Adventures in Lawn Maintenance

Spring is starting to spring here, and the seeded areas of the lawn are perking up. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the sod yet, but I can have patience with that.


While the grass is not yet fully grown in (yet), there are quite a few areas that are long enough that I felt they needed to be mowed. I figured I could handle this, since most of those areas are in the back, which is smaller than our previous back yard. The front yard is quite large, but it is ~90% sod, and like I said, not growing yet.


At some point before we met, Steve bought an old-fashioned type manual lawn mower.  Not a push-mower. A manual mower. That was my tool of choice today, and I have to say, I like it! Well, I liked it for my task today, which was a "spot-mow" of sorts.  We'll see how things pan out when the rest of the grass comes in.


There is a lesson learned: Must walk the yard and clear of sticks, dog poo and other objects before mowing.  I can imagine most people would think this is a no-brainer.  In hindsight, I agree.  But in my hastiness to get that chore checked off my chore list, I just went out there, guns blazing, ready to mow! I'll remember that for next time, for sure.

New Adventures in Home Maintenance

My Calendar 'O Important Stuff told me to change the air filters in the house today. No big deal, right?  Not quite.


The air filter for the first floor was no big deal. The intake is on the wall across from the great room. I got that one taken care of in a matter of minutes.


The intake for the second floor is an entirely different story. That one is on the ceiling. The nine-foot high ceiling. I grab the step stool, thinking (*ahem* hoping) I was tall enough to get the job done with that. After I realized I was standing precariously on my tippy toes... on a step stool... at the top of the stairs... I decided that this probably wasn't a good idea. After entertaining a few other options in my head, I decided that, yes, I would have to get the ladder from the garage.


So I trot myself to the garage and get the 6-foot ladder, and haul it upstairs. Whaddyaknow, I got that air filter replaced in a few short minutes.


I kept wondering how Steve managed to replace the filter so easily the last time.  And then I remembered that Steve is a good seven inches taller than me.


I'm hoping that while Steve is home, he'll graciously change that second floor filter for me.

Checklists and appointments, and meetings, oh my!

Hi friends,


Upon completion of the house, the builder and I had  "walk-through" checklist to make sure everything was A-OK. Steve and I are to complete the same checklist for defects 60 days after the purchase of our house, and at 11 months after purchase of our house.  The 60 day checklist was due to the builder back in January, and since then, its been a flurry of phone calls to set up the appointments so that the subcontractors can come back and correct /address the defect.  Most of the things we found for this 60 day checklist were relatively benign... a couple of doors don't latch, the water in the fridge doesn't work, an outdoor floodlight needed to be replaced (the lens fell off the bulb, so weird), etc.  The most major defect would be that the soil around the septic tank has been sinking in, in my opinion.  

HRH Bubastis, looking down on her minions.

The strangest thing we had addressed would have to be the "top" to the oven cabinetry  we had put on.  Most of you are aware of the fiasco we experienced back in early January with our feline. A little back-story for the rest of you: She likes to perch herself on the top of the kitchen cabinetry and look down on us while we're in the kitchen.  I suspect she does this because it feeds her attitude of being an all-knowing goddess. Well, one day I get a phone call from Steve while I was at work, to tell me the cat had fallen down behind the oven cabinetry. He had already spent quite a bit of time trying to get the cat out.  Not such an easy task, considering the cabinetry for the double ovens basically extends from the floor to the top of the upper cabinets. Steve had already tried all the ideas I was coming up with, but I eventually did think of something new to try. Well, that didn't work either.

Double ovens + cabinetry = floor to (almost) ceiling.

Let me just say, for the record, I believe this was an accident. I think lost her balance. I have hard time believing she intentionally jumped down in to the dark small space that is behind the ovens.


We eventually got her out, but not before several hours of trying different ideas to get her out: things for her to climb out on, baskets with treats in it to pull her up in, etc. 

No more kitty shenanigans!

For the interim, we found a big piece of plywood to put up there so it wouldn't happen again. The cabinet people were nice enough to construct us something fitted, and they came by earlier this week to install it. So this is now taken care of, thank goodness. 


