Our house was built in 1962. It is a "split-Colonial", whatever the heck that is. The house was built during the heyday of teeny galley kitchens in nicely-sized houses (and let's not even mention the size of our master bath...). It isn't a generous space, isn't a "cook's kitchen", and is NOT set up for more than one cook at a time. Not a social kinda kitchen.
We renovated the kitchen in spring 2003, because we had to. Some of the drawers in the cabinets would literally fall out if they were pulled out too far. Note that "too far" was a little more than halfway. I nearly lost a foot to the silverware drawer one night. When the contractor pulled off the countertop, the entire lower cabinet section fell in pieces to the floor. He had no idea how it had been held together. I will admit that the appliances were new -- purchased by the son of the owner in order to make the house sellable. The whole family was a bunch of cheapskates based on the quality of the work that had been done to the house over the years (they owned it from ~1965-2000, when we bought it). The dishwasher was the cheapest model that Sears sold at the time. The fridge was pretty close to the bottom. There was a teeny little wall oven. The only nice thing was the cooktop -- a flat radiant heat cooktop that worked well.
So we decided on a budget for the renovation and made some cuts to keep the costs under control. I think we went about $50 over budget, which was great. What was not great were some of the decisions that I (fine, *we*) made to control the costs. We kept the white linoleum floor, which was a reasonable, but not pretty, choice. However, it's still in decent condition, even 9 years later. We went with white cabinets instead of wood, which I regret. We didn't get the cabinets with those fancy no-slam drawers. I regretted that decision too, because I did slam a drawer once, and the face fell off (not my face, you silly readers, the drawer's face). TheHusband was highly displeased. Instead of solid granite countertops, we used granite floor tiles and have a tiled look for the countertop, as well as the backsplash. (It cost ~$400 instead of $3000). I hate the way it came out. The contractor did a good job on it, and it looks just as he said it would. But I had buyer's remorse within the first week. TheHusband said that I had to live with it, but that we could replace it after 10 years. I agreed (crabbily) and am looking forward to getting new countertops next year.
We chose well-rated appliances that were middle-of-the-pack appliances based on cost. The only item that was more expensive than should have been was the fridge. I really, really wanted the upside down refrigerator (freezer on bottom). The drawer-type freezer has turned out to be highly annoying, as I can never find anything in it. But that's a different issue.
A bit over a month ago, the diswasher died. So we bought a new one. I don't like some aspects of the new one, but, boy, is it quiet. Two days ago the microwave died. Why it couldn't be the fridge that died, I don't know. Is there some sort of planned obsolescence about kitchen appliances for the 9-10 year mark, nowadays? Mind you, my grandparents are using a 30-something year old dishwasher. Things were made better in the good old days (said in crotchety-old-lady voice).
I wonder if I can convince TheHusband to get a new fridge this weekend, too. Nah, didn't think so. But it doesn't hurt to ask.
Showing posts with label Joys of Homeownership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joys of Homeownership. Show all posts
16 May 2012
20 February 2010
Lots of snow and the electricity carrot
So I haven't been blogging much lately (duh). This is due to a combination of inertia, work overload, and general crabbiness. If I'm crabby, I see no reason to share it, even if misery loves company.
Also, we were slammed with snow. Snoverload 2.0. Snowmaggedon. Snobliteration. SnowhelpmeGod. Whatever you want to call it.
We got almost 3 feet of snow in the space of about 24 hours on Feb 5-6. I know that the Minnesotans, Alaskans, and Michiganders who read my blog aren't fazed by that amount of snow, but for heaven's sake, this is Montgomery County MD. Where they have a total of like 15 snowplows. And a policy to plow the main roads down to wet pavement before entering into the neighborhoods.
This wouldn't have been a big deal, but my neighborhood lost power sometime that Friday night. We were trapped, because I couldn't slog through almost 3 feet of snow. We have a fireplace, but it does nothing to warm the house. We have a gas stove and a gas hot water heater. But it was too cold to take showers, because we couldn't dry our hair. And coming out of the warm shower into the frigid bathroom was painful. A bunch of our neighbors bailed by walking (slogging) through the snow about a half mile to a main road where they had someone pick them up. Not us.
