Izzy and Home Update

Here's a funny thing. I really don't care for the layout of this house and heaven knows the colors and decor are dreadful to us both. 

As Rick refers to one of the bedrooms, Grandma Gold. It's a horrible color. 

But here is what is odd to us both, we feel very comfortable here and I have since the first day. I look around and say I'm gonna make you mine someday, but right now paint will be my new friend. I hate the house and I really dislike the flooring in every room. Izzy's vomit didn't help the rug but may have helped my cause of removing it over time. 

Not only the paint in every room is bad but the cheap fiberglass one-piece bath/wall unit is not white in the hall bath. We can't afford to rip it out for a shower right now so thankfully I sleep with a man who used to refinish bathtubs for a living. I may have to up my game to get it done sooner than later. 😉 Rick will reglaze it in white. That will help. And make some repairs on the bottom. Thankfully he did this for a living so it will be nicer for a while. And finally, something I don't have to pay for, well, except with my body. 

The master bath - oy vay. Neither of us is comfortable in this teeny tiny shower. We must rip it out. Rick can't turn or spin in it. It's actually funny. I think we'll make that a linen closet. It's that small. And where the big garden tub is rip it out for a big shower. One where Rick can fit through the door face first, not sideways. His shoulders are too wide for this shower.

The showerhead in this master hits over my head. So I don't even get wet.

We were in there on Sunday trying to figure out how to make this work. We can't. The showerhead is frozen and doesn't move. Needless to say, we will be fixing this. The 85 yr old who lived here must have been tall or did not use that shower. The tub is so high I can't imagine her using that either. Getting in and out would be difficult for anyone let alone an 85 yr old. We are using the hall shower right now.

Because there are no overhead lights and the walls are very dark it is darn right dark here all the time. All the light bulbs are soft yellowish too. Not a bright bulb in the joint. We all live differently and when you buy someone's home you realize that. In the last house, I was the first owner. When we bought our lake house I was the 2nd owner. The first owner moved next door to a new home they built. There was an empty acre in between us.

They owned a lot of property on this cul de sac. Every change we made she would cry it was awful. She held her heart and gasped when she saw that I painted her dark wood trim white. It wasn't like it was nice wood either. Her husband used furring strips for chair rail molding which of course we removed. He used hundreds of nails in a 2 ft piece and others as well. Rick began calling him Nailgun Harry because everything was secured with more than enough nails but never the right product.  He was funny.

When we took down her drop ceiling in the daylight basement she screamed, "You're taking down our ceiling"  Rick replied, "No we are taking down our ceiling"  They had a daylight basement to the water. They made a make shift bedroom for grandkids. It didn't even have 4 walls. We made a daylight basement of a bathroom, bedroom, bar, and game room. And she thought we were ruining her make-shift bedroom. We told her to be patient when we were done it would look good. I was careful not to say better.

The outside of the lake house was poop brown. We painted it a light blue/gray. White trim etc. The neighbors all thanked us, except Noreen. 

One neighbor said to him the color looked like a baby diaper. Ooh.

Noreen came over with her dried bake good. Always peddling her over baked goods but we knew now it was to see what we were doing. We were on to her. She made us laugh. 

She said you like this, don't you? Ah, yes, I picked the color. 

She just shook her head. It was hard to live next door while we changed everything. When we didn't want her old ceiling fans we asked them if they wanted them. I surely didn't wish for her to see them at the curb. They indeed did and were thrilled. So each time I removed something I always asked her. She always wanted it. When we painted the pine ceiling she cried. That hurt!  But it was so dark in there. Brown floors, brown ceiling, dark trim, dark walls. It was a wall of windows to the outside and it was dark in the house. So I painted the ceiling white. The realtor who we became friendly with stopped by one day and said, "Oh my gosh you are making this look like a real lake house now."  Yep, that was the goal.

But we knew it upset Noreen and while we had the right to do this, it still made us feel bad because they were such lovely people. So I'd baked things and bring them over to soften each blow. Her husband called his favorite cake of mine, That Moist Cake you make.  I thought, if your wife took her cakes and baked goods out 5-10 minutes sooner hers would be moist too. I loved her husband to pieces. He died this past year and she couldn't be with him due to covid restrictions while he was hospitalized. Her world was this man. We've kept in touch and I worry about her being alone up there. She doesn't even drive. I hope her kids convince her to leave the lake now. 

