Third Time’s the Charm?

I woke up this morning knowing I dreamt about multiple paths and the various paving stones used to create them. Don’t get all excited, dream decipherers. I’m pretty sure it was all a direct result of spending hours scouting through Lowe’s last night before coming home with trim to install this weekend.

Trying to get up the oomph to work today has been difficult.

I’m distracted with cost estimates for my kitchen cabinets, where they’ll come from, if we’re making the right choices. Distracted by the sheer number of things I do on a daily basis, like I said yesterday I never stop once I get going.

As I started writing today’s post it occurred to me that I was feeling less than inspired. Nothing I’d said felt like the right kind of ranting. I deleted everything multiple times. I mean, ranting is about all I do over here, but usually it has a pointed reason. It isn’t just 20+ paragraphs of rambling complaining. Ugh.

So instead of forcing it I opened up a few links to start looking at kitchen cabinets. And I had a great idea! Save every single link I visit during the renovation process, then write a book about it, that way I know who to thank in the acknowledgements section!

Within about, roughly, two minutes, I determined just how bad an idea that really is.

I’ve written about our adventures in home improvement before; in my blog series detailing the pitfalls of real estate in Springfield, MA in 2002. When we thought renovating an 1850’s farmhouse would be a stellar first project to tackle.

The posts came out years after the reno even happened and I tried to remember every detail but it all got a little fuzzy. Which I’m not exactly broken up about because that whole time in our lives is better left in the past. At least for now.

And thankfully the mind softens over time.

So did the series. Once the crazy contractors and materials ordering snafus were documented, all we were doing was installing stuff. I figured nobody would want to read about sanding, nailing, painting, etc. Snooze.

Unless…

Unlike the first time we did this construction thing, this time we’re older, wiser, more experienced. Maybe there could be a story in that mundane seeming stuff. The actual nitty gritty of the renovation project.

I realized this morning that I will very likely live-blog our renovation this time. Back in 2002 I would have done the same if I wasn’t also in school, working full time, oh yeah, and if I even knew what a blog was in those days.

For the next couple months I’ll be doing cost and quality comparisons, whipping up floor plans or sending out for them, and we will finish the projects from Phase I (like trim and getting the god-awful wall of mirrors taken down).

In other words, a bunch of mostly boring stuff with no pictures. Lame, I know.

But necessary. Especially the budgeting stuff.

Because if that whole Springfield debacle taught me anything it was that the very first thing to do in any renovation is establish a budget. Do it before you buy anything. When you don’t, you end up buying everything, sometimes twice, and you will hate life.

This is not a hypothetical. Materials will beat the crap out of you at every financial turn because in renovation the most important tool you own is a very well detailed plan.

This will be our third major renovation together. Springfield was first. And despite how much we spent on Phase I for this place, plus what we have available for Phase II, I think Springfield was overall more expensive.

Because we didn’t have a budget.

Back then we spent willy-nilly and mostly on credit cards with recoculous interest rates and outrageous available balances. We were financial idiots and it definitely took a long time to dig out of the hole we made back then.

A couple years ago, the last overhaul we completed in our current home was literally planned to the penny. I measured, and budgeted like I was born an accountant. It didn’t only help, it saved us from a huge debt we didn’t have to incur because we had the available funds to take care of things.

Surprises.

Most of what we’re doing this third time around would have been finished in the last reno. Unfortunately, we had no idea it might be smart to get a plumbing inspection before buying a house. Turned out to be pretty major and in need of immediate repair.

Something absolutely necessary, but an element we can’t even see, had to take priority.

It’s okay. We saved again. And this time I finally get to do the fun stuff. The building of things. Color and material selection. Kitchen, laundry room, closet doors. I get to design a cohesive space and I can’t wait…

…to get bids and review them.

Because it only becomes my internal vision if I plan it right.

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In addition to this drivel I also write books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Learn more on my author page.

Counter Attack

Yesterday was planned as one of those rare, lazy days. We did all the errands required for the weekend and upcoming week on Saturday, said screw it to cleaning the house all weekend, and plopped our asses down on the sofa for the entire day.

Last year I started binging Fringe on Netflix and finally wrapped up about a month ago.

As a Lostie I was very invested in checking out another J. J. Abrams show. I’m a person who likes a good concept show based loosely on a twisted conspiracy theory. Fringe perfectly fit the bill.

And as soon as it was done I wanted to start it over again, catch what I might have missed the first time around. Knowing Matt likes similar stuff he started watching with me and was hooked right away.

So all day yesterday we sat on our lazy asses and binged I have no idea how many episodes of the show.

The stuff we were supposed to adult – dishes in the sink, a bag full of recyclables, the calcium crust building up on our bathroom faucet – all sat in wait.

That was, until just before dinner time.

I went to pee and when I got to the living room all I heard was:

“Ergh, spring has sprung.”

I responded by asking Matt if he was having a sneezing fit then rounded the corner into the kitchen. I was supposed to cook some veggies. The plan was finish dinner then get lazy again.

People often ask me how I can keep going and going like that silly Energizer bunny. How can I get up at 7:00 most days, work from 7-5:00 PM, stay awake until close to midnight and then get up to do it all again the next day.

How can I maintain that much energy? I only drink 1 cup of coffee in the morning. It isn’t drugs. I just have one of those personalities where I need to be doing something functional and useful all the time.

But nobody can keep that up forever either. So there are weekends where I try for a day like yesterday was supposed to be. A day I can just sit on my ass and pretend I’m the me I was once upon a time. The procrastinating, indolent teenager.

