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March 31, 2005
brain toast.
MORE...Posted by lisa at 05:21 PM
March 29, 2005
it's scary the first time you see it
i finally investigated the situation with the westy's gas pedal. step one: brush away loose rust and paint with a wire brush. in the process of brushing, i revealed bare, unrusted metal. weird. scary.
it looks like i'll have to drill fairly close to some cables that run under the floor pan. no great surprise-- the accelerator cable is, of course, one of them. the job looks do-able, though. i'll just need to drill very slowly.
i drove out to the hardware store to get some bolts that i hope will work; by the time i'd gotten home, i'd lost the light and i'm reluctant to do a delicate and awkward job with minimal light. besides, i have to work on the BRSP so jason can use it tomorrow night.
work is kind of stressful right now. in a week and a half, a fairly high-profile project that i'm working on will go live-- on the external web site. up until now, most of my work has been on our corporate intranet where my only audience is employees, and the only browser i really had to worry about was the latest IE.
i'm finding that living with a strict budget is kind of satisfying and so far, not that difficult. i still like to spend money on food from restaurants, froufy coffee drinks, and renting dvd's, but all the other frittering away of my funds has stopped. starting friday i'll have a weekly allowance for that sort of thing that also has to include groceries and anything the house needs. i haven't used my credit card since near the beginning of the month, and that hasn't been too difficult.
i'm really unhappy with the way my clothes are fitting, which means that for the third time this year... i have to start my diet over. i swear, if something else happens, i'm going to have to suck it up and stay on the diet no matter what. starting over is way too difficult, especially when you have to do it three times in four months.
i'm in the process of gradually moving items from my back bedroom to my bedroom. the new purple color begs to be goth-i-fied. maybe once i've gotten it cleared out, the back bedroom will become light and airy.
Posted by lisa at 07:37 PM
March 26, 2005
queer-a-thon
three yes count them three queer as folk dvd's arrived in my box this morning which dovetailed nicely with a sudden desire to be all lethargic and stuff.
you know, i know it seems like i keep busy and get a lot done, but wow do i spend a hell of a lot time watching tv. sometimes, it just feels deadly. and so, some words to live by, from my favorite new tv show...
lindsey: do you know what's funny? i really wanted to get back into the world and prove myself. and now all i want to do is be home with gus, changing his diaper.emmett: same with me and ted. except for the diaper thing.
lindsey: in fact, i can't understand why people would ever want to leave their house.
emmett: when it's so much safer just to close the door.
lindsey: but if you close the door, nothing will ever happen will it?
emmett: well you just sit there in your safe little room for the rest of your life, wondering what might have been.
Posted by lisa at 11:43 PM
and a few more
- a gremlin or a pacer. duh!!!
- a vw corrado. i think i'd take the corrado over the scirocco, even though the scirocco is earlier and more "raw" and therefore in some sense cooler and with more cred.
- a microcar, preferably a peel trident
yeah, i guess the crx is off the list... not that i don't still admire it a lot, but i guess i don't put it in the dream stable.
Posted by lisa at 04:58 PM
stable of a million
mr. hoopty answers the challenge: how would you spend a million on cars?
of course, his answers are intriguing and gratifying; he and i seem to have some similar tastes, he just knows a whole hell of a lot more about cars than i do. right up at the top are several vw's (note that a caddy is a pickup truck-- that one's at the top of my personal list at the moment) and sure enough, buried down there near the bottom is the citroen 2cv, which is probably #2 on my personal list.
since i can't price any of the cars i am interested in, and since all i can think is, well first i'd need to spend about a quarter of a mil (at the very least) on the house and land and garage to house it all, i'd have a hard time constructing this list for myself. i also like the idea of serendipity in my car choices; the van just kind of came along, and i enjoy the "meant to be" feeling implied in that. i'd rather let luck and chance dictate what's in my stable.
well, with one exception. i would love to have a 1998 vw beetle citron limited edition. i've actually seen one in person, but they're so rare that most people haven't. i'd take it out to roswell, and it would be the only citron ever to go to roswell. and i'd preserve the hell out of it. that baby would be garaged and encased in a plastic bubble. (seriously-- i know a guy who keeps his bug in a plastic bubble in his garage.)
other things i'd generally be on the lookout for include...
- some sort of mid-sixties british roadster
- some sort of mix-sixties or seventies station wagon-- such as what mr. hoopty has recently posted about
- obviously, an aircooled vw beetle convertible of some sort. a triple white would be tempting, but i'd prefer an older model.
- a 23(?) window bus... you know, the sort of bus with skylights and a huge sunroof. for taking groups of people on picnics.
- a karmann ghia
- a delorean! i am a child of the 80's, after all.
the rest would just have to come to me.
oh, and on this week's epiosde of 'alias', the characters were driving around in a bare-metal van with suicide doors. too cool.
