Archive - 12 March 1999

So now I have to decide, having decided to write every day, whether "every day" includes the weekends. I don't spend a lot of time on the computer on weekends, usually. But it's always on, since Matt spends plenty of time on the computer. And I do check my mail once or twice a day. And I should - what good is it to say "I'll update my journal every day," if I skip it on weekends just because it's inconvenient.

Well, I'll give it a shot. But don't hold me to it. ::grin::

So what's new today? A bit of disappointment on the house. Quite a bit, actually. Nancy, our realtor, called yesterday to tell us that none of the builder's contractors do any sort of covering for stairs that isn't carpet. We'd been hoping to have the stairs done with a laminate, hardwood, or something like that, because carpet wears out so quickly. But the best they can do for us is leave the stairs completely unfinished and let us hire our own contractor to come in - after closing, of course. And of course the stairs are built with a soft wood like pine, so we can't just sand and stain the unfinished stairs and leave them that way. ::sigh::

We had also been told that we'd have the opportunity to go through the house frame with the electrician and tell him exactly where we wanted our outlets. Nancy told us yesterday that because the electrician has been running slow, they've occasionally used subcontractors to get the work done, and could we please indicate on the blueprints just where we want our outlets, just in case we don't get to go through with the electrician. Dammit, we'd wanted to make sure they understood that we're keeping at least two computers in the front bedroom and that we want a lot of amperage for that room. And that the outlets in the garage need to be on the same level as the outlets in the rest of the house because we're eventually converting the garage to a room. ::sigh::

And we're getting a little nervous about the fact that they haven't started building yet. We picked the end of August as our closing date so they would have plenty of time to build the house. Especially since Nancy confessed that many of the houses were running a month or two behind schedule. They need four months to build a house, and we gave them six. But we're down to five now, and they haven't started. Nancy keeps telling us not to worry, and I keep telling her that if the house isn't ready by August, then we can't move until October because of our weird lease. Gods, I wanted to be out of this damned apartment already, and I'm looking at another six months? Argh.

But we were still mostly happy, because we got our blueprints, finally. And I got them home and I started scanning them in for this webpage (many of our friends and relatives are web-connected, and they're all curious) and I realized that the blueprint included an outside view of all four sides of the house, and a floorplan for the first and second floors, and a plan for the crawlspace, and electrical plans for the first floor... but not the second. We have an old electrical plan for the second floor, and nothing needed to be changed, so I assume what happened is that Nancy got a bit carried away when she was marking through the old plans and putting in the new ones. I'll have to call her later today and tell her about it and hope it won't be too much of a hassle.

So I wasn't too happy. Before we signed a contract, they were bending over backwards to be helpful and reassuring. Now that we've signed and given them faith money, it sortof feels like we're getting kicked into the corner. It's probably not that bad, and I guess we should've expected it a little, but it's still a bit irritating. I'll feel happier when they start construction. The house they're building on the lot next to ours has been going up very quickly, so I guess there's hope.

Anyway, that's what's happening. After that, we just got some Chinese food for dinner and went home and read all evening. Matt has his own take on last night, if you're interested.