So, I had my surgery last week. For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know already that I was stuck at home up until yesterday, recovering and being very bored. I'm now back to driving, though still no heavy lifting and various other restrictions. It's all very annoying.
House-wise, we are (as usual) having communication issues. We found a nice new HVAC man - our old awful one has now disconnected all of his phones (!) - who agreed to come put in vents for our bathroom fans and install the last bit of sheet metal from the downstairs return out to the wall (it's set back from the wall, and needs to be connected to where the vent on the wall will be). He gave us a very good price, told us he could get it done this week, and promptly disappeared. We would be happy to give him his money if we could get HOLD of him.
Other things that need to happen: Don has to run to Home Depot and pick up some data rings and install them in all of the places where he and his sister's boyfriend ran speaker wire - it won't take long, it just needs to get done. Also, we need the electrician to come back yet again and fix a couple of things - a matter of ten minutes, really. Then the insulators can come - they've already called me once, wondering when we're going to schedule them.
The drywallers are scheduled for November 30th, and I REALLY don't want to change it. I have no idea how we're going to get this stuff done before then, particularly with the upcoming holiday, but I am determined.
Showing posts with label schedule. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schedule. Show all posts
Friday, November 20, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
of course
Something has finally gone wrong. I cannot for the life of me get in touch with the drywaller. I talked to him on Tuesday, and he promised me a callback the following morning with a quote to add insulation to our existing drywall quote. No call, so I called and left a message later that day. Still haven't heard back. I am fairly sure that their phone line goes directly to a voicemail service that he picks up pretty regularly - but I know for a fact that their messages were screwed up a couple of months ago, and I'm wondering if it's happened again. I don't have another number for him, unfortunately.
It's very disappointing - we were hoping to schedule the drywallers/insulators to start on November 2nd, and we're completely on track to be ready for them. But if I can't get hold of him, that's pushing the start date further and further back, because they usually run their schedules about two weeks out.
In any case, the electricians are done with the rough-in, although we need to ask them what we're supposed to do with a couple of things -- there's no box for either the master bathroom tub or the data cable terminus in the office. The plumber's coming on Wednesday to set the tub and fix the sink rough-ins in the master bath. Don ordered several rolls of speaker wire last night, and his sister's boyfriend will come over and wire us up for sound as soon as it comes in. After that, drywall, if I can get hold of the guy!
The real problem with this drywall issue is that I am having my gallbladder taken out on November 12th. If they were able to start on the 2nd, that would give them a good week plus to finish before my surgery, which should be fine. Pushing it back much further may mean we have to delay quite a bit - having drywallers around while you're recovering from surgery is not so practical. All things considered, though, I'd rather reschedule the drywall than the surgery. We'll see how it goes.
It's very disappointing - we were hoping to schedule the drywallers/insulators to start on November 2nd, and we're completely on track to be ready for them. But if I can't get hold of him, that's pushing the start date further and further back, because they usually run their schedules about two weeks out.
In any case, the electricians are done with the rough-in, although we need to ask them what we're supposed to do with a couple of things -- there's no box for either the master bathroom tub or the data cable terminus in the office. The plumber's coming on Wednesday to set the tub and fix the sink rough-ins in the master bath. Don ordered several rolls of speaker wire last night, and his sister's boyfriend will come over and wire us up for sound as soon as it comes in. After that, drywall, if I can get hold of the guy!
The real problem with this drywall issue is that I am having my gallbladder taken out on November 12th. If they were able to start on the 2nd, that would give them a good week plus to finish before my surgery, which should be fine. Pushing it back much further may mean we have to delay quite a bit - having drywallers around while you're recovering from surgery is not so practical. All things considered, though, I'd rather reschedule the drywall than the surgery. We'll see how it goes.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
it's a party, and you're invited!
For those of you who weren't on my hastily-put together email list, here's the invite to the demolition party!
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Hi everyone! As most of you know by now, we're ready to gut the upstairs of our house. And, as always, that means a demolition party!
