Today's caption is brought to you courtesy of the Suicide Machines. Suicide Machines, bringing decades of punk rock music to confused teenagers.
Last night JoAnn the mother took a shower. Last night I heard the echo of rain from the basement. Last night we learned that our shower is leaking into living room. Last night I cried.
It seems that some component of the bathtub is not quite right. Laura and I are unsure whether it is an issue with caulking, there is a leaky pipe running through the ceiling, or there is some other issue. What we do know is that it has reached a head and water began dripping from the living room ceiling last night. We can see where the ceiling is beginning to crack along the drywall seams, which means that we'll likely need to replace a few drywall panels once we fix the leak.
I've repeatedly heard over the past few weeks that being a homeowner sucks, or at least that it is a lot of work. I'm slowly realizing what all the fuss is about.
Update: David the Plumber stopped by this morning and the source of the leak...an inadequately tightened PVC valve. The S trap has four pipes running into it. In theory, each of these pipes should be tightened at the S trap. One was not, causing it to leak when the bathtub drained. David's help cost much less than we anticipated and after letting the area 'breath' for a week everything should be right as rain.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
I Fought the Toilet...
and the toilet won. Or so it would have you believe.
Following the ritualistic tearing up of carpet, it is finally time to paint the basement. We cleaned the baseboards, taped off the walls (of which there are A TON) and laid down the primer. The entire process took roughly a day and a half considering I took the project on while waiting for the ADT security service guy and for my car to be repaired.
For the most part, the process was simply long but not altogether difficult. However, I just primed the basement bathroom today and painting around that toilet rocked my world. When combined with the upstairs toilet matchbox car incident, it's Toilets: 2 - Homeowners: 0.
We plan to paint the entire living area of the basement this evening.
I have also uploaded new pictures. Flickr is restricting the number of uploads that I can make, so I've put these on Picasa. They are essentially just pictures from tearing up the carpetting and laying down the primer. You can view the pictures here.
Mrs. Putnam Goes to Washington
Cliche title you say? I say stop speaking French.
Following our quick jaunt to sunny and unbearably hot Dallas, Texas, we had the pleasure of hosting Laura's mom at the new house. Her visit provided us with the perfect excuse to eat at our new dining room table for the first time. Drawing upon our weeklong experience of homeownership improvization, we were forced to hang a sheet across the dining room bay window. Our dinner looked that good.
The dinner was lovely and JoAnn the Mother gave us tons of tips on what cleaning products to use with various stains. We took two things away from the day: 1) JoAnn the Mother is the MacGyver of household cleaning, and 2) it is incredibly difficult to complete major house renovation tasks during the work week.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Status Update...
1) We ripped up all of the basement carpeting and padding Wednesday afternoon. Underneath is concrete, some of which smells and some of which does not smell. We also swept the entire basement. It was all very exciting.
2) I took apart the shower doors in order to clean the mold. I forgot how to put the doors back together so now we are 'bath' people. Just kidding. We eventually put the doors back together although they still aren't completely clean.
3) I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond yesterday to buy a garbage/recycling can. We have multiple 20% off one item coupons for this store; however, they did not have the garbage can that we were looking for. I freaked out and bought a mop and various cleaning supplies instead. We saved $5. Ouch...
4) We assembled Laura's bed. We reassembled Laura's bed two more times. We disassembled Laura's bed last night and will burn it tomorrow in protest of the IKEA gods.
5) The upstairs refridgerator has a bit of a funk to it that seems to be driving Laura crazy. We may purchase a new fridge as a result.
6) We hung one blind, one dress, and one table cloth in front of the upstairs windows to give us some privacy. All of the other windows are still sans blinds.
7) We bought and erected bookshelves from Crate and Barrel. We learned that we have far too many books, VHS tapes, and about the right number of DVDs.
8) There are more radios in the house than TVs (two to one ratio, in that we have two radios -- you can do the math on TVs). The screen on the radios is as big as the screen on our TV. There are no screens on our radios.
9) We bought a set of non-stick pots and pans. We have no microwaveable plates or bowls so we microwave our plastic camping plates because, although cracked now, we can throw them away once we invest in real plates. We have two knives, two forks, and two spoons.
10) This weekend marks the end of four straight in which Laura and I have not been in DC (we fly to Texas this afternoon). It will be nice to finally have a full weekend to work on the house. (Editor's Note: I just remembered that Laura is driving to New York next weekend and I will be in PA next Sunday for the 8:05 PM Phillies game).
That's all folks.
2) I took apart the shower doors in order to clean the mold. I forgot how to put the doors back together so now we are 'bath' people. Just kidding. We eventually put the doors back together although they still aren't completely clean.