Posted by lisa at 11:25 AM
March 25, 2005
me him and lizzie down by the river
went walking today in the woods with my new personal trainers, perfessers whig hill and lizzie. not only did they school my ass but they also schooled my mind in various interesting topics such as advanced stick throwing and rube goldberg "i'm the guy" sayings.
i was all worried that i'd be the lame one who couldn't hack it, but instead i was all, "let's walk some more!!" i'd taken the day off with no real plan of what i'd do and probably would have just done stuff around the house if the woods tromping invite had not come up. i've always been a big fan of walking, both for exploration and for exercise but my lame urban dweller lifestyle has driven my walking and nature girl sides into dormancy, so i shouldn't have been surprised to find myself thinking, "this is what i should be doing! every day!" it was so much better than stupid house stuff.
my sandblaster came yesterday-- i really want to try it out on the driver's side footwell of the westy. i might have to try and figure it out myself tomorrow. i'm pretty hyped.
Posted by lisa at 08:18 PM
March 24, 2005
i am the operator
show tonight turned into the lisa feels goth self indugence two hours and change because the next dj was late. very very very very glad i am the one who first used the BRSP up there because i encountered some apalling usability problems on that computer that i'd not found on my laptop. got myself into a few fixes i almost couldn't get out of. anyone else would have had to give up and go to paper.
quite gratifying, however, to get many messages on the request line. apparently my self-indugence went over well. a couple of messages from an assistant professor at notre dame, believe it or not.
rather startled to find 'the ipcress file' being recorded just now on tivo. also quite annoyed to find that one of the queer as folk discs i spent my carefully budgeted dollars on renting last night is just special features-- no episodes. dammit. i heart emmett. i was hoping for more emmett.
now trying out some kewl technology dreamed up by jason! and brought to life by il rossi. it allows me to download a recording of my show from a sekrit location on the xdu web site. now i just have to find a way to convert it from ogg to mp3.
Posted by lisa at 10:54 PM
March 23, 2005
well... damn
Big Radio Station Project is officially ready for an alpha test. what is BRSP? for those not already in the know, i was tasked with adapting some existing software that will allow us to display our playlists live on the wxdu web site. wxyc has had this capability for some time now, which totally pisses me off. hence, i was motivated.
i'll be on air tomorrow night from 8-10pm, and i'll be testing out the new software. you'll be able to see the live playlist here.
Posted by lisa at 11:15 PM
March 22, 2005
it's trash day.
the new hvac system passed inspection today. i guess that means it's ok for me to use it now.
actually, what it means is that i get to sleep in and not have strange men in my house in the early hours.
today the lady with the garage offered me a lower price on it and said she would prefer to rent it to me over the other people who are interested. i hashed it over with a co-worker who is clever about financial stuff and decided to ask if she will rent it for a few months with no obligation to continue after that. in three months i can accomplish a lot of what i need a garage for so... it's probably worth it, in the grand scheme of things.
it means the basement will have to wait, mostly, i guess, but i still vow to transform that thing by year's end. the Big Radio Station Project cannot wait, however. in fact i plan to use it whilst subbing for mr. mondo mundo on thursday evening.
now i'm sleepy and don't feel like taking out the trash.
Posted by lisa at 11:13 PM
March 20, 2005
the ambitious plan
tonight i finally sat down and ran through my budget. i think i would like to take a very agressive approach to getting the hvac debt paid off, and at the same time stop using my credit card as much as possible. what i've decided to do is to try to be extremely strict with general shopping and day-to-day expenditures, rather than cutting out things like dsl, cable, tivo, and netflix. eliminating those things would save me some money, but not enough to make a big difference.
i do get a kick out of figuring out creative uses for limited resources, so i hope i can do this without feeling very deprived. i can always remind myself of my projected budget surplus figure and what a difference that will make in the debt.
one sad aspect of this is that i'll have to pass up an opportunity to rent a really nice garage space that's only a block away from me. i went to look at it today. it would be the perfect place to allow me to do the westy's body work myself, including painting, but i can't do it right now.
anyway, we'll see if i have the discipline to make it for a month and a half (i can't believe there's still two freaking weeks left in this month). or longer!
let me know if you'd like to go yard sale-ing with me sometime! i'll have to find some way to express my shopping impulses...
Posted by lisa at 10:50 PM
the trip to the desert
i ran across this image today. given that there's a denny's it might have been taken in roswell itself. i don't have enough resolution on the image to tell.
the beetle, the denny's, the glowering desert sky... these images, especially when seen together, are iconographic for me. entering the desert has special meaning for me now. i remember that first year and how incredible it all seemed that we were actually doing this. the astounding experience of traveling in a caravan of 50 beetles through the desert, of entering roswell for the first time...
ok, ok. i know what i sound like to other people when i talk about it. it's not a cult. really :)
anyway, i'm not going this year, but seeing that picture makes me long.
