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In Which We Return to Normalcy
So the exterior housing painting is done. The funny thing is that it looks about the same as it did $11,000 and 40 man-days of work ago. But that's a visceral thing. We'd long ago begun to automatically edit out all the cracks in the stucco, all the places where the paint had begun to erode, and even all of the fairly badly damaged wood on the house (which was really the reason that we did the exterior painting at all). We'd composed a platonic ideal of a house in our heads, and the difference is that the reality now matches that.
I do not know if we'd have done it if we'd realized how physically and mentally grueling the process would be. But it's done (other than one window which requires more TLC and some more hours of labor).
And maybe we'll come out even in the house sale, maybe we'll dramatically increase the house price by improving our curb appeal, and maybe we'll just have contributed something to our neighborhood on the way out. It's all good, anyway. (And the impending sale of our house is probably the only time in my life that I could shrug off an $11,000 bill like that, so good timing I guess?)
There was one bit of damage to our curb appeal: the front-yard plants that we've so carefully cultured this year got STOMPED.
Sigh. Three steps forward, one back.
The poor guys got largely crushed. I'm pretty sure that one is a lost cause, but it's never prospered, so sour grapes, eh? I'm hoping the rest are salvageable, though one looks oddly wilted and withered, even though it didn't get crushed.
So we've sent out the Gardener-signal, and hope he can assess what can be repaired and what needs to be replanted. It's very unfortunate, as the plants were starting to actually look mature, rather than something we just put in.
Here's why I'm most grateful we're done with the painting: the morning wakeup. I was up early every morning, with no chance to pet the cats and wish them good morning. Instead, I was scooping up cats and tossing them in the room of the day before I was even awake. Then there was a visit with the painters to make sure they had their parking pass and/or the stress over whether our neighbors actually managed to leave out their sideyard key, and finally when all was settled I could shower.
By the time I was done, it was still an hour before my normal workday, so I was doing some of my freelance Bitmark work first thing, which has been running at an extraordinarily high level this month (because of course it has!). And then it was off to the real, Skotos job!
And then on the backside of the day, I wouldn't have enough time to do everything I wanted, typically more Bitmark writing, more packing, more house cleanup, and, y'know, a little R&R.
(I think I mostly lost out on the R&R, but some days it was packing instead.)
And, no we're not actually done. There's a badly damaged window that still needs to be fixed, but we ran out of time on that because the owner was sick during part of our project.
And we're also doing a few big-gish interior projects, one of which we've already got a quote on: the inside of our sunroom, which has a lot of damaged wood as well. The quote came in at 3 or 4 days of work, which is fine, though there's the concern that our neighbors will throw fits again and make it hard if we so much as open the windows while working (and maybe even if we don't).
But that's for the future: the window, whenever, the sunroom sometime after Prague.
Because this project with its few days of delay has run screaming into my preparation for my trip to Prague. I've already been collecting things like cat food and cat litter that Kimberly wouldn't be able to get on her own. And for days I've been meaning to get some Czech Korunas ordered (but I was largely trapped in the house for the last few weeks). And ... there's more prep to do, I'm sure.
Oh, and hey, our first day of post-painter freedom coincided with move-in day at Cal. So there are students all over again.
(Yes, it's time to move out of a college town.)
I do not know if we'd have done it if we'd realized how physically and mentally grueling the process would be. But it's done (other than one window which requires more TLC and some more hours of labor).
And maybe we'll come out even in the house sale, maybe we'll dramatically increase the house price by improving our curb appeal, and maybe we'll just have contributed something to our neighborhood on the way out. It's all good, anyway. (And the impending sale of our house is probably the only time in my life that I could shrug off an $11,000 bill like that, so good timing I guess?)
There was one bit of damage to our curb appeal: the front-yard plants that we've so carefully cultured this year got STOMPED.
Sigh. Three steps forward, one back.
The poor guys got largely crushed. I'm pretty sure that one is a lost cause, but it's never prospered, so sour grapes, eh? I'm hoping the rest are salvageable, though one looks oddly wilted and withered, even though it didn't get crushed.
So we've sent out the Gardener-signal, and hope he can assess what can be repaired and what needs to be replanted. It's very unfortunate, as the plants were starting to actually look mature, rather than something we just put in.
Here's why I'm most grateful we're done with the painting: the morning wakeup. I was up early every morning, with no chance to pet the cats and wish them good morning. Instead, I was scooping up cats and tossing them in the room of the day before I was even awake. Then there was a visit with the painters to make sure they had their parking pass and/or the stress over whether our neighbors actually managed to leave out their sideyard key, and finally when all was settled I could shower.
By the time I was done, it was still an hour before my normal workday, so I was doing some of my freelance Bitmark work first thing, which has been running at an extraordinarily high level this month (because of course it has!). And then it was off to the real, Skotos job!
And then on the backside of the day, I wouldn't have enough time to do everything I wanted, typically more Bitmark writing, more packing, more house cleanup, and, y'know, a little R&R.
(I think I mostly lost out on the R&R, but some days it was packing instead.)
And, no we're not actually done. There's a badly damaged window that still needs to be fixed, but we ran out of time on that because the owner was sick during part of our project.
And we're also doing a few big-gish interior projects, one of which we've already got a quote on: the inside of our sunroom, which has a lot of damaged wood as well. The quote came in at 3 or 4 days of work, which is fine, though there's the concern that our neighbors will throw fits again and make it hard if we so much as open the windows while working (and maybe even if we don't).
But that's for the future: the window, whenever, the sunroom sometime after Prague.
Because this project with its few days of delay has run screaming into my preparation for my trip to Prague. I've already been collecting things like cat food and cat litter that Kimberly wouldn't be able to get on her own. And for days I've been meaning to get some Czech Korunas ordered (but I was largely trapped in the house for the last few weeks). And ... there's more prep to do, I'm sure.
Oh, and hey, our first day of post-painter freedom coincided with move-in day at Cal. So there are students all over again.
(Yes, it's time to move out of a college town.)