I have lived in my house for almost five and a half years. Sometimes it seems like a lifetime ago and at other times it seems like just a few short months. Every time my Dad visits, for the entire time I've lived here, I've heard him complain about the steps leading from my garage into my house. I use the word steps loosely. It really was just one cement step between the floor of the garage and the kitchen. And that last step going up was a real doozy.
Last Friday afternoon my parents came to town for the weekend. Loaded in the back of their pickup on the trip down were my new garage steps. Dad's a welder and last time he was here (I don't even remember when it was it's been so long ago) he measured and muttered and vowed to make me some new steps before he came back again. He's nothing if not true to his word.
Behold, the unveiling of the new steps:
You can see the rejected cement step in the right side of this picture. That step is very heavy and will have to wait for better tools to move it before it can leave the premises.
The new steps are sturdy (since they're all metal, it would be hard to imagine otherwise). I think if, God forbid, a tornado were to rip through my neighborhood, those steps would still be bolted down after the dust settled. There's only one warning I'll impart: don't walk on them without shoes.
For the past two weeks I've been pretty scarce on the blogging scene, but it's all been for a good reason. My new job has kept me plenty busy even though I'm to keep my hours to 40 per week. I've been putting in longer hours toward the beginning of the week (perfectly OK with my new boss, Lori) and then taking some time off on Friday to reward myself. The job is still wonderful and even though it's a little overwhelming at times I think it's going quite well.
Along with starting a new job, I also became the owner of a brand new washer and dryer. Once I had a job secured, I knew that I needed to take some money out of savings to make this big purchase. My 15-year-old washing machine was not agitating anymore and that was agitating me. It means I was doing smaller loads to make sure the clothes came clean. And that's a pain.
Out with the old Whirlpool models...and in with the new Maytag Centennial models.
Notice the clear lid on the washing machine. Also, we had to move the dryer away from the wall because it's a bit deeper than the old one and the door to the laundry area wouldn't close otherwise. But the most amazing thing (I didn't even know this when I purchased them) is that there's a light in the dryer! Now I don't have to search blindly to see if I've gotten everything out.
For some reason, laundry isn't such a chore anymore.
Pardon the song lyrics...
But the heat is, indeed, back on at my house. Bryan (as I've learned the correct spelling) brought the part, did the deal and charged me $140. Could have been worse. I was actually hot last night under my big down comforter.
Can you tell what's wrong with this picture? Yeah, neither could I.
This is a picture of the inside of my furnace. Monday morning it stopped blowing warm air and started blowing cold air constantly. So I shut it off and went to work. I figured I'd deal with it when I got home and had more time. Besides, with a forecast of around 60 for Monday, it was very low risk leaving it off.
Monday night I called Brent, a friend from church who knows about such things. He gave my number to a guy named Brian who he said would be able to help me out. Brian came over last night after work and looked at the same thing you're seeing in the picture above. It took him about 3 seconds to say, "Oh, it's your igniter. It's cracked. See?" Not really, but I trust you.
Brian didn't have the part because it's "rare" which I immediately translated to "expensive" and when pressed further for a price, he said he wasn't sure how much a new one would cost. After more pressing from me, he guessed it might be about $85. Well, that's better than it could be, but I'll reserve judgment until I know the actual price.
He lit the furnace for me last night and it ran for about three hours warming up the house before I switched it off and went to bed. At 9:30 it was 70 degrees. This morning at 7:30 it was 58 degrees. Good thing I have great insulation. And it was darn cold last week, so I'm glad it was timed to coincide with nicer weather.
He's supposed to come back tonight with the part and fix it for good. I suppose this is one of the joys of homeownership I don't like -- paying all the bills. But consistently having heat again sure will be nice.
Friday's flurry of handyman activity paid off. I have a toilet in my half-bath that doesn't wobble (very important) and the bathtub plumbing is now leak-free. Hooray!
After the plumbing issues were resolved (mid-afternoon), Handy Jeff moved on to a lunch break and buying electrical supplies at my local Sutherlands store (which he hates, by the way). He had to get up in my attic amid all the insulation (I'm just glad I didn't have to do it) and run new wiring for the ceiling fan (I opted to have a double switch -- one for the fan and one for the light) and he had to run all new wiring for the exhaust fan in the bathroom. He finished up around 10:30 Friday evening. That's 11.25 hours of billable time. Holy cow!
After my Mom found out how much it cost, she asked me, "Do you think you could offer him sex next time instead of paying him money?" I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING. Good question, Mom. I'll check into it for the future. As my friend, Lori, commented in the earlier post about this, it would be good to find out just how "handy" he can be! At least he knows the way to my bedroom already...
Why am I at home on a Friday? Well, this is why:
The toilet in my half bath tried to escape today. No, not really. I hired a guy named Jeff (I call him Handy Jeff) to come and work on a couple of plumbing issues, install an exhaust fan in my full bath and a ceiling fan in my bedroom. So far he's pulled the toilet, shut off the water and left for an hour to go get "supplies", which I suspect is code for lunch. During said hour I really had to pee and I haven't admitted to him yet that I went ahead and did my business, just couldn't flush it. Maybe I'll let him find out by accident. No, I won't. I'm really nicer than that. Actually, he did come back just a few minutes ago with a bag of stuff that looks very plumby (I know, not a real word). Jeff is really a very nice guy otherwise I wouldn't give him access to my home. His background check was clean. Just kidding! I'll keep you posted on the progress of things, because I know you're dying to know.
You can see the rejected cement step in the right side of this picture. That step is very heavy and will have to wait for better tools to move it before it can leave the premises.
