Running on Empty

Nearly out of time, money, and most certainly we are out of energy! This house building is sucking us dry, financially and emotionally, and now seems like a never-ending treadmill. It’s an entirely different story building and installing every widget yourself as opposed to handing a contractor plans and saying “Go build our house.”! 

We have given notice at our apartment for the end of April and we should be able to make the move OK but it will be into a house woefully short of being completed. My fear is to how it will all play out with the loans since I am fairly certain in order to obtain the final take out loan things will need to be completely finished. As I see it, on our current schedule, that probably isn’t going to happen until very late summer and even then there will be things like the yard work that I can’t foresee being done this year at all. 

With Marc working on the house every evening until 9 p.m. the pressure is so intense I fear for his health and his “real” job keeps interfering! He is off again to N.D., effectively killing work on the house yet again this week excepting for the fact that the plumber has returned and is completing our water hookups and installation of the water heater. Marc has been working on closet shelving so we can create some space when we move boxes and boxes in shortly. The basement is chuck full of stuff, the RV is chuck full, as is the shop, and we’re starting to fill the upstairs as well and we haven’t even begun to move any of the furniture and needed items yet from the apartment. Things are always such a mess with crap in the way I don’t even bother to take photos anymore. He spent much of last week completing the mechanical room in the basement which I painted with two coats of white paint.

We are awaiting the shower enclosure, the kitchen countertops and sink, and recently ordered our siding. Marc got the main run of kitchen cabinets set but not the area around the stove and refrigerator. Since it will take him awhile to build the kitchen shelving we want, in the meantime, he is placing the melamine boards up for me to use. Those will remain the top layer of the final shelving since I wanted something easy to clean but there will need to be a surround built to cover the angle iron supports. 

I spent an entire day rummaging through thrift and antique stores trying to come up with suitable bathroom mirrors that wouldn’t be flat clip-on builder specials but rather something with some character and finally was successful. I had to paint the main bath framed mirror but figured both were scores at a total cost of less than $50. Budget is ever on the mind now that we are at less than double digits with the money left to us to finish this thing. Things like the front porch, the island and stove hood Marc hoped to build, could now be years away and will have to come out of pocket. It has really killed us that our property in Yuma has not sold, yet continues to need to be supported. In fact, we are seriously discussing selling our RV shortly since realistically it is not a need any longer but only a wish. We've got 18 years with the old girl and it's a hard parting to consider since we'll never be able to replace it.

So the race to the finish is limping along, badly, aka: running on empty. Despite it all however, as the move gets closer the excitement is definitely building to live in Marc’s labor of love! I am such a lucky woman; there aren’t very many husbands the equal of mine—so giving and working so tirelessly and committed towards a dream. He's gone over eight months without a single day off!

Cabinets and Some Floor!

Marc’s due in late tonight after another round of his projects from North Dakota to Minnesota for the past week. He will be glad to get back to building our house rather than dealing with the tragic job fatality in Minnesota. That situation has just become a quagmire of attorneys and insurance people. 

And speaking of quagmire, that’s what we have now out at the house where the snow has melted but the underlying ground has not, creating mud so soft it’s nearly impossible to transgress. Marc left out laying the vinyl in the laundry room figuring we would need a “mud room” for awhile and it’s now living up to its name. He did complete the vinyl in both baths and also set those vanities before leaving. During his absence I purchased the towel bars and TP holders and we also have the sinks on hand so now it’s just a matter of him finalizing the countertop installation and we should be able to have the baths about complete other than the shower surround. We haven’t bothered with toilets as yet because we still have no water. The plumber indicated he would be able to join us this weekend however, so we should get a long way towards completing the plumbing and the gas lines. The furnace is completely installed but awaits the gas lines for final testing before it can be inaugurated. 

This stage of the process has become the thrilling part for me, when the final touches are coming together and I get to see the results of all the planning in my head. I was absolutely overjoyed with our flooring as Marc got it laid in the great room and then sent into heaven when he unwrapped the kitchen cabinets. They go together like a hand and glove! I’m pleased with the rustic wood choice, knotty alder, and the glazed distressed finish is amazing. I wasn’t expecting soft self close drawers and doors since I hadn’t ordered them, but they completed the package.

I opted for two large drawer banks rather than conventional cabinets because it is said drawers hold more and are much easier to access. A lazy Susan will occupy the corner. Since white is our trim color, the white appliances should pick up that as well. While I love the look of stainless appliances, I absolutely abhor its upkeep so determined its a bandwagon I wouldn't jump aboard again (I have it in the RV). Plus, it dents too easily and looks a mess of fingerprints and smudges unless one is anal about its upkeep. White appliances are timeless, easier on the wallet and we're not building this house for resale value.

