Still at it.  In the last video you saw that our water line from the road to the house ruptured.  Well, that was a mess that ended up being almost twice the estimate!  And took two weeks to complete. Two weeks of mooching water from my neighbor. Yikes…  Did you know that you can hook up your hose to another house and feed your house with it? Pretty cool…except you get that nice rubber water flavor.

Well, there were lots of ups and downs, but in the end we have one room completely finished, and our bedroom is %90 done.  I got a funny story about my kids to share.

Now these three little goofballs are the cause about half of the renovations.  Just in the last week we have three broken windows, a flood, and the cat was thrown out the window.  (good thing we have a porch roof for him to land on) Anyway, the day that the drywall was finished in the dining room, the kids intentionally overflowed the bathroom sink…which ran through the holes in the floor…and onto the back of the new drywall…then THROUGH the new drywall. Oh how I lllloo….lllloooo….okay…I love those kids. I really do, but man they are crazy. Who did they get that from? Sheesh.

Well, it’s been a couple of months and we are still at it.  It seems with every bit of progress that is made there is an equal and opposite setback…sometimes multiple ones.  Just the other day I was thinking, “Okay, now we are getting somewhere”  Then the water line burst.

All I can say is “Daggone!”  The little project has turned into a cancer that has now claimed 2/3 of my house, and is apparently headed outside.   I had to remove the plaster from the ceiling of my dining room to allow for access to the plumbing for the bathroom.  This time I wore 2 surgical masks and they were no match for 90 year old dust!  I also had to destroy the facing on my porch to allow access to the area to be steam shoveled.  Apparently, I’ll have to sod my lawn…again.  Everyone says, “Just think how beautiful it will be when it’s done.”  I used to believe them…now I’m not sure.  For real though, there is some progress with the bathroom coming together nicely and the stripping of the trim is coming along.  I must say that furniture stripper and acetone fumes give you one heck of a headache!

Here we go again…I’m starting to think that there is no such thing as a little job when you have an old house that was owned by a moron for 25 years.  This week’s surprise surfaced when I removed the plaster from the stairway.  Apparently, Dr. Dough-Head figured that his ideas are much better than what the building code stipulates.  He built the stairway to the thrid floor and, as I showed you in the video, he has obviously never seen a proper stairway.  The steps are supposed to rest on top of supporting structures known as risers.  These risers are typically 2 x 10 lumber with the steps notched out, but under each cut out there is supposed to be a couple of inches of the board remaining for support.  Dr. Dough-Head on the other hand, used only 1 inch lumber and the cutouts went completely through the entire piece. This obviously offers no support and was the cause of the bouncy stairs.  Not the spring in my step I was looking for.   He also used the cheapest wood he could find for the steps themselves.  You have to love this guy, I have yet to find one thing that he has ‘fixed’ that was actually done properly!  From the roof (shingles…no tarpaper…no plywood) to the wiring of the hot water tank (used light gauge 10/2 wire which caused several power outages)  I’ve come to laugh at these little discoveries, it’s all you can do.  One positive from this adventure is that at least I’ll know that everything is done right, on one floor at least! Until next week….

I had so much spare time and I was getting bored with my 20 hour schedule so it’s a good thing I decided to remodel my entire house!  It happened by accident, but it’s continuing on purpose.  One wall turned into one room, which evolved into one floor, and will soon be expanding into the next floor.  On the bright side, this place will look really nice in a decade or so! (I hope that was an exaggeration)  I don’t know if any of you have had the privilege of removing lathe and plaster walls, but it is not exactly a dust free endevour.  You can fill a 30 gallon garbage can with every square foot of wall removed.  And if you love to blow your nose and see what appears to be topsoil, then I highly recommend it.  I can’t wait until we move to the bathroom.  Having a bathtub that drains will be a welcomed luxury!

In an effort to avoid the grime we have moved all 4 of our bedrooms to the attic.  It’s not exactly what I was thinking of when I said that we should spend more time together as a family!  The tight quarters bring in a new dynamic when it comes to what belongs to who and who made what mess and blah blah blah.  Bedtime is another adventure and it is quite reminiscent of The Waltons.  Until next week …”Good night John Boy”…”Good night Jenny”

A typical post-demo look. No, that's not hair...it's dirt! :)

Here’s a little pic for Jamie’s sake.  I just finished tearing down the plaster in my bedroom and the ceiling in the stairway.  Note the clean spot on my nose, I had to blow before taking this pic.  I thought about taking a photo of the kleenex so you could get a better perspective, but I thought that may cross the line!  After watching the video and reading this post I think I sound like “Debbie Downer” from SNL.  While I am tired, I am super happy to be getting my home looking ship shape!  It’s an adventure every step of the way.