Posted by lisa at 06:38 PM
March 19, 2005
plenty of me to go around
MORE...Posted by lisa at 07:48 PM
March 16, 2005
not quite finished
the guys definitely didn't finish today. the new a/c compressor isn't there-- and the old one still is.
a lot of cleanup occured in the basement and back yard. there's also a lot of mud and standing water. the standing water is interesting. this is kind of new. this might require professional intervention.
it looks as if they installed the humidifier on the furnace today. i see no evidence of a humidistat however.
the entryway to the crawlspace from the basement is now almost completely occupied by two enormous trunk lines-- a supply, and the giant return. both fully insulated. i'm not too sad about this although it'll make it trickier to get that damn scrap lumber out of the crawlspace.
the other giant supply trunk hangs low in front of the staircase to the basement. this is kind of a bummer but you know, its a basement. it's use is utility, not living area.
what i am bummed about is that they didn't use the outside wall vent for my bedroom, and the old outside wall vent-- which was a return in the old system-- is still there, does not appear to be sealed off, and is mysteriously blowing warm air. now, i have to say that my bedroom was the warmest it has ever been last night. but that's something that i want to get straight. if it's now a supply, it should at least be insulated, and i wanna know why new ductwork wasn't installed.
the house is overall feeling very comfortable and i think the general comfort level is a lot better-- cold spots have disappeared. the notion of putting the supply vents on the outside wall and installing a central return was absolutely the right way to go.
they did a nice job of finishing off the holes they had to cut for the central return and i'm very pleased with the position of the grate and its appearance. it is high up on a wall in the hallway, a very typical location and well away from the debris that settles on the floor. the install looks clean and professional.
so i guess i won't sleep in tomorrow morning as i'd hoped, since they obviously need to spend another day on this job. nevertheless, since i no longer feel the need to work at home, and since the house is super cozy, i feel a lot less discombobulated and headed back to being, you know, my usual happy go lucky self. ha.
d. told me today that i handled all of this pretty well, but i sound like i need a vacation. he's not wrong. i so wish i could go camping in the westy! but not until she is roadworthy again.
Posted by lisa at 06:18 PM
March 15, 2005
the rumors are true...
my nose is no longer blue
my house is no longer cool
it's a fucking mess, but it's warm. the walking barefoot part might not happen for a day or two, as i clear the mud, gypsum dust, and other forgein substances from the floorboards, but at least maybe i can sleep tonight.
i'm torn between opening the doors and windows to allow the fumes (from pvc pipe cement) to clear, and getting the house up to 70 as fast as possible.
i can see that i need to do some rearranging of furniture and clutter in a few places so as to allow the air out of the vents as much as possible.
tomorrow they come back to put in the a/c compressor and clean up.
Posted by lisa at 04:50 PM
the house is helping us
i'm at work now, it's nice to sit in a warm place. my throat doesn't feel quite so sore and scratchy and i'm not too tired right now.
so before i left the guy who is putting in the central return said that the stud that runs through the opening to the return is not load bearing, and there are no beams or joists in the way of the holes he needs to cut to run it down through the closet. which is a like a little miracle. the ceiling he's cutting is sheetrock, too, so we're basically sitting very pretty.
that means his job is faster-- no framing out of anything. the other guy is finishing up the ductwork in the basement. i'm not sure if the gas line has been run out to the furnace and actually, i'm also not sure where they're going to vent it. at this point, i pretty much trust them and definitely want some heat. if the location of the flue is unacceptable then i can get them to come back-- when it's warm-- and re-run it.
Posted by lisa at 12:31 PM
and today's interesting house discovery is....
that there probably was no entrance to the basement from the living area, originally. my dark little hallway? built in the 70's to enclose a stairway to the basement. the hall wall that they are cutting is sheetrock, not plaster and wood sheathing. which is great, actually, because it's a hell of a lot easier and more stable to cut than plaster would be. this explains the small attic entryway over the basement stairs. the stairs make it inaccessible. ergo, the stairs probably weren't there when that entryway was installed.
i wonder what was there before the stairs? a really wide hallway? or maybe the kitchen was wider.
Posted by lisa at 10:06 AM
yippee-ki-yay!
they say i'll have heat today!
Posted by lisa at 09:41 AM
March 14, 2005
SOON
soon i will walk through the house with bare feet
soon i will hug moses on the bed and not have to close the door after me
soon i can go to the basement and do laundry and not worry about dragging it through mud
soon i can walk into the kitchen without a shock of cold air
soon my bathroom floor will be clean
soon my hall floor will be clean
soon
:|:
jason came over after dinner at federal and he said, you know, i don't know how you've done it.
got to federal and immediately started yelling at people. seriously, i never do that kind of thing. i had no idea i was so fucking cranky and felt so crappy until i sat down at the table. i think i was really, really hungry and didn't realize it somehow. there was lots of geeky talk about star trek which i found immensely cheering. it was helpful that a particular member of the wxdu staff who is both supremely geeky and supremely funny was on hand to chill the shit out.
i don't know, i didn't feel like apologizing. usually i apologize when i lose my shit
i've gotta get the dirty cold hallway ready tonight so they can come saw a hole in the lath and plaster and jesus, i hope i made the right decision to let them cut holes in the house. i guess anything that goes wrong can be repaired.
