Author: peterb51

23rd May 2019

Kelli had to take Greer back to the hospital as her medication did not appear to work.

I laid some of the border tiles but ran out of adhesive half way through. I then worked to get the back gate to open. The ground outside was higher than the bottom of the gate, so it wouldn’t open. I dug away, clearing the grass, finally allowing the gate free movement, it didn’t look too good as raw dirt, it may need paving to make it look respectable.

The task of moving is so daunting, over the years Kelli has lived in the old house, stuff has been building up, I know myself. When I left the rented house that I had for four years I was surprised at the “extra” belongings I had accumulated. We have got the date that we hand the keys back, so now it’s all hands to the deck to get the shit out.

In recent days Kelli had been approached about a new venture that would give us a new outlet for our furniture. We met up with a number of already known sellers to discuss the new proposal. The place would be in Holland, so more convenient.

There was a positive response, and an ambitious start up date, but with the house, and all the decorating taking most of our time, we need to get the furniture going again.

22nd May 2019

Finally completed the skirting and the replacement plinths in the kitchen, which left me time the work on some furniture projects. Kelli was at the old place sorting through all the stuff that she could post on Marketplace.

I wheeled some of the old furniture pieces from the old garage to the new, sweeping off the thick layers of dust that had accumulated.

With all the rain lately, the grass had grown so I attacked it with the strimmer, or as the Americans call it “ Weed whacker”. As I was in the gardening mood I tackled the bushes at the front. Not used to trimming hedges I took a cautious approach, cutting off the stragglers.

The clearing of the cuttings took ages, but also there were lots of dead leaves hidden under the undergrowth. The previous owner was not interested in the garden so it was not surprising that there were piles of leaves all over the garden.

I had anchored the slim cabinet to the wall to allow Kelli to store her candles and incense sticks.

21st May 2019

I was determined to have a more productive day than I had yesterday. I bought more adhesive to fix the rest of the skirting boards.

The buyer for the dresser turned up with her husband who had a trailer attached to their truck.

The trailer was in a advanced state of decay.

The floor was so rotten that I thought I was going to fall through it. We positioned the dresser somewhere in the middle of the trailer, and they drove off. We assumed they made it back as we didn’t hear anything.

We had Comcast over to upgrade the cable system. I thought the guy would need to go down into the crawl space to access the original cabling. When he arrived he was quite a big guy, I had visions of him jammed for the rest of his life under the house, but I guessed he sussed that, and convinced us to go to a wireless system. So no new holes in the floor, and no more spaghetti under the house.

20th May 2019

This was moving stuff day. Kelli wanted to move all her clothes, this was not a small task.

I have seen less garments hanging in Marks and Spencer. Every time I looked up from what I was doing, another armful of clothes entered the house. After some considerable time everything was hanging in her closet. We also moved over a cedar chest that contained all out of season clothing. That was incredibly heavy even with the artic woollens taken out.

They say that every person carries around a lot of baggage, well I know, I met and married that person.

I had to finish repairing the drawers for a dresser we hope to sell.

19th May 2019

House renovation day 21

The moving of the contents of one house to another continued. With the help of Cameron, Kelli’s son, we moved the couch and a love seat. I have no idea why they call it a love seat because it’s two people squeezed into one chair seated side by side, just like economy on America Airlines.

Gradually it was coming together, I now have somewhere to sit to drink my coffee.

I had to rush to get the skirting fixed in the second bedroom, because Greer didn’t want to spend another night alone in the old place, which was odd as she is alway holed up in her room even if we were there. Anyway I had to find some heavy items to hold the skirting to the wall whilst the adhesive cures. In the beginning I used boxes of flooring, then as they were used up I graduated to boxes of floor tiles, now I had to raid the tool cupboard. So Greer has to spend the night with the planer wedged up against one piece of skirting, and a skill-saw on another.

As well as doing things in the house I was working on a piece of furniture for a sale on Tuesday. Two drawer boxes were covered in thick epoxy resin, that someone had used to stick the floor panel to the sides. It looked like it was poured in and just left to cure.

I spent many hours chipping away this hard vile material.

All this and manual labour as well, but this was the official end of the restoration, although there is still a long list of snagging to do.

18th May 2019

House renovation day 20

There was an early start to get to the tool rental to pick up the wet saw for cutting the tiles for the entry porch. I had four hours to pick up the equipment, get back to the house, and do the job, so the pressure was on. I had used one before, so I wasn’t a complete novice.