3) I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond yesterday to buy a garbage/recycling can. We have multiple 20% off one item coupons for this store; however, they did not have the garbage can that we were looking for. I freaked out and bought a mop and various cleaning supplies instead. We saved $5. Ouch...
4) We assembled Laura's bed. We reassembled Laura's bed two more times. We disassembled Laura's bed last night and will burn it tomorrow in protest of the IKEA gods.
5) The upstairs refridgerator has a bit of a funk to it that seems to be driving Laura crazy. We may purchase a new fridge as a result.
6) We hung one blind, one dress, and one table cloth in front of the upstairs windows to give us some privacy. All of the other windows are still sans blinds.
7) We bought and erected bookshelves from Crate and Barrel. We learned that we have far too many books, VHS tapes, and about the right number of DVDs.
8) There are more radios in the house than TVs (two to one ratio, in that we have two radios -- you can do the math on TVs). The screen on the radios is as big as the screen on our TV. There are no screens on our radios.
9) We bought a set of non-stick pots and pans. We have no microwaveable plates or bowls so we microwave our plastic camping plates because, although cracked now, we can throw them away once we invest in real plates. We have two knives, two forks, and two spoons.
10) This weekend marks the end of four straight in which Laura and I have not been in DC (we fly to Texas this afternoon). It will be nice to finally have a full weekend to work on the house. (Editor's Note: I just remembered that Laura is driving to New York next weekend and I will be in PA next Sunday for the 8:05 PM Phillies game).
That's all folks.
Woof...
that's the sound a big dog makes. Stupidity, that's the sound a big group of teenagers make anytime after 10:00 at night; as in the group of teenagers that greeted Laura and I on our first night sleeping at North Capitol.
For some context: Laura and I had just spent a very nice weekend down at the Jersey shore and were looking forward to our first night together in the house. Because we chose to get on the road late Monday night, we didn't arrive until around 10:00 or 10:30 PM. We also had no shades on any of our windows and very little material goods in the house. So, after what seemed to be an endless battle setting up Laura's bed (it has since been dismantled after breaking three times in two days) we were ready for some sleep. At that same time, a group of about 8 teenagers gathered on the corner of T and North Capitol and proceeded to be loud for the next few hours. This also begs the question. What on Earth could anyone talk about for that amount of time that would require the information to be yelled? Perhaps they were expressing their love for freedom? Their love for America? Their love for that concrete paved street corner? Needless to say, Laura and I made a snap decision and moved into the far back bedroom to a night of restless sleep on my salvaged futon. In response, we went to Home Depot the following night and purchased one, yes count it, one window shade. Our other windows are now covered by a dress and a table cloth; and yes, we're both MacGyver's in training. Perhaps that's why the teenagers haven't congregated on that corner since.
As this is a bonus feature, I'll regale everyone with one other story. This Monday, we arrived to a post-it from UPS saying that I had missed a delivery. Their scheduled 2nd attempt would, of course, be scheduled for the following day between 10:30 AM until 2:00 PM. Is it reasonable to assume that anyone will be home during the afternoon on a weekday in order to sign for a package? Or course not. Does it matter? Of course not. So, I came home Tuesday to another post-it from UPS, this one re-asserting their commitment to deliver my package during afternoon hours (final delivery attempt was scheduled for Wednesday from 10:30 AM until 2:00 PM). I chose to call the UPS bluff and left work early on Wednesday to wait for my package. As the hours ticked by I decided to call Laura and have her track the package. The answer? The package would not be delivered on account of some problem involving my hand and a signiature. The result? The package would now be delivered the following day (Thursday) during...you guessed it, the afternoon.
Not to be undone, I called UPS and told them I would pick up the package myself, to which they responded that someone would call me back within the hour. An hour later, my phone lit up telling me (via voicemail) that Brad would allow my package to be picked up between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM that evening. No address, no return phone number, no last name, no love.
I called UPS main and determined that my package was most definitely, maybe, probably at the Landover, Maryland location; however, UPS was not allowed to give me a number for that service location. In searching for the UPS service location phone number with my trusted friend Mr. Google, I happened across two things: 1) a Yelp site where 8 people had submitted reviews of the Landover UPS site. The reviews were ALL one star and each told of a story in which the person had been permanently jaded, were forced to take a scalding hot shower following their experience, and, in one case, where the UPS debacle meant a person did not receive their time-sensitive medication until 4 or 5 days after it was needed (I am not joking about this last one); and, 2) in July 2009, ATF agents arrested two Landover UPS employees for...wait for it...little more...selling handguns and semi-automatic rifles out of a duffel bag in the the UPS parking lot during afternoon business hours. See an article here.