We stayed. It got really cold. By Sunday, the house was the same temp as the outside. It wasn't so bad during the daytime, but the nights were horrendous. I have never been able to sleep with the covers over my face; I feel like I'm suffocating. But I couldn't sleep with my face out of the covers. because it was too freaking cold. So I didn't really sleep.
Sunday was especially hard, because the power came back on for 30 minutes, then went back off. Up to that time, ThePinkThing had been the model of good behavior. After the electricity carrot had been dangled in front of our faces then yanked away, she had an absolute tantrum. The laying-on-the-floor-and-kicking-her-feet kind of tantrum. I didn't blame her. In fact, I had a small tantrum later that night, when I was literally shaking with cold, unable to sleep and completely miserable. I just waited until I was alone to have it.
We were finally plowed and shoveled out on Monday and went to relatives in the next town. They had heat. And light. And food. And their 5 year-old granddaughter, who was ecstatic to see another kid. And a comfy bed without 5 layers of blankets and 3 layers of clothing. I was actually hot at first. I felt bad about leaving the cats behind, because they are pampered inside-creatures who were confused as to why we were freezing them near to death.
The power came back on on Tuesday afternoon, after almost 4 days. It happened to come back on while we were home picking up the cats. TheHusband was going to take them to the vet to board them while we stayed with our relatives. But then the electricity carrot was offered once again, and this time it wasn't cruelly taken away. We waited 2 hours before committing to stay at home. No biggie, you say -- we could escape if the power went out again. Yeah, but you see we had another blizzard on Wed 2/10. Howling winds, whiteout conditions, another foot-plus of snow. But thankfully this was lighter, fluffier snow. Not the heavy wet stuff of the prior weekend. Our power stayed on. Some neighborhood kids came by and asked if we want to be shoveled out around noon on Thursday (YES!). The street was plowed sometime that evening. We survived.
We learned something too. We need to have either a generator or a kerosene heater, just in case this happens again. I want to buy some old-fashioned hot water bottles. Since we have a gas hot water heater, we could fill them and be a bit warmer at night. I realize that I will never live in Alaska, Minnesota, Vermont, or anywhere where they get boatloads of snow. I'm just too wimpy to handle it.
Also, we were slammed with snow. Snoverload 2.0. Snowmaggedon. Snobliteration. SnowhelpmeGod. Whatever you want to call it.
We got almost 3 feet of snow in the space of about 24 hours on Feb 5-6. I know that the Minnesotans, Alaskans, and Michiganders who read my blog aren't fazed by that amount of snow, but for heaven's sake, this is Montgomery County MD. Where they have a total of like 15 snowplows. And a policy to plow the main roads down to wet pavement before entering into the neighborhoods.
This wouldn't have been a big deal, but my neighborhood lost power sometime that Friday night. We were trapped, because I couldn't slog through almost 3 feet of snow. We have a fireplace, but it does nothing to warm the house. We have a gas stove and a gas hot water heater. But it was too cold to take showers, because we couldn't dry our hair. And coming out of the warm shower into the frigid bathroom was painful. A bunch of our neighbors bailed by walking (slogging) through the snow about a half mile to a main road where they had someone pick them up. Not us.
We stayed. It got really cold. By Sunday, the house was the same temp as the outside. It wasn't so bad during the daytime, but the nights were horrendous. I have never been able to sleep with the covers over my face; I feel like I'm suffocating. But I couldn't sleep with my face out of the covers. because it was too freaking cold. So I didn't really sleep.
Sunday was especially hard, because the power came back on for 30 minutes, then went back off. Up to that time, ThePinkThing had been the model of good behavior. After the electricity carrot had been dangled in front of our faces then yanked away, she had an absolute tantrum. The laying-on-the-floor-and-kicking-her-feet kind of tantrum. I didn't blame her. In fact, I had a small tantrum later that night, when I was literally shaking with cold, unable to sleep and completely miserable. I just waited until I was alone to have it.