Posted by lisa at 09:38 PM
note to self:
do not go to ooh la latte at lunch. OMFG, i am wired.
Posted by lisa at 01:56 PM
the things you learn
the contractors just told me that my bathroom was apparently remodeled at some point to include a very small linen closet. the wall was moved forward and a new toilet pipe was installed. the old pipe is still there. so they came upstairs asking where the second bathroom was, thinking there were two back-to-back. that explains the odd little extra space on the back bedroom closet-- that space used to be part of the bathroom! this is all over the crawlspace which is one reason i never noticed it, i never go into the crawlspace.
not sure how i feel about this. the closet is nice and i make very good use of it, but the bathroom is insanely small. it was a good quality remodel, though, so i feel pretty good about it. when i put a pedestal sink in, the bathroom is going to feel a lot larger.
Posted by lisa at 10:33 AM
the home stretch
mmmm... heat, i thought, when i walked into a friend's place yesterday. he says he can tell people who have been facelifted. i can tell houses that have that warm glow of central heat.
appropriate that i'd use a sports metaphor for the title of this post, as i later found myself in a bar watching the end of a baseketball game that seemed to be important to at least two of the more vocal occupants of the bar. they were more entertaining than the game, although i had to admit that i could see the appeal in watching a bunch of sweaty, half-naked, athletic young men running around.
i'm in the midst of a 'queer as folk' marathon (speaking of half-naked, athletic young men), which means that i've now seen each variation: straight women ('sex & the city'); gay women ('the l word'), straight men ('manchild'), and now gay men. 'sex & the city' will always hold a special place in the pantheon of TV Shows I've Loved, but all of them (except 'manchild') are exceptionally good shows. i do find i have a greater affinity for the shows that focus on women, and lesbian couple in the core of 'queer' characters are not particularly well-drawn, which may be why it doesn't do as much for me as 'the l word' and 'sex'.
i'm pretty fucking tired and i've got a tickle in the back of my throat. i'm glad i'm working from home today; i think if i went into work, i'd be flakey and out of it and whining to d. all day about being tired. this way at least i can hide the flakiness to some degree.
they're here! i wonder if they'll install the central return today?
Posted by lisa at 08:18 AM
March 12, 2005
apple spice cake!
thanks to everyone for the suggestions!
i decided that the lemon custard would be too complicated... this week, i need simple.
flipped through joy of cooking... decided apple spice cake looked easy enough and sounded like just the sort of thing she'd like. it's supposed to be done as a single 8×8 square cake, but i doubled it and made three round layers. a simple square cake isn't a proper birthday cake! they recommended white frosting but i thought cream cheese sounded better. oh, but i had to modify the frosting recipe; it needed waayyyy more cream cheese.
what can i say? somewhere along the line, i learned how to bake :) it's ironic. at least i can make nice birthday cakes for other people. the cake turned out extremely well, incredibly moist and yummy, and cream cheese frosting was just the right choice.
both of my brothers were there and conversation was, of course, lively. wayne made homemade pasta with sambuca sauce, and homemade bread. it was supercarbalicious!
in case you can't tell, i'm in a good mood. the weather was warm today and i had a good time with the fam.
Posted by lisa at 11:05 PM
awake.
several times in the last week i've awakened at an unusually early hour. i'd guess i'm waking up around 6:30, which is what time sunrise begins... that means it's actually still dark when i first awaken. and, not surprisingly, it's cold as fuck, too.
i think it's the cold waking me up. i have flannel sheets, wool blankets, a down comforter... i don't think bedding is the problem, but maybe i'll try stealing the sleeping bag away from mo tonight. (seems so mean though!)
i set my space heater on a timer last night thinking it would be running for a while before i woke up, but not so... it came on at 7:30 (timers are not really an exact science... i was aiming for 6:30). maybe i should set it for 5:30, although that starts to beg the question of whether i should just leave it on all night. i don't much like the idea of sleeping with a space heater on, however.
i guess if i lived without heat for a long time, i'd acclimate to it completely. i can already tell that, once i leave bed, morning is easier. i can get breakfast going immediately instead of feeling like i need to drink tea for a while before i can even move around.
sarah has been so kind as to loan me her kerosene heater. i tried it for a while this morning, and despiting having a window open, i started to feel ill and had to shut it off. today is shaping up into a fairly fine day, though, so i probably won't need a lot of heat during the day. plus, i'll be baking a cake, and that will warm the place up.
:|:
last night i did a little financial analysis for the last six months. where does my money go, exactly? the answer should come as no surprise: car repairs, shoes, and clothes. in approximately that order. at least, as far as i can track with my credit card. food might emerge in the top 3 if i went through my debit card statements, but it's fairly tedius work, and i just wanted a general picture of where money is going.
despite his expensive problems, spacepod is still costing me less than a completely trouble-free new car would cost. repairs do not come even close to equalling a car payment, maintenance and insurance is the same, and of course taxes are lower. now the camper, on the other hand, is a fucking money pit. although the repairs are not all that expensive, any money that goes into the camper is money i don't need to spend. i haven't reached the point of saying that i have to get rid of her, but that could happen sometime this year if i feel i can't whittle away my debt agressively enough. she's not costing me a penny right now, but if i'm not going to use her, i might as well sell her, because the money from that sale would be quite helpful. well, if i even could sell her. i might be the only person in the country insane enough to buy a rusty diesel westy. seriously.
ok, enough about that. time to get baking.