It was with hat in hand that I arrived at UPS late Wednesday night with low expectations. Although the line was backed up and the employees looked utterly miserable, the entire experience only took about 15 minutes. Sadly, the Verizon high speed internet equipment that I picked up has since wrecked Laura's computer.
Alas, a tip of my cap to you UPS. Well played sir, well played...
For some context: Laura and I had just spent a very nice weekend down at the Jersey shore and were looking forward to our first night together in the house. Because we chose to get on the road late Monday night, we didn't arrive until around 10:00 or 10:30 PM. We also had no shades on any of our windows and very little material goods in the house. So, after what seemed to be an endless battle setting up Laura's bed (it has since been dismantled after breaking three times in two days) we were ready for some sleep. At that same time, a group of about 8 teenagers gathered on the corner of T and North Capitol and proceeded to be loud for the next few hours. This also begs the question. What on Earth could anyone talk about for that amount of time that would require the information to be yelled? Perhaps they were expressing their love for freedom? Their love for America? Their love for that concrete paved street corner? Needless to say, Laura and I made a snap decision and moved into the far back bedroom to a night of restless sleep on my salvaged futon. In response, we went to Home Depot the following night and purchased one, yes count it, one window shade. Our other windows are now covered by a dress and a table cloth; and yes, we're both MacGyver's in training. Perhaps that's why the teenagers haven't congregated on that corner since.
As this is a bonus feature, I'll regale everyone with one other story. This Monday, we arrived to a post-it from UPS saying that I had missed a delivery. Their scheduled 2nd attempt would, of course, be scheduled for the following day between 10:30 AM until 2:00 PM. Is it reasonable to assume that anyone will be home during the afternoon on a weekday in order to sign for a package? Or course not. Does it matter? Of course not. So, I came home Tuesday to another post-it from UPS, this one re-asserting their commitment to deliver my package during afternoon hours (final delivery attempt was scheduled for Wednesday from 10:30 AM until 2:00 PM). I chose to call the UPS bluff and left work early on Wednesday to wait for my package. As the hours ticked by I decided to call Laura and have her track the package. The answer? The package would not be delivered on account of some problem involving my hand and a signiature. The result? The package would now be delivered the following day (Thursday) during...you guessed it, the afternoon.
Not to be undone, I called UPS and told them I would pick up the package myself, to which they responded that someone would call me back within the hour. An hour later, my phone lit up telling me (via voicemail) that Brad would allow my package to be picked up between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM that evening. No address, no return phone number, no last name, no love.
I called UPS main and determined that my package was most definitely, maybe, probably at the Landover, Maryland location; however, UPS was not allowed to give me a number for that service location. In searching for the UPS service location phone number with my trusted friend Mr. Google, I happened across two things: 1) a Yelp site where 8 people had submitted reviews of the Landover UPS site. The reviews were ALL one star and each told of a story in which the person had been permanently jaded, were forced to take a scalding hot shower following their experience, and, in one case, where the UPS debacle meant a person did not receive their time-sensitive medication until 4 or 5 days after it was needed (I am not joking about this last one); and, 2) in July 2009, ATF agents arrested two Landover UPS employees for...wait for it...little more...selling handguns and semi-automatic rifles out of a duffel bag in the the UPS parking lot during afternoon business hours. See an article here.
It was with hat in hand that I arrived at UPS late Wednesday night with low expectations. Although the line was backed up and the employees looked utterly miserable, the entire experience only took about 15 minutes. Sadly, the Verizon high speed internet equipment that I picked up has since wrecked Laura's computer.
Alas, a tip of my cap to you UPS. Well played sir, well played...
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
This Coffee is Making Me Angry
I have no time, hence no post. I did however manage to upload a few more pictures. They are under 'Moving Pictures' on our Flickr account.
You can view the pictures here.
I promise to write another installment in the next day or two. It will be much easier once Laura and I have Internet at the house. Sadly, the UPS guy is doing all he can to make this not happen. He insists on delivering our equipment between the hours of 10:30 AM and 2:00 PM. Perhaps he is in leagues with DirectTV...
You can view the pictures here.
I promise to write another installment in the next day or two. It will be much easier once Laura and I have Internet at the house. Sadly, the UPS guy is doing all he can to make this not happen. He insists on delivering our equipment between the hours of 10:30 AM and 2:00 PM. Perhaps he is in leagues with DirectTV...
Friday, August 14, 2009
Green Living
Although I had to drive to Mt. Vernon to get it, I love the new table in the front window. Made from reclaimed lumber by the woman who sold it to us, it fits in perfectly with our vision of the room and our attempt to create a green healthy living space. (I just made that up...I hope Mat agrees:) Pictures, Pictures Everywhere...