When: Saturday, January 5th, 8 AM until we're done (or until you're exhausted, we won't force you to stay ;) )
Where: [those of you viewing this on one of my blogs, email or comment for the address]
What to bring: If you've got them, please feel free to bring your own tools (crowbars, sledgehammers, reciprocating saws), work gloves, and/or safety goggles. We do have extras of everything, but lots of people are most comfortable with their own. Make sure to wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty in, and sturdy, closed-toe shoes.
We'll be providing donuts and coffee in the morning for those of you gracious enough to show up early (we're starting at 8), and food for lunch as well (probably pizza). We'll have lots of bottled water on hand to make sure you're hydrated, too.
Please let us know you're coming -- you can email me at jamailac at gmail dot com or call [cell number redacted for public consumption] -- so that we have a vague idea of how much food to get and whether we need to pick up a few more crowbars. And yes, you can invite a friend.
Looking forward to seeing everyone and indulging in some wanton destruction!
----------
Hi everyone! As most of you know by now, we're ready to gut the upstairs of our house. And, as always, that means a demolition party!
When: Saturday, January 5th, 8 AM until we're done (or until you're exhausted, we won't force you to stay ;) )
Where: [those of you viewing this on one of my blogs, email or comment for the address]
What to bring: If you've got them, please feel free to bring your own tools (crowbars, sledgehammers, reciprocating saws), work gloves, and/or safety goggles. We do have extras of everything, but lots of people are most comfortable with their own. Make sure to wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty in, and sturdy, closed-toe shoes.
We'll be providing donuts and coffee in the morning for those of you gracious enough to show up early (we're starting at 8), and food for lunch as well (probably pizza). We'll have lots of bottled water on hand to make sure you're hydrated, too.
Please let us know you're coming -- you can email me at jamailac at gmail dot com or call [cell number redacted for public consumption] -- so that we have a vague idea of how much food to get and whether we need to pick up a few more crowbars. And yes, you can invite a friend.
Looking forward to seeing everyone and indulging in some wanton destruction!
Monday, December 03, 2007
normal day
Don said this morning that today is our only normal day in quite a while. He's right, and it made it REALLY hard not to stay home and enjoy it! For the last several weeks, and for several in the future, either we've had company or he's been gone or we've had social engagements to be at. It's not that I don't love that feeling, mind you -- the holidays are one of my favorite times of the year, because I love always being busy with friends and family, and having company, and being able to entertain people -- but the sheer volume of it this year is a little daunting when you add Don's recent and planned business trips.
Today we're in between a business trip and a family visit -- Don got back from California this weekend and my sister arrives for a weeklong visit tomorrow (about which we are SO PUMPED, because we never get to see her). So today is our only normal day in quite a while. Which, of course, we're using to frantically clean, grocery shop, etc. But that's no different from our usual pace of life. ;)
Over the weekend we had the opportunity to go with some friends to the Johns Hopkins Symphony Orchestra's performance of Beethoven's 9th. It was quite good, although I'm afraid that large parts of it went totally unnoticed while we tried to control our hysterical giggling over the young man in front of us who was consistently falling asleep -- on Don's knee. Don was not amused, but the rest of us were. It was a nice break from our usual house-related flailing.
Speaking of the flailing, Don is attempting to curtail it by coming up with a schedule for house stuff for the next couple of months. We all know how well THOSE work around here. Nevertheless, he's come up with a fairly definite date for the upstairs demolition (again) -- so if you're free January 5th and want to pick up a sledgehammer, let us know. I'll post further information as we figure it out.