Note: If you’re looking for a wednesday update I’m just posting comments on the previous week.  I’ll get a separate post next week…tooooooo busy!

You can see the larger version here…Sometimes I hate this place!

Well, I wanted to simply drywall one wall in my son’s room. That ‘little’ project turned into 2/3 of the house getting rewired, and the entire room and hallway getting gutted.  There are also various holes throughout the entire house.  My other son’s room is on the third floor and I had to take some of his floor out to get at the wires from the second floor.  The amount of stupid things the previous home owner did to this place amazes me .  There is a new electrical panel in the basement with nice new wires coming out of it, that is until the wires go into the walls and that’s where the fun starts.  He intentionally did this to make it appear as if he had the house rewired, and to scam someone (me) into purchasing this palace.  The real wiring inside of the walls is 100 years old and very brittle.  The sad thing is that I actually did get an ‘inspection’ on the home before I bought it!  I specifically remember the guy saying ‘they did use the old knob and tube switches, but they did rewire them with new wire.”  This guy was either in the pocket of the agent (likely) or just that ignorant.  This is your job buddy, you get paid to tell me the truth!  The depressing truth is that when I now read the actual report there is no mention of him stating this or any documentation of the inspector verifying that the wiring is new.  Stay tuned for updates, I can’t wait to show you more of this seemingly never ending adventure!

Since we have no power in the majority of the house I decided to take the family on a mini vacation to the Great Wolf Lodge.  We are having a great time and hopefully there will be lights when we come home!  I sicerely thank my father-in-law for giving his time and expertise in helping rewire the house to ensure that it is safely done!  It’s better to get it done now, rather than discovering this little gem after remodeling!  There are positives to every situation.

]]> http://blogonate.com/i-hate-this-place/feed/ http://blogonate.com/week-2/ http://blogonate.com/week-2/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:59:10 +0000 nate http://blogonate.com/?p=53

Wrong way Clyde

A little late at posting, my life is nonstop.  What I need is a time “bail out”…wonder if the government can pull that one off?  Week two is officially in the books and thank goodness it is!  It was a rough week as far as healthy living goes.  I started out with great expectations, but they were soon overtaken by great reality.  Thursday was the weekly reward pizza dinner, Friday was our Valentine’s dinner, and top it off with quick meals on the go a couple of days all adds up to a little set back.  (There was a winter carnival going on and we had the kids out there as often as possible) I did pay attention to portion sizes, but didn’t stress about it too much.  A modest gain of 1.2 pounds was actually less than I had anticipated.  I always weigh myself first thing in the morning on Wednesdays.

This week it’s back to the basics; eat less, eat healthy, and be active!  My goal for the week is to be below 200 pounds.  It’s important to make yourself some short term goals that are attainable.  Once you achieve a few of these weekly milestones you will soon realize that the larger goals are easily within reach.  A key to my success will be planning quickly prepared meals that are healthy.  I find myself too hungry with too little time all too often…deadly!

Be sure to check out the launch of my new site, http://www.CoffeeNate.com this weekend!  I am doing a video show that covers all things COFFEE…mmmmm coffee!  This weeks show will cover the basic needs for a quality cup of coffee and a review of a couple of blends.  See you there

Holy Schnikes!

Whenever I attempt to change something in my life I always find that the first week is the most difficult.  If that holds true, and it should, then I have my worst week behind me.  Yay!  All in all it was quite successful.  The hardest thing for me was eating less!  I think that I’ve trained my stomach to hold ten times more food than it needs, and I want to fill it up every time I eat.  That could be dangerous.  I’ve concentrated on eating smaller portions and making healthy choices.  I find that when you put a solid week of healthier habits in, then it makes it harder to quit.  If you do quit then it’s like you wasted all of that hard work that you’ve already put it!  Week one saw a net loss of 6.6 pounds! Wow, I was really surprised.  I guess when you stop eating cheeseburgers every day then your initial results will be quite dramatic.  I’m adding more fruits and vegetables to my menu this week.  I also want to add some additional physical activity as I’ve only been going to basketball on Tuesdays.  I really need to get the blood pumping 2 or 3 more times per week.  Recent studies show that what we used to think about exercise is wrong.  You don’t have to beat yourself down for 30+minutes to realize the benefits of aerobic activity.  Research now shows that as little as 10 minutes has a positive affect on your health!  I like that study.

