doesn't have screens on most of the windows and the casement windows aren't opening right, and so the office is getting too hot, like it used to before it got screened, and the Bay Area started heating up today ...)
Meanwhile, I was really on my last nerve by Wednesday or Thursday last week, and simultaneously feeling like I wasn't getting work done with regard to packing and some freelance tech writing I have on the side, so I decided to cancel my saturday game.
I felt bad about it, as our saturday game sessions are scarce few left, but it was good. I did a bit of tech writing and tech writing organization in the morning, then did a relatively casual hike to Orinda in the afternoon, then refused to do any more work in the evening, and just read and napped. It definitely helped.
And today Kimberly and I celebrated our 19th Anniversary a day early at Millennium, where we've probably celebrated about half of our anniversaries in the last 20 years, at three different locations.
Happy Anniversary again, Hon (and for real, by the time you read this).
And today I also got a few boxes packed, and was able to move them back under some of the windows, clearing up space. (They'd been moved away due to the threat of powerwashing, which finally occurred on Friday; only two windows suffered any wetness inside, but one of them was above some of the boxes I moved, so good thing.) And put another hour into my freelance tech writing.
So onward.
Whew. But the painting starts again tomorrow, and likely has five days left.