Yesterday morning we got up to go to Julia and Emma’s school. They have a ‘walk’ every year where the whole school walks around the block. It’s to promote health and the school I think, but it’s always an added bonus to be able to disrupt traffic with a legitimate cause.
I made coffee to take with me before we went, then forgot to pour it, so it sat all day yesterday in the coffee maker and I’ve given it new life just now via the microwave. Day old, microwaved coffee. That’s worse than Sev coffee I think. No one can accuse me of being a coffee snob.
Life trundles on it would seem. The most important development would be the start of the hockey season. Always invigorating. Maybe the Habs can actually pull it off this year.
I’m beginning to feel a bit like one of those people on one of those home renovation shows – I’ve got many irons in the fire. I’ve got the ongoing basement renovation project, which technically isn’t behind schedule, because there was NO schedule to begin with, but I dare say not much progress is being made. I had the Permacrete guys here again yesterday to fix yet another crack in the foundation wall. (Insert cash register noise here). $525.
I had one of them who also does foundation work give me an estimate to have my foundation dug up, the drain tile replaced and the exterior waterproofed and insulated. Something I should really have done before I finish the interior. (Register noise.) Roughly $10 Grand. (Special note: to have this done would also mean I’d need to tear out my back decks and front porch and then replace them with something – I’ve no idea what yet, though I know it won’t be free.)
I’ve got to call today to get the insulation guys over to boost the insulation in my attic from R11 to R50 so all my heat doesn’t go outside. (…) $1500.
The other day Lyn and I realized that our pool that I’d covered and winterized only had about a foot of water left in it, hence, it’s been leaking and there’s a leak in the liner somewhere. I’ve spent chunks of time the past few days wading around in a foot of freezing cold water feeling along the liner for a leak with my hands. When I can’t feel my feet anymore or my hands start to hurt too bad, I get out for a few minutes and let the blood come back in, then go in again. We’ll probably need a new liner or at the very least I’ll have to patch this one if I can find the leak. The clock is ticking though as the pool’s integrity is shot without water in it and I need to have water in it over the winter or take it down completely. If I take it down, I’ll have to get a new liner next year, as this one won’t fit. Pretty soon, the water in it now will freeze and then I’ll be really screwed. (…@&%!…) $ Priceless.
I’ve still got to get my wood in under cover for the year, split a bunch of kindling and rake and mulch just under a quarter ton of leaves.
To top it all off, after the election, we’ve now got a Conservative minority government here again, and though it’s got nothing to do with my home woes, it means that – well – we’ve got a Conservative Prime Minister which in-and-of-itself is enough reason to put the plastic on the rotting, mouldy windows and stay inside and drink all winter.
Lyn was up all night with Olivia, so I’m out here with Colin the Destroyer who has run about the ridiculously cramped living room and emptied everything that contained anything onto the floor, with no intention of actually playing with any of it and is now sitting idle in a trance making phhbbbt noises with this fingers, drooling and watching Rollie Polie Olie. Make’s a man proud. Also on the list of things to do is complete the paperwork to get Colin and Olivia U.S. Passports, though, if they could see him right now, I doubt they’d want him. Well, actually, I take that back – they must have given one to Dubya, so…
Cheap shot, I guess, but it’s really easy to sit up here and poke fun, and when you’re trying to avoid the laundry list of things that need doing, you always take the shortest route to procrastination. I mean procrastinators are by nature, lazy, right?
Finally, I at least got my garbage man to start picking up my trash again. He had got into the habit of pulling up, looking at the bags, kicking one, then determining that it was too heavy and then he’d drive off. After confirming with the Solid Waste Authority that the limit is indeed 50 lbs and weighing all my bags (none more than 30), I had succinct conversation with the garbage company contracted to service our house and the lady asked that I ‘distribute the trash amongst more bags’ because the driver was having trouble with them. I mean, this guy showed up a few times on crutches. Maybe it’s time for a career change? I agreed to do so, but added that should any bags remain, ever again, I’d be calling the Solid Waste Authority, and not her (read: contract goes bye-bye). I issued a public works smackdown.
Then yesterday in the melee to get to the ‘walk’ I forgot to put the bags out at all and missed the pickup until next week. Grumble. Sigh.
So, what’s in your wallet?