We were finally plowed and shoveled out on Monday and went to relatives in the next town. They had heat. And light. And food. And their 5 year-old granddaughter, who was ecstatic to see another kid. And a comfy bed without 5 layers of blankets and 3 layers of clothing. I was actually hot at first. I felt bad about leaving the cats behind, because they are pampered inside-creatures who were confused as to why we were freezing them near to death.
The power came back on on Tuesday afternoon, after almost 4 days. It happened to come back on while we were home picking up the cats. TheHusband was going to take them to the vet to board them while we stayed with our relatives. But then the electricity carrot was offered once again, and this time it wasn't cruelly taken away. We waited 2 hours before committing to stay at home. No biggie, you say -- we could escape if the power went out again. Yeah, but you see we had another blizzard on Wed 2/10. Howling winds, whiteout conditions, another foot-plus of snow. But thankfully this was lighter, fluffier snow. Not the heavy wet stuff of the prior weekend. Our power stayed on. Some neighborhood kids came by and asked if we want to be shoveled out around noon on Thursday (YES!). The street was plowed sometime that evening. We survived.
We learned something too. We need to have either a generator or a kerosene heater, just in case this happens again. I want to buy some old-fashioned hot water bottles. Since we have a gas hot water heater, we could fill them and be a bit warmer at night. I realize that I will never live in Alaska, Minnesota, Vermont, or anywhere where they get boatloads of snow. I'm just too wimpy to handle it.
20 December 2009
Snoverload
Snoverload: an overload of snow.
Granted for the DC metro area, 7 inches of snow is a snoverload, but this is really insane. We totally got walloped with snow. TheHusband measured in two places in our yard and we got 29 inches of snow. Yes, yes, that includes drifting, but still, it is a ridiculously large amount of snow. The official amount is about 16 inches at National Airport, but that really doesn't reflect real life here in the DC Metro area. I am hoping that we are plowed out by Wednesday. Schools have been closed for tomorrow, and I expect that they will be closed again on Tuesday. I think Wednesday is a half day, so they punt that day, too. ThePinkThing thinks the snow is great (she and TheHusband had a snowball fight and tromped up and down the street this morning). I wish I was up to playing outside in the snow, but since I am still using the cane (and walker for longer walks), that is not in the cards. Boo. She is ecstatic at the thought of a snow day tomorrow. "I like learning, Mommy, but sometimes it's fun to not have school", she just told me. Maybe my place of employment will be closed tomorrow, since I'd like a snow day, too.
TheHusband has cleared the walkway completely, cleared his car off, and made a teeny little path along the edge of the driveway next to both cars. Since we live on a one-block long street with no streets behind us, I don't expect a plow to come through until tomorrow. He decided to bag any further shoveling until tomorrow for that reason.
As I said: snoverload.
____________________
Updated 8:28 pm
Hot damn. My office is closed tomorrow, so I get a snow day too. Yay, me!
Granted for the DC metro area, 7 inches of snow is a snoverload, but this is really insane. We totally got walloped with snow. TheHusband measured in two places in our yard and we got 29 inches of snow. Yes, yes, that includes drifting, but still, it is a ridiculously large amount of snow. The official amount is about 16 inches at National Airport, but that really doesn't reflect real life here in the DC Metro area. I am hoping that we are plowed out by Wednesday. Schools have been closed for tomorrow, and I expect that they will be closed again on Tuesday. I think Wednesday is a half day, so they punt that day, too. ThePinkThing thinks the snow is great (she and TheHusband had a snowball fight and tromped up and down the street this morning). I wish I was up to playing outside in the snow, but since I am still using the cane (and walker for longer walks), that is not in the cards. Boo. She is ecstatic at the thought of a snow day tomorrow. "I like learning, Mommy, but sometimes it's fun to not have school", she just told me. Maybe my place of employment will be closed tomorrow, since I'd like a snow day, too.