Posted by lisa at 10:13 AM
my kinda photographer
Posted by lisa at 09:37 AM
March 11, 2005
many questions on the current state of things, and a few thoughts on frugality.
q: is there central heat in the house?
a: no
q: are there any other questions worth asking besides that one?
a: yes
q: is the basement even dirtier and more disgusting than before?
a: yes
q: is there now an enormous open space under two windows in the basement, such that one is almost compelled to fill it with useful workbenches, industrial strength electrical hookups, and abundant lighting?
a: yes
q: is the rain going to ruin the salvageable, almost-new circuit board in the old furnace?
a: maybe. sometimes they dry out and are fine. don't worry about it.
q: is the rain going to ruin the new duct they left sitting out?
a: again i say, not your problem. de rien.
q: do you have the first clue of what you'll do about your mother's birthday cake?
a: no
q: is your cat superadorable???
a: that's rhetorical, right?
:|:
faced with an intimidating pile of debt, i've thought about plans for paying it off. i'd like to be fairly agressive in doing so.
i thought to myself last night, you know, if i could not spend an entire month's salary, it would knock out so very much of it at once. so how could i do that?
the mortgage i can't get out of. perhaps if i refinanced i'd miss a month.
i could cancel my land line, tivo, netflix, cable, and revert from dsl to the cheapest possible dialup account with my provider (so as not to lose my email address... i want to be able to revert to my current state without significant losses of any kind.) i could use my wireless as my voice and data connection, and supplement that with time spent in cafes that have wireless internet.
i could choose a month in which neither heating nor cooling is really missed. that eliminates gas and some electric.
water i'd have to allow myself, but i could curtail usage in a couple of ways. just don't plan to come near me on the weekends...
i could further curtail electric by greatly reducing my use of lights, unplugging my tv, stereo, etc, and pushing the temperature on my water heater down to the barest tolerable level (it's too hot right now anyway). also, air-dry all clothing. carefully plan wardrobe to require the least amount of clothes-washing possible. surely i have 30 pairs of panties and 30 pairs of socks.
a single, carefully planned trip to costco at the beginning of the month would suffice for food and other supplies. i already have plenty of coffee and tea; artificial sweetener is trivially swiped from various readily available sources.
absolutely no going out and having fun of any kind that involves spending money. fun i would be allowed to have: making photocopy art with the spare change i find around the house; hanging out at the library; walking in the woods; tinkering with the van; cleaning the house. cleaning is fun, you know. oh, and free wine tastings would be acceptable.
no frivolous driving around. consolidate all errands, of which i will be doing very few since i won't be spending any money.
make my own biodiesel with free waste vegetable oil from fast food restaurants.
no buying of shoes! at all!! or clothes!!
Posted by lisa at 05:14 PM
the mo-cam is online
so long as he's sleeping right next to where i am working, i might as well put him on the cam!
we'll see if the work in the basement gets him agitated.
Posted by lisa at 10:05 AM
ready to begin
i anxiously await the arrival of the contractors!
Posted by lisa at 08:33 AM
March 10, 2005
keeping the home fires burning
so tonight's lesson is: building a fire is key. certainly i'm just in a better mood, but a fire makes a big difference, not just in how warm the house feels, but in the general cheerfulness level of the living room. physical warmth and... ok, don't gag. emotional warmth.
i also took d.'s suggestion and boiled water on the stove in the kitchen. that plus my humidifier heated the kitchen to the point that i opened the curtain between the two rooms and let the moist heat mingle with the dry heat of the fireplace.
i've gotten a lot done tonight, and of course that keeps me warm and energized, also. the "shower stall" is completely down now. the floor of the basement around the furnace and in the probable new position of the furnace is fairly clear.
i've also pushed many gallons of water into drains. i dunno, it's just kind of a habit. it's sort of meditative :)
as i contemplate the floor, and the valleys and ripples the water has worn in it, i'm starting to wonder if what i really need is new concrete down there. i wonder how much it would cost to have a new floor poured? it seems like too large of a job for me to do myself, even if i could divide it into sections. at the very least, i'm going to have to level the areas with grooves with small amounts of new cement before i seal it.
still a few more things to do before bed... tape on the glass of the windows that are near a duct, so they survive the duct being taken out (hopefully); take the trash out.
tomorrow should be interesting.
