Beauty

[just bee]

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@rnmom wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

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I was thinking about a garden and I'm glad to hear they're interested in that.  Weather will begin cooperating soon.  What kinds of things are they growing?

Food prep can be fun.  They can start with something like a taco bar.  Chop up whatever they like on their tacos and create their bar.  

Ivory sounds like the perfect neutral.  Sounds like you've got plenty to do to keep busy.  By the end of this, you and the house will have a whole new look!

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@just bee -The last couple of years the kids have set up a produce stand to sell some veggies, and hubby also started canning a bit too. Last year didn't turn out very good because we had so much rain, we kept getting flooded out. Our growing season is already so short, it's hard to get a lot to grow here, and that didn't help.

They grew corn, which we cook and freeze, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, some beans and peas, canteloupe. Hubby has been canning pickles and tomato sauce. It's actually pretty good.

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@rnmom 

Wow -- that's a lot!  We really haven't taken advantage of the yard to grow vegetables and that's just dumb.  BH planted tomatoes and a few other things one season and the tomatoes were probably the best we'd ever had.  They tasted like tomatoes.

I hope that once we settle back in we can carve out a growing space in the yard.  You have all the water and we have all the sun.  Makes gardening a real challenge, doesn't it?

[just bee]

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@rnmom wrote:

@just bee -your house is so pretty! Thank you for the pictures. I hope that you enjoy it. Is it a lot different than what you had before?

I will agree though, everything looks very light. There is no way I could live in a house that light, it wouldn't last 5 minutes. We purposely tried to pick colors for the counters, carpets, etc, that would try to hide dirt. Maybe without 2 kids and a few less dogs, but certainly not now. 

It sure is pretty though! 

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@rnmom 

Very different.  We built the house in 1994-1995.  The brick was red, the roof was black.  The interior paint was a cream that changed colors in the light -- and we have a lot of light because we have so many windows.  If we ever replace the windows we'll have to sell the house to pay for them.

The carpet was "champagne" -- a light cream.  The cabinetry was white wash -- very big in the 90s and appropriate for the Southwest.  All the light fixtures were brass and glass, all the hardware was brass.

Pretty traditional.  BH decided a long time ago that he hated brass.  And he really hated all the hanging glass fixtures.  I didn't mind them because when the light hit them, we had rainbows on the walls.  Now all the lighting is flat against the ceiling (like the kitchen photo).

So now we have no carpet -- just tile and vinyl planks.  BH had replaced most of the hardware before the fire with brushed nickel.  We had replaced the roof with a really great shingle and painted the front door a pretty olive green to coordinate with the light green flecks in the roof.  But then the house burned and the brick couldn't be replaced.  So we have new brick, made here in Albuquerque, and more of a brown roof.  Instead of a white garage door we have a gray woodgrain door.  Brushed nickel on the outside of the house and the front door is "Copper Harbor" or, as we're calling it, "Coppa Hahbah."  It's sort of orangey.

The interior paint is "Agreeable Gray" and it really is.  Like the cream, the color changes from room to room and with the light.  The cabinetry is ivory and we chose a more traditional look for that.  (Unfortunately, it's been one of our biggest headaches.  So many issues from the start and they haven't been resolved.)

Odd. We have less "stuff" but we seem to have less storage space, even with all the cabinets.  The drawers are smaller and shelves aren't as deep.

We had laminate countertops in the kitchen but we upgraded to granite because if we ever had to sell the house, people seem to want granite.  Might as well do all the upgrades now instead of later.

Lots of changes throughout the house but we kept the Colonial-style doors -- except for the front door.  We had changed the style before the fire and just decided to keep that style but with a different color to coordinate with the new exterior.

So many changes and a lot of the upgrades were out-of-pocket.  New blinds but couldn't invest in plantation shutters.  Twenty-five years ago we were able to cover every window for less than one window with those shutters.  Maybe in another life, but not this one.

So many flaws and poor workmanship.  We went with stainless steel appliances and the contractor dented both doors of the new fridge.  The plumbers were the most professional and forward-thinking of the group.  Clean work.  But they installed a reverse osmosis system at the kitchen sink yesterday and it hasn't stopped leaking.

We had discussed a water softening system to try to save our fixtures, appliances and brick, but we're still wondering if it's worth the investment.  By the time our appliances are destroyed by hard water they'll probably already be dead and need to be replaced.

Yesterday we joked about selling this house and buying another 25 year-old house with all the original appliances and cabinetry in place.  I think the old stuff was made better.

[just bee]

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@rnmom wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

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@Squirrel Lover wrote:

@just bee Oh, my, your "new" house is just gorgeous! Everything is so nice and shiny and clean looking.

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@Squirrel Lover 

That won't last long!  We just got home and the plumbing's leaking.

We returned the keys and garage openers to our young landlord today and he already had a crew at the rental to "sanitize" everything to protect the new tenant from COVID-19.

Not that he thinks we're germy, but he has to protect himself in case the new tenant claims the family was infected after they moved in.

We live in litigious times.

So how's everything going at home?  Catching up?