Today we're in between a business trip and a family visit -- Don got back from California this weekend and my sister arrives for a weeklong visit tomorrow (about which we are SO PUMPED, because we never get to see her). So today is our only normal day in quite a while. Which, of course, we're using to frantically clean, grocery shop, etc. But that's no different from our usual pace of life. ;)
Over the weekend we had the opportunity to go with some friends to the Johns Hopkins Symphony Orchestra's performance of Beethoven's 9th. It was quite good, although I'm afraid that large parts of it went totally unnoticed while we tried to control our hysterical giggling over the young man in front of us who was consistently falling asleep -- on Don's knee. Don was not amused, but the rest of us were. It was a nice break from our usual house-related flailing.
Speaking of the flailing, Don is attempting to curtail it by coming up with a schedule for house stuff for the next couple of months. We all know how well THOSE work around here. Nevertheless, he's come up with a fairly definite date for the upstairs demolition (again) -- so if you're free January 5th and want to pick up a sledgehammer, let us know. I'll post further information as we figure it out.
Friday, July 20, 2007
stress relief
Demo day is officially canceled, which seems to have completely cured Don of whatever mental breakdown he was suffering yesterday. The knowledge that he doesn't have to accomplish twenty-five impossible things today is like a huge weight off of his shoulders. It wound up working out better to cancel it anyway; HVAC guy won't be done until Monday, and if we had moved downstairs all of our stuff would be hugely in his way. So, whatever. At the end of the day, all that really matters to me is that we'll have air conditioning next week and I won't be sick anymore. For the last couple of weeks, while it has been really hot, I have been basically useless, which is really frustrating.
So, no demo day, and we might actually be able to enjoy the predicted nice weather this weekend. That would be nice. These things happen. We'll try to reschedule when we know further what's going on, but if the fraternity guys don't give us a response again we may have to give up and just work on it when we can.
This week has really been miserable (in the TMI realm, I've also been having awful cramps the last few days), and I'm SO glad it's just about over. Cross your fingers nothing horrible happens today.
So, no demo day, and we might actually be able to enjoy the predicted nice weather this weekend. That would be nice. These things happen. We'll try to reschedule when we know further what's going on, but if the fraternity guys don't give us a response again we may have to give up and just work on it when we can.
This week has really been miserable (in the TMI realm, I've also been having awful cramps the last few days), and I'm SO glad it's just about over. Cross your fingers nothing horrible happens today.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
what a surprise
Yesterday I called Don about halfway through the day to check in and see whether the HVAC guy had shown up as promised. You can probably guess the answer. No guy, and Don was positively livid. He told me he'd called both Installation Guy and Mr. Sales and Service (who is actually the owner of the company and Installation Guy's boss) and left really nasty messages for both of them. He said if he didn't hear back from either of them by the end of the day, he planned on calling the bank and stopping the check we'd written them (for half the total cost).
Well, before long Mr. Sales and Service called Don back and apologized profusely. He said he had similar calls from three other customers besides us! Apparently, while Mr. S&S was on vacation, Installation Guy -- who normally doesn't do his own scheduling -- had overbooked himself, gotten extremely flustered as a result, and then just stopped communicating with everyone. (!) Apparently he doesn't deal well with pressure. So Mr. S&S told Don that he was taking over the scheduling, with an iron fist or something, and Installation Guy could be out at our place on Thursday, or we could have our check back. Since getting our check back does nothing to get us air conditioning, we said Thursday was fine. If he doesn't show up then, we'll get the check back and find somebody else.
The positive side of this -- because I always find something to be positive about or I'd probably kill myself and others -- is that it frees our timetable up a little for moving downstairs. We were originally going to wait until Installation Guy was done, so that our stuff wouldn't be in his way and we'd have A/C when we moved down there. Now we're just going to go ahead and proceed with the move, and just shove our window units in the downstairs windows for the nonce.
Don got a phenomenal amount of work done yesterday, clearing and packing and organizing and sorting all the stuff upstairs. When I got home from work we went up to Summer and Matt's house and picked up some bags of packing materials (bubble wrap and styrofoam peanuts) that they had from their wedding crystal packaging (thanks guys!). Don will use it today or tomorrow to pack up all of his grandmother's glassware -- we've had it sitting around ever since we found it in the dining room ceiling. He's going to get rid of the last remnants of construction debris on the first floor and then tarp off the rooms we're going to be living in (as opposed to the rooms which will be used simply for construction purposes).