Posted by lisa at 10:25 PM
March 09, 2005
dammit
my contractor confirmed that they start friday. i've kind of acclimated to the temperature but i still resist working in cold parts of the house. i'm only heating the living room and my bedroom.
working is the key word. i'm starting to get that feeling that i get sometimes like i've got work at work, work at home, and no end to it and no vacation and no fun on the horizon. well, ok, lunch with sarah and a radio show on the 24th. that's my social life for the month of march.
but, you know, i know it's my own fault. "i'm so busy i'm so busy i'm so busy." who wants to hang out with that person?
aw, hell. i don't want to go down into that damn basement tonight.
Posted by lisa at 07:30 PM
crazydreamworld
i dreamed this morning that it was right before mom and wayne's wedding, and i was thinking... ahhh, i can't publish it because it's kind of insulting to my family members. ask me if you want to know. it was funny to me in my dream.
i dreamed that my cousin megan was completely deaf and was excited to see me, two things that i think have absolutely no grounding in fact whatsoever.
night before last i was dreaming about my wet basement, then the dream turned to flooding, an oncoming flood, and i awoke thinking i should put a little puffy floatation vest on moses so he would float happily. oddly it wasn't really a nightmare even though it woke me up. the vest would be cute.
Posted by lisa at 09:25 AM
March 08, 2005
in with the rain comes the dirt
i won't say that all of my cleaning work in the basement has been undone-- not even close-- but the results of today's rain were a little demoralizing.
after work today i added the extenders to the gutter downspouts. next time it rains-- which will be friday, i guess-- the water will be controlled away from the house a little better. we'll see if that helps.
last night i demolished most of the bizzaro "shower stall", ugh. this afternoon i cooked up the idea to use the fiberglass sheets as ramps so i can get my lawnmower up and down the stairs to the basement. that would be hottt! then i could get a nicer, cordless lawnmower and have a safe place to store it and recharge it.
i'm totally laying the basement out in my mind... it divides itself nicely into zones: the laundry area, garden tools storage (the "coal room"), and a workshop area under the large window. there's so much space down there... if i can get the basic problems under control, it could be a very useful and even pleasant space. i'm excited about the idea of transforming it. i hope that "if" isn't too big of an "if"....
and in the "it's the little things" department, i replaced my toilet seat today. i think the previous owner of my house went out of her way to find the most cheaply constructed toilet seat available. the one i installed won't bend, of that i'm fairly certain.
Posted by lisa at 10:01 PM
tell me about your favorite cake!
my mom's birthday is saturday and she has given me complete creative control over her birthday cake!
i'm looking for ideas. she likes fruit flavors, coconut, nuts, but she cannot tolerate chocolate very well, especially dark chocolate. cheesecake is also a good option and in fact i have a really nice springform pan that i've only used once, so i'd enjoy doing a cheesecake.
given the many sweet teeth reading this blog, i am sure you guys can hook me up with a good idea or two!
Posted by lisa at 09:53 AM
March 07, 2005
the paintless look
this is what a bus looks like with no paint. this particular bus hasn't been lacquered, but the owner has been treating it with something to inhibit rust. it's apparently not working particularly well.
i plan to do this to 9 westy. luckily, the artcarz mailing list recently had a thread about clearcoating and tim, who owns the plaidmobile, has found a really good option that is durable and will bond to bare metal.
the inspiration for this look is a microcar called the Voisin Biscooter. i guess i might not get that level of shiny-ness :)
Posted by lisa at 09:52 PM
demolition time! boo-yah!
it's a warm day and i'm in a damn good mood.
my hvac contractor just left. we sorted out the routing of the new central return and the exact way the unused old returns will be blocked off (from the back, with insulation, so in the living area the appearance will not change). i'll be able to remove the grates at my liesure, sandblast them and repaint them.
demolition of the old system should begin this week! and of course, he was tickled pink when i showed him the nice, clear entryway into the basement.
oh, but the demolition doesn't stop there! i took at look at that crazy fiberglass "shower stall" thing and i think it's going to be easy to remove. it was a very slapdash job. i have NO IDEA why someone put that damn thing in. i can't wait to take it out, and it'll make work easier on the installers. and since my contractor is considering moving the location of the furnace, when the shower stall thing is gone, i'll have a huge open space in which i can build a workshop-- and it's also one of the dryest parts of the basement.
today i went to the local mega-lo-hardware-mart and purchased what i am fondly calling my $45 Water Intrusion Solution. three extenders for the gutter pipes, to route water away from the foundation, and a can of quick-patch. this stuff can be shoved into holes in masonry that actually have water coming in actively, and it requires a respirator and eye protection.
and i am totally psyched to try it out! for the last five years, i have been water's bitch. it has come in and i have patiently shoved it into the drains, sucked it out of the air with machinery, and tried to pretend it wasn't killing my house. now i have a tool that may actually keep it out and i'm eager to try it out.
Posted by lisa at 07:19 PM
just in case you missed it
this superadorable picture of my cat got buried under all the icky basement photos. just thought i'd point that out.
i'm not biased. really.