Marc put together most of our ceiling fan and light in an effort to determine if we needed a longer down rod which we both felt we did. It’s a highly unusual fan called Yellowstone I found at Menards which features bas relief of pine trees and moose and rustic rawhide shades. One of the shades was crushed so I have a replacement on order. It’s always something.

Marc has determined we will move in before the house is completed and we’re hopeful that can occur within about a month but I have my doubts. At least Wisconsin’s weather is getting more cooperative and spring is on its way! And now another long weekend of work awaits us….

The Passing of a Southern Belle

I heard yesterday that a lady very dear to my heart had passed away on February 6th at 92. Lillian was born and raised in Louisville, KY and remained the epitome of gracious southern charm the entire time of my interaction with her despite being in poor health. For about 14 months I traveled five days a week at 8:30 to cook Lilly breakfast and help her with nominal tasks like emptying garbage, defrosting her freezer and rewinding and setting her grandfather clock. And probably most especially, being there as some morning comfort and company over the cup of hot tea I’d bring her. 

She was humorous, witty, sharp, and gave me a glimpse into life in the south well before civil rights. I got to know her granddaughters and heard her anguish over her very disabled son—my age, but significantly impaired his entire adult life due to being covered with Agent Orange in Vietnam. I only learned through her obituary that he had passed before her late last year. Lilly steadfastly refused to leave her beloved and very lovely Yuma home so died in it surrounded by family and Hospice. She touched my life in a special way only the very elderly can do and I will hope to be able to someday emulate her state of grace under pressure. She only gave up when absolutely forced to: rest in peace dear Lilly; you were very beloved by many, including me. 

Not to fill this blog entry with tragedy but Marc has been dealing with it as well; a work accident on one of his projects which claimed the life of a young man through a series of preventable accident and inattention involving a forklift. The fall-out is still to come (not to Blenker Company) as OSHA investigates but it has occupied much of Marc’s time since Friday when it occurred. He has to make arrangements for another set crew to finish up the job and he has to physically visit the site tomorrow. He’s been dejected at the fragileness of life and the throes of losing a good worker who was a decent human being and was way too early in knowing death and leaving behind a young family. Just a moment's inattention; one moment we're here and then we're not. As we all know, death comes to those both young and old, and life teaches us lessons about the passing of both. 

While Marc is away tomorrow I will meet with the carpet installers who will be doing our carpet in the master bedroom and closet. After three weekends of work we are still not completely done with the painting but Marc figures he may be able to get it finished this evening. It just involves one more coat on the great room and kitchen walls. Meanwhile, he has also laid the vinyl in both bathrooms and is in the process of setting the vanities.

We’ve been on massive spending sprees at Menard’s and Lowe’s but there will be more bleeding to come. The next major expense comes the next time Menard’s has a sale when we will need to purchase our siding. Budget and local construction history deems vinyl siding as the most prominent choice to hold up to this climate so that’s what we’ll have, in gray with white shake gable end trim. The exterior of our house is fairly Plain Jane but as time goes by we hope to add some window boxes and maybe even a few courses of some type of brick or stone. 

Our laminate flooring should arrive late this week but Marc has to be out of town for a week again starting Sunday so things will sit for awhile. We’re at the fun part of putting the house together with the finishes but there is not a lot I can do to hasten things along since Marc is the guy with the tools. Lastly, Marc’s sister wanted to see the view we will get when we sit in our spa so Marc had me snap some from inside our great room. Obviously we have a ways to go here before we’ll be hot tub soaking, but it will be lovely and oh so relaxing at some point!

Painting

It’s been a slow slog lately with the drywall contactor costing us between two and three weeks delay due to workers failing to show up. Why are people like that even in business?? Finally one day however, we had textured and completed walls.

We moved onto painting the back portion of the house last weekend but the bare walls soaked up the paint much faster than anticipated and we ran out. Not only that, as it dried we found that Marc’s techniques with the spray gun were not of professional caliber and there were an unacceptable amount of holidays. Then, to add insult to injury, the color I had chosen for my hobby room, although an alluring green when one was standing in the room turned into something that should have been called Neon Lime Sherbet as seen from the front rooms and hallway. It was just too garish to stomach, so back to Lowe’s for another color once again.

