Basement update

 The game room area.

The new bed.

My daughter is having a little problem adjusting to sleeping downstairs. Second night was better than the first. The first though, she was so sore and tired from hauling, moving and setting up heavy furniture.

Guess what I did? Nothing. They did it all.

I feel a little deserted but I will get used to it.

The dogs all want to be downstairs with them, of course. And, they allow them.

My bathroom upstairs? Stalled.

heh, heh.

Slow going

The basement is a priority compared to my upstairs bathroom. I am still washing wall paper paste off the walls in the bathroom. Tedious job.

Downstairs, they have Clorox'f the floor and added the first coat of primer in preparation for the new carpet.

The smells have slayed me. I have taken a migraine pill and it has kept the fumes from ripping my head apart (just barely). The smells still make me woozy, especially after I come in from taking the dogs outside.

It was a Chinese food fest last night and I don't want to see Chinese food for at least a year or so. Tonight it looks like sloppy Jo's and french fries. That should change the smell factor in the house. Oh, yeah!

Too much water

This is the little neighbor boy playing in some standing water between my house and his. He is three years old and I grabbed this photo opportunity hidden behind my front door. As soon as he sees me he comes over and he is stuck to me like glue. Sigh.

Anyway, their basement wall caved in that night. This side of it. There was a crew that began working on water proofing their basement on Monday. The wall fell in on Wednesday (heavy rains on top of this water already standing and no place to go).  Fortunately, for my neighbor the crew that is water proofing the basement will pay for all damages.

Today there is a huge mountain of dirt that divides our houses. And yellow caution tape. I joked with my neighbor after calling my dogs back away from the cave-in. "Now if a couple of dogs go missing when this mess is finished, I wouldn't mind a bit.  Nor, a couple of cats."

They laughed. I wasn't kidding. Oh come on! Yes, I was. Just kidding. ;)

Bits and Pieces

Just a quick post to jot down what is going on around here, so that when I re-read this post five years from now I will remember.

My sister-in-law is having surgery today. I may post more about that at another time. It is cancer. The photo above was what I sent to her on f@ceb00k.

My neighbor's basement wall collapsed the night before last under all this rain. A crew started water-proofing their basement on Monday. What do you think? Co-incidence or was the crew responsible? Tough situation to be in. I am going to double-check my wall on that side of the house. A few years back I had a company come in and put two big braces on that wall using steel anchors that lead to a brace ten to twenty feet out into the yard underground. Water has pooled in the little ditches between our houses for years.

My daughter's car broke down. Same thing that happened about a year ago. It was a piston then, sounds like a piston, now. She said it is doing the same thing. When I told my appliances (that were breaking down) not to let word slip out to my car in the driveway that I was spending money on them, I guess I forgot to tell them that also includes my daughter's car. Cripes.

I had to go out to a couple of schools yesterday and work with my hands instead of my brain. It was hot and muggy in the wiring closets. The schools are not keeping their equipment cool AT ALL. I was sweating up a storm and guess who forgot to put on deodorant yesterday? Yep, that's right. Not a pleasant morning.

I won (sort of) four tickets to the Pitt$burgh z00. I visit a radio station's web site to read their lost & found (pets) and when they designed a new one, I could not find the l&f. I sent them a message asking where it was. They assured me it was coming and since I commented, they wanted to send me 4 tickets to one of three places. I chose the z00.

My work is switching from 26 pays to 24 this next month. I know it is easier for them to do, but I really looked forward to those two "free" pays every  year. Sigh.

Makes me SO angry

This is a picture of some sort of decoration I had hanging from my porch or patio this past summer, or perhaps the summer before. I didn't check the date of the image.

Anyway, I get blood drawn this morning. The procedure where you can't eat or drink anything but water for 12 hours prior. And, I wake up at 4 a.m. I was awake at 3:30 but finally gave up and got out of bed at 4. So here I sit at the computer for over two hours. No coffee, nothing to eat. I am the type of person who cannot eat when they first get up (not many folks can). But within an hour to two hours I am hungry.

And, coffee. I really, really want my coffee. I love sipping my coffee reading all your blogs.

About the time I am supposed to go and get my shower I could really go back to sleep.

It makes me SO angry! And, of course - today is a long day. I have plans after work with the girls from the office to go out and eat. This is where I get giddy and goofy. From sleep deprivation. Some people get grouchy or quiet when they get tired. Not me. I am liked some over-wound toy on crack.