Posted by lisa at 12:55 PM
basement "before" documentation
part of the problem in the basement is lighting, so these flash photos are actually showing me things more clearly than i've been able to see them until now.
after working in the basement this weekend, i was feeling energized and encouraged to deal with it. i decided i can try some DIY stuff to reduce the water intrusion, and it won't really hurt. i can always give up later and call in the professionals if i need to, but since i have no desire to turn this into a finished room, i don't need to make it bone dry... just stop the damage.
the photos are making me feel a little more discouraged though.
anyway. goals are to get the water intrusion level down; seal the floor; paint the walls; restore or replace the door to the outside; take out that shower stall thing; restore or replace the windows; build some good shelving and work space.
i think the old hollow wood doors that i've removed from the living area will make great work benches. removing the shower stall will mean i can put an L - shaped bench under that far window-- which happens to be one of the dryest parts of the basement. natural light and no water intrusion! might need to add some power outlets and definitely some lighting...
Posted by lisa at 12:22 AM
March 05, 2005
look out basement... here i come!
i began today the work i need to do to make the basement accessible for the installers. there is a basement entrance that i never use. the landing at the outside of that entrance gathers leaves in the fall and cleaning those leaves out tends to be a task i procrastinate even more than my other yard-related tasks. i think it had been a couple of years since i'd last done it. so that was a priority.
after gathering the loose leaves into a yard waste bag, i pulled many pounds of wet compost out of that area. no, it's not a good place to compost, but the stuff i pull out of there is pretty amazing. there were lots of earthworms and it was rich and black. i spread it on my hosta bed... and hopefully didn't hurt my back lugging it out of that entry way (which is below grade and accessed from a short flight of stairs).
i made a list of items in the basement that i hope goodwill will be willing to come pick up, cleared out some trash items, and stowed some loose items on shelves in preparation for working on the floor.
the floor around the entry gets a lot of water and dirt coming in from outside. the result is a slippery black sludge that would have presented a hazard to people carrying large heavy items-- such as oh say a couple of gas furnaces. it's also completely disgusting, especially since my laundry area is right there. years ago i bought a tub of oxi-clean, thinking it might work on that floor. i never used it. today i wound up spreading the entire tub across the floor, wetted it with hot water and scrubbed it into the floor with a deck scrubber, then let it stand while i cleaned the leaves and compost out of the stairwell.
the result is pretty amazing. it took many buckets of hot water to rinse it away, but the floor is more tan than black now and once it dries it should be a lot safer.
i also got out my trusty steam cleaner and steamed the walls and door for about half an hour-- until the steam ran out. the sight of dirt dripping down the walls was pretty dramatic while i was doing it, but it seems like i barely made a dent. the steam also lifts the paint (which is probably being pushed up by moisture in the brick, anyway). but it feels good to know it is a bit cleaner.
i used my broom to remove a lot of cobwebs from the rafters, and had a chance to survey the many wires and pipes up there. i can see some stuff that i'd like to remove or tie up better before they get here... lots of stuff to be done.
tomorrow i'll mow in the area that they need to walk in to get to that entryway, and probably remove the thick layer of leaves from the back patio. and keep working on that basement....
yep. i think this is the year i tame that basement. (have i said that before? hmmmm....)
Posted by lisa at 06:02 PM
March 04, 2005
good morning!
this morning, as i was wiping strawberry protien shake off of my blinds, i thought, gee, it's too bad the fan motor in the furnace died completely this morning.
Posted by lisa at 08:36 AM
scorpions
reading badger's lj just now i suddenly realized that i had a dream about scorpions recently.
i can't recall any more than that. just scorpions. i think the fact that badger keeps them as pets might have entered into the dream.
odd.
Posted by lisa at 12:13 AM
March 03, 2005
the icky
MORE...Posted by lisa at 08:39 PM
my summary of this week:
- everything i touch, breaks.
- i'm cold.
got the ford towed this morning-- that was actually pretty painless. broke a lamp in the office this morning. par for the course, i guess.
got some more numbers, these from the second contractor. i think the duct-replacing guy is still winning. i get the third and final set of numbers this evening.
a co-worker came in to see me this morning and said, "hey, your office is cold!" sigh. i'm wearing two shirts, a wool sweater, wooly socks, and a wool scarf.
Posted by lisa at 10:45 AM
March 02, 2005
Day
i'll just preface the following feel-sorry-for-me whine by saying that a) i am nice and warm right now, due in large part to a loaned space heater and a gift of firewood and b) i had a nice time hanging out with sarah and the rest of the Girl Posse, and seeing Chris Noth in a play at Duke.
so this morning, i pretty much had my morning planned down to the minute. it was one of those mornings when i would have normally taken advantage of my flexible work schedule, and slept in til 8:30... but i had a contractor coming out at 8:30 for a quote, so i couldn't do that. well, he was supposed to come at 8:30, and if he had, i would have eaten my breakfast, had my tea, and combed my hair before he arrived. instead he decided to impress me by coming early. fortunately, i was clothed when he arrived. i had to take periodic breaks from our conversation to turn my bacon over.
