Prairie Landing
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Back from the dead!
For the moment, anyway.
Two weekends ago we painted. All Friday night, all Saturday, all Sunday, and at 5:30 Sunday Colliculus announced, "I am never going to feel bad about spending money on painters. Ever." And we cleaned up our stuff and went to Sheffield's, which has one of the greatest beer selections and beer gardens in America. By then it was too cold to sit in the beer garden -- but what a statement that is! Whether you live here or not, can you believe it's been in the 70s for most of the last two weeks? Anyway, the next morning Colliculus called the painter and told him to do the rest and let us know how much it would cost. The painter was fine with this; he and his crew did the entire rest of the house in two days flat, it was a beautiful job, and he and Colliculus shared some Old Style at the end.
Our weekend of work, which probably added up to about 50 person-hours, saved us about $800. That's not all that impressive, but I'm OK with it. Especially when I put on my self-employment hat and remember that $800 out-of-pocket was more like $950 in pre-tax income. The pre-tax calculation, which I learned about when I was self-employed, is a great justification for all kinds of stinginess.
Last weekend we packed. The weather was more problematic. 80-degree sunshine is heartbreaking when you have to stay inside, but it's just plain hellish when the house next door is a factory of dust, chainsaws and Spanish curses from sunrise to sunset and you have to keep the windows closed and the music turned up. Even earplugs at the highest rating CVS offers (32) are not enough unless you're really sleep-deprived, which I'm working on. I am going to be so glad when we're out of here. I feel sorry for our landlord who has to lead prospective tenants to our apartment through a pile of discarded ductwork and sawdust (and cursing).
That brings us to next weekend: the move, featuring a pair of guys named Tom and Roland. Tom is the one who speaks English. More eventually.
Our condo looks SO much better now that it is white (not mustard, no checkerboard squares -- sorry to the surprising number of you who liked it) and the carpet has been cleaned (which I don't think happened in the previous 14 years).
Scene from painting:
Two weekends ago we painted. All Friday night, all Saturday, all Sunday, and at 5:30 Sunday Colliculus announced, "I am never going to feel bad about spending money on painters. Ever." And we cleaned up our stuff and went to Sheffield's, which has one of the greatest beer selections and beer gardens in America. By then it was too cold to sit in the beer garden -- but what a statement that is! Whether you live here or not, can you believe it's been in the 70s for most of the last two weeks? Anyway, the next morning Colliculus called the painter and told him to do the rest and let us know how much it would cost. The painter was fine with this; he and his crew did the entire rest of the house in two days flat, it was a beautiful job, and he and Colliculus shared some Old Style at the end.
Our weekend of work, which probably added up to about 50 person-hours, saved us about $800. That's not all that impressive, but I'm OK with it. Especially when I put on my self-employment hat and remember that $800 out-of-pocket was more like $950 in pre-tax income. The pre-tax calculation, which I learned about when I was self-employed, is a great justification for all kinds of stinginess.
Last weekend we packed. The weather was more problematic. 80-degree sunshine is heartbreaking when you have to stay inside, but it's just plain hellish when the house next door is a factory of dust, chainsaws and Spanish curses from sunrise to sunset and you have to keep the windows closed and the music turned up. Even earplugs at the highest rating CVS offers (32) are not enough unless you're really sleep-deprived, which I'm working on. I am going to be so glad when we're out of here. I feel sorry for our landlord who has to lead prospective tenants to our apartment through a pile of discarded ductwork and sawdust (and cursing).
That brings us to next weekend: the move, featuring a pair of guys named Tom and Roland. Tom is the one who speaks English. More eventually.
Our condo looks SO much better now that it is white (not mustard, no checkerboard squares -- sorry to the surprising number of you who liked it) and the carpet has been cleaned (which I don't think happened in the previous 14 years).
Scene from painting:
