Moving Day

The house is done.  I realize it has been several months since I last posted, and as you can see, the house is done.  The lawn is not in, the final grading is not done, but that will be happening in May.  The builder was supposed to have this house finished in November, but didn't have it "done" until January.  And, even then, there were several things that needed to be finished yet.  As of today, we are still waiting for two things to happen.  And this is what people hate about building.  I will not build again.  It has been stressful, worrying, perplexing, aggravating, and sometimes, absolutely, astoundingly, head-scratchingly,  stupid.  We were at the house almost every single day, and even still stupid, and more likely, apathetic, mistakes occurred.  Neither Scott nor I are experts at building a house, which is why we hired a builder.  So it's amazing to me that we were able to figure things out that the "experts" either couldn't, or didn't, want to.  Head-shaking perplexing...

But, as much as building was stressful, moving is proving to be its better, more insidious, champion.  I will start out by saying we have a lot of stuff.  Scott and I have varied interests, and that is reflected in the amount of boxes we are trying to move after 24 years at our current house.  I severely underestimated how long it takes to pack a packed room.  We've postponed the movers once because we weren't ready, and are really trying to get everything boxed by the time they show up in a month.  Just our books alone (seven bookcases) are enough to make me go running into the night.

I think that people should sort through their stuff every five years just to avoid the giant clean-out that happens when you move.  I've taken a huge car-load of stuff to donation center, and while my closet is stunningly perfect now, I know that it won't last long.

But, what is really perplexing to us, is why we suck at moving?  I keep thinking we should have had this done in a day, but in reality it is going to take much, much longer.  What are we doing wrong?  We've had a do-it-yourself moving truck three times now, and we're still not done!  I just don't get it.  We've both resigned ourselves to dealing with a year of moving, and we'll need to put our old house on the market with stuff in it, I guess.  Maybe if we have a hard deadline, that will get us to move our stuff.

I'm going to need moving recovery after this.  I'd rather build again, than move again.  And, with that, I have to go make friends with some tape and a box.  Happy moving, my moving friends, I hope your move is going better. 

There be walls here...

Hole

Floor joists

Walls

So, I wasn't kidding when I said we were going to build a house last November.  I haven't written in awhile, and much has happened in the seven months since then.  The builders started toward the end of May, and have progressed to the point of it being a recognizable house.  We built an ICF home, (insulated concrete form), and the basement and upstairs walls are solid concrete.  10 inches for the basement, and six inches for the first floor.  We've been pretty happy with the builder and the form system and hope to be in the house by November of 2016.

We were warned by almost everyone we told that we were building about how horrible it will be.  But, we haven't had anything so horrible as to make us run off into the night stark raving mad and regretting our decision.  It has been busy, filled with decisions, filled with meetings and plans, lots of worry (but good worry), and just generally busy and exciting.  I have no real complaints about the builder or the home building process.  However, what I do have a problem with, no one ever warned us about.  The neighbors.

Now, I'm not talking about normal neighbor stuff.  Dogs barking, kids yelling, or fanatical devotion to the lawn.  We've had them where we are now, and I'm sure we'll have them where we are going to, also.  What I wasn't prepared for was the outright rude behavior that people seem to feel is their God-given right when dealing with a construction site and the new homeowners.  My first neighbor interaction was with an older man walking his dog.  He seemed nice at first, but soon proclaimed himself the "watch-dog" of my site.  Not for advocacy in the construction crew doing things correctly, but to make sure that Scott and I don't put a metal roof on the house, use cheap materials, vinyl flooring, or Formica counter-tops.  His genial questions soon turned to interrogation style questions about what we were putting in the house.  Rapid-fire questions, without really listening to my answers were being shot out of his mouth like I had to pass some kind of test.  I answered a few at first, "no, it will be a standard shingle roof," but then I thought, "why should I tell him what's going in my house?"  So I did the first defensive thing I could think of.  I purposely lied about what we were putting in the house.  And then fired back at him every question he asked me.  What kind of counters does he have in his house?  Flooring choice? Roof?  Cabinets?  He left as soon as I demanded to know what his counter tops were made of.  I've seen him twice more, walking by and eye-ballin' the site, but he only says hi now and doesn't really interact anymore.  Not sure if he got the hint, or he disapproves and can't do anything about it.

I'm not naive about people coming onto the site, looking around, and generally being nosey and rude neighbors.  Let me say now that I have never gone onto a construction site unless I was invited by the owner.  I've looked at sites from the road, public areas, or places where the public should stay.  I find it not only rude and disrespectful for people to trespass onto private sites, but I find it a serious character flaw in these people who nose and poke around in places they shouldn't be.