TheHusband has cleared the walkway completely, cleared his car off, and made a teeny little path along the edge of the driveway next to both cars. Since we live on a one-block long street with no streets behind us, I don't expect a plow to come through until tomorrow. He decided to bag any further shoveling until tomorrow for that reason.
As I said: snoverload.
____________________
Updated 8:28 pm
Hot damn. My office is closed tomorrow, so I get a snow day too. Yay, me!
29 July 2009
It's coming... (Updated)
The delivery people just called. Our new washer and dryer will be here within the next 40 minutes.
I am a bit dubious, given my prior experience with Sears washer/dryers and their delivery. There is also a new potential confounding factor. I looked up the specs online, and the online specs show the washer as 2+ inches deeper than the specs in the store said. I am now not sure the washer will fit in the closet. If it does fit in, we will probably have to permanently remove the closet door. I'll let you know in a bit how it all comes out...
_________________________
Updated at 3:00 pm
It's here and installed. The specs online appear to have been incorrect, becasue it fits in the same spot as the previous one. TH "debrained" the old washer dryer by removing the motherboard. We paid $250 for that board about 2 years ago, and it is in good shape. If we can get something for it, that'll be great.
I'll be doing a load or three tonight.
_________________________
Updated again, July 31
I've done 6 loads so far. Both the washer and dryer work really well. No internal problems to report. Annoyingly, the deliverymen installed the set further to the left than the original unit was. Because of the location, I can't open the detergent drawer all the way. It will have to be shifted over to the right eventually. Even TheHusband (with strict instructions) has run a load.
I am a bit dubious, given my prior experience with Sears washer/dryers and their delivery. There is also a new potential confounding factor. I looked up the specs online, and the online specs show the washer as 2+ inches deeper than the specs in the store said. I am now not sure the washer will fit in the closet. If it does fit in, we will probably have to permanently remove the closet door. I'll let you know in a bit how it all comes out...
_________________________
Updated at 3:00 pm
It's here and installed. The specs online appear to have been incorrect, becasue it fits in the same spot as the previous one. TH "debrained" the old washer dryer by removing the motherboard. We paid $250 for that board about 2 years ago, and it is in good shape. If we can get something for it, that'll be great.
I'll be doing a load or three tonight.
_________________________
Updated again, July 31
I've done 6 loads so far. Both the washer and dryer work really well. No internal problems to report. Annoyingly, the deliverymen installed the set further to the left than the original unit was. Because of the location, I can't open the detergent drawer all the way. It will have to be shifted over to the right eventually. Even TheHusband (with strict instructions) has run a load.
26 July 2009
So now it's the washing machine...
Okay, this homeownership stuff is for the birds. Now it's the washing machine that is in the process of crapping out. It is a 9 year-old Maytag Neptune stacked washer-dryer that I have not loved from day 1. It is one of those Maytag frontloaders that has a problem with mold, which I have kept under some control with hot washes and bleach, and keeping the washer door open when not in use. The unit has a backstory which is complicated and annoying.
Our house is almost 50 years old, and we bought it from the original owner, who had gone into a nursing home. The son took care of the sale, and he was one cheap bastard. Any repairs that had been done prior to the sale were shoddy. When we bought the house in 2000, it had not been updated since the 1970's, other than some of the kitchen appliances. The stove, oven, dishwasher and refrigerator were all new, but each was the cheapest one available from Sears (why yes, I did check, thank you). The washing machine was aqua colored and didn't work. (It was aqua!) There was no dryer. So TheHusband and I went to Sears to buy a washer and dryer. I had already done my homework and picked out a Kenmore frontloader that I liked along with the matching dryer. I liked that the washer had a see-thru door -- I like watching laundry get washed. They could be stacked, which I also liked. And last but not least, it was on sale. So we paid and set up a delivery date.