Yesterday, we completed the blue bathrooms with the color we had run out of, we switched out the green to a much softer and palatable whisper of a green, and redid a second coat on all the gray. The gray doesn’t photograph true to color but I am very pleased with it. However, Murphy still wasn’t done with our painting efforts so right after I finished cutting in ALL of the ceilings and painted out Marc’s over sprays and ut ohs, we both looked at it and saw that it was the wrong white! I was so disgusted I couldn’t face waiting for it to dry and then doing it all over since it was already late in the day so that is a task for another day. I figure we’re likely going to end up purchasing double the paint we had originally anticipated by the time he finishes the rest of the house. He wants to concentrate on getting the back rooms done, with flooring laid and electrical outlets and switches done, so we have a place to start storing stuff we can move in, before he paints the great room and kitchen.

Meanwhile, the cabinets are here and sitting in their boxes pending getting all the painting and laminate done in the great room. We also really scored on a deal at Menard’s on interior doors. Originally I had planned on going with the white Masonite builder production door you see in 90% of the homes of America for the past twenty years but in my heart I lusted for solid wood doors because there is just nothing else like them to impart a feeling of quality and hominess in my opinion. But at a usual price of $300 per door it wasn’t happening. Menard’s featured pre hung solid pine six panel doors for $89 each (with rebate); even the Masonite on sale were at $59 so it became a no-brainer to go with the solid core real wood doors. Marc scored on some leftover wide maple baseboard trim at pennies on the dollar from Blenker, which is already prefinished in a light natural maple so we will do the same finish to the doors, leaving them light and natural. Those will tie in well with all my natural colored pine furniture.

Sunday has been a whirlwind of shopping at Lowe’s and Menard’s for more house widgets and our flooring and our Visa is so spanked it probably won’t come out of hiding for a month! I chose stock in-store vinyl for the bathrooms and laundry, which Marc will install, but had to order the laminate I wanted since it is a unique choice of embossed grain, mainly white pine made to look vintage. It should arrive in a couple of weeks and we plan to also install that ourselves. The small amount of carpet we are planning will require a guy to come out and measure this week before we get the complete price quote including installation. Suffice it to say we haven’t purchased carpet and pad in a long while and the generalized quote threw us for a loop since one room (master bedroom) is going to run the better part of almost $1000! 

Despite February’s brisk temperatures which have yet to even reach the freezing point of 32, we slave on endeavoring to try and wrap this thing up in order to move by mid to late April. Certainly not everything will be completed with the house by that point but hopefully enough that the inspector will allow us to move in. Stay tuned; it’s never a dull moment.

Marc's Return

Marc’s return trip was like all his others—a miserable series of tire blowouts from being loaded so heavily. Suffice it to say by the third day he had totally changed out all eight of the trailer tires to different tires than what he had started out with, which included buying four new tires to go along with the good Hancook tires he had taken off the Dodge which he was also using. He had to make a swing by Rapid City, S.D. and his latest project so arrived here about a week after leaving Yuma. Although he had hoped to get some things quickly unloaded, he promptly got sick and was in bed for two days and still suffering the effects of either flu or food poisoning from deli chicken (which he had bought along the way), for another two days. Needless to say, not a lot got accomplished his first week back and he was very behind on work paperwork and problems.

We finally made it out to the house to catch more of the basement insulation tasks over the past weekend and he continues to work on that this week after work. He needs to have at least one section of sheetrock hung in order for the HVAC guy to place the furnace. We have no plans to finish off the basement however, not wanting to raise our tax bill. Much to Marc’s consternation the drywall crew is hit and miss on when they show up, but won’t be pushed to move quicker, so hard telling when that portion of work will be finished. Marc has already purchased the primer and paint sprayer to get started on painting the minute the texture on the walls is done drying. It’s hard telling when we will get to the unloading from the move since the coming weekend is due to be snowy again. Work progresses; but slowly.

The Spa Makes It!

Marc is still in Yuma, wrapping up the final stages of our move but hopes to be able to leave Monday as he needs to return to work, via his new project in Rapid City, S.D. He sent me pictures indicating that both the spa and his beloved welding bench both fit and he had the weight capacity for them as well. It’s been one long, arduous process for him and it didn’t help that upon seeing his Mexican dentist in Algodones, she found a cracked molar, so he had to undergo a crown which took him an additional two trips and lost time. Instead of a bill for over a thousand dollars though, the bill was only $230 so well worth the time spent. She did a crown for me about six years ago and it is still going strong and my new dentist in Waupaca told me what a good job it was, so we have found there is no reason to be afraid of dental care in Mexico.

The drywall contractor finished hanging the sheetrock at the house and now it’s at a standstill until Marc can get some heat going in there for them to put the texture on the walls. It was amazing to walk in for the first time seeing it all hung and actual walls up—it makes it look so much more like a real house. I was also pleasantly surprised that it was as bright as it was because I was afraid with the large front porch overhang it would be dark inside but as you can see, that is not the case.