My next interaction was with the neighbor who is directly behind us.  This is the one that upsets me the most because we will be living next to these people.  Granted, we have both of our lots between us, around 100 feet between the houses, but they are still our back neighbors.  Scott and I went by the site to collect our cooler that we had brought for the day.  The construction guys poured the upstairs walls and it was a hot day.  We brought soda.  After everyone had left, we drove over to see the house and to, as I said, get our cooler.  As soon as we pull up, I see a Big Wheel in the road.  There's a little girl, around seven or eight, running around on the lot.  I got out of the car, went up to her and told her to get off of the lot, that she could look at the house from the street, and to not come back here.  I was mad.  I will say I was really mad.  She did as I told her, but kept looking up at the house.  I asked her if there was anyone else here, and she said, "yes, my dad and my brother."  I took a deep breath, told here to stay put, and marched up to the front door.
  
   

Front door, day of pour, with living room window in distance

There was a man INSIDE my house, looking out what will eventually be the living room window, and a five year old boy with NO shirt OR shoes on who was running all-out in circles and jumping over the bracing that was holding up the walls.  The dad didn't hear me approach so when I yelled out, "CAN I HELP YOU??!" he jumped slightly and turned around.  "Uh, no, uh, are you the homeowner?" he asked back.  "Yes." was all I said.  He stammered something to the kid, who immediately started pitching a fit about having to come out of the house.  They had to climb through the bracing in the doorway (that alone should have been the first sign to keep out), in the process stepping on the freshly poured concrete door frame.  When I pointed this out to him, he muttered, "oh, sorry" so insincerely, I think he did it on purpose.  This did nothing for my current raging and I asked him point blank if he was one of my neighbors.  "Yeah, I live a couple of houses over" was his reply.  I asked him his name and he told me his first name.  I then went on a diatribe about private property, construction sites, kids, BAREFOOT kids, and that he had better have them up-to-date on tetanus shots.  I finished with the spectacular "you know, I would just prefer it if you and your kids don't come onto the property again."

When Scott (who knew better than to try and calm me) came up, I introduced Scott to (blank) and said, "he's from a few houses over."  I was barely civil, but had calmed down a bit.  It was then that (blank) tells us, "well, actually, I'm the neighbor behind you."  I just looked at him and asked if he was trying to take in the view of us looking at his lot?  He at least had the decency to look away.

They left after several awkward minutes in which he tried to tell us about how great the area is, how long they've been there, and blah, blah, blah.  All I could think of was, why the hell he would be so inconsiderate to his kids and us, and so rude, AND a liar?  He had to have known I would have found out who he was.  We posted a "keep out" sign, but the kid was throwing such a fit about leaving his personal playground, that I'm sure those kids are over there whenever they can be.  I don't think they are there when the construction guys are, but they are there when they think no one else is.

The third neighbor is stealing the lumber.  I "caught" him in the act last week when I was there taking pictures after the bracing had been removed.  When I asked him what he was doing, he said he wanted the "scraps" that were garbage anyway.  I told him in no uncertain terms to put them back and to stay off of the property and to stop stealing and filching from me.  He protested that he wasn't stealing, but yet had the lumber in his hands.  I signed a contract and forked over piles of cash, so yeah, he's stealing from me.  Not the builder, not some anonymous corporate business, or even the land fill.  The lumber is ON MY PROPERTY!

So this is my rant and vent.  When the HELL did it become socially acceptable to go to people's private property and just take what you want, or trespass and treat it like it is your kids' personal playground, or think that it's ok to just outright steal?  Have we really lost our sense of self-respect and belief in the Golden Rule?  Do unto others and all that?  I asked him if I could come over to his construction site (yep, he's building, too) and take what I need?  I'm going to need light fixtures and cabinet hardware pretty soon, can I just come over and help myself to scraps?  And who decides what is a scrap?  Stuff lying on the sub-floor might be a scrap, right?  Who cares if the fixture is STILL IN THE BOX????

