RSS FeedFeb 19 2009
Life Update
I just returned from a week-long camping event in Arizona. I’m just now catching up enough at work that I can focus on catching up here, as well. When I was out in Arizona it seemed like all the friends I ran across wanted to know what the latest news was on my house. And, more to the point, when I would be DONE with the renovations.
DONE is becoming a very nebulous concept in my world, guys. I expected to be DONE a long time ago. And with a substantially smaller total bill than what I’ve racked up so far.
My job seems as stable as anything out there right now. Perhaps even more than the norm. But with the world as topsy-turvy as it is right now, I really don’t want to tap any more of my rapidly hemorrhaging savings to finish off the house. So I’m doing my best to lower my near-term ambitions which, I’m afraid, is not something at which I have much practice. But I’ve giving it my best effort.
In the next week or two I plan to drive my Mini Cooper up to Portland. I’m just waiting to see if the class near Charlie’s place on wiring your house for solar power gets canceled or not. If it does, my timetable moves up and the car gets moved sooner.
As soon as I’ve got the car up there, I’m going to spend a few weeks in my house focusing on getting the new paint, wallpaper, and flooring done in the front half of the house. (I have a feeling my annual bonus from my job is going to be spent on wood flooring.) That’s all that’s really holding things up in terms of it being comfortably habitable. I’m sick of not being able to move most of my limited remaining furniture in.
Once I’m settled in the front half of the house, I can focus on finishing off the new back office space. Some of that, like the dry wall, I know I can do myself. I’m not sure I’m up to the task of re-framing the expanded bathroom, though. I may grit my teeth and recruit Kenny and Gene for that particular task when I reach it. That’s probably going to have to wait awhile, though, as the funds I had allocated for that budget got devoured by them running significantly over-budget on the last. (Anyone know an inexpensive framer in Portland?)
The thing is, I don’t really need the back office space in my house to be completely finished off, right now. Sure, it would be nice. But it’s not a “gotta have” kind of thing.
What is a “gotta have” is being in my house by this upcoming spring and summer. I can’t bear the thought of another summer passing with me still biding my time in the desert rather than near the water.
I just returned from a week-long camping event in Arizona. I’m just now catching up enough at work that I can focus on catching up here, as well. When I was out in Arizona it seemed like all the friends I ran across wanted to know what the latest news was on my house. And, more to the point, when I would be DONE with the renovations.
DONE is becoming a very nebulous concept in my world, guys. I expected to be DONE a long time ago. And with a substantially smaller total bill than what I’ve racked up so far.
My job seems as stable as anything out there right now. Perhaps even more than the norm. But with the world as topsy-turvy as it is right now, I really don’t want to tap any more of my rapidly hemorrhaging savings to finish off the house. So I’m doing my best to lower my near-term ambitions which, I’m afraid, is not something at which I have much practice. But I’ve giving it my best effort.
In the next week or two I plan to drive my Mini Cooper up to Portland. I’m just waiting to see if the class near Charlie’s place on wiring your house for solar power gets canceled or not. If it does, my timetable moves up and the car gets moved sooner.
As soon as I’ve got the car up there, I’m going to spend a few weeks in my house focusing on getting the new paint, wallpaper, and flooring done in the front half of the house. (I have a feeling my annual bonus from my job is going to be spent on wood flooring.) That’s all that’s really holding things up in terms of it being comfortably habitable. I’m sick of not being able to move most of my limited remaining furniture in.
Once I’m settled in the front half of the house, I can focus on finishing off the new back office space. Some of that, like the dry wall, I know I can do myself. I’m not sure I’m up to the task of re-framing the expanded bathroom, though. I may grit my teeth and recruit Kenny and Gene for that particular task when I reach it. That’s probably going to have to wait awhile, though, as the funds I had allocated for that budget got devoured by them running significantly over-budget on the last. (Anyone know an inexpensive framer in Portland?)
The thing is, I don’t really need the back office space in my house to be completely finished off, right now. Sure, it would be nice. But it’s not a “gotta have” kind of thing.
What is a “gotta have” is being in my house by this upcoming spring and summer. I can’t bear the thought of another summer passing with me still biding my time in the desert rather than near the water.