When the truck arrived with the washer and dryer, I was really excited. I was tired of going to the laundromat, which I had been doing for a couple of weeks at that point. I can't carry heavy things with two hands due to balance issues, so going to the laundromat was extra-annoying. I watched them unload the pieces off the truck and thought "that looks weird." They were at the bottom of the driveway and from the front door, I could see that the dryer looked strange. It had a black mark on it. When they got the dryer up to the front door, I could see what that black mark was. It was a gash of about 6 inches. In the side of the dryer. Right through the casing or whatever you call the metal outside part. I said "WTF?!?!" Or words to that effect. The delivery guys basically said "I dunno. It has your name on it, we're just the delivery guys."
Not shockingly, I refused delivery, and called Sears right away. "Really? It had a hole in it?" said the Sears CSR. "Yes." I replied. "So sorry. We'll send out a new one." So then I had to wait another week for that one to be delivered, because I wasn't about to cancel patients, and I lived far enough from my office that I couldn't just zip over.
Skip to one week later... Yay, the Sears truck is here!!! I watched them unload the washer and dryer again from the front door. What do you think I saw? Yes, you're right. A dryer with a big gash in it. I didn't even let them wheel it up to the house; I went down to the truck and told them I wouldn't accept the same broken dryer. Different guys, same reaction.
I called Sears again, got a different CSR and was VERY snippy on the phone this time. I told them that I wanted a washer and dryer that were not broken before delivery. "Really, we delivered the same broken one? That's terrible. We can have one for you in 2 weeks." I blew a gasket "Two weeks?" I shrieked. "I've been waiting for almost four weeks for a washer/dryer. I am not waiting another two weeks." So they said they could deliver it the upcoming Saturday. I had to work that day, but TheHusband would be home. Fine, it was his turn to hang around the house waiting for delivery guys.
Cue to 3 days later, Saturday... At about 10:30 I got a call from TheHusband telling me that he had freaked out when Sears had attempted to deliver the same broken dryer again. Now Sears had two incredibly irate people calling and shrieking. And you gotta give credit to large faceless uncaring corporations -- they really don't care about the customer. When TH called to complain about receiving a broken dryer for the 3rd time, he was told that was because we kept refusing it -- they were delivering "our" washer/dryer. When he asked snidely if there were no others of those W/D pairs in the state of Maryland, he was told that there were, but they were all slated for other customers. He said that we'd rather have a different washer/dryer at that point. Someone else could have "ours". The woman on the other end of the phone replied in a shocked tone "How would those people feel? They'd be getting broken merchandise." He yelled back at her that he knew exactly how they'd feel. When TH was telling me about this conversation, I thought he would burst an aneurysm.
After much shrieking and carrying on and comments about bait-and-switch, we got offered an upgrade at no extra cost to the one-piece full-sized stacked Maytag Neptune unit. It didn't have a glass door, but we'd be getting it for $600 less than its advertised price. It was delivered about 10 days (grrrr) later in one piece and unbroken. But I've never loved it. And it turned out to have that mold problem.
It was repaired once before ($250). But now the repair cost will be at least $500, which is almost the cost of a new washer. So we are off to Home Despot or Lowes or a local appliance store (if they exist anymore). We have opted to replace the unit with a stackable washer/dryer pair. That way, then next time one breaks, we will only have to replace one unit, not both.
I just can't even imagine what appliance will crap out next...
Our house is almost 50 years old, and we bought it from the original owner, who had gone into a nursing home. The son took care of the sale, and he was one cheap bastard. Any repairs that had been done prior to the sale were shoddy. When we bought the house in 2000, it had not been updated since the 1970's, other than some of the kitchen appliances. The stove, oven, dishwasher and refrigerator were all new, but each was the cheapest one available from Sears (why yes, I did check, thank you). The washing machine was aqua colored and didn't work. (It was aqua!) There was no dryer. So TheHusband and I went to Sears to buy a washer and dryer. I had already done my homework and picked out a Kenmore frontloader that I liked along with the matching dryer. I liked that the washer had a see-thru door -- I like watching laundry get washed. They could be stacked, which I also liked. And last but not least, it was on sale. So we paid and set up a delivery date.