When we finished that house she told us how pretty it was. She loved what we did with the fireplace and the daylight basement. She kept saying, "But it's too modern for me."  I would always respond, "Well it's a good thing that I live here then isn't it?" We would both laugh. I understood her. They built that house themselves while living in Jersey and spending every waking moment going to Huddleston Virginia. But she was my grandparent's age so she loved a doily, it was not my thing. Her new home was lovely and it worked for them and that is all that one needs. This home will work for us eventually. Rick made a honey-do list for himself on what he wants to accomplish, of course, I gave him one from me too. :-)

While looking for a home I kept saying Garner because it was 7 miles from Raleigh. If I had my way we'd be in a condo in the city center. I am a city girl, married to a  man who could live in a log cabin in the middle of a mountain top with no convenience features. How did we get together? Camping to me is a hotel without room service. Thankfully he doesn't wish to camp anymore!

Well, we are technically in Garner but rural Garner, the southernmost part of Garner. It was referred to us by a man at the store as rural Garner. Yep, don't I know it. So I'm a City Slicker Yankee living in the south in a more rural area than I would love. Thankfully it's only a quick 15 minutes to the city.

The thermostat here is hard to understand. How the hell can that be you ask? We don't even understand it. We laughed and said screw it yesterday. The woman who lived here died. Her daughter is the one who sold it. She stopped by unannounced and said she was here to get mail. I had it on the sofa table and gave it to her. I was mortified first for someone to see the house like this and 2 to see me the way I was dressed or barely dressed. She had our number couldn't she call first? I hate those that just drop by. Unless you are family or a very good friend, don't do that.

She also gave us all the manuals for the appliances which we appreciated. She told us that the colors were those of the previous owners and they only changed the bathroom. Yikes, the older woman liked that ugly bright childish teal? It's like something you'd see in a kindergarten classroom.  She also told us her mother was afraid of gas hence no gas/propane here and why we see the propane hookup outback. They had it herem? at one time. She also told us her mom couldn't work that thermostat to save her life and gave up. When too hot she'd just turn it off until she wanted it warm again. 

We are buying a nest this week as we had at our previous home. No more of this too hot, too cold shit we've been dealing with. For Rick to not be able to handle this I know it's the thermostat. 

The washer and dryer were delivered Tuesday. We were fiddling with the thermostat and the guy asked Rick, "having trouble?" as he heard Rick mumbling swear words. Rick laughed and told him. He went over the thermostat and fiddled for 20 minutes and said, this is @#$%! up. 

We 3 laughed and said we know!  

We have unpacked so many boxes for the kitchen. But we have 5 boxes of things with nowhere to put them. We had a utensil drawer but none of the drawers are big enough. It is not like these are things we don't have room for, we don't need, and/or use all the time. It's just we had 36 cabinets and now a dozen or so. All are far smaller and damn if they aren't at least an inch higher. 

As we were putting glassware away Rick asked if I had any issues with reaching the shelves. I asked why he asked, being a bit suspicious there is a joke at my expense coming. He said because he felt they were at least an inch higher. I showed him what I could reach  - 1st shelf only. I have a stool in the kitchen as I do in the laundry. I didn't say anything because I thought he'd bust my chops but it was good to hear it wasn't just Ms. McShorty who thought that. I was becoming convinced that I was shrinking. 

We have decided to make an island in this small kitchen. We measured out on the floor with tape. We saw a guy selling cabinets and we think we can do this for a few hundred bucks. Rick can do all the other stuff. Spray the cabinets the color I want and install, etc.  We may not have the room for seating like our old home, but it will be cabinets, drawers and a working place to chop and dice and work in the kitchen. If you are a cook you need a workspace, not a 6 inch counter space. 

Izzy is doing better this morning. We didn't give her her regular food. We did some boiled chicken and rice. She kept it down. She looked more alert. She left for a car ride with Rick heading to Lowes and Walgreens. Just the fact that when he grabbed his keys and she jumped up to follow him means she is better. Yesterday she wouldn't move!  She loves a car ride so hopefully, she won't get sick and throw up in the car. I really think she had an adverse reaction to the vaccine for hthe first time. What else? She didn't eat anything out of the ordinary.  I've cleaned up enough vomit for the week. As I was in the kitchen cleaning up the floor he was in the living room at the front door cleaning the vomit stain. Rick said well you didn't want this carpet anyway. 

I asked if that meant we can rip it out? He just laughed and did not reply. But I'm wearing him down, I just know it. 

In a year, please let me rip out this 70's carpet!!