Thanks to a friendly reminder from Laura that we need to capture the moving in process, I've taken the liberty of posting a few pictures from our move. They aren't much but we'll be adding to them as the house is set up.
View the new pictures here.
As the pictures can attest, we do not have many things and even less space to put them (plan to buy bookshelves today to partially remedy this situation). You can also see how our first two purchases look in the new house (dining and sofa tables).
View the new pictures here.
As the pictures can attest, we do not have many things and even less space to put them (plan to buy bookshelves today to partially remedy this situation). You can also see how our first two purchases look in the new house (dining and sofa tables).
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Too Much Wood...
makes dining a dull room. Actually, I just like the quote almost as much as Laura and I love things made out of wood.
Laura and I held a quorum and agreed that this sofa table would fit in nicely with our vision for the dining room. Lets hope that it feels the same way about us (and that we hear back from the Craigslist poster).
I Want To Rock and Roll All Night...
and not pay any property taxes.
We have run into our first minor snags in the adventures of first time home ownership. I came into work today to find two emails, one from Gemini Title and another from Chris the Realtor. Gemini Title informed me that I am required to pay $2,900 (and change) in second half property taxes. Chris informed me that the Gemini request was legit.
After 10 minutes of sending spontaneous emails that ran the gamut of rehab program emotions, I opened my settlement paperwork. You know what? Gemini was right. I was credited about $1,900 (and change) at closing to pay for property taxes from April 1st through August 3rd (we closed on August 4th). So, in reality the roughly $5,000 that we thought was saved at closing is really more like $3,000. Still not bad for a day's work.
Sadly, this minor irritation came on the back of yesterday's debacle with DirectTV. Some context: a representative from ADT (security company) came by on Monday to survey the house and recommend a security system makeup for the house. All is well, but the security system requires a hard line to run through.
This meant that on Tuesday, Laura and I decided to purchase the bundled Verizon package (Internet, phone, cable). The phone? No problem. The Internet? It will be installed on August 20th. The cable? DirectTV (Verizon's cable service) asks customers which 4-hour (YES, FOUR HOUR!!!!!!) window they'd like. I chose yesterday (Wednesday) from noon-4:00, keeping in mind that Laura and I had softball later that evening (6:30 PM). In anticipation, I left work around 11:45 and spent the first few hours unloading my remaining junk, setting up our 14-inch TV (pictures to come), cleaning some of the windows, and measuring out all of the window enclaves for blinds. This took me until about 3:30, whereupon I receive a call from DirectTV saying my guy will be over in 25 minutes. At 5:00, after getting lost, he shows up. He was really nice but then proceeded to take until 6:30 to set up the box and satellite that I anticipated having finished by 3:30.
Needless to say, I was late for the game, felt like I had wasted the entire day waiting around, and was all around frustrated. Oh well, a minor hiccup in the grand scheme of things.
We have run into our first minor snags in the adventures of first time home ownership. I came into work today to find two emails, one from Gemini Title and another from Chris the Realtor. Gemini Title informed me that I am required to pay $2,900 (and change) in second half property taxes. Chris informed me that the Gemini request was legit.
After 10 minutes of sending spontaneous emails that ran the gamut of rehab program emotions, I opened my settlement paperwork. You know what? Gemini was right. I was credited about $1,900 (and change) at closing to pay for property taxes from April 1st through August 3rd (we closed on August 4th). So, in reality the roughly $5,000 that we thought was saved at closing is really more like $3,000. Still not bad for a day's work.
Sadly, this minor irritation came on the back of yesterday's debacle with DirectTV. Some context: a representative from ADT (security company) came by on Monday to survey the house and recommend a security system makeup for the house. All is well, but the security system requires a hard line to run through.
This meant that on Tuesday, Laura and I decided to purchase the bundled Verizon package (Internet, phone, cable). The phone? No problem. The Internet? It will be installed on August 20th. The cable? DirectTV (Verizon's cable service) asks customers which 4-hour (YES, FOUR HOUR!!!!!!) window they'd like. I chose yesterday (Wednesday) from noon-4:00, keeping in mind that Laura and I had softball later that evening (6:30 PM). In anticipation, I left work around 11:45 and spent the first few hours unloading my remaining junk, setting up our 14-inch TV (pictures to come), cleaning some of the windows, and measuring out all of the window enclaves for blinds. This took me until about 3:30, whereupon I receive a call from DirectTV saying my guy will be over in 25 minutes. At 5:00, after getting lost, he shows up. He was really nice but then proceeded to take until 6:30 to set up the box and satellite that I anticipated having finished by 3:30.