When the truck arrived with the washer and dryer, I was really excited. I was tired of going to the laundromat, which I had been doing for a couple of weeks at that point. I can't carry heavy things with two hands due to balance issues, so going to the laundromat was extra-annoying. I watched them unload the pieces off the truck and thought "that looks weird." They were at the bottom of the driveway and from the front door, I could see that the dryer looked strange. It had a black mark on it. When they got the dryer up to the front door, I could see what that black mark was. It was a gash of about 6 inches. In the side of the dryer. Right through the casing or whatever you call the metal outside part. I said "WTF?!?!" Or words to that effect. The delivery guys basically said "I dunno. It has your name on it, we're just the delivery guys."
Not shockingly, I refused delivery, and called Sears right away. "Really? It had a hole in it?" said the Sears CSR. "Yes." I replied. "So sorry. We'll send out a new one." So then I had to wait another week for that one to be delivered, because I wasn't about to cancel patients, and I lived far enough from my office that I couldn't just zip over.
Skip to one week later... Yay, the Sears truck is here!!! I watched them unload the washer and dryer again from the front door. What do you think I saw? Yes, you're right. A dryer with a big gash in it. I didn't even let them wheel it up to the house; I went down to the truck and told them I wouldn't accept the same broken dryer. Different guys, same reaction.
I called Sears again, got a different CSR and was VERY snippy on the phone this time. I told them that I wanted a washer and dryer that were not broken before delivery. "Really, we delivered the same broken one? That's terrible. We can have one for you in 2 weeks." I blew a gasket "Two weeks?" I shrieked. "I've been waiting for almost four weeks for a washer/dryer. I am not waiting another two weeks." So they said they could deliver it the upcoming Saturday. I had to work that day, but TheHusband would be home. Fine, it was his turn to hang around the house waiting for delivery guys.
Cue to 3 days later, Saturday... At about 10:30 I got a call from TheHusband telling me that he had freaked out when Sears had attempted to deliver the same broken dryer again. Now Sears had two incredibly irate people calling and shrieking. And you gotta give credit to large faceless uncaring corporations -- they really don't care about the customer. When TH called to complain about receiving a broken dryer for the 3rd time, he was told that was because we kept refusing it -- they were delivering "our" washer/dryer. When he asked snidely if there were no others of those W/D pairs in the state of Maryland, he was told that there were, but they were all slated for other customers. He said that we'd rather have a different washer/dryer at that point. Someone else could have "ours". The woman on the other end of the phone replied in a shocked tone "How would those people feel? They'd be getting broken merchandise." He yelled back at her that he knew exactly how they'd feel. When TH was telling me about this conversation, I thought he would burst an aneurysm.
After much shrieking and carrying on and comments about bait-and-switch, we got offered an upgrade at no extra cost to the one-piece full-sized stacked Maytag Neptune unit. It didn't have a glass door, but we'd be getting it for $600 less than its advertised price. It was delivered about 10 days (grrrr) later in one piece and unbroken. But I've never loved it. And it turned out to have that mold problem.
It was repaired once before ($250). But now the repair cost will be at least $500, which is almost the cost of a new washer. So we are off to Home Despot or Lowes or a local appliance store (if they exist anymore). We have opted to replace the unit with a stackable washer/dryer pair. That way, then next time one breaks, we will only have to replace one unit, not both.
I just can't even imagine what appliance will crap out next...
18 July 2009
Busy weekend
My back is feeling well enough, so what did we do today? We cleaned the basement, the linen closet and some of the family room. Tomorrow we will tackle the piles in the living room and dining room.
The amount of crap that has built up is positively amazing and is a testament to my rather high tolerance level for clutter. Eventually, the crap level in my house exceeds my tolerance level, and it gets cleaned up. I wish several things: that my tolerance level was lower (so things wouldn't get quite so cluttered), that I had gotten into the habit of putting things away after using them (that's a hard habit to change), and that I just didn't accumulate so much stuff. One of my sisters-in-law has the least cluttered house ever. It is nerve-wracking for me to stay there, because I always feel that I am messing stuff up. But it does inspire me to try to be neater. Unfortunately, that part wears off quickly after a visit.
