Grateful

I have a buddy who is an awesome teacher. I learned more this weekend about carpentry than I've learned about the subject in years.

We now have a new air conditioner installed and working. I have to finish up the trim work when K is around to watch our little girl.

Note to self: I also have to install a hot water valve for the washer.

Now that we have a decent ladder I cleaned the garage gutters. They were filled with the best smelling dirt. Too bad all that dirt was clogging the gutter, you know?

Next big project is the fascia and soffit under the eaves. The original was made of masonite which, of course, is melting and sagging. The sun room has plywood for a soffit which in spots has completely disintegrated. I think I'll throw insecticide in there before I start working just to make sure I don't end up with face full of pissed off wasps. I plan on replacing the soffit with vinyl. I'd like to use some sort of non-rotting stuff on the fascia, but we'll see.

Ah, the joys of home ownership.

Heh. Heh. Oh Shit.

Sometimes we get absorbed in doing something. Oftentimes, like far away lightning during an evening storm the impact of what we're doing doesn't hit us until well after the event.

Today, I'm looking at my laundry list of things to do to the house and realizing that yes, I'd better do a damn good job because I'm the one who has to fix it if it's half assed. Which is an interesting thing about me - if someone is paying me to do a job I give everything I can to my client and then some. When I'm not being payed... well, let's just say I can be a little lazy.

One thing that irritates me about building maintenance is the series of compromises that get made to do the job. For example, I just changed the fixtures on the bathroom sink yesterday. Unfortunately the sink is an odd small size so I had to turn the drain pipe at an angle to get the drain stop to work. The optimal solution would be to tear the whole fucker apart and remodel. That isn't going to happen for a while.

We now have a working washing machine. I had to plumb a temporary drain for it until we have the electrician come out and run wiring for the future washer/dryer location. The previous occupants had plumbed a sink and the water supplies for the washing machine right underneath the electrical service. Fortunately there is a 2" drain pipe sticking out of the basement floor well away from the service. This drain pipe will serve as the future downstairs bathroom sink drain and the washing machine drain.

The previous occupants had also removed the dryer's cord and wired the dryer directly to the electrical service panel with a length of house wiring. Twenty dollars would have purchased a proper outlet.

The hardest thing for me to do isn't the actual work - it's getting out to purchase supplies. I've been inside taking care of our little girl for some time now and have become unsocialized. It's extremely uncomfortable for me to go to a store and talk to someone. Part of it is the building insecurity from moving into a new house in a new neighborhood. Part of it is that I'm an introvert and prefer to quietly go about things rather than go to a crowded home improvement store.

All in all though I'm having fun. I like working with my hands, and this is a worthwhile occupation.

Grody Grout

Today I scrubbed so much crud from the bathroom floor I began to seriously wonder if there was any grout between the tiles. I still can't see the grout. Hopefully it's safe to walk around barefoot. I'll be spraying bleach and scrubbing some more tomorrow.

I see plumbing in my very near future and I'm not looking forward to it. It seems that every time I touch a pipe I end up opening someone else's can of worms.

Only douchebags use masonite siding in wet climates. Thanks a lot douchebags - now our siding is melting. It looks like I'll be re-siding the house sooner than we thought.

I haven't looked in the "attic" space yet. I wonder if there is a body up there. I have a strong suspicion that very soon there will be a couple servers and routers taking up residence in the upper regions.

Getting rid of cigarette smell from a house is difficult. Fucking junkies - why can't they smoke good smelling pipe tobacco?

I'm beginning to dislike coming back to the apartment more and more. In fact, now that it's no longer a matter of survival, I think apartment living downright blows.

My wife is awesome.

New home.
Tons of work to be done.
Pick one thing, work it to completion, pick another...
Listen to little girl happily bubble and squeal and know that it's all worth it.

Not that I am complaining. We got a sweet deal on our home - in every way. The only way it could have been better is if it was free. There's even a flag pole for me to run my wife's brassiere up! I'm a bra pirate! Arrrr!

Some of the foreclosed homes we looked at in our price range were trashed. You would think that sub-prime lenders would have realised that some of their applicants were sub-prime due to moral deficiencies and not hardships like unexpected medical expenses.

Evidently our home was a rental before we got it - which explains why everything is in relatively good shape. Yet another reason we're so lucky - a former rental that was maintained! With several exceptions all the work that needs to be done is cosmetic. So, we're looking at mostly remodel work.

With all our fortune, my wife and I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. We'll see.

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jog

Home again. Sort of. Hopefully not for long.

My family and I went back to Boise, Idaho to let our daughter meet her relatives. We got most of the important ones. I'm sorry that she didn't get to meet the more distant relatives but time was all too short.

Our daughter broke down on the plane ride back. We got her soothed eventually - although not without some grumpy comments from our fellow passengers. The second she was in the car in the airport parking lot she started smiling, cooing and generally being her happy little self. Thanks kid. Too bad they'll never know how awesome you really are.

One thing that always strikes me about my family is how defeatist they are. None of them are willing to take a risk to profit. None of them realise how little they have to lose - pretty much just their lives. Most of them have very little happiness or fun. They live their lives with a grim determinism.

I wasted five years of my prime walking with demons brought on by mental illness. I suffered from severe debilitating depression. My wife, friends and strangers on the internet helped me to cast those demons out and I emerged with an understanding - I have a choice to live or die.

I understand now that living is more than subsistence, more than finding the cheapest way one can tolerate. Living includes the pursuit of happiness. It is pursuit which makes living worthwhile.

The value of my life is solely up to me. If I choose not to value my life, then I can underachieve my way through everything, resenting that no one will give two shits about what I am or what I do. I'd rather be dead than go that path again. Because I am a coward and can not easily take my life, the choice becomes singular and obvious.

In our consumerist society, pursuit is not encouraged. Instead we are taught to rely on some higher power to provide happiness. Religion, WalMart or Television - you just can't be happy with out it. Well, I can.

I realise it's always easy to make these kinds of observations about others especially when one's own fortunes are favourable.

State Of the Houshold Address

Being a stay-at-home Dad rocks. I love my little girl and my job as a parent. We'll see how long that lasts.

Then sun is shining. Most of the snow has finally melted. I can see everything that needs to be cleaned in the apartment.

We've made an offer on a house. Pending inspection we may be moving. I've decided I dislike apartment living so this is a good thing.

My wife is making a list of all the furniture we'll need for the house. I'm making a list of all the furniture I'll have to clean.

There will be a good deal of work for me to do if we move into the new house. Not enough to be overwhelming but enough to keep me busy all summer and fall. I'm looking forward to working off all the fat I've accumulated over the last few years.

Circumstances permitting I will be finishing a basement in the winter. There will be a Man room - albeit a small one.

My wife is awesome.

Deep Breaths

There are times while being a parent when things go completely ape-shit with your child.

After the cries have quieted, stomachs have been comfortably filled and burped, and eyes puffy from crying start to close there is a moment when you can't help but smile at the infant in your arms.

At last they manage a small tired smile, relax, and drift off to sleep - and then you know it is all worth it.