My house hates me. Since we moved in last April things have been systematically breaking.

• The guys who installed our washer and dryer hooked them up wrong. Didn’t help that I didn’t properly install the drain hose on the first try. That was messy.
• The overflow drain in our jacuzzi tub failed, sending a ton of water seeping through the ceiling and dripping into the living room. We got it fixed easily enough, but we still have some stains on the ceiling that we don’t care enough about to fix.
• While removing wallpaper in the bathroom we had the window open and the hot water running, and were soon smelling gas. We thought it might have been something dangerous with our instant hot water heater, but turns out it’s normal. I suspect the exhaust may have been located too close to the window.
• Our doorbell stopped working.
• The toilet in our basement started leaking and soon we realized it was the main drain backing up to the toilet, the tub and the floor drain in the basement. It got to the point where nothing was draining at all. One Roto Rooter visit later we were back in business.
• When it got cold and we turned on our gas fireplace only to discover it wouldn’t stay lit. Definitely not a necessity, so we opted to ignore it for a while.
• Of course then the furnace went out. Those were a cold couple of days.
• Then our wood burning fireplace (yes, we have two fireplaces) decided to clog up. I can only assume the chimney is in desperate need of a cleaning (I suggested we call that friendly chap from Mary Poppins). Another expense we decided to forgo for a while.
• And now the toilet in the basement is leaking again and this morning I determined that it is in fact the main drain clogged up again. The Roto Rooter man said the guy who came out six months ago didn’t have a big enough machine to fully clear out the roots. But he supposedly got it. We’ll see in six months (when his guarantee expires).

So basically we’ve had a problem with every major appliance in our house, except the dishwasher. And if the dishwasher goes, well, then I give up. Have I mentioned that sometimes I hate being a homeowner? Yeah, I guess I have.

Our furnace went out last night. It was two degrees outside and 60 degrees in our living room when I went to bed. We brought Lexi upstairs to sleep with us.

This morning it’s one degree above zero outside and 50 degrees in our living room. The repair man can’t come until after 6:00 p.m.

Currently wearing three layers (Lexi has four) and eating breakfast with the heat of nine candles and the laptop. Trying to decide if we should build a fire, bake things, dance to They Might Be Giants, burn more candles and maybe run in place; Or if we should just pack it in and go somewhere.

Pros of leaving: While not all coffee shops have wifi, they all usually have heat.

Cons of leaving: Popsicle puppies.

Update: The heat is back on. 63 degrees never felt so good.

It’s currently 11 degrees below zero. The expected high today is 2 degrees below zero. Wind chill could be -35 to -45.

So it struck me as odd this morning when I felt a rush of cold air from the fridge as I pulled out the milk and orange juice. It’s freezing outside. So we heat our homes. But then we need some things cold, so we use even more energy to refrigerate a box within that heated home. I could set my ice cream on the porch and do the same thing for free.

I understand all the ways a fridge is necessary and helpful, and I don’t have any better ideas. I’m just saying it’s kind of funny when you think about the contradictory efforts we go to for the sake of convenience.

Some days I hate being a home owner. While we recently did get our toilet fixed (thanks to my father-in-law), the problems just keep coming. Our gas fireplace won’t stay lit. Our doorbell stopped working. And the toilet that’s fixed has a tendency to keep on running until it leaks out the flusher handle. Bah.

I suppose I can be thankful that none of these are serious problems and like any good home owner I can ignore them for a while.

I broke down and turned on the heat today. I’m not sure why, but knowing when I turn the heat on each year is of interest to me.

• 2007: October 11 (inside temp: 63)
• 2006: September 21 (inside temp: 64)
• 2005: October 24 (inside temp: 55)
• 2004: October 5 (inside temp: 58)
• 2003: September 29 (inside temp: 58)

I’m not sure how useful it is to compare since this is now looking at two different houses, but whatever. Each year’s weather patterns change as well, so it doesn’t mean that much. Last week it got so warm we turned on the AC and now the heat’s on.

Another heating oddity–our new house as a high efficiency furnace. The previous owner told us it’s more efficient to set the furnace at whatever temperature you want and leave it there. Turning it down at night wastes energy because it takes more energy for the furnace to heat the house back up than it does to simply maintain the temperature. It has something to do with the furnace kicking into a higher burn. Seems odd to me. I can understand it if you turn it from 72 down to 62 at night, but what if you do something more gradual, say 70 down to 66? It just seems unnatural that turning the heat up is using less energy (it also makes having not one but two fireplaces seem kind of pointless).

Update: I asked a furnace guy this question and he said that’s ridiculous. Turn it down at night and save some energy.

I just killed 1516 flies in my office–fifteensixteen!

First of all, ew.

Second, what is the deal? It’s not like I eat at my desk and have a garbage can full of tasty treats.

You never realize how much water a person uses until you can’t drain any of that water. I’ve had to cope with no running water before, but it’s an entirely different ball of wax when you have plenty of running water but you can’t easily drain the water.

Our main drain backed up last week and manifested itself on the bathroom floor. At first it was just backing up and seeping out of the toilet (I believe the wax ring failed) when too much water drained at once (like taking a shower). But by Sunday morning it had completely clogged, water was backing up in the basement tub and floor drain, the toilet was leaking and no water would drain. So we couldn’t allow any water to drain anywhere in the house or we’d risk flooding the basement.

Try brushing your teeth, shaving, taking a shower and going to the bathroom without being able to drain any water. Not an easy task. Nevermind that you can’t run the dishwasher or wash your clothes. Or do something as simple as empty a glass of water in the sink. It’s amazing how much water we actually use, and how much more of it is completely wasted as it goes down the drain.

Thankfully the Roto-Rooter man saved the day, and for only $250. I still need to get the basement toilet fixed, but that’s going to require a higher caliber plumber (the Roto-Rooter man lamented that he only does ‘light plumbing’ while staring at the broken flange that the toilet sits on. My only thought was that I do ‘flush the toilet plumbing,’ so I’m really screwed.).

So I had this brilliantly stupid idea. While Abby and Lexi were out of town for the weekend I thought it’d be a good time to do some painting. We’ve been slowly painting rooms in our new house and the paint was just sitting there waiting. I figured with Lexi gone and a full weekend to work on it I could have the whole thing done before they got back. It’d be easier than trying to finish it while Lexi slept.

Seemed simple enough.

Continue reading Painting the Family Room →

And we’re back.

We’ve successfully moved. We only lost one box, no major moving injuries (other than back pain and scraped knuckles) and the weather brought rain and snow on the days surrounding our move, but beautiful sunny skies the day of the move. That and the unexpected help meant we were finished hours earlier than we had hoped. Thankful about sums it up.

Now it’s a matter of unpacking, arranging and rearranging. And figure out how to fence in the yard without taking out a second mortgage. But hey, the Internet is back up (though it feels a little slow–not fully Comcastic yet).