Needless to say, I was late for the game, felt like I had wasted the entire day waiting around, and was all around frustrated. Oh well, a minor hiccup in the grand scheme of things.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
And Then There Was One
Today is my last day in the Cleveland Park house. Tomorrow, I will move into North Capitol full time followed by Laura on the 15th.
We spent yesterday airing out the fridge and cleaning up the bathroom a bit. This was one of 9 million small projects that we have identified over the past week and half. Other include:
-- replacing various fixture covers
-- attaching/re-tracking doors
-- building a rock wall on the back patio
-- learning about mid-sized plant life that can dominate
-- building everything that our house needs
-- re-upholstering everything our house needs
-- building two additions by hand using only a hammer
Yes, the last few were sarcastic, but we are both very excited to become more handy and take on as many projects as we think we can handle.
On a side note, I found out Friday that my driver's license had been suspended for the past two months, unbeknownst to me (long story). I was able to remedy this on Monday thanks in large part to the most helpful DMV woman that I have had the pleasure to meet. All is right with the world.
We spent yesterday airing out the fridge and cleaning up the bathroom a bit. This was one of 9 million small projects that we have identified over the past week and half. Other include:
-- replacing various fixture covers
-- attaching/re-tracking doors
-- building a rock wall on the back patio
-- learning about mid-sized plant life that can dominate
-- building everything that our house needs
-- re-upholstering everything our house needs
-- building two additions by hand using only a hammer
Yes, the last few were sarcastic, but we are both very excited to become more handy and take on as many projects as we think we can handle.
On a side note, I found out Friday that my driver's license had been suspended for the past two months, unbeknownst to me (long story). I was able to remedy this on Monday thanks in large part to the most helpful DMV woman that I have had the pleasure to meet. All is right with the world.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Whirlwind Bore
For those that have been anxiously checking this blog with bated breath, I apologize. For everyone else, you should have been.
Monday seemed a fitting day to schedule the closing. It was the start of a new work week and the start of homeownership, the first Monday in the month and our first time buying a new home, the 3rd of August and we like the number 3. Basically, it was destiny.
The actual closing consisted of signing lots of pieces of paper in a minimal amount of time while Chris the Realtor offered moral support and Jack the Gentleman Closer (no joke, his business card says something to that effect) made jokes about everything. Fun fact for the day: John is a tool and was not enjoyable to be around for an hour. Highlights from the actual settlement: 1) Bank of America had not yet approved the settlement figures, although somehow this had no bearing on my completion of settlement paperwork (still haven't figured out that one) (update: BOA signed off on the costs the following day), 2) closing costs were about $5000 less than anticipated, 3) Gemini Title & Escrow would not accept my cashier's check because it was for $5000 more than the closing costs and requested that I cancel the check and wire them the closing costs following settlement, and 4) all of the documentation had my full name (including middle initial) which meant that my signiature took about twice as long.
Since Monday, Laura and I have been moving things over to the new place and cleaning/prepping the house to be lived in. I changed all nine door locks to the tune of some $600 and paid David the Plumber $250 to repair all of the water issues found during our home inspection (more on this in a later post). Next up will be re-carpetting the basement and painting everything.
Oh, and we bought the Balinese table and chairs. They are perfect.
Monday seemed a fitting day to schedule the closing. It was the start of a new work week and the start of homeownership, the first Monday in the month and our first time buying a new home, the 3rd of August and we like the number 3. Basically, it was destiny.
The actual closing consisted of signing lots of pieces of paper in a minimal amount of time while Chris the Realtor offered moral support and Jack the Gentleman Closer (no joke, his business card says something to that effect) made jokes about everything. Fun fact for the day: John is a tool and was not enjoyable to be around for an hour. Highlights from the actual settlement: 1) Bank of America had not yet approved the settlement figures, although somehow this had no bearing on my completion of settlement paperwork (still haven't figured out that one) (update: BOA signed off on the costs the following day), 2) closing costs were about $5000 less than anticipated, 3) Gemini Title & Escrow would not accept my cashier's check because it was for $5000 more than the closing costs and requested that I cancel the check and wire them the closing costs following settlement, and 4) all of the documentation had my full name (including middle initial) which meant that my signiature took about twice as long.
Since Monday, Laura and I have been moving things over to the new place and cleaning/prepping the house to be lived in. I changed all nine door locks to the tune of some $600 and paid David the Plumber $250 to repair all of the water issues found during our home inspection (more on this in a later post). Next up will be re-carpetting the basement and painting everything.
Oh, and we bought the Balinese table and chairs. They are perfect.
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