I hope we can get everything done in time for demo day. Even after we finish moving downstairs and packing up our non-necessary stuff, we still have to clear out the attic (a huge task on its own), build the dumpster chute to use on Saturday, and create a temporary landing extension for the staircase so that we can reach the landing window to toss stuff out of and also reach all the walls in the stairwell. Don is optimistic; I am worried.
Well, before long Mr. Sales and Service called Don back and apologized profusely. He said he had similar calls from three other customers besides us! Apparently, while Mr. S&S was on vacation, Installation Guy -- who normally doesn't do his own scheduling -- had overbooked himself, gotten extremely flustered as a result, and then just stopped communicating with everyone. (!) Apparently he doesn't deal well with pressure. So Mr. S&S told Don that he was taking over the scheduling, with an iron fist or something, and Installation Guy could be out at our place on Thursday, or we could have our check back. Since getting our check back does nothing to get us air conditioning, we said Thursday was fine. If he doesn't show up then, we'll get the check back and find somebody else.
The positive side of this -- because I always find something to be positive about or I'd probably kill myself and others -- is that it frees our timetable up a little for moving downstairs. We were originally going to wait until Installation Guy was done, so that our stuff wouldn't be in his way and we'd have A/C when we moved down there. Now we're just going to go ahead and proceed with the move, and just shove our window units in the downstairs windows for the nonce.
Don got a phenomenal amount of work done yesterday, clearing and packing and organizing and sorting all the stuff upstairs. When I got home from work we went up to Summer and Matt's house and picked up some bags of packing materials (bubble wrap and styrofoam peanuts) that they had from their wedding crystal packaging (thanks guys!). Don will use it today or tomorrow to pack up all of his grandmother's glassware -- we've had it sitting around ever since we found it in the dining room ceiling. He's going to get rid of the last remnants of construction debris on the first floor and then tarp off the rooms we're going to be living in (as opposed to the rooms which will be used simply for construction purposes).
I hope we can get everything done in time for demo day. Even after we finish moving downstairs and packing up our non-necessary stuff, we still have to clear out the attic (a huge task on its own), build the dumpster chute to use on Saturday, and create a temporary landing extension for the staircase so that we can reach the landing window to toss stuff out of and also reach all the walls in the stairwell. Don is optimistic; I am worried.
Friday, July 06, 2007
operation big house
Don has come up with a schedule for the rest of the summer. In theory, this schedule will make it so that the upstairs subfloors are done by the beginning of September, although I believe some of that depends on how much Don and his dad are willing to work during the week in August. So here's "Operation Big House" (apparently that's what the family used to call our house in Don's childhood, and he still calls it that). Creative spelling has been corrected by yours truly.
Operation Big House (7/5/07)
July 7: Finish mudroom demo / Fix downstairs bathroom waterlines / Clean up downstairs wood and tools
July 8-12: Pack upstairs / Move boxes into storage
July 9-12: HVAC Downstairs installation
July 13: Dumpster change out
July 14: Clean the downstairs (rest of plaster/nails/etc) / Tarp downstairs ceiling and windows / Move downstairs / Tarp downstairs “walls” / Run downstairs temp electric
July 15: Clean out attic / Buy trash cans for makeshift dumpster chute
July 16-20: Remove landing window / Build temporary stairway landing / Assemble dumpster chute
July 20: Remove upstairs doors / Remove upstairs blinds / Turn off upstairs water / Turn off upstairs electric
July 21: Demo Day 2 (which many of you should now have the evite for! If you don't have it and you want it, let me know.)