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@just bee -Yep, leaky plumbing. That was another problem we had. When we moved in every sink in our house leaked and we had to call the plumber back out to fix it. But of course by then, it had leaked into the cabinets underneath so the wood inside the cabinets got all warped. In a brand new house. In both bathrooms and in the kitchen,

Needless to say I was VERY UNHAPPY, but short of replacing all the cabinets I didn't know what to do. So disappointing to have a brand new house and have destruction a week after you move in. That was just one example of the problems we had. I had actually forgotten about that until you mentioned it. We had to have our master tub reglazed too. I can't even remember everything, there was so much. Our builder kept saying "I've never seen that happen to anyone else before". Yeah right, We were the only ones that had EVER"YTHING go wrong. 

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@rnmom 

Contractors lie.  It was encouraging that the people who rebuilt this house were so impressed by how it had been originally put together.  They told us that the builder did a lot more than they needed to.  Uh, yeah.  That's why we bought a house from that builder.  Unfortunately, right after we bought the house they were bought out by an inferior company.

This weekend we'll be putting yellow tape on top of everything that needs to be addressed.  We might run out of tape so we're already deciding what flaws we can live with.  I don't understand when you're choosing materials for a project why you'd choose flawed pieces of wood and brick.  One of our bricks was broken in half.  That was replaced a long time ago, but why would you purposely pick up a broken brick and mortar it in place when there's still a whole pallet of bricks in the yard?  Choose an intact brick!

The shelves in the built-in cabinets in the bedroom and hearth room were already warped.  Way too thin.  They have been replaced.  But the cabinetry guy really never finished the job.  Shelves aren't installed in the cabinets and we don't have all the hardware, either.  Doors aren't aligned, drawers don't open and close correctly, doors open and crash into walls and other cabinets.  These will be cr@p in no time.

The shelves in our pantry and closets seem more narrow now.  One improvement we didn't expect: Nice windowsills.  And they did a nice job replacing and improving our windowseat.

It's a balance like anything else.  Some very good things and some not-so good things.  Just have to let go of the stuff that isn't crucial.  Like chair rails in the bathroom and all the minor flaws in the woodwork, plastering, flooring, painting, drywall... and everything else.

And please give us the door knob with the lock for the guest bathroom that you had but did not install.

No problem.  They'll just come back Monday and caulk everything.  Caulk solves all problems.

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

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@rnmom wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

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@Squirrel Lover wrote:

@just bee Oh, my, your "new" house is just gorgeous! Everything is so nice and shiny and clean looking.

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@Squirrel Lover 

That won't last long!  We just got home and the plumbing's leaking.

We returned the keys and garage openers to our young landlord today and he already had a crew at the rental to "sanitize" everything to protect the new tenant from COVID-19.

Not that he thinks we're germy, but he has to protect himself in case the new tenant claims the family was infected after they moved in.

We live in litigious times.

So how's everything going at home?  Catching up?

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@just bee -Yep, leaky plumbing. That was another problem we had. When we moved in every sink in our house leaked and we had to call the plumber back out to fix it. But of course by then, it had leaked into the cabinets underneath so the wood inside the cabinets got all warped. In a brand new house. In both bathrooms and in the kitchen,

Needless to say I was VERY UNHAPPY, but short of replacing all the cabinets I didn't know what to do. So disappointing to have a brand new house and have destruction a week after you move in. That was just one example of the problems we had. I had actually forgotten about that until you mentioned it. We had to have our master tub reglazed too. I can't even remember everything, there was so much. Our builder kept saying "I've never seen that happen to anyone else before". Yeah right, We were the only ones that had EVER"YTHING go wrong. 

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@rnmom 

@just bee 

Oh dear.  Leaky plumbing.  Good thing I read this first @just bee , because I was going to say that even with all the hassle of getting your new-old house back, at least the plumbing doesn't leak anymore!

Yes, shoddy workmanship.  That's another thing keeping me from moving.  This place I'm in may have a lot of downsides to it, but when it was built the OG was here eagle-eyeing everything he didn't do himself.  But even then, there were still things we found after we moved in that needed fixing.  

I'm still dealing with outlets that are nonfunctional and ground fault switches that go wonky for no reason.  The good thing is that after 14 years, I know all the glitches.

And trying to get the workman in during all this virus mess is going to be another hassle in itself.  But at least the dog is happy...🙂

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@geezerette 

Our insurance adjuster stopped by yesterday.  Boy, has his life been turned upside down by this virus.  The schools are closed, so working parents are up the creek.  He actually asked his girlfriend to move in to help supervise his kids.  He had been taking them to work but that had to be a temporary solution.

Was he ready for this lifestyle change?  No.  He appreciates the help from his girlfriend but this is not how he had envisioned their relationship.

And, of course, how this virus has affected the industry.  And the related industries.  

This is a mess.

[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

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@rnmom wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

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@Squirrel Lover wrote:

@just bee Oh, my, your "new" house is just gorgeous! Everything is so nice and shiny and clean looking.

---

@Squirrel Lover 

That won't last long!  We just got home and the plumbing's leaking.