Make hay while the sun shines, I say. My back will probably start hurting again, regardless of what I do, and I took it easy yesterday and Thursday.
TheHusband is the brawn -- he does the lifting and carrying. I sort the crap out and give orders (the brains?). He says that I get to be the Rear Admiral this weekend. That's fine, because he is not a full Admiral. I'll allow him to be a (Navy) Captain. After all, that's a promotion from his rank when he left the Navy (Lt, j.g.).
The amount of crap that has built up is positively amazing and is a testament to my rather high tolerance level for clutter. Eventually, the crap level in my house exceeds my tolerance level, and it gets cleaned up. I wish several things: that my tolerance level was lower (so things wouldn't get quite so cluttered), that I had gotten into the habit of putting things away after using them (that's a hard habit to change), and that I just didn't accumulate so much stuff. One of my sisters-in-law has the least cluttered house ever. It is nerve-wracking for me to stay there, because I always feel that I am messing stuff up. But it does inspire me to try to be neater. Unfortunately, that part wears off quickly after a visit.
Make hay while the sun shines, I say. My back will probably start hurting again, regardless of what I do, and I took it easy yesterday and Thursday.
TheHusband is the brawn -- he does the lifting and carrying. I sort the crap out and give orders (the brains?). He says that I get to be the Rear Admiral this weekend. That's fine, because he is not a full Admiral. I'll allow him to be a (Navy) Captain. After all, that's a promotion from his rank when he left the Navy (Lt, j.g.).
22 June 2009
The AC guy is here -- could the heavens open and angels start to sing?
The AC repairman arrived about 10-15 minutes ago. He turned on the AC from the thermostat (we turned it off last night). The damn thing started right up and began to blow cold air. I could have kicked it. But thankfully he stuck around to make sure it kept running. While he was outside looking at the outside unit, the inside part crapped out (it took about 5 minutes). Now he is in there making grumpy, sighing sorts of noises.
I am in hopes that it will be fixed today.
__________________________
Updated 2:45 pm
It works, it works!!! Forget the repairman singing -- I'm singing. This time it was a capacitor or a thingamajig or a hooziwhatsis. At this point, I don't care, because it works.
I am in hopes that it will be fixed today.
__________________________
Updated 2:45 pm
It works, it works!!! Forget the repairman singing -- I'm singing. This time it was a capacitor or a thingamajig or a hooziwhatsis. At this point, I don't care, because it works.
21 June 2009
Tonight I'm Gonna Sleep in the Basement
I was in Ohio this past weekend. More on that in a later post, because we did a lot of stuff, most of which was really fun. Unfortunately the one thing that sucked was that my mother-in-law's air-conditioning unit was out. And of course the room we were sleeping in was the warmest room in the house (although it did have a computer with internet access on the desk and a bathroom attached). I have the hardest time sleeping when I'm hot, and then I'm miserable the next day. That's been going on since Friday evening. I literally have been dreaming about coming home to sleep since Friday night, when it was over 80 degrees in the bedroom. And what do you think I came home to about 30 minutes ago? No air-conditioning. In the DC area. In late June. Two freaking weeks after it crapped out and was then fixed. WTF? I am literally so mad that I am seeing red. It doesn't seem to be the outside compressor unit now. This time, the inside furnace part doesn't sound right.
As an additional bonus, I wrecked my external hard drive. After looking in the furnace room to see if there was anything out of order (as if I would really have a clue) and obviously finding nothing, I closed the door a bit more firmly than usual. I heard a loud metal-ly/plastic sounding crash. I opened the door to see what looked very much like my external hard drive on the floor. With the cover half off the innards. I looked over at TheHusband's desk to see if my external drive happened to be sitting there. Maybe that's an extra one or something, I thought. Nope. No little black My Book sitting on the desk. SHIT! That's my drive. The one with every last photo and video that I've taken since 2001. All of my emails. All of the documents of various sorts. But just in case, I trudged upstairs and asked TheHusband if my drive was in the furnace room. He replied yes, why? Because it fell off of whatever it had been on and is now in pieces. Silence. Note that TheHusband kindly put it there so that the cleaning ladies wouldn't knock it off the desk while they were cleaning up. Thankfully, TheHusband is a computer hardware kind of guy. He has "undressed" it (i.e., removed the hard drive from the protective case), and has connected it to his computer and is dumping everything onto another external hard drive that he recently bought. Hopefully, the impact didn't ruin anything. It should take about 3 hours to transfer the data. And to add insult to injury, the video card on my laptop (which is my main computer, mind you), has finally crapped out.
