Monday, December 16, 2013

And the saga continues...

Have you heard or read about my washer/dryer rants on Facebook? Maybe so. But just for fun, let's recap what this past week has thrown at me. Don't worry, it has a positive spin (no pun intended!) at the end of my ranting :)

Let's recap: Ross & I rented a W/D in the apartment b/c we didn't want to end up buying a unit we couldn't use in a future house (aka electric vs. gas dryer). When we moved into the house, we moved the W/D with us but ultimately couldn't hook up the dryer b/c 1) we are redoing the laundry room including moving the water lines and dryer vent and 2) the dryer plug wasn't compatible with the new plug we installed. So I stalled. I held off on doing laundry for as long as possible. At about week 3 or 4, I did one load in the washer, and had to line dry undies, socks and some pj's. They took 6 days to dry. And they dried 'crunchy.' O well... at least we had clean underwear!

So I kept telling myself that I could hold off until the brand new units were delivered, which was scheduled for Saturday, 12/14, which was only a week or two away by that point.

In the meantime, we had to return the rented W/D which were sitting in the middle of my kitchen for 3 weeks. It took Appliance Warehouse FOUR attempts to come pick them up. Frustrating. The first time, Ross was home all day but they didn't show. Second attempt, they went to the apartment address. Third attempt they didn't call first, and being that they only work during my work hours, I was at work (duh?). Attempt #4 on Friday, I took a few hours off of work so I could wait at home for them. I would no longer rely on them calling first. And they finally came and hauled the w/d away. Hallelujah! (and they also didn't call first again, good thing I stopped relying on them :)

My W/D was set to be delivered the very next day. I was dreaming of dancing socks. Had my entire weekend planned out to see how many loads I coud get done. I was so excited for my pretty new front loaders to arrive! And then? The delivery company called. They damaged both my washer and dryer while loading them onto the truck. Wahhh wahhhh.

So then I had to talk to Samsung, the manufacturer of my new w/d. Unfortunately, my washer was on backorder until February. Noooo!!! They advised that I go to Home Depot (where I bought them from) and see if they had any other models in stock that could be delivered sooner. Home Depot price matched me on a slightly better set. Yay! But? It was also on backorder until January :( So here I lie. Unable to make the world turn, ha! I was defeated. I must wait another 5 weeks, so now I need a Plan B.

That's when I had my 'aha' moment. Why not go back to our apartment complex to use their W/D's in their laundry center? Yes, we no longer live there, but I was desperate. And I had to pay for them anyway, so what did it hurt? THEN... I went to the apartment complex next to ours, which is much larger, and used their laundry center!! So the good news? I was able to finish 8 loads of laundry in 3 hours. Woohoo! But I did spend $30 in quarters :/ A sacrifice I was willing to make!

And if you ask why I didn't just go to a Laundromat, it's because the only one I knew about is in a sketchy part of town overtaken by foreigners. Aren't they always? No thx.

I am now one happy camper (with clean undies). Just picture me driving all over town using any washing machine in sight, lol. And I'm happy to report that this Plan B shall carry me over until my new set is delivered in a few weeks.

Desperate times call for desperate measures....

*Kristin*

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Patience

God grant me the will to be patient.

I have not been a very nice person for the past few weeks. I'm stressed beyond my limit. I've snapped at Ross countless times. I'm stressed about the house, the projects we're trying to accomplish, about family visiting, about dakota and everything in between.

Yesterday was another breaking point. I went grocery shopping after work, came home to immediately start on some projects that had me covered head to toe in drywall dust. Got another headache (which seem to be on and off for the past few weeks now), showered, only to discover the water wouldn't get past luke warm, then finally sat down at 8:30 only to discover that dinner was nowhere in sight. Just once it would be nice if Ross would offer to cook dinner.

On top of it all, Dakota has been acting up every morning. I spend more time cleaning up after her than I care to admit. She's 5 & 1/2 years old and I still feel like she's not housebroken. Frustrating beyond words.

We have no hot water this morning, so I asked Ross to call the plumber. He thinks the burner under the water heater just blew out since we've had some pretty rainy/windy weather the past few days. And being that the water heater is in the crawl space, it doesn't have a lot of protection. I hope that's all it is b/c I can't take one more problem in this house.

It's been almost 5 weeks since I've had a washer/dryer. The new washer/dryer are being delivered saturday, and I can't wait another minute. Not only is 5 weeks a long time to wait for ordinary laundry, but when you're renovating a house, we have stacks upon stacks of dirty work clothes, rags, towels, etc. building up on top of the normal laundry.

And last but not least, we may need to look into purchasing a new furnace. I thought we could wait, but Ross wants to pounce on a deal he found. Our savings is below the thresold that I'm comfortable with. I knew that buying a house brings initial costs but I just want to STOP spending money.

I'm just praying that all of this will pass and over the next few months things will start to turn around. Projects will finish, family will visit, holidays will pass, and we can start saving again.

God grant me the will to be patient.

*Kristin*

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Thanksgiving and Life in the New House

Well I really was going to update on how the new house has been going, but then remembered that a holiday just passed and could update on that too!

Ross & I had no plans for Thanksgiving. We were actually relieved and happy that we weren't traveling during the busy season. So we stayed in Bham and ate out for our Turkey Dinner. I didn't really have the energy or resources for cooking in our house yet, so eating out was the plan. The buffet I was excited about was already booked, so we made reservations at a different sit-down restaurant and $100 later, were thoroughly dissapointed ....Shoulda/coulda/woulda went to Cracker Barrel! Ho Hum. It gives us something to laugh about at least now, as soon as our wallet stops hurting. Afterwards, Ross took me to see Catching Fire. He hates these movies as much as the Twilight series so I was happy that he was willing to bear it! :) But I loved the movie and it lived up to my expectations! And my popcorn was soaked in butter. It made up for our crappy turkey dinner. I think this holiday was the first time we truly realized how much we  miss our families on the holiday. I always knew when we lived in Pgh how lucky & fortunate we were to be able to celebrate with both families at every holiday. Maybe again one day! Until then, we need to make some of our own traditions.

Anyway, living in the house has been ok. I know, I sound so pessimistic, but I'm stressed, and it's overwhelming.... again. Just like the last house. There will always be a million projects to do. And I still wonder if we should've just bought new. Yes, new houses also have their projects (I've been told), BUT, at least they have new appliances, new plumbing, clean carpet, etc.  Ross & I have one out of 3 bathrooms up and running, though we're already realizing it's almost a complete demo job. The kitchen still makes no sense to me. It is HUGE but laid out so completely wrong. I have to walk from one end of the kitchen to the other to get dinner made. And never seem to have enough counter space. Another complete demo job. But again, we just don't have the means to make any of those renovations, not for awhile. I guess I'll resort to camping out at the nearest home improvement store, waiting for a home improvement show host to ask me if I need any work done at my house!! "Yes," I beg, "Yes!!!" Ah, wait. Those shows only take place in Canada. Ever notice that?

We are however making progress in the laundry room/mudroom. It will hopefully be as nice as all of my pinterest inspiration when it's done! A project that was supposed to take 2-3 weeks though is now on Week 4 and we still have at least 2-3 weeks left. Bad planning! And I haven't had a washer/dryer for 3 weeks now. Ross doesn't seem to think this is a problem. Ugh. I'm trying my best to be patient.

Hopefully in a few weeks I can breathe a sigh of relief. Fingers crossed.

*Kristin*