If you’re wondering about all the angle iron hanging from the kitchen walls, that’s Marc improvisation for the support for all three courses of the hanging shelving which will run the entire length of the kitchen and also curve around the end wall to the stove. Obviously with the way Marc builds things, weight will not be a factor on those shelves! Next to the stove sits the refrigerator and opposite those will be our temporary island (a 48” stainless steel work table from Sam’s Club) and our large butcher block. Ultimately, once we decide upon size and shape, Marc intends to build us a permanent island but that will come later. He also, in addition to all the shelving, will also be building some type of “statement” vent hood above the stove. I have grown tired of the small, ineffective budget versions so I want something that will pull my socks off and also look fantastic from across the room. More and more I am leaning towards trying to have him build something out of old barn wood, which is readily available around these parts for the right price. 

Although this first picture shows our hallway without a pantry closet, there will be one as Marc can build it in opposite the fridge at the end wall on the left. This area sits above the stairwell so Marc wants time to plan it out to be able to most utilize the space efficiently so thought walling it in for now would be the best bet so the cats aren’t bailing down the basement stairwell through a hole in the wall. At my behest, he came across a screaming deal on an 1880 front door out of an old Victorian house, so we plan to clean this baby up and it will be the opening into the pantry closet. It sits right now in his office and has aroused all sorts of envy and curiosity from co-workers. The door, of course, is all handmade and complete with most of its brass hardware. How cool will this be?

Wisconsin is still cold and I’m still working on some projects. I got my kitchen window covering made, repainted a nightstand with chalk paint, and also have been working on more fabric bowls. Don’t ask me what I’m going to do with all of them besides gifting many of them but I thought this flatter one went especially well hung up!

Yuma Foothills Park Model and Lot, $95,000 or ** Trade

List price is $95,000. We are selling because work took us to Wisconsin a year ago and for the foreseeable future, so we are now building a home there. We purchased this lot as bare dirt and did all the work and landscaping ourselves, which has had a nice chance to mature. All landscaping is on drip irrigation and easy to maintain. All of the lot is either gravel or concrete; there is a very spaciously sized custom patio for entertaining which features a privacy wall & nearly new 3-tier concrete fountain. In addition there is a small stick built shed on slab and a portable storage shed/trailer which is highly insulated. The lot has a slab for RV parking (any size rig) and 50 amp full hookups. We have been able to rent this space every winter we have wanted for an income of $325/month. The park model has never been rented. Annual taxes run approximately $726. Note: the spa and sea container have been removed.

The park model is a Dutch Park 2007 model (unfurnished) with 10 foot interior ceiling height which really gives it a particular feeling of spaciousness as compared to many park models. There are clerestory windows throughout and two bay windows on the patio side, so light and views are abundant. We upgraded the counters to tile in the kitchen, the stove is a digital 36” GE Profile smooth top, and we added a quiet Maytag dishwasher. The spacious pantry closet has pull-out shelving and right next to that is an alcove with a hookup for a stack washer/dryer (not included).

The bedroom is complete with a high quality queen sized bed and built-in storage and closets. All cabinets are solid oak throughout. The bath has a built-in hamper and linen closet, a corner sink and a shower stall with a seat. The built-in entertainment center in the living room and buffet in the dining area provide convenient and ample additional storage. A highly efficient and low cost to run split system was recently installed (for AC and heating) which cut our electric bills by two-thirds.

The lot is approximately 7200 square feet and is surrounded by high quality stick built homes with the exception of one neighbor who has a well done manufactured home. This truly is one of the most upper end sections in the Foothills, and has proven over our years of ownership to be very safe and well maintained. It sits one long block from the edge of the desert and state and BLM land, which is available for recreation. For those who golf, it is midpoint between the two Foothills golf courses. We had the block walls all raised to six feet and with the addition of the privacy wall and a tall gate on the park model side, you will find extreme privacy. The neighbors are friendly and gregarious and the street, being a short spur road, is very quiet with little traffic.

**Please note we are very open to doing an “even Steven” trade of this property for a home of equal value in Central Wisconsin. We’re not interested in bare land or lots, but if you desire your place in the desert sun and have a home that would make a good investment property for us in Wisconsin, we’re all ears. (Trade property must be free and clear of any liens or mortgages with no major HOA fees). You can contact me at itchyhitchatyahoodotcom. We have a current tenant who is willing to vacate so quick possession is available this season if you are in the area. We are motivated sellers and look forward to your inquiries. Thanks!