LolaGeek

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Wow, I can’t believe all the stuff that happened today!

• I made peach popsicles
• I found out about another business trip I’m going to have to take soon
• GG and I got sandwiches for lunch
• GG cleaned up the basement
• Several packages we were waiting for arrived all at once (from four different places)
• GG moved a big box of dirt out of the basement
• Someone came to repair our window
• Two other guys came to measure for new doors
• I did a whole bunch of work since I was actually, you know, working from home

I don’t know, maybe it’s not really a lot, but it just happened all at once in one day, within a few hours… And there’s still more to do!

We’ve been very busy with the house this weekend, mostly with stuff in the laundry room/mud room/addition. This was the one part of the house we never really touched since moving in, because it was relatively new, so it deserved a little attention. On Wednesday, I learned how drywall tape works and GG replaced the tape that was coming off in a few areas in the laundry room (the problem was that 1) it wasn’t installed correctly in the first place and 2) we had some leaks [which have been corrected] and the water ran right along the drywall joints and loosened the tape further). I followed behind and filled in a few cracks and holes with spackle. On Friday night, I painted as much of the room as I could reach in a nice ecru color. (It’s Valspar Churchill Hotel Ecru, one of their historic colors – I figured it might lend some historic gravitas to the newest section of our old house.) This morning, GG and I got up early to finish painting together. He had to get the top part of the room, because even on the ladder, I can’t reach. It’s all finished now, and it looks really nice!

We went out for a late lunch (really late… like 2:00… I called it “lupper“), then went to Target so I could use a whole bunch of coupons that were about to expire. I think we now have a few years’ worth of trash bags and toothpaste. And I got a few other things that I wanted/needed (like purple nail polish, and a new water bottle [my KOR broke :o( ]). I checked out the new Poketo line, and was kind of disappointed. Most of the prints are really NMS anyway, but the quality is just really poor, everything seems really cheap. (Though the look on this bear’s face totally cracks me up. “Rar.”)

After Target, we went to Lowes to get a couple things I’ve been wanting to get. I got a good tip on how to mount a new mailbox even without the screws lining up with the ones we already have, so we got the mailbox I wanted in the first place to replace our scuzzy old one. And we got some nice plants to put in front of the house: an arbor vitae to put in the big pot next to the front steps (the bush I planted there a while back never really took), and a hanging flower to put on a hook attached to the fence on the other side of our front door (I forget the name, but the flowers are yellow and it can take direct sun, so yay). When we got home, we planted/hung our purchases, and now from the outside our house looks more like the home of people who care what their house looks like. Haha.

I’ve been so exhausted every day that I’ve been working on stuff. I’ve even started napping again! But it’s worth it. Things are improving, slowly :o)

I had a super productive weekend. GG was away for the weekend, so while I was home by myself I did a bunch of work around the house that we’d been putting off (for, oh, five years…).

On Friday night I was going to start painting stuff, but first I had to stop at a couple places on my way home, and then make dinner. I was just so exhausted after the crazy week I had, I passed out on the couch for three or four hours after that. Okay, so Friday night was out.

Saturday morning I got up bright and early and decided that I wouldn’t let myself do anything else until I’d painted this big unfinished wall in the basement. (The other walls are all drywalled, but this one was concrete with peeling paint on it.) I didn’t bring my camera down so I didn’t get any really good before and after pics, but here are a couple shots from my cell phone. Anyway, I was down there all morning, just listening to NPR, and didn’t come up until 1 PM, when I finally got a shower.

Before

After

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, though I did take a break from that later to finally paint the bi-fold doors covering our washer and dryer. We had new doors put on about three years ago, but I never painted them, so they just had that matte primer finish, and had gotten all grimey and dirty. Now they’re semi-gloss white, and look great! GG said it looked like we had brand-new doors!

On Sunday I got up early to go out and do all my errands, so I could spend the rest of the day working at home. I went food shopping, and got yarn to make a custom hat someone ordered (yes, I started listing stuff on Etsy again last week, and sold two hats last week, plus had more custom requests). I came home, had lunch, and made my hat. Then I went back to the basement to paint one more section of wall I hadn’t done the day before. When GG got home, he helped me move some furniture so I could paint the last of the pipes in our living room that I did to match our walls. They look so nice now – yet another project that’s taken five years to do. Then we spent the rest of the evening in the living room, with our laptops, watching TV, until I fell asleep and decided to go up to bed.

Overall, I’m happy with my progress this weekend. I combined all our little to-do lists onto one big spreadsheet, and we really just have a couple little things to do, plus a few bigger things. I keep thinking of stuff to add, though..!

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I finished up my busy weekend by going out to Lancaster for our second (hopefully) annual Polo Party. You might remember when I went last year. A bunch of us got together to watch a polo game and tailgate. We actually had quite a large crowd there, and a good set-up with tables, a tent, a grill for burgers and hot dogs, and tons of food! Luckily, the humidity of last week went away, as did the rain and storms of the previous two days. Yes, the grass was a little brown, but we had a nice shady spot and it was a gorgeous day, and lots of fun to get together with my friends!

Some of our group (including Winnetou [Vinny], Dan’s new puppy)

Apparently there was some sort of game going on while we were there

“The Bubble Queens” had a reserved spot next to us – their set-up includes tablecloths, coordinating colorful food displays, games, a blender for making drinks, and a pool in the back of their truck

This is totally juvenile, but during the game, the horses all came running past where we were sitting, and one of them passed gas, really loudly. It was right in front of our group and everyone heard it and started laughing. Later that night, when GG and I were about to go to sleep, he started talking about it again. He said it was something he’d never forget: the Challenger blowing up, 9/11, and the horse farting.

