charged

happy friday!

so yesterday ended up being a good day for the house. 

we finally got the energy guy out and got both the electricity and the gas turned on and it didnt cust us a dime. awesome. the guy even switched on the furnace for us and made sure it was running before he left. 

on the subject of furnaces, heres our story. in most of the houses we looked at the furnace was ancient and in questionable shape at best. but. this house was different, we actually got really lucky with this one and the furnace was installed in 1998 and appears to be in great condition. it works, i can tell you that from feeling the heat when we walked in the door yesterday evening after it had been on for a couple of hours, however we do need to have it serviced. some of the pipes arent installed properly and they arent venting right either. so just to be on the safe side we're going to have it serviced and we also need to install a digital programmable thermostat [or two or three, lol].

also, we got one of the masons estimates back [the one that was technologically challenged, heh]. it was a little odd to say the least. he only gave us prices on the labor, they seemed to be a little random on their pricing [it costs 250 to take down one chimney but 6-800 for the other one??]. so the fact that he didnt include any materials or equipment and that the labor was as high as it was to begin with, makes me hesitant [to say the least] to take this estimate seriously. not to mention he wrote in there that he wants a 3rd of the money upfront and the remainder after which there is no way im doing. ive had a number of people tell me not to pay anything upfront because youll ultimately get screwed. and if this guy doesnt have any kind of official invoices or anything anyway... nah. ill use someone else. hopefully ill have another mason and a roofers estimates pretty soon.

additionally, i finally got that other plumbers information today. i called and gave them all the information and now im just waiting on a call to confirm a date and time to have them out to get the estimate. i gotta say, this process is starting to get a little frustrating, especially when these estimates arent as low as id like them to be. but we've gotta get the work done and it IS a learning experience, so we're doing and well and having fun. hell id say we're doing really well, im sure its not near this smooth for a lot of people to get estimates for work. this whole contractor thing is just hit or miss and it really sucks. i dont understand what happened to honesty and integrity and just plain good business practices. until the last couple of years of experience i never would have imagined that people would agree to give you an estimate and then never answer or return your calls again. or that a firm would just never respond to a job inquiry. seriously? how does a large architectural firm [or dozens of them for that matter] just never respond to multiple inquiries from an interested individual. i understand that times are hard, but common courtesy people! if someone sends you their resume, you at LEAST say "sorry, but we dont have anything available." at the very least... thats just common courtesy, have we lost even that?

anyway, im not going to rant on that business today, just happy thoughts about the house for me, haha! so this weekend, we're going to do more house work. karen is planning to completely scrub the entire interior of this house and make it immaculate. ugh, sounds like a lot of work. additionally, we're going to get a chainsaw and some hedge shears and do some more yard work [a large part of that being the removal of a felled tree in our backyard that is currently destroying a section of our fence - apparently there was some damage from ike at our place after all]. between those two, im sure we'll have more than enough work on our plate to keep us busy, but we're also looking into getting some appliances for the house to try and get it up to livability. there are no, zero, nada appliances in the house right now, so we're looking for all of it. stove, oven, fridge, washer/dryer, grill, you name it - we need it. so we'll be looking on craigslist to see if we can find anything [we've already spotted a few items that have caught our interest] and if we dont make any progress there, who knows. re-sale shops, rich neighborhoods garbage, lol, we'll see.

well anyway, thats your daily update. any thoughts or advice on any of the above projects is welcomed [as always] and i wish you all a happy weekend!

post.script: ive been addicted to a couple of friends blogs for a while now, and it might just be me, but i love getting to be part of their lives, thoughts, ideas, experiments, or whatever else they share. if you havent already checked out my linx section, do so - you might find something you like.

justin's blog - an obituary for mediocrity - is filled with a lot of insight into the current state of disrepair our country has let itself slide into both economically and more specifically on a city-planning level. he asks some great questions [and i usually add a few of my own] that hopefully we can eventually answer and make strides of change and hope in our futures. 

claire's blog - two c's in a pod - just awesome, awesome stuff. claire and chance love to "dish" about their favorite restaurants, pets, and local hotspots back in austin,tx as well as a lot of really great results theyve had with crafty stuff like furniture rehabbing. its just fun and intelligent to read and often has fantastic photos! [did i mention claire and chance are awesome photographers?] not to mention shes got a list a mile long of awesome links to check out if youre into that crafty stuff. :]

kim's blog - running in circles - just a friend back in denver sharing some current events as she takes a leap into marriage and just takes on life in general. shes got a great sense of humor and sarcasm and a playful appreciation for life and the fun little aspects of it that many of us enjoy. 

"theyyyr grrrrrrrrrreat!"