The destructive force that is, and has, swept this country of I-want-now-why-should-I-work-and-wait bullcrap is to blame.  Those whiny-faced millennials and occupy everything jackholes who think they are supreme snowflakes because they were never taught by their thieving parents to work for anything and they have a right to everything so just take it, by force if necessary, are to blame.  There's two whole generations of this mentality to deal with, and it is so insidious that I don't think we'll ever get rid of it now.  Scott and I have worked VERY HARD for everything we are putting into this house.  We worked, saved, waited, and didn't STEAL stuff to get where we are.  And for these thieving, disrespectful jackholes to come onto the property and think they have a right to stuff is so galling to me that I can't even get past they are my neighbors and I should attempt to be civil to them.  It is NOT ok to steal, trespass, be disrespectful, badger, bully, and generally be a jackhole.  I live by the Golden Rule as much as I can, but I know I'm not perfect.  However, you will never catch  me trespassing IN my neighbor's new house or stealing their construction materials.  I don't even care if they have a metal roof, either.

Nothing to say....

So it has been a little over two months from my last blog.  I'm guessing no one missed me, but if you did, awwwww,thanks!  The trouble is, I just haven't had that much to say.  Maybe I'm mellowing with age, or there just isn't enough going on in my life that I need to vent about.  That's good, and well, who am I kidding, there's always something to vent about.  I just haven't had the motivation to write about it.

We are building a house.  We are very close to signing a contract, and I imagine we'll do that in the next week or two.  It's at the lawyer's office now (the contract), being checked for some weird or bizarre thing that would come back to bite us in the keister later on.  Scott and I are really getting into the whole thing now, and are past the sticker shock of how much it costs to build a house.  We have the lot, paid for in full, just waiting for action.  It's a nice lot, level, bigger than our current lot, and I'm finding that I'm really looking forward to the building process.  I know it is supposed to be a very stressful time, and I think it will be, but I'm really anticipating getting this done.  We were talking about where stuff is going and laying out the house yesterday, and it really started hitting home for me.  This is it, once we sign, we'll be put in the builder's queue and off we go!

We are building an ICF home.  Insulated Concrete Form house.  They will build the "frame" out of foam sections, pour in concrete between the form walls, and let it set.  Both the foundation and the exterior walls will be made this way.  Then, the interior walls will be traditional, except for the wall between the LR and master BR.  That will have sound dampening insulation in it.  Mainly so Scott can play his video games later at night after I go to bed.  One of the hazards of waking up at 4am, is that I got to bed around 9pm.  Scott doesn't go to bed that early, so yeah, he's doing his gaming thing or watching tv. Anyway...  ICF will also make the media room almost sound proof so he can crank that 120lb sub-woofer all he wants and the neighbors shouldn't hear a thing.

I will be doing the painting, when it gets to that point.  My hope is that I can get in there to paint before they put in the flooring, wood trim, doors, or anything else we don't want painted.  Then, I can just tape off the windows, and the use a sprayer to prime and paint hopefully in two weeks time.  It's a bigger ranch style house, so it will take some time to paint.  And prime.  I haven't forgotten how much paint is sucked up with new drywall.  Luckily, the lot is only six miles south of us, so it shouldn't be a big problem to go there right after work to get stuff done, check on progress, and take pictures.  It should be interesting to see how things go together.

I am not looking forward to the actual move.  We have a lot of stuff that needs going through, sorting, and packing.  I think we'll be getting a POD or container of some sort and then packing that,  moving it and unpacking at our pace.  The furniture, big stuff, appliances, and bulky, heavy stuff we are going to have moved professionally.  Neither of us will be lifting that stuff.

I can't wait to set up  my room.  I can finally put stuff in a permanent system of organization instead of just leaving things in bags and waiting.  Plus, I have a lot of stuff in my room now that doesn't belong in here, that is taking up space, and needs to be in other parts of the house.  That will be nice to get my room organized so when I have friends over, we can actually do project stuff in my room instead of crowding at the DR table.

So, that's about it for now.  I will have pics and stories as they come through, and it will be interesting to see if I will be as positive about the whole process once we're done.  Hopefully, 2016 will be the year of the move, gone smoothly, and our old house will sell within a week.  Well, we'll see about that...

Yeah, it's going to hurt a lot....

I like the doctor I see for my elbows.  He's a nice guy and he tells you like it is.  Yesterday (Aug 11), I got my third, and probably final, shot in my elbow.  It is extremely painful.  Unlike a knee or shoulder (I've had both) shot, there is no lidocaine in the elbow shot because there isn't enough space for both that and the medicine.  So, he's just pretty much ramming in medicine in a space not meant for anything to be rammed in to.  He tells me, "yeah, it's going to hurt a lot."  And, it did.  However, the upside is that after a few days, the tendinitis disappears for hopefully forever, but I know it will come back.  So I enjoy the pain-free time as long as I have it.  When the first twinges of inflammation come back, I know the ride is done.  Then it becomes the battle of how long I want to put up with the pain until I do something about it.

