Home for a break ; House 1 sells ; visit from our Boulder friends
(posted from home)
(This post covers 25 – 30 April, 2011)
----------------------------------------
Saturday, 30 April-
We're finally supposed to have a clear day today but this morning didn't look like it. I caught up the blog this morning and Labashi began planning out an alternative layout of cabinets for House 2. We need to replace the kitchen cabinets and counter and one of the shortcomings of this house is the kitchen layout. The current one allows little room for a table if the stove and fridge have to take up valuable floor space. We think we can build in a space for the fridge in the line of cabinets and then hang a few more cabinets toward the stove to make a much more cook-friendly and table-friendly kitchen. (And, yes, this is how we start down the path of spending too much money, time, and effort on these houses!!!)
That afternoon the sky cleared to a beautiful blue and Labashi went out to play in her landscaping projects. I thought I'd get the Miata going but found the battery almost dead. This is the new one I put in in January. I put the charger on and jumped on the motorcycle to go for a coffee. I wanted to try the new coffee bar they recently put in at what had been Shiloh Nursery in Emigsville. The landscaping business is much the same but now there's a produce shop and coffee-and-sandwiches bar inside and a cafe seating in the greenhouse.
I had a mocha and was happy to find it didn't have the bitter taste I often find in independent coffee shops. This is great! Now I don't have to run all the way into York to Starbucks to get a decent mocha.
As I sat there I felt guilty about wasting the beautiful day. I buzzed home and got out the extension ladder and cleaned out the rain gutters. There. That took care of the guilt!
---------------------------------------
Friday, 29 April-
This morning we had breakfast with our friends and watched a few video clips from our travels. Then they had to go. They are visiting family in the area this weekend, then will be back Sunday night to stay with us before going to the airport bright and early Monday.
It was approaching lunch time by the time they left and afterwards we began watching television shows. We finished up Season One of 'Nurse Jackie' and then watched four episodes of 'Sexual Healing' (the Dr. Laura Berman series).
--------------------------------------
Thursday, 28 April-
This morning I dug out my old Trek road bike and prepared it for one of our visiting friends to ride. He has been doing quite a lot of riding lately and was regretting missing a week of riding during their mini-vacation. While he mapped out a local route using mapmyride.com, I prepped the bike. Later, I took a motorcycle ride and followed that route to catch up with him and check that everything was going ok with the bike and the route. His ten-mile ride over very hilly terrain gave him just the workout he hoped for.
Late that afternoon we looked at photos and video clips from a trip to Japan. Then we took off on a two-and-a-half-mile walk to a local restaurant. But after two miles we had a problem: last nights rains had flooded the road. Our friends picked their way around the flooded road while Labashi and walked back for the car. We had decided the creek was rising fast enough that even if we got through to the restaurant, we probably wouldn't be able to get back home the same way.
Shortly after we turned back we saw emergency vehicles coming and briefly wondered whether our friends had somehow encountered trouble. But we later learned a woman had tried driving her jeep through the flooded area and had stalled out and someone had called 911. Our friends saw the woman blithely drive into the water and she disappeared around the turn (before stalling). Minutes later, emergency equipment began arriving from both directions. As we drove back looking for our friends (in case they had turned back) we saw quite a crowd had gathered. We could see the car, now with water up over the wheels and the creek still slowly rising. It was in still water and there hadn't been any danger of the car (and woman) being pulled out into deep water ; it was just a shame she ruined her car.
We had a very nice long dinner and were very glad to have the car to get home. We then finished up the slide show about Japan and turned in.
--------------------------------------
Wednesday, 27 April-
This morning we took care of a few final errands to prepare for guests and they arrived mid-afternoon. These are old friends from Boulder and we love to see them. We spent the afternoon and evening chatting away.....
-------------------------------------
Tuesday, 26 April-
The weather has been hot and very humid the last few days. With all the rain we've been having the grass (and dandelions) have been growing crazy-fast. So even though I just mowed a few days ago I had to mow again today.
I've had a cold for the last few days and felt hard-pressed to get the mowing done. Normally I do it in two one-hour-long sessions with a short break between. But today I had to stop every twenty minutes or so, getting very over-heated as I worked in the sun. I also ended up with a sunburn. The nice tan I had gained in Florida has been lost completely in the weeks since.