While we were out there, Jess called to tell me she’d heard there was a big fire in our town. She didn’t realize we were an hour away. So then she kept calling me with updates from the local news. It was at a candle factory (how ironic) a few blocks from our house, about a 1/4 mile away. By the time we got home, the firefighters had things pretty much under control, but there was still lots of smoke and hoses and trucks and stuff everywhere. We walked over to check it out. The latest we heard was that it was a 13 alarm fire!

Lots of fire trucks from all over, and hoses running through the streets

As we moved further from the scene, you could see more smoke in the sky

Because of our new distribution of holidays at work this year, our site had a 4-day weekend this week. Independence Day is today, Sunday, and we have off Friday and Monday. Since most people seem to only have Monday off, I decided to take advantage of my Friday by going out and doing some shopping I had been putting off. (Me? Putting off shopping? Yes. I was just too tired to go after work any evening.) I just went out in the morning/early afternoon, and then spent the rest of the day at home. One of my stops was Plato’s Closet, where I attempted to sell two large bags of clothes. The took one thing, for which I earned $2.80. Hardly worth the gas it took to drive down there.

On Saturday I wanted to go to the mall early, which I did, but while I was getting ready in the morning I heard this rustling sound outside. I looked out the window and in our neighbor’s yard I saw a white cat watching as a giant groundhog wrestled with a sheet of plastic, before tearing part of it off and running away! (I saw the same groundhog come back for more plastic later.)

The cat is behind the bushes here – he was out in the open until I got my camera, of course.

Here’s the groundhog with his big plastic bag.

And here he is running away. I wonder how he compares size-wise to Ivan!

Last night my family got together to celebrate my brother’s birthday, since he was home for the weekend. I got him a DVD of Dead Snow, which seems totally up his alley (zombies and history?!), and a Mr. Rogers card, which he loved. I always worry about the things I get people for gifts, but I guess I usually choose pretty well.

My mom had mentioned she might want to go out with me today, but then she decided to go to the pool or do paperwork or something, so I’ve been bored. My big excitement was going to Bed Bath & Beyond and doing my food shopping for the week. Oh well, I still have one more day of vacation to go!

Okay, I need some serious help and advice. This may get long, and a lot of it will probably be my train of thought, so bear with me.

I like our house, I do. We’ve lived there for five years. I complain about it a lot, but it has a lot going for it. However, it is not where I would like to live for the rest of my life. I have a dream house in a dream location in my head, and I’m always keeping an eye out for it. Yesterday we went to see a house that was almost perfect, but the timing is just not right (we’d need to sell our place, and it’s not really in any shape to sell right now), plus the more I think about it, the more problems I’m finding. So the search continues.

Here’s where I need your advice. Should we grin and bare it in our current house, fixing it up just enough to make it sellable when the time is right (knowing we could potentially not be around that long to enjoy the improvements ourselves); or put our money and effort into making our house exactly the way we want, planning to hang in here for the long term?

Because I am a list-maker by nature, here are some pros and cons of each option:

Pros:

Cons:

Extremely charming 115-year old historic home, strong and well-constructed House is energy-efficient by design Despite its age and weird “improvements” that have been made, everything is generally safe and in good condition Rooms are all decent sizes Laundry on main floor (as opposed to basement) Large eat-in kitchen with lots of cabinet and counter space 3-car driveway, detatched garage, plus plenty of available parking in the lot across the street Not much grass to cut; fully fenced-in yard Full basement that has never been known to flood (we’re not in the flood plain), with a finished area for GG to use as a studio/office Great location, short walk from stores, post office, banks, restaurants, fire and police stations, parks, and public transportation; near major roads and highways Due to the location, we’re always plowed out early when it snows Area is truly “up and coming” – lots of improvements are being made in town, new businesses are opening, and it’s the next furthest town from the hot and trendy towns outside of Philadelphia (i.e. it’s next in line to be hot and trendy)

Only one (small) bathroom No central air (or built-in air conditioner of any kind) Difficult to upgrade/update because of its age, and anything that is changed usually has to be custom-made Hard to have guests (especially overnight) due to climate control issues, current use/configuration of bedrooms, noise, and the one-bathroom thing On a somewhat busy street with lots of vehicle and pedestrian traffic, and half a block from a busy intersection Half a block away from a freight train crossing (i.e. train whistles are blown at all hours of the day and night) Houses next door are currently unoccupied and decrepit; now that the borough owns them, it’s uncertain what will happen to them – if they’re torn down, there’s nothing between us and the train Despite its urban-ness, this is really a small town with small town problems (e.g. no recycling service; feuds between people, especially in local government; etc.) Despite being a small town, I don’t really feel safe walking around by myself, especially in the evening (though I’m probably just being paranoid) We have enough money saved for a good down-payment on a new house, but since the future of my job is still uncertain, that’s gone from being my house fund to my “might have to live off this for a while” fund

Note: These are just pros and cons for us. We’re not really yard people, so don’t care about having a big yard (in fact, the smaller the better, as far as GG [the mower] is concerned). We don’t have kids, so don’t really care about school districts. We’re not bothered by busy roads and road noise (as long as you can get in and out of the driveway easily, and there’s places for visitors to park). Etc.