He suspects, well, actually knows that my chain mailling (CM) is the culprit to my elbow woes.  I'm inclined to believe that there are other things that are causing my problems, but I don't disagree that CM is also contributing.  My right elbow started bothering me last November when I was snow shoveling.  That never bothered me before that even though I've been CM for years.  I have come to believe that it is a mixture of house work, carrying in heavy bags, and pulling weeds that are the big culprits to my issues.  Why?  Because those activities hurt the most when I do them.  My elbows don't really hurt when I CM.  After I'm done, yes, but not while I'm doing the actual work.  When I pull a weed, it hurts right away.

I have been working on a project that I would like to eventually enter into the Bead Dreams contest through Bead & Button.  I was hoping for a 2016 entry, but I'm not so sure I can CM for the length of time I have left.  So maybe 2017.  It is a chain maille shawl, done in cobalt blue anodized aluminum rings 19g 3/16" inner diameter (ID).  I've never made clothing before, so I'm going from the view point of making squares for the body of the shawl and then I'll have to figure out how to make the neck.  I'd also like to put a hood on it, but I'll have to see if I have enough rings.

I made the mistake of ordering rings in two different orders, and yep, they are two different colors.  I'm not sure how noticeable it will be in the final piece, but I can see it, and so can Scott and the PT person.  She asked me if I made the stripes on purpose.  So, I think that piece will have to go on a sleeve or part that isn't looked at first.  I spent an hour yesterday opening all 175 remaining packets of 500 rings each and mixed them all together in a big bucket.  That way, any color differences will be mixed in and will not be noticeable.

I haven't been told to give-up CM.  So, now that I have both elbows under some control, I'm going to try and keep them that way.  I have warm-up exercises and time limits so that hopefully, I can continue in my favorite hobby for a long time yet.  We gain pleasure in life by doing things we love.  And if this hobby of mine becomes too painful, that's going to be a very sad day for me, indeed.  And a day that will hurt more than getting a shot in my elbow.  Yeah, that day, it's going to hurt a lot...





 

Enjoying the summer

It's been over a month since I've written anything, but in my defense, I have been, well, very lazy.  It's the first summer in seven years where I haven't had a summer class and, quite frankly, I've been putzing around doing house chores, yard work, car stuff, and, well, starting to build a house.  We closed on a lot on May 15th and will be moving to Belgium (Wisconsin, not the country).  A small town of about 2200 people in northern Ozaukee county.  About 1000 more people than Random Lake, so that will be a bit different.  We can see Lake Michigan from out lot as we're only about 2 miles away.  Now we have to find a builder.

We've met with one already and rough-sketched out a house.  We are waiting for prices now.  We will be meeting with another in the next week or so and will repeat the same process.  They all have their own plans and we'll have to customize what we want to one of their plans.  I think we are going to meet with four builders just to make sure we are within price ranges and are consistent in what we want to do.  Everyone we talk to tells us horror stories about building, but I'm kind of looking forward to seeing all the choices and how a house is built.  I'm lucky in that I will be passing by on my way home (Scott, too) and will get to stop several times a week to see how things are progressing.  I plan on taking lots of pictures and will be doing some of the finish work like painting.  We are hoping to be in the house by next year.

What I'm not looking forward to is moving.  OMG.  We have a lot of stuff, and I'm terrible at packing, sorting, and boxing.  It was a nightmare moving from our apartment in Grafton to the house in Random 22 years ago, and we have a crap-load more stuff now.  What I am thinking of doing is getting a container from one of those moving container companies and just loading that thing up and having them move the container.  We'll hire movers for the big and heavy stuff, but our breakable and highly collectable stuff we'll move ourselves.  Oyo.  We plan on selling our current house when it is empty because it is small and looks crowded when it has stuff in it.  And, then I can do a complete clean so that potential buyers will be impressed with that, too.  I know when we were looking for houses, the ones that were spotless were more attractive to us than the ones that needed some help.  I know it is a psychological thing, but it made a difference.

I saw my first "back-to-school" sign yesterday.  My heart jumped for a split second until I realized, "it's not for me!"  I also got official word last week that UWM has given me the final clearance for my degree.  It's official and my diploma will be mailed in a few weeks.  That is good news, indeed.  I'm really enjoying not having to do homework in the summer and am slowly getting back to doing the things I used to do every summer.  Both cars are washed and waxed, I'm starting to get the deadwood out of the hedges and lilacs, I'm weeding my gardens, and things are looking a bit less shabby.  This weekend I'm tackling the snack bar and dining room table.  Oh, the projects we make for ourselves...