So for this week, more fruits/veggies and at least 2 more occasions of physical activity.  I’d love to hear how your week went.  Don’t be discouraged if you didn’t stick to your plans.  I’ve personally let that happen to me in the past, and the only thing that discouragement andembarrassment produce is quitting.  If you fail at least you are trying, but if you quit then you have stopped trying.   I’m here to cheer you on and encourage you to keep at it.  You haven’t failed unless you have stopped trying!

The Beginning

Welcome to the initial ‘Weigh-in Wednesday”!  This is where I completely embarrass myself in front of the entire world :)  I am starting a ‘diet’ today, February 4th, and I will have weekly posts updating my eating and exercise activities.  I hate the connotation of the word diet, it has evolved in meaning to ‘a temporary change in eating habits’, what I am embarking on is a lifestyle change.  It has become increasingly more apparent to me that I am getting older, lazier, and larger.  My body is screaming out to me that it wants a change, and now I am finally going to listen.   I will include my meal plans, exercise,  as well as any supplements that I will be taking.  The main pillars of this lifestyle change are;

• No fast food
• No junk food
• Excercise 3X/week minimum

The only exceptions are holidays and my reward meal on Fridays…pizza! If you decide to follow me on this journey to healthy living then please check with your health professional as I am not one and my personal activities should not be construed as advice. (legal disclaimer)  As you can see from the photo, my starting point is 207.4 pounds.  This may not seem like much to some but for my body structure it is about 37.4 pounds over the mark.  My goals are;

• To weigh 170 pounds
• To increase strength and be lean
• To be healthy

I will be eating lots of natural organic and whole grain foods.  I never used to be too concerned with pesticides and fertilizers and what not,  and I acutally considered all that ‘organic’ mojo to be a scam.  That was true until the whole plastic issue came about with chemicals leaching into the contents of your plastic containers.  This got me thinking that it’s probably better to be more natural, and that it’s better to be safe than sorry!  I encourage you to participate and get a little healthier and more active with me!  See you next Wednesday.

What does it mean?

We’ve all seen the bumper stickers “Practice Random Acts of Kindness”, but what does that mean anyways?  Although it may sound like a cliche, it is the complete opposite!  We live in a world that thrives on the negative.  Just think about the news headlines you have read throughout your life.  Now think about how many of them have been positive stories?  Not many!  So not only is a random act of kindness a positive action, but it is also one that is made with no expectation of a return on your investment.  The funny thing is that there is a return, but not in the typical self-centered fashion that we usually measure ‘return’.  Sure there are people who do good deeds, but not without first issuing a press release or calling the radio station.  A true random act of kindness requires subtlety.  The most rewarding moments I have experienced have been as a direct result of an Act of Random Kindness.  When you dig deep and sacrificially give of yourself to help someone else in need you will be instantly addicted!

Now, I want to hear your ARK story!  Whether you were the one who performed the act, or you were blessed by someone else, I want to hear about it.  You can either post it as a comment or contact me via the ‘contact’ link above.  Don’t use real names as the intent is not to embarass anyone, but to tell your story to encourage others!  An ARK does not have to be an earth shattering event, it can be something really simple like bringing a meal to someone, or offering to help someone move.   I will share at least one per month, and this month is almost over so let’s get crackin’!

A monthly feature will be known as “ARK (Acts of Random Kindness) Stories”.  This is where we can talk about the “ARK”s that we do in our corner of the world.  There are countless opportunities for you to perform an ARK, whether it is paying for the coffee for the person behind you in line, leaving an anonymous donation for a family in need, or shoveling snow for an elderly person in your neighborhood.  These are a just a few suggestions that we can do.  While our motivation for doing ARKs should not be to boast about them, it is a sign of a healthy community, and in a world filled with negative reporting why not spread some GOOD news!  So feel free to send in your ARK story and I will post it here.

You will also find a variety of topics covered here from current events to ‘Seinfeld like’ life observations to stories about my 3 boys with unending supplies of energy/noise.  There will always be something interesting and quick to read.  Well, it’s time for me to play “Where in the World” (board game) with my family.  I look forward to getting to know you and entertaining you….see you around.