On a brighter note, the downstairs toilet is fixed. No more running water noise. The plumber told me a story (which made me realize partially why they might charge so much).  He said one time he got a call that a lady had water in her basement and could he swing by on his way home.

He got to the house and he said that lady had 3 feet of water in her basement. He said it covered the first three steps. Holy cow! He had turned my water off at the main, and I pointed across the basement to it and I said "You had to wade through three feet of water to turn it off?" He said Yes. I said "Weren't you afraid of getting electrocuted?"  He said 'Yeah, but luckily the electric had all shorted out by then.'

Aw, hell no! You couldn't get me to walk through water not knowing if I was going to get shocked or not. NO THANK YOU! He also mentioned that she had somebody finish her basement and for whatever reason they had covered up all the drains. And really? To work with toilets and sink/bathtub/shower drains. It is gross. Gross, gross, gross.

Well, my head is beginning to ache. My eyes are seeing spots and I am so sick of drinking water. I have to drink lots of water- it makes it so much easier for them to draw blood. Remember that if they have trouble getting blood from  you. Drink lots and lots of water the day before and the morning of the drawing. It really helps. Of course, I had to pee twice during the night which may be why I am up so early.

Random

I picked a random photo out of my stash today. This one was taken at a lake about twenty miles from my town.

I am still progressing in the home improvement area. I had new gutters and downspouts put on my house. They forgot the patio, though. When he quoted me - we spoke of the patio. He said that was included. I will call today and we will see. Sigh. I do not believe I got his name. Let's see if they renege. That is what I am used to and expect from places like this. I have little faith and hope.

I called the city back. They said "Yes, they are coming back to grind the tree stumps."  I called because I honestly could not remember if that was their responsibility or mine. If it was mine, I wanted to get it done.

Next, is the leaky bathroom toilet. This is the water valve that is so old and rusted I cannot turn it any longer. I can hear water running when I am in the upstairs bathroom and it is driving me insane. I hope to hear from the plumber today.

Then, the sidewalk. Once the stumps are ground down - I will get a new sidewalk or repair the current one.

Then what? Oh, yeah. Pull up all the carpet on both sides of the basement and in the downstairs bathroom and have some sort of realistic flooring put in because in a bathroom and basement there is going to be the chance of water. Always! Carpet down there is just silly.

Who knows? Maybe I won't stop there. Maybe I'll re-do the upstairs bathroom. I have been wanting to for a long time. We have a window in the bathroom - so no shower upstairs. We have a tub, of course. But - pink fixtures. Sink, tub and toilet are pink. I can work with that. But the lady who owned the house before me. She added even more pink. The walls are pink with rose bouquets on them. Arrgghh! So much pink! It nauseates me. I will offset the pink with color that complements the pink fixtures - not compete with them.

The bar back then

Maybe 2006? When  my niece lived with us and my daughter had friends over and they all congregated in the basement.  OMG! I just realized that somebody hung that Happy Birthday sign upside-down. LOL!

I sort of had a meltdown last week. I was tired and overwhelmed. I felt like things were moving too fast and I did not or could not deal with any more. I wanted all those guys out of my house. The noise, the smells, the stress was too much for me. I was wiped out all week-end. I planned to move stuff into totes and out and into the garage. To prepare for the next stage which is to pull up all carpet on both sides. I had water damage on the other side a couple of years back and I never did get it taken care of.

Nothing happened over the week-end. I was wiped out. The migraine monkey hit me hard on Friday. I had to take two Imitrex to get it out. I met friends Friday evening and I felt wonderful but hit a blinding snowstorm coming home. The meeting with my friends fell flat. They chose a restaurant that was so crowded and so dark. The waiter said they could not do anything with the lights because they are on an energy saving plan and they have no control over it. Everybody was tilting their menus towards the window to read them.

Most of my friends are struggling and either out of work or had to take a job that is way below what they were doing for the past 25 years. The company we had all worked at and met at folded. To hear them struggle and try is so depressing. We are all over 50, now. I got out in the mid 90's. They stayed. They were on unemployment for a while. Some received free schooling. Some did not qualify. I have no idea how that works.

