#pptt

Let's start with the more exciting thing. It's not exciting in a very good way.

PART ONE: I Don't Have Some of the Power

Thursday morning I had a Doctor's appointment to go to. Before I left, the lights in my Office (which, you may recall, is the room that most people would use as their living room) started flickering and my PC was turning off and on. Well, that's not great.

I just shut everything off and left for my appointment.

I got home a couple of hours later and turned my desk lamp on. It started flickering. My PC did not turn on AT ALL.

Honestly, I was exhausted and had taken the rest of the day off so I just went to bed.

Like a half hour later I started hearing a popping and buzzing coming from my bedroom closet.

The closet which held the fusebox. Errrk.

I quickly located the fuse that was the problem and turned it off. Annnnd of course it was the fuse for both the office and half the living room, the part with all the Internet equipment on it. :v

(Note from later: Also, all of this burnt out my power supply on my computer, which was like, six months old. So I had to replace that, but thank GOD my PC was fine otherwise.)

So I already had Arturo coming that day. I just went to sleep for a couple hours, then when I woke up I pulled out the 'ol hotspot yet again, thanks work.

Right around the exact same time, Arturo arrived as well as Jose, Maria and what I assume was their son.

They got to work staining the fence!! And I showed Arturo what was going on with the fuse. In case you might be thinking that he did something that caused this, he literally had not actually touched the electricity when he'd been there before, we'd just discussed what I wanted done.

After some examination, he told me he wasn't sure he could even find a replacement for the 60-year-old fuse but would go to the speciality shop and try the next day. I sighed and asked him how much it would be to install a whole new fusebox. He said they'd also need to move it outside so it'd be up to code and get inspected. And then I asked how much it would cost to rewire the whole damn house. He gave me a price which sunk my stomach but let me chew on it.

Arturo did tell me that I was damn lucky that I was home when this happened (I hadn't explained that I'd been out for a few hours that morning) because there was a real good chance, especially with the clothes in the closet right by the fuse box, that the house could have caught fire and burned down.

Errrrrrgh. But I believed him, with what I'd been hearing.

He was very cool and rerouted all the power for the office/living room to run on the same circuit as the guest bedroom, which rarely even gets used. So I had internet and power back in the most important parts of my house (after the kitchen.)

So then he got started doing most of the things I'd called him out for originally.

So first of all, I have power on the Patio!! An outlet covered by a little waterproof box! I can plug things in... outside! That runs through the same circuit as the washer/dryer.

He also rewired the outside wall light and ran the wire so my ceiling fan could be installed.

And then...

I have an outlet in my master bathroom! Maybe I'll actually use that bathroom again at some point?

Don't love how the outlet very much doesn't match with the pretty silver plate I got but I'll deal with that later. The important thing is that someone could like, actually blow dry their hair in that bathroom now. :p

And best of all...

Holy CRAP I have LIGHTS in my OFFICE!! Recessed lighting with a DIMMER. It's... so beautiful. I can actually see in this room at night.

(Yes you can see where the "accidental skylight" sas and it's still not painted. We'll get to that.)

The lights are all on the same switch, and like I said, on a dimmer. Honestly, I'm still not used to it.

It's actually I think now TOO bright. I think when Arturo comes back I'm going to ask about getting the front 2 lights on a different switch from the back 2. I just keep them on the dimmest setting. And when I go to bed, I turn them off and turn the desk lamp back on because I like to give the illusion that somone might be awake, and the recessed lights are way too bright shining down the hall into my bedroom.

I've also forgotten they're there and forgotten to turn them on in the morning like, three of the seven days that I've had them, lol. I remember eventually.

But I do really, really love having them. It was a stupid little dream of mine for so long that actually came true. Like the fence.

HEY speaking of the fence...

Part Two: Dark Walnut

In the meantime... staining was happening!!

Took a picture mid-work! Wanted a comparison picture. I absolutely loved the color going on!

And then it dried!

And it's different, but I STILL love it!

Here's some pics I just took tonight, featuring Feral Peter:

So yeah, the neighbors fence got stained, too. We had permission. The older wood does not at all match the new wood. But it's fine. At least it's closer to the same color now. I can live with it.

A little piece of drama that happened after this is that when they sprayed, I know they used some cardboard to try to mitigate the mist coming from it. But when they sprayed the gate in the front next to my corner neighbor (who already had the fence), some of it still drifted to their white SUV in their parking lot.

My neighbor was very cool when she let me know. I offered to pay for her car detailing. The Detail didn't get it out. Erk.

I did some research and let her know that rubbing alcohol or paint thinner should work so sayeth Car Dudes on the Internet. I also had a pair of Clay detailing mitts overnighted for them because that was also supposed to help.