The saw had a fence that wasn’t the easiest to adjust and clamp, but I got over that by making a size template and setting the fence from that. Within a couple of hours I had completed the cutting, but now I had the job of cleaning the machine. This took nearly as long as the cutting, but we returned it in plenty of time. We went back to Menards to return the unused tiles. I was pleased that I had zero wastage, but there was always something to spend the refund on.

Kelli decided she wanted to move the bed over. Trying to move a king size mattress was like carrying a jelly. Thank goodness we only had a short distance to struggle with this unruly object. Once that was done, then it was the box springs, and then the metal base. I learned more about American beds in a few hours than I had in my entire life, so far.

The desire to officially move from the rental meant loads of trips to bring over the furniture that remained. Kelli decided that by driving over she could cram more things than walking over. Although it must have kept the neighbours amused.

I had planned that the move would start from next Monday, but that was too far off for her. So this will be the first night in our new home.

17th May 2019

House renovation day 19

I finished laying all the full tiles, and with the tile saw booked for tomorrow it should be finished by Sunday.

After that I re-fitted most of the skirting board in the closet spaces.

We even managed to squeeze in a paint job to a piece of furniture along the way.

Kelli moved across books to fill the bookcase, as well as some sheets and blankets.

The weather is doing some strange things, this morning it was warm and humid, but by the afternoon it got cold and unpleasant.

16th May 2019

House renovation day 18

The main jobs left are the painting of the skirting boards, and the fixing of them to the walls. I laid more rows of tiles, and so far they are looking good.

Kelli received an email from the manager at the Saugatuck Brewery explaining that they will bring back the veggie burger, this was definitely a high five moment.

Every time I go into the house Kelli has adorned the place with something new. It is like “Spot the difference “ but with every new item it brings warmth and identity.

15th May 2019

House renovation day 17

There are lots of small jobs to be done. Painting skirting boards is tedious, and requires a methodical approach, something that Kelli has a problem with, and is the subject I rib her the most on.

I worked on a modification to a bookcase that Kelli had built many years ago, and something she was quite proud of. It needed to be a little taller, so I used the opportunity to square it up a bit. I had found some timber in the garage which was perfect.

There was a delivery of a rug for the living space, it was colourful and perfect.

A few posts ago I mentioned that Kelli could sell absolutely anything, well today she surpassed herself by selling the offcuts from the carpet we used in the sunroom. It was about twenty-five inches wide by thirteen and a half feet long. Soon after it was posted, someone jumped on it, and collected it within a few hours.

I finally started on the tiling of the entry way. I marked everything out and laid the first row.

This will be a long-winded project because I want the tiling to be perfect, so taking my time will be my mantra, much to the frustration of Kelli.

We drove down to Saugatuck to have dinner at the Brewery. The last time we were there, the amazing veggie burger had run out, and was going to be discontinued, to be replaced with the “Impossible burger”. Kelli had posted her disappointment on the Brewery web page, and received a reply with an offer to sample the new alternative. The voucher turned up today, so it was a good excuse to have someone else feed us. So full of excitement we sat down and waited for the waitress to take our order.

With the new menu in hand we were ready.

The waitress came over smiling, she advised us that the salmon was not available, and….the Impossible Burger. Kelli could not hide her disappointment, she told the waitress the whole story of the end of the veggie burger, and the promise of the new alternative.

The staff were very understanding, and told us they were having difficulties getting the new food, and the menu may have to change again.

So once again we were forced to find something else to eat.

14th May 2019

House renovation day 16

Placing the last piece of flooring in the bathroom was very emotional, no I lie, it was a bloody relief. I have been on my knees so long I should be Pope.

I first had removed the toilet, then Kelli and I carefully carried it outside. Working around sewerage pipes make me nervous. I had bought disposable gloves from Aldi that claimed that one size fitted all. Well, I can tell them they bloody don’t. Putting them on was a surgical procedure as they have to be rolled on without tearing. Once on, the ability to move my fingers become impossible, and when I tried to grip something, the splitting started. By the time I’ve finished working they looked like shedded skin.

We had another trip to Menards to get a poo gasket, for the re-positioning of the toilet.

Another job that had to be done was laying the carpet in the sun room. First we laid it out on the driveway, and cut it to rough size.

I know a pro would have done the whole job in ten minutes, but as I am too tight to employ one, I had to do it myself. The end result was pretty good, and Kelli had things arranged almost immediately.

Suddenly the house had a homely feel about it, and we sat in the back garden with a fire (burning all the off-cuts) and watched the sun go down.