I awoke Saturday morning with a smashing headache. Not a migraine but a huge pain in the back of my head. I swallowed three Advil every four hours to keep it at bay. I can work with a sore back and sore arms and sore legs. You just rest for a bit and the soreness fades and you can go again. Not so with a headache. Bending, lifting, hauling - you cannot do it with a headache. Any movement starts the pounding. Sigh.

Screw it. I guess there is no hurry. I am not going anywhere.

Bar none

The bar is gone. That is an orange/rust color paint on the floor (kind of looked like that carpet). They cut the carpet back to the furnace block because that was really all that was damaged. The rest of the carpet is damaged too - but that is because of my pets - not the drain.

The claims adjuster gave me the idea to paint the panelling instead of pulling it down. I have researched this and it looks like a great idea.

The flooring. I have not even begun to research that. All in good time and you know - you will be with me every step of the way.☺   (Smiley face = hold the Alt key down and press the number one on your keypad. Numlock must be on).   ☺   Wait - no it doesn't!   LOL!

After reading my post, I realized you could not even see the smiley faces. So I went back in and high-lighted just the smiley face and changed the TT (truetype) font to largest on the first one and large on the second one.

Farewell to the basement bar

This photo was taken about 18 hours ago. This is my basement bar. The picture is bad - it was taken by my phone and I had been hauling stuff out from underneath the bar while walking on a sewer saturated carpet. I wanted to get all the old computers and printers out from under there. I guess that is where I had stashed them or somebody did. I have had various people staying in my basement over the years.

It comes out today. I want to cry. But in reality - we didn't use it. Not as a bar. The carpet looks red but it has more of a magenta shade to it. I never did really care for it but it was nice when we first bought the house. Years of kids and pets took care of that. I do not mind seeing it go. The carpet that is - I will miss the bar.

Let the process begin.

The Monster in the Basement

My daughter may be traumatized. I left her to deal with the monster. Well, at the time I did not know it was a monster. I called the plumber. He asked me a lot of questions over the phone. Mostly, was I certain the smell was coming from the sump pump. That morning I had cleared all around the area to ensure he could get access to everything and I told him, "Actually, the smell almost got better over by the sump pump."

He knew. My daughter said he knew when he walked into the house. He looked for the sewer drain. He knew.

My daughter said "Mom, it was like a monster waiting for us in the basement."

Oh, dear. Photo above is not my daughter or my basement. It is from google images. I just wanted to capture the suspense and fear.

What is your worst fear? Mold? Snakes? Bugs.

How about a backed up sewer drain? The plumber said "We don't do that."  He gave me the name of a company that does. 

I sighed. Way over on the other side of the basement where nobody goes anymore is a bar. It was beautiful with a plush magenta carpet and dark paneling. We used it the first two years we lived here. Mostly we set up computers on it and the kids used it. 

Deep in a dark corner under the bar is the drain. The drain that backed up. The place where nobody goes or has been in almost two years. No need to go there. The supplies under the bar were old coloring books and computer supplies. Junk, really. That is where the monster grew.

How long had the monster been growing? I am not sure, but I only noticed the sump pump running over and over this past week-end and the shower drain and the upstairs toilet.

So, in between the plumber and before the sewer drain guy got there my daughter was having her breakdown with me. She was yelling at me over the phone that this should be covered under our insurance and blah, blah, blah. Well, she had been standing in sewer water saturated carpet and looking at our sh!t. The girl was about to go off the deep end. Months ago, she told me she NEVER wants to change a baby diaper or have children or be around children. I cannot imagine what this monster mess did to her. I made a remark about something that this is the real world and this was probably not covered. I am probably to blame for some kind of neglect.

I can still remember when I needed a plumber years ago. He said we need to use one ply Scott toilet tissue. I tried it. For a week or so. Really? Is this guy for real? WARNING! The squeamish need to turn away! Men - be prepared. Really? Has this guy no idea what a menstrual cycle is? You know what? Let me just leave it at that.

I went back to Charmin extra fluffy extra large roles. So, I was figuring the back up was somehow my fault. This may also be some kind of conditioning from my upbringing. Certainly it was something I did wrong.

The sewer guy game. I decided to go back home and deal with it. He told me he charges $130 an hour from when he walks in the door. I thought of the monster. Okay, I said. He was only here an hour.