Happy 4th of July everyone!  Party safe, and beware of home made fireworks....

Graduation, Anniversary, and Party Planning

May 2015 UWM Graduation Nicki and Scott

Last Sunday, May 17th, I finally graduated college.  It was a long, convoluted road to get to graduation, but I did it, and I'm happier and better for it.  I don't think any major changes will happen in my life as I'm happy with what I'm doing for a living, and quite frankly the thought of starting a new job is too exhausting for me right now.  I just can't fathom going out there and starting all over again.  I've made peace with things I don't like about my job and have come to the realization that I'll have those no matter where I go.  You can run all you want to different jobs, but ultimately, you'll never outrun them.  It's a part of life.

On June 9th, Scott and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.  Yes, I was a wee tot when I got married...  Anyway, we decided to have a combined party for both big events because people aren't going to want to come to two parties in a short span of time.  Especially the out of towners.  So, we have a cross-section of folks coming and we'll have to have name tags for everyone.  Odd, but it should be interesting.  Planning a party is not so much fun, and I'm looking forward to the day.  It is going to be outside at Virmond Park on June 6th and hopefully, it will not rain.  We have a shelter, but if it rains hard, that might just spoil things.  Although, there's beer, food, and games, so maybe not.

Now that I'm done with school, I have had almost every person I tell that to ask me what I'm going to do in "all my free time?"  I'm never sure how to answer this, because as a non-traditional student, I have the same responsibilities and life commitments as they do.  Work, home, husband, family, bills, lawn work, car crap, and all the other things make life, life.  I had them before, during, and will have them after college, too.  Just like they did.  We are going to be building a house, so that's usually my answer to the question, but I still feel like they are expecting something more or different.  I didn't go to college to get a different job.  I went to correct a life mistake I could still correct, but when you tell people that, they get uncomfortable.  I don't know if they have issues they feel they should fix, or if they can't believe someone my age would go to college just to go.  I would say that education is never a waste of time or energy, but I get the feeling that some feel it is.  That I could have somehow done something "better" with that time and money.  I guess one could argue about the money issue, but when a life is examined, would it be better to "waste" money on college or something else entirely, like gambling, or cars, or clothes, or vacations, or even interior decorations.  It comes down to what you value in your life.  I value intelligence and knowledge.  I really don't care if I have an older car or clothing, or don't have the latest in home interior decorating.  I really don't need $50 throw pillows.  But our society has placed value on these things, so I still get judged by those qualities, or lack of them.

I do know that I will pick-up my hobbies I had to abandon when I went back.  I was an avid quilter, and I love scrap-booking, and, of course, chain maille.  I have completed several projects and am going back to a long-term project of making a shawl.  If it's good enough, I want to enter it into the Bead & Button Show's competition they have every year.  I have to complete the project first, and figure out how to seam the shoulders and neck onto the piece.  Tricky, tricky.

What am I going to do with all that "free" time?  Read.  Quilt.  Chain maille.  Scrap. Build a house.  Sell my current house.  See my friends and family.  Time with Scott.  Life. 

I am done!

2015 UWM Honors Convocation

Monday, May 11, 2015 was the Honors Convocation for UWM.  And, here I am!  The one promise I made to  myself when I made the commitment to go back to college was that not only would I finish, but I would excel, as well.  And I did.  This Sunday is Graduation, and I'm an very excited for that, too.

I have used this blog to complain, sometimes bitterly, over the past years about school.  It was an excellent way for me to vent without necessarily having to chew my friends, or Scott's ears off.  And, they always want to help, and sometimes, I just want to vent. This blog is a result from my Eng 102 class, and I'll never forget that.  I like blogging, even if no one reads these.  Or, at least leaves comments.

I am checking a big thing off my bucket list.  Now, on to the next chapter of my life, which involves more money than college cost, and lots of wood, nails, dry-wall, carpet, tile, and fixtures.  We are building a house.  That will definitely take some time, and I'm really glad we didn't try to do that while I had homework to do.  No, I will not miss homework in the least.  Not at all.  I really liked going to classes, but no one misses homework.  And tests, and giant papers.  I know I won't miss the tests.

So, this will be the last of the school entries.  I thank anyone who is still reading this, and have been reading it for the past seven years.  Now, onto the house-building chapter...