July 22: Install new attic trapdoor ladder / Clean the upstairs (rest of plaster/nails/etc)
July 23 or 30: HVAC Upstairs installation begins
Beginning August: Window installation
Operation Big House (7/5/07)
July 7: Finish mudroom demo / Fix downstairs bathroom waterlines / Clean up downstairs wood and tools
July 8-12: Pack upstairs / Move boxes into storage
July 9-12: HVAC Downstairs installation
July 13: Dumpster change out
July 14: Clean the downstairs (rest of plaster/nails/etc) / Tarp downstairs ceiling and windows / Move downstairs / Tarp downstairs “walls” / Run downstairs temp electric
July 15: Clean out attic / Buy trash cans for makeshift dumpster chute
July 16-20: Remove landing window / Build temporary stairway landing / Assemble dumpster chute
July 20: Remove upstairs doors / Remove upstairs blinds / Turn off upstairs water / Turn off upstairs electric
July 21: Demo Day 2 (which many of you should now have the evite for! If you don't have it and you want it, let me know.)
July 22: Install new attic trapdoor ladder / Clean the upstairs (rest of plaster/nails/etc)
July 23 or 30: HVAC Upstairs installation begins
Beginning August: Window installation
Thursday, July 05, 2007
all kinds of news
The biggest news is that the new and improved Anapurna website is up. And, unlike the old site, you can actually successfully use it to buy things from us! Yay! Go check it out.
Other stuff going on, that I thought I'd get down before it drifted away in the massive cloud of to-do lists and scheduling I often find myself in:
Don got a call from the HVAC guy (who, incidentally, has the pointiest shoulder blades I have ever seen on a human being). Said guy is going to come over tomorrow night with a contract for us to sign -- with the original price they quoted us (yay!). He's really truly officially going to start work on Monday. It's like a dream come true! Air conditioning!
We're getting our nearly-full dumpster switched out for an empty one on the 13th. Benjer must love us, we rent so many damn dumpsters. This will be the third this year.
Demolition day, as you all know, is on July 21st. Don't forget to tell me if you want to come.
Windows will be installed sometime after that, hopefully in early August. All the paperwork has been signed for the financial stuff on that one, now we're just waiting through their lead time. Plus, we're getting the demolition done, which will make things easier for them (since they're doing all the framing for us -- they don't have to worry about the demo part).
At some point -- I am guessing next weekend -- we will officially Move Downstairs. I haven't made a lot of progress on cleaning out the office. This must change.
Don says that he'd like to have the upstairs subfloors done and all the final framing in place by the time school starts (August 29th). Considering that we're going on vacation for a week within that timeframe, it's a tight schedule. We'll see how it goes. I'm a little concerned about the plumbing for the new master bathroom, but Don seems to think it's "NBD".
Other stuff going on, that I thought I'd get down before it drifted away in the massive cloud of to-do lists and scheduling I often find myself in:
Don got a call from the HVAC guy (who, incidentally, has the pointiest shoulder blades I have ever seen on a human being). Said guy is going to come over tomorrow night with a contract for us to sign -- with the original price they quoted us (yay!). He's really truly officially going to start work on Monday. It's like a dream come true! Air conditioning!
We're getting our nearly-full dumpster switched out for an empty one on the 13th. Benjer must love us, we rent so many damn dumpsters. This will be the third this year.
Demolition day, as you all know, is on July 21st. Don't forget to tell me if you want to come.
Windows will be installed sometime after that, hopefully in early August. All the paperwork has been signed for the financial stuff on that one, now we're just waiting through their lead time. Plus, we're getting the demolition done, which will make things easier for them (since they're doing all the framing for us -- they don't have to worry about the demo part).
At some point -- I am guessing next weekend -- we will officially Move Downstairs. I haven't made a lot of progress on cleaning out the office. This must change.
Don says that he'd like to have the upstairs subfloors done and all the final framing in place by the time school starts (August 29th). Considering that we're going on vacation for a week within that timeframe, it's a tight schedule. We'll see how it goes. I'm a little concerned about the plumbing for the new master bathroom, but Don seems to think it's "NBD".
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