He came back up from the basement and this is what his receipt says. One hour - $130. Cut tree roots to 70'.  He told me it was tree roots. That he had cleared it to the main line. I said it was probably that tree in the front that has the sidewalk pushed way up. He said "Yes. You should see if you can get the city to cut it down. The roots are only going to grow back. You have to grind the stump or they will still grow."

Since it is on the other side of the sidewalk it is a city tree. I had already been planning on fixing the sidewalk so I had documentation on that. The city will pay for half of your sidewalk if you choose one of their contractors. The roots have been an issue when mowing, too. My mower blade would hit it and stall.

He left. I got to thinking. My insurance lady is my cousin by marriage. I had this insurance for over ten years and we discovered this fact about three years ago. She is so nice. I loved her before I knew she was married to my first cousin. I had no idea my first cousin even lived around here. His Mother did not have much to do with my family when we would travel to WV to visit. So, the last name didn't even create a blip when I would hear it spoken.

I called her. YES! Tree roots backing up a sewer drain is covered! I can get my basement area fixed. She gave me the name of a company, call them and get an estimate. She said she was making a claim and that the claims office would be in touch with me.

So today I get to wade in the wet carpet and take pictures. And move things out of the way of the damaged area. The bar is going to have to come out. It is a beautiful bar, but realistically - we don't use it. We really never have. Thirty years ago I would have used it maybe. I have no use for a bar.  The panelling will probably have to come down too. So there is no mold. The carpet has to come up. This should be interesting since this magenta carpet is going to be hard to match the color and it goes all over one full side of the basement. I think it will all have to come up. I am not certain if they will pay for replacing it all. We will see. Maybe I will get something more realistic there. No carpet. Just something sensible. And especially - no magenta! Sheesh!

Welcome to 50!

Another from the museum

Okay. I've been 50 for nearly six months, now. The other morning as I checked my e-mail messages (I have no less than 4 e-mail accounts - don't ask), I saw that my electric bill was very close to 4  times higher than normal. WTF?! My "normal" electric bill is $70 a month. 

I was concerned to say the least. The only thing I could think of that changed in the last month was that my daughter, her boyfriend and his cousin set up the downstairs basement into a gaming room. Complete with 3 X-boxes, 3 TVs, electric guitars, etc.. Sometimes they play into the wee hours of the night and all the lights are on for hours at a time.

Still. That seemed a bit excessive to me. My niece lived with me for over 3 years (using the basement as her bedroom area) and my electric bill was not affected. She didn't leave lights on, but was known to leave curling irons on etc...

I've had a couple of nephews stay with me for a few months at a time - still no great increase in electric. I have a gas furnace and a gas water heater.

One time my dryer ran all night (timer broke) and that barely caused a blip on my electric bill. So, what was causing this excessive amount?

I sent my daughter a text message.  I made sure to tell her that I was not mad, just concerned and we would have to figure out what was making the bill so high.

Of course she became defensive at first - blamed the heater in the downstairs bathroom. I told her that we ran the heater every winter and it has never been an issue before. I told her that perhaps my refrigerator was dying. This was all in text format.

I looked at the bill online again to see what the exact date range was. That's when I saw it. Last months' bill. At first I thought that I paid it late and it was not registering on the bill. Nope. I had not paid it AT ALL! WTF!? This is the first time I have ever done this! 

Oh, my. Now, I have to tell my daughter. But first I had to figure out why I didn't pay it. I had switched all utilities to on-line payments two months ago. I guess it just didn't register or I didn't get one in an e-mail from that utility. Nope. Just checked. I got a notice alright. I just moved it to the utilities folder and promptly forgot about it. I guess.

You would think that somebody who works with and on computers every day would be a bit more aware of on-line banking and bill paying. Not so! I do SO much on-line it figures that some things go by the wayside.

I actually was probably one of the last members of the family to begin on-line payments.  What is up with that? Well, I'll tell you. Since I work with computers and am very generous by nature, I left my wireless router wide open for anybody to use. Almost everyone who visits me has an iPhone or iPad that needs a connection to the Internet. I didn't lock it down with security. Bah, I said. Back then the router was in the basement and the signal died as soon as one walked out my door. Eventually I moved the router upstairs and while enrolling my daughter into college, I thought "It's time to lock it down."  And, I did.