I also ran over to the state-store on the GS to pick up a few bottles of wine.
Late in the day I watched the pilot episode of a new TV series for us-- 'Sexual Healing' on Netflix Instant. I've seen Dr. Laura Berman on tv occasionally and she seemed to have her act together. I was impressed with this episode. The people seemed real, i.e., not just looking for their 15 minutes of fame. And as the underlying psychological problems are uncovered I felt I gained some insight into why the people were behaving as they did. I'm scouting out new series for Labashi and I to watch and I think she's going to like this one.
Oh, yeah. House 1 sold today!!!!!!!!! We feel like we spent WAY too much time and money on the house but then again it 'sold' in thirty-some days in a market averaging 154 days per sale-- primarily, (we believe), because it was so clean and nicely-refurbished. We did only have one offer but, as they say, one is all you need! The thirty-some days figure is misleading in that the offer was first made by that time but we had a long, long closing as we worked through the inspections, fixes for problems found, and two different financing paths. We had put the house up for sale in the last week of January and closed today, the end of April. So the real selling time was more like 90 days from listing to closing.
------------------------------------
Monday, 25 April-
We're still at home, taking a break. Labashi continues working on painting the vanity top in the bathroom with an epoxy paint. The cultured marble top has been around for many years and our recent bathroom upgrade re-used it because Labashi couldn't find a top she liked better. We had cut out the molded-in sink portion of that top some 15 years ago on a previous update and used it the remaining surface to mount a sink. In the latest iteration Labashi had painted the underlying cabinet an espresso color to match the new color scheme and we replaced the sink with a more modern design. So the trick now is to get a flawless paint job on the two-inch-wide cultured-marble edge around the sink. She has sanded and re-painted it four times so far and doesn't like the results. Now she's going to try using a low-nap roller to see how that works out. After today, though, she has to stop and put things back as we prepare for visitors coming later this week.
I spent much of the morning running the vacuum cleaner and dusting. I did manage to get a motorcycle ride in that afternoon to take some old batteries in for recycling. I hit the nearby Harbor Freight for a few more hand-tools on the way home.
**************** END OF POST *************
(posted from home)
(This post covers 25 – 30 April, 2011)
----------------------------------------
Saturday, 30 April-
We're finally supposed to have a clear day today but this morning didn't look like it. I caught up the blog this morning and Labashi began planning out an alternative layout of cabinets for House 2. We need to replace the kitchen cabinets and counter and one of the shortcomings of this house is the kitchen layout. The current one allows little room for a table if the stove and fridge have to take up valuable floor space. We think we can build in a space for the fridge in the line of cabinets and then hang a few more cabinets toward the stove to make a much more cook-friendly and table-friendly kitchen. (And, yes, this is how we start down the path of spending too much money, time, and effort on these houses!!!)
That afternoon the sky cleared to a beautiful blue and Labashi went out to play in her landscaping projects. I thought I'd get the Miata going but found the battery almost dead. This is the new one I put in in January. I put the charger on and jumped on the motorcycle to go for a coffee. I wanted to try the new coffee bar they recently put in at what had been Shiloh Nursery in Emigsville. The landscaping business is much the same but now there's a produce shop and coffee-and-sandwiches bar inside and a cafe seating in the greenhouse.
I had a mocha and was happy to find it didn't have the bitter taste I often find in independent coffee shops. This is great! Now I don't have to run all the way into York to Starbucks to get a decent mocha.
As I sat there I felt guilty about wasting the beautiful day. I buzzed home and got out the extension ladder and cleaned out the rain gutters. There. That took care of the guilt!
---------------------------------------
Friday, 29 April-
This morning we had breakfast with our friends and watched a few video clips from our travels. Then they had to go. They are visiting family in the area this weekend, then will be back Sunday night to stay with us before going to the airport bright and early Monday.
It was approaching lunch time by the time they left and afterwards we began watching television shows. We finished up Season One of 'Nurse Jackie' and then watched four episodes of 'Sexual Healing' (the Dr. Laura Berman series).