So when I rounded the corner to see Matt standing in front of the sink holding our vinegar spray bottle in one hand and a paper towel in the other I knew what was going on before I even heard him say:

“No. Ants.”

Motherfucker.

I really thought (Hoped? Prayed?) we’d taken care of that problem last year. But apparently being Irish means Murphy will come and point while laughing at you for thinking you might get an entire day off to just chill.

An hour later Matt was done with pork chops and our veggies. The ones I was supposed to cook but didn’t have time to do. Instead, I spent all that time vinegar-dousing our countertops, unloading and reloading the dishwasher, scrubbing every inch of the sink (right down to the drain catcher thingie), stove and floor all around the countertops.

We went to the back of the house, I swept out all the leaves and a healthy number of ants that appeared up near the foundation of the house. I then looked up natural ways to get rid of ants while Matt sprayed some chemical nightmare along the foundation.

Disclaimer: I’m usually pretty green and want as humane and natural a solution as possible. Last year we tried vinegar, cornmeal, a host of other kitchen-based products and I think they all just encouraged the assholes to come at us even harder.

Well, I don’t go walking around their house outside so they shouldn’t be anywhere inside mine. Trust me, it isn’t my first choice to use that awful stuff but we’re going to kill them one way or another, don’t have kids or pets and nothing edible is planted anywhere near where the ants trail. So chemical-bomb them we did.

After cleaning inside and outside and spraying that crap I suddenly had a thought:

“Ants are exoskeleton, right?

“Yeah, I think so.”

Thought it may not be any more natural than a chemical compound, I have a box of Borax hanging around. I use it to make laundry detergent. Controversy aside the stuff came from the planet so I am pro-Borax.

And that shit to an exoskeleton is like a human walking through a wood chipper.

I know this from our former experience many, many years ago with fleas infiltrating our house in Springfield. Borax sliced and diced those little monsters to death. Like a pile of tiny powdered Ninjas.

Apparently mixing it with powdered sugar and placing it near the entry point for the ants will have them gobbling it up. Then they bring it back to their home and it kills the colony.

You think you can outsmart me, ants? Yeah, think again.

You stole hours of my lazy Sunday. Forced me to work on my day off.

Me and my box of Borax will eradicate you into oblivion. Bitch, it is so on.

• • • • • • • • • • •
In addition to this drivel I also write books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Learn more on my author page.

Never gonna say Goodbye

Day seven. Already? That’s so crazy. It feels like just yesterday it was day six!

Honestly though, I actually enjoyed taking part in this challenge for many reasons.

• I was essentially forced to write something every day.
• Writing creative non-fiction every day helped me to work on fiction.
• Music always inspires me.
• I’m glad I never tried to be a songwriter, I need way more words to convey my message.
• I started to understand which writing I enjoyed doing and which I want to let go.
• The battery in my laptop doesn’t last very long at all.
• Living room is better for writing blogs but the office cuts more distraction for fiction.
• I looked at everything with a different eye: one on telling and publishing the story.
• First thing in the morning is when my ideas are freshest.
• I sneeze a lot in the morning.
• Food is important but sometimes less so than getting the perfect words down.
• After the refinance check was deposited I pretended it was a royalty check.
• Now I’m just talking about random shit that has nothing to do with anything.

Ending a challenge like this is always a little weird. Mostly because I never really know how to “end” something like this. Especially because of the third thing in that list up there. And like I already told you on day 1, I wake up with a song in my head almost every day. So to me it seems weird that I’d abruptly stop writing like this. Because it still seems to hold value.

Then again, I’ve been known to stay too late at the party once or twice in my life and certainly don’t want to do that this time around. Which got me thinking about endings.

There are so many songs about the finality of something. Here are some better known tracks documenting a few different types of endings:

♪ Last Dance (Donna Summer)
♪ The End of the Innocence (Don Henley)
♪ It’s the end of the World as we know It (and I feel Fine) (REM)
♪ In the End (Linkin Park)
♪ Goodbye to You (Scandal)
♪ End of the Road (Boyz II Men)
♪ The Party’s Over (Nat King Cole)
♪ Wild World (Cat Stevens)
♪ Closing Time (Semisonic)
♪ I Heard it through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye)
♪ Fade to Black (Metallica)
♪ My Happy Ending (Avril Lavigne)
♪ When the World Ends (Dave Matthews Band)
♪ Boys of Summer (Don Henley)
♪ The End (The Doors)

In fact I anticipated that last one on the list being today’s post inspiration. Yes, I planned to use a song by The Doors as my last hurrah.

There was no real reason for that other than a brief inspiration I had last night before going to bed. Scrawled a note on a scrap of paper, stuck it under my mouse and everything. It would be ready for today as soon as I woke up and started clicking keys.

My intention? Write a whole post about the lizards coming back onto our patio already. Temperatures being warm enough for their return.

Equating that to the Lizard King.

Doors tie-in.

Boom!

But now that I’ve looked up the lyrics I kind of realize that shit is creepy. Not that “creepy” never makes an appearance here but for my last day’s challenge I’d rather leave things on a high note.

Plus I hate goodbyes.

So in the spirit of that I leave you all with the determined anthem of everyone who ever wanted to pretend the end wasn’t real. And I know if there’s anything I can do about it, I Won’t Give Up on this daily writing.

To be fair, it may not happen every day but I’m sure as hell going to give it the old college try.

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In addition to this drivel I also write books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Learn more on my author page.