We returned the keys and garage openers to our young landlord today and he already had a crew at the rental to "sanitize" everything to protect the new tenant from COVID-19.

Not that he thinks we're germy, but he has to protect himself in case the new tenant claims the family was infected after they moved in.

We live in litigious times.

So how's everything going at home?  Catching up?

---

@just bee -Yep, leaky plumbing. That was another problem we had. When we moved in every sink in our house leaked and we had to call the plumber back out to fix it. But of course by then, it had leaked into the cabinets underneath so the wood inside the cabinets got all warped. In a brand new house. In both bathrooms and in the kitchen,

Needless to say I was VERY UNHAPPY, but short of replacing all the cabinets I didn't know what to do. So disappointing to have a brand new house and have destruction a week after you move in. That was just one example of the problems we had. I had actually forgotten about that until you mentioned it. We had to have our master tub reglazed too. I can't even remember everything, there was so much. Our builder kept saying "I've never seen that happen to anyone else before". Yeah right, We were the only ones that had EVER"YTHING go wrong. 

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@rnmom 

@just bee 

Oh dear.  Leaky plumbing.  Good thing I read this first @just bee , because I was going to say that even with all the hassle of getting your new-old house back, at least the plumbing doesn't leak anymore!

Yes, shoddy workmanship.  That's another thing keeping me from moving.  This place I'm in may have a lot of downsides to it, but when it was built the OG was here eagle-eyeing everything he didn't do himself.  But even then, there were still things we found after we moved in that needed fixing.  

I'm still dealing with outlets that are nonfunctional and ground fault switches that go wonky for no reason.  The good thing is that after 14 years, I know all the glitches.

And trying to get the workman in during all this virus mess is going to be another hassle in itself.  But at least the dog is happy...🙂

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@geezerette 

Our insurance adjuster stopped by yesterday.  Boy, has his life been turned upside down by this virus.  The schools are closed, so working parents are up the creek.  He actually asked his girlfriend to move in to help supervise his kids.  He had been taking them to work but that had to be a temporary solution.

Was he ready for this lifestyle change?  No.  He appreciates the help from his girlfriend but this is not how he had envisioned their relationship.

And, of course, how this virus has affected the industry.  And the related industries.  

This is a mess.

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@just bee 

And it's just getting started...

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

The question now is: How in H_ll do we keep this place clean?  It took us two days to clean that rental from top to bottom and that house was half the size of this one.

I never wanted stainless steel sinks or appliances.  Every time I turn on the water I have to wipe up each drop.  It's like having a second job.

And the floors...

Carpet hid so much.

Not complaining, just overwhelmed.

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@just bee 

Oh, you'll have no problem cleaning for a while.  It will be neat to have a new, clean, empty canvas and you'll want to keep it that way.  And then once the novelty wears off and the accidents and actual living start in, it gradually goes by the wayside.  But since it doesn't happen all at once, you don't notice it so much.

That's when your new-old house becomes a "home" again.💖

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@geezerette 

Clearly this house is too large for the three of us.  I remember watching Dr. Zhivago when I was little.  The authorities show up at the house with a group of people and split the home into tenements for them.

That scene has always been stuck in my head.

[just bee]

A cautionary tale.

Before this virus and shutdown, the biggest problem in the city of Albuquerque was thin plastic grocery bags.  Not crime, not meth, not poverty or corruption.  No, it was thin plastic grocery bags.  Sea turtles on the other side of the planet were dying because of Smith's (Kroger) plastic bags.

The city decided to ban them.  We were told that stores would not charge us for bags (lie) and that we had to start using paper bags (with a whole new set of issues) or reusable bags.

As soon as this virus hit us I asked the obvious question: If we're being told to wash our coats every 1-2 days, how often are we washing those reusuable bags?

Well, never, of course.

The stores responded to the customers' frustration and inconvenience and started supplying heavy plastic bags.

The city is not amused.

They have issued a statement.  Go ahead and use your new heavy plastic bags instead of the germy reusable bags.  When the virus crisis is over, we will ban ALL plastic bags.

So there.

I don't recall voting for any of this.

[aprilskies]

@just bee, your house looks so nice. I like your kitchen. Enjoy the new. Make sure you are careful in how you fill it up again. It is an opportunity to have around you what you really enjoy. 

[just bee]

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@aprilskies wrote:

@just bee, your house looks so nice. I like your kitchen. Enjoy the new. Make sure you are careful in how you fill it up again. It is an opportunity to have around you what you really enjoy. 

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@aprilskies 

Thank you.  I really should adopt a new attitude to go along with the new house.  Don't worry about the flaws and poor workmanship -- you could contract COVID-19 today and croak.  Why spend your last hours on the planet kvetching over bad cabinetry?

Nah. 

Right now everyone -- or almost everyone -- has it bad.  I'm grateful to have a home and a job.

But I still have some standards and those shouldn't go on hold for a pandemic.  I don't want to have to replace everything in the house next year.

I'll continue kvetching but I'll try to avoid it here.

We ComPactors have other things to complain about! 

How have you been doing?

[just bee]

Hmmm.  I think I just chipped a tooth.

Oh, well!