--------------------------------------
Thursday, 28 April-
This morning I dug out my old Trek road bike and prepared it for one of our visiting friends to ride. He has been doing quite a lot of riding lately and was regretting missing a week of riding during their mini-vacation. While he mapped out a local route using mapmyride.com, I prepped the bike. Later, I took a motorcycle ride and followed that route to catch up with him and check that everything was going ok with the bike and the route. His ten-mile ride over very hilly terrain gave him just the workout he hoped for.
Late that afternoon we looked at photos and video clips from a trip to Japan. Then we took off on a two-and-a-half-mile walk to a local restaurant. But after two miles we had a problem: last nights rains had flooded the road. Our friends picked their way around the flooded road while Labashi and walked back for the car. We had decided the creek was rising fast enough that even if we got through to the restaurant, we probably wouldn't be able to get back home the same way.
Shortly after we turned back we saw emergency vehicles coming and briefly wondered whether our friends had somehow encountered trouble. But we later learned a woman had tried driving her jeep through the flooded area and had stalled out and someone had called 911. Our friends saw the woman blithely drive into the water and she disappeared around the turn (before stalling). Minutes later, emergency equipment began arriving from both directions. As we drove back looking for our friends (in case they had turned back) we saw quite a crowd had gathered. We could see the car, now with water up over the wheels and the creek still slowly rising. It was in still water and there hadn't been any danger of the car (and woman) being pulled out into deep water ; it was just a shame she ruined her car.
We had a very nice long dinner and were very glad to have the car to get home. We then finished up the slide show about Japan and turned in.
--------------------------------------
Wednesday, 27 April-
This morning we took care of a few final errands to prepare for guests and they arrived mid-afternoon. These are old friends from Boulder and we love to see them. We spent the afternoon and evening chatting away.....
-------------------------------------
Tuesday, 26 April-
The weather has been hot and very humid the last few days. With all the rain we've been having the grass (and dandelions) have been growing crazy-fast. So even though I just mowed a few days ago I had to mow again today.
I've had a cold for the last few days and felt hard-pressed to get the mowing done. Normally I do it in two one-hour-long sessions with a short break between. But today I had to stop every twenty minutes or so, getting very over-heated as I worked in the sun. I also ended up with a sunburn. The nice tan I had gained in Florida has been lost completely in the weeks since.
I also ran over to the state-store on the GS to pick up a few bottles of wine.
Late in the day I watched the pilot episode of a new TV series for us-- 'Sexual Healing' on Netflix Instant. I've seen Dr. Laura Berman on tv occasionally and she seemed to have her act together. I was impressed with this episode. The people seemed real, i.e., not just looking for their 15 minutes of fame. And as the underlying psychological problems are uncovered I felt I gained some insight into why the people were behaving as they did. I'm scouting out new series for Labashi and I to watch and I think she's going to like this one.
Oh, yeah. House 1 sold today!!!!!!!!! We feel like we spent WAY too much time and money on the house but then again it 'sold' in thirty-some days in a market averaging 154 days per sale-- primarily, (we believe), because it was so clean and nicely-refurbished. We did only have one offer but, as they say, one is all you need! The thirty-some days figure is misleading in that the offer was first made by that time but we had a long, long closing as we worked through the inspections, fixes for problems found, and two different financing paths. We had put the house up for sale in the last week of January and closed today, the end of April. So the real selling time was more like 90 days from listing to closing.
------------------------------------
Monday, 25 April-
We're still at home, taking a break. Labashi continues working on painting the vanity top in the bathroom with an epoxy paint. The cultured marble top has been around for many years and our recent bathroom upgrade re-used it because Labashi couldn't find a top she liked better. We had cut out the molded-in sink portion of that top some 15 years ago on a previous update and used it the remaining surface to mount a sink. In the latest iteration Labashi had painted the underlying cabinet an espresso color to match the new color scheme and we replaced the sink with a more modern design. So the trick now is to get a flawless paint job on the two-inch-wide cultured-marble edge around the sink. She has sanded and re-painted it four times so far and doesn't like the results. Now she's going to try using a low-nap roller to see how that works out. After today, though, she has to stop and put things back as we prepare for visitors coming later this week.
I spent much of the morning running the vacuum cleaner and dusting. I did manage to get a motorcycle ride in that afternoon to take some old batteries in for recycling. I hit the nearby Harbor Freight for a few more hand-tools on the way home.
**************** END OF POST *************
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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