I should text her tomorrow to make sure that it's all good now. I've asked her a couple of times to send me the total they spent and a method to pay them, haven't heard back.

Anyway, hopefully that bit is done. I need to talk to Joel about it still.

And yes, there's still all sorts of stuff back in the yard. I do need to drag that old rusty grill to the cub still, too. TBH that was the last I've seen so far of Jose and Maria. Let's skip ahead to Sunday...

Part Three: Sunday Visitor

I sent Joel a long text of "Here's what needs to be done still" on Friday. I'd noticed a little hole in the facing on my roof, there's some dirt and garbage that need to be moved/thrown away, and most importantly, there were three small leaks in the patio roof that needed to be taken care of before the patio ceiling could go on.

Joel showed up Sunday and fixed the little hole and leaks himself. We talked about the gutters that need to go up and when the ceiling can get done. He said sometime this week, it hasn't happened yet. I just texted him.

I also talked to my insurance about getting a discount now because of all the work. I need to send them receipts/work orders and pictures. Waiting to get the receipts/WOs from Joel. Don't worry -- I haven't paid him in full yet. If he wants to get the rest of the money, the works gotta be done, and I do believe it'll get done soon.

*Update*: Patio should be done tomorrow. Gutters on Saturday.

Part Four: I'm Going to Get the Right Power

I talked to my parents Friday morning, also. Talked through my finances, and the cost of the electrical work. Asked some friends who had theirs done and they agreed that Arturo's price was fair.

Decided to pull some money out of a savings account I really didn't want to touch, but decided that having my house not catch fire and burn down was worth it. Also to just finally have all my electronics grounded.

So I called Arturo back and asked him when he could come rewire the whole damn house.

We're still working on the date. And I keep a real close ear on the closet for any more 60+ year old fuses failing until then.

Savings... who needs savings? :p So that'll be a whole new update.

Part Five: Conquering the Mountain

OK so other news... the Garage and Laundry Mountain.

Wednesday night I had gotten almost all of the clothes out of Laundry Mountain and taken into the Guest Bedroom. I did a couple of loads of laundry along the way, too.

Friday I spent a little more time doing the rest of the major parts of the cleanout. Got all clothes out.

The towels are in their own pile in the garage still, and the sheets/blankets/pillowcases in another. But the clothes are... being dealt with first.

I threw away about three 12 gallon garbage bags of old, ratty, worn out or stained clothes.

I set aside about 2 bags for donate. That pile is going to grow.

Once the Mountain was inside, I then set to sorting it. Underthings and socks were semi-sorted in the garage originally, but I finished that. Pants went into two piles: Ones that fit, and ones that didn't. Then all shirts got sorted the same way. Coverups/jackets went into one pile and dresses into another.

Pants that were too small all got put away into the guest room dresser, as did a big drawer of shirts. Anything new that was too big got bagged up.

There's still a TUB of Too Small shirts sitting in the room. I thought I'd be able to put them in the dresser, but instead I discovered two drawers full of jeans that was given by someone a long time ago that I had completely forgotten about. Score. Those stayed. Gonna be a big money saver later on. :)

I got all the dresses and most of the jackets/coverups hung up. Socks sorted into pairs / singles.

And that's kind of where we are now. Big pile of shirts that fit, and I need to pull all the clothes out of my bedroom dresser for sorting, as well. Then things can start getting put away and I can make bigger decisions about what I want vs. what it's time to get rid of for what still fits.

For now.

That's a whole other post I've been meaning to make for a few months. Maybe when all this house drama is done.

Tuesday Trash Day the trash can was totally full. My recycle bin is totally full. I left about six more bags of trash, plus two old laundry hampers full, and several large boxes out for the bulk trash removal guys to take care of.

Look, the garage is still a disaster, but it's like, only 50% of the disaster it was a week and a half ago.

Once the clothes are dealt with in the next day or three, the towels and then the sheets/pillowcases are next. All of the rest of the STUFF in the garage can wait until it's not 100 degrees outside again. I've made such a huge dent that it shouldn't be too hard to finish... later.

Part Five: Odds and Ends.

I've done a bit of other cleanup. Tonight I grabbed some trashbags and did three (only partially filled but HEAVY!) bags of random garbage, mostly big rocks of cement, from my backyard. It still doesn't look great, but at least there's not chunks of debris scattered around. Aside from the obvious things in those pics above.

There's obviously a lot to be done to make the backyard nice, and I don't know when I'll have the money for it, but i did price out the one other big thing in the BY I've been dying to do since the day I moved in. It'll be about $700.

But I'm finally gonna do it.

Also, life is finding a way. From the ruins of my fallen tree...

Hard to tell but you can see that sprout in the first pic above of my completed fence. The tree that fell over in the storm onto the fence is trying to regrow.

I think I'm going to let it. Let's see what happens.