Over the past two years, I have been allowing myself to relax and do a bit more on-line than I used to. It is because I know and read about all the horror stories of stolen identities etc... and I know HOW they happen and it has just taken me a while to trust this stuff.

And between you and me - I actually LIKE the process of writing checks and paying the bills. I KNOW, right?! Who in the world LIKES to pay bills?!  Sigh. I'll rephrase that. If I have the money in the bank, I LIKE the PROCESS of writing checks. I just do. Maybe I should have gone into accounting.

Back to the electric bill. As I looked over the past 12 months, I realize that "normal" has crept up to over $100 a month - to $170 a month. Huh. This past month was actually ONLY $80. It has not been that low since the spring. Stupid A/C and hot flashes!

I decided this warranted an actual phone call instead of a text. I called. My daughter answered. I started with "Now, don't be mad! I'm only  human!"  I was laughing the entire time.  And, I told her what I had done. She yelled "MOM! I've been going nuts running around unplugging everything!" Whoops.

Ah, well. At least I know she will work with me if we ever DO have a problem with utilities. When I related the story to an older and dear friend she quipped "Oh, yeah. You're fifty alright!"  And I always thought the electric company had to worry about the 20-year-old age group not paying their bills.

Cooling off the hydrangea

Yes, I finally went out to Staples and bought another card reader for my daughter's camera's memory stick. The dogs chewed up the camera cable and a card reader is easier to purchase. Less than 24 hours after the purchase I moved my big mammoth computer (still trying to revive it you know) and "voila!" found the card reader I bought her at Christmas.

Yes, folks. My life is the same as yours. Lose something. Go out and buy a new one. Find the old one. Rinse and repeat.

This photo is where I brought some of my hydrangeas in from outside and shot from underneath them looking up towards the ceiling fan.

Sweltering here in Ohio. Due to lack of organization/planning/funds I have not had my furnace/AC checked in a year. My bad. It grinds away. I was so good at having the company come and check it twice a year. Every spring and fall. Without fail. Well, maybe the dogs messing up my downstairs basement to a horrible state might have something to do with it also.

Life goes on after my July blowout. I had so much food left over to get rid of. My daughter and her beau either didn't like the leftovers or they are so much in love with one another they have no appetite, yet. They are planning a camping trip next week-end. Interesting. I am promised pictures of a grass skirt and coconut bra. (Not my daughter wearing them!)

On to planning the reunion. Which is fast approaching. 3 weeks away. We would like to hand over the planning and organizing to somebody closer to the event but we have no takers. So, we plan from a distance and hope for the best.

Movies.

Shutter Island - not as spine tingling as the previews lead you on to believe. A lot of hallucinations and back flashes add to the confusion of the main character's memory. Interesting ending and then a tiny pinch of yet another twist at the very end. Crude language and some male frontal nudity. (No female nudity). The sameness of the uniforms and hairstyles and hats lead me to get a bit confused as to which guard was which. They all looked the same to me! Rather gory in places.

The Book of Eli - sigh. It wasn't "Man on Fire" that's for sure. Although I have to admit - the ending will leave you wanting to watch the movie again for certain clues. I started to watch again, caught a few clues but then was like "No way he could do those things!" G Oldman played the nasty bullying character that he has come to create over the years - same as always. I see that J Beals looks as great as ever. I recognized M Kunis from "That 70's Show". I felt like I knew R Stevenson but looking at imdb.com I can't figure out where. I've not seen any of his priors. The movie bothered me in a couple of places. I was disappointed.

Never missed a meal

They came. Five of them. Big strong sturdy men to work in my basement. One of the first remarks as one of the fellows looked at my dog. "Looks like she never missed a meal!" What? Did you just insult my dog? I said "What? She's our baby and we love her very much!" Humph! She is just built stocky! Sable didn't mind. She loved the guys.

They anchored my basement wall with steel supports and put a new drain system in that empties into my sump pump. Now comes the fun part. Washing the walls down with Clorox and water mix, and painting with waterproof paint. I think if I can choose, I'll choose a deep rust or orange color. Why paint them boring white or yellow?

Now, I have a root/fruit/wine cellar again. Should I dabble in wine? Why not? I'll get a small wine rack and put in there. Although I am not sure how cold it gets. Hmmm. I don't think it freezes in there. It is below ground, so I don't suppose it can. It does have a window. That may not be good for the wine.