Bryan from Herbert Homes came by yesterday to check on the status of our checklist. He took care of a few things himself, and had some contacts for a few of the other things that need addressing. So, there are a few appointments that are still in works, but all in all, this checklist is getting checked off.

Who wants to see pictures?

Hi friends,


As promised, below are some pictures of the inside with our new furniture. 

Living Room set.

I love the leafy chair.

This is our cats litter-box cubby hole. The panel on the left slides on, and keeps the litter box out of sight!

Our kitchen set. I love the triangular shape.

Dining Room table

China cabinet

Zebra chair! There are two of these, we've put them in the office.

That's all for now, folks.  As soon as the Master bedroom fireplace/TV stand gets in, and the barstools for the kitchen bar come in, I'll be sure to post pictures of those too.

Oh, shenanigans!

In the spirit of building a new house, Steve and I are trying to really tailor this home to our liking. We've bought a lot of new furniture to fit our new spaces just right. One of those purchases (a novelty purchase, I admit) was an electric fireplace/TV stand for our master bedroom. 


The inspiration for this was largely from my dislike for having a TV in the bedroom. My compromise is that I'd be OK with it if we were able to "put it away" when not in use.  For example, to have the TV in an armoire that we could then put it behind closed doors.


Steve went perusing for such a piece of furniture, and he found a stand-alone electric fireplace that holds a flat-screen TV behind it. When we want to watch the TV, it rises up out of its hiding place, and then when we're done, it goes back. AND there's the bonus of having a fireplace in the bedroom. Pretty nifty, eh?


So we made the purchase, and I had to schedule the delivery. I decided to schedule it for the same day I had the heating/AC people coming out (more on that in a bit), since I had already planned to take the day off work.  The information I had emailed to me, said this was a "white glove" delivery, and two men were supposed to be in tow, they were supposed to bring it in and set it up for me before I signed for it. Well, the truck comes, there's only one guy, and he's insisting he's not supposed to set it up. 


I go back in the house to double check my info. I'm right. I show it to him, and he acknowledges the mistake. He says he can't do it by himself.  No duh. The thing weighs >400 lbs. There's no way I'm offering to help, 'cause the thing weighs so much (not that I should have to anyway, but it did cross my mind momentarily just for the sake of getting the job done).  


I clear some space in the garage and have him put it there. I didn't want it in the house only to be put in a random spot, where it would take up space and tick me off every time I saw it or had to walk around it. There wasn't any way I was going to be able to get it upstairs and set it up any time soon, so therefore, in the garage it went.

Anyone want to come over and haul this up my stairs for me?

Then there's stuff I have to sign, naturally.  Oh, guess what? Both pieces of paperwork I signed had the same instructions on it I had!  It was right there, in black and white: "White Glove Delivery, 2 person service required, bring inside to client-specified location, unpack, and remove dunnage unless otherwise directed."


The delivery guy apologizes - thank you. He tells me he's going to report it to someone on his end of things - thank you again. He calls back a little while after he leaves offer to come back and try to get it up the stairs for me. I tell him I think that's a bad idea. He goes on about trying to make the customer happy - thank you, but I still think it's a bad idea. He calls his supervisor, who states that they "aren't allowed" to move things up stairs, even with a two-person delivery.


As it stands now, this guy's supervisor is going to get in touch with the manufacturer (about the delivery issues, I guess), and also try to "work something out" as far as getting it in the bedroom upstairs.  


ALSO, the heating/AC people were supposed to come out today and address some things. "First call" I was told. Finally ~1:30pm I find their number and call them up. I was down for tomorrow. The lady on the phone remembers our conversation a week ago, and remembers it is supposed to be today, but she put me on their calendar for tomorrow. She apologizes -thank you. She said she was going to see if there was anyone available to come out this afternoon, and call me back. I didn't get a return call for over an hour. We're having to re-schedule, which is... undesirable.


I feel like this day hasn't been a total waste... I've been catching up on some finances, some laundry, some cleaning... but the fact that the two reasons why I took the day off work in the first place are BOTH falling though isn't sitting too well with me at the moment.


Oh, the shenanigans.