so the morning was kind of a blur, with meetings and stuff, and by afternoon i was exhausted and out of it. i left work early so i could pick up the pod.
right after i go on to duke street, the power steering went out on the ford, and the battery light came on. it's a handful without power steering so i was busy deciding what to do and trying not to run into anyone. i decided not to try and make it to the shop at rush hour since i was close to home. then i noticed that the temperature gauge was pegged... crap. i probably should have stopped right then and there but i was sooooo close to home, it was so cold and man i wanted to get home. so i went the rest of the way and cut the ignition abruptly as soon as i was in front of my house.
so tomorrow morning i'll have to call AAA to tow it out to the shop. hopefully mom & wayne will be able to pick it up directly from the shop so i don't have to arrange for another ride out there. i was pretty pleased that i was able to get two cars serviced with only one ride out there and one ride back.
Posted by lisa at 11:22 PM
to duct or not to duct? that is the question.
i've met with three contractors so far, and the big controversy seems to be.... ducts.
my ducts are perfectly good. they are not rusty and they are the right size. they could probably stand to be cleaned... on that, everyone agrees. do they need to be insulated? probably, although not everyone feels strongly about that. they are mostly in my basement, which means that some of the heat they lose is reclaimed by the house.
there is one contractor who wants to remove the old ducts and put in new, flexible, insulated ducts. the advantages are that i'll get better hot air out of my vents upstairs, they will be clean and leak-free, and he will be free to design new routing and to really rework the whole ducting scheme in a way that should heat the house more evenly. he has proposed installing a new, central return in the house and changing all of my existing, small returns to outlets. i like that idea a lot, except that cutting a hole in a floor or wall is giving me the wiggins. i also love the idea of clean, new, correct ducting. and finally, i think that new ducting could even help sell the house in the future... it's a very showy way of showing a buyer that the house has been well maintained and modernized.
the down side that i know of already is that i've gotta send a lot of perfectly good galvanized ducting to the landfill. and i just hate that idea. i may also find that his prices are higher... that, i don't know yet. i have his prices, and they are fixed regardless of how we design the ducting. and he is willing to negotiate a little on the prices as well. so we'll see.
another contractor didn't mention putting in new ducting. in fact, the only major change to the ducting that he suggested was adding a second register in my bedroom where i tend to have cold spots. i don't know if his quote will include insulating the ducting or anything like that. we'll see. cleaning it would be an add-on cost to whatever he quotes me.
the third contractor, who i met this morning, did want to put in a central return, did like the idea of cleaning the ducts, was vague about insulating them, and didn't think they needed to be replaced. he turned his nose up at the idea of turning all the returns into registers. nevertheless, i have this feeling that his quote is going to come back on the high end. we shall see.
oh, so very exciting.
in the meantime, although my stopgap solutions are serving me pretty well, it is nevertheless stressful to live without central heat during such cold weather. i tend to not want to work in the kitchen or do laundry, and i have to be sure i'll be home for a while if i start a fire in the fireplace.
even if i can decide which contractor to go with by the end of the week, it'll be another week before they start the install unless i get lucky and they have a cancellation.
:|:
on the up side, i get spacepod back tonight, and it's not going to cost me an arm and five legs like it usually does. still, his battery is going bad, and it's still under warranty so i have to go back to sears and make a warranty claim and get it replaced. his tires are just awful and i have to choose new tires which is a confusing proposition. and his windshield wipers need replacing. at least that's cheap and easy for me to handle myself.
mostly i just want a good night's sleep in a warm house.
Posted by lisa at 12:59 PM
March 01, 2005
ride to lonnies tomorrow evening
I need a ride from my house to my mechanic's (on hillsboro rd near bojangles) sometime between 5:30 and 6pm. Can anyone help?
Posted by lisa at 07:20 PM
the legend of the firewood elf
the firewood elf magically knows when people are cold, and brings them firewood! the firewood elf does not operate at night as most elves are believed to. the firewood elf comes during the day while the cold people are at work. when they come home, there is a nice stack of firewood waiting by their door. the firewood elf only leaves the best quality, dried oak split wood. if there is a heating contractor meeting the cold person at their house after a firewood elf visit, the heating contractor will admire the quality of the wood and assure the cold person that they will get some good heat from that wood!
THANK YOU, FIREWOOD ELF!
(ps, i know who the firewood elf really is but i am not telling.)
Posted by lisa at 05:08 PM
man, i am tahrd
or is it tard? or maybe being tahrd makes me a tard.
i slept pretty well last night, and my bedroom was pretty cozy still when i woke up, thanks to my humidifier. not sure why i am tired, but i sure am.
i've got another company coming this afternoon to work up a quote-- this is the guy who installed Christa's system back in early 2004. yet a third company is coming tomorrow morning at 8:30 (so much for sleeping in).
i've always thought i'd get a humidifier put in with any new system i get, and my mom recommends it so i am asking them to include that in the quote.
Posted by lisa at 01:30 PM