TheHusband says, "Time for a new motherboard."
Neurondoc replies, "$!^%$@#$%^. Forget a new motherboard. I want a desktop."
Beware of any laptops for sale on eBay in the DC area with "slight video issues".
Back to the title of this post. We have an old beat up sofa in the basement. It is not the most comfy place to sleep (especially with a herniated lumber disc). But it is literally 15 degrees cooler down here. So I am going to sleep in the basement. TheHusband can sleep in the fires of Hell upstairs.
Oh, and please shoot me.
As an additional bonus, I wrecked my external hard drive. After looking in the furnace room to see if there was anything out of order (as if I would really have a clue) and obviously finding nothing, I closed the door a bit more firmly than usual. I heard a loud metal-ly/plastic sounding crash. I opened the door to see what looked very much like my external hard drive on the floor. With the cover half off the innards. I looked over at TheHusband's desk to see if my external drive happened to be sitting there. Maybe that's an extra one or something, I thought. Nope. No little black My Book sitting on the desk. SHIT! That's my drive. The one with every last photo and video that I've taken since 2001. All of my emails. All of the documents of various sorts. But just in case, I trudged upstairs and asked TheHusband if my drive was in the furnace room. He replied yes, why? Because it fell off of whatever it had been on and is now in pieces. Silence. Note that TheHusband kindly put it there so that the cleaning ladies wouldn't knock it off the desk while they were cleaning up. Thankfully, TheHusband is a computer hardware kind of guy. He has "undressed" it (i.e., removed the hard drive from the protective case), and has connected it to his computer and is dumping everything onto another external hard drive that he recently bought. Hopefully, the impact didn't ruin anything. It should take about 3 hours to transfer the data. And to add insult to injury, the video card on my laptop (which is my main computer, mind you), has finally crapped out.
TheHusband says, "Time for a new motherboard."
Neurondoc replies, "$!^%$@#$%^. Forget a new motherboard. I want a desktop."
Beware of any laptops for sale on eBay in the DC area with "slight video issues".
Back to the title of this post. We have an old beat up sofa in the basement. It is not the most comfy place to sleep (especially with a herniated lumber disc). But it is literally 15 degrees cooler down here. So I am going to sleep in the basement. TheHusband can sleep in the fires of Hell upstairs.
Oh, and please shoot me.
07 June 2009
I'm so hot AGAIN
We replaced our furnace and central AC unit a little over 3 years ago. The ones we replaced were 27 (!) and 19 years old, respectively. The new AC unit died last year right around this time, when it was 90+ degrees. Apparently some freaking bug got fried on the "coil", which is a crucial AC unit innard. So we sweltered.
Today, I turned the AC on for the first time in a few days, when the inside temp in the main level of the house hit 78. Eventually, I figured out that the house really wasn't cooling off. Being relatively smart, I opened the back door to listen for the compressor and heard... ... ... nothing, of course. The outside AC compressor unit has crapped out again. So we turned off the AC at the thermostat, waited 10 minutes and turned it back on. No dice. TheHusband flipped the fuses just in case (although they were both in the "on" position). Nope.
ThePinkThing came downstairs saying that she couldn't sleep because she's too hot (duh, it's 85 degrees up there...). So we went around the upstairs opening every window, because (thankfully) it is at least 15 degrees cooler outside than inside. We also put a fan in TPT's room and turned it on. I am in hopes that she will fall asleep, and not decide to stick something in the fan "to see what happens".
Why are modern products so damn crappy? This is a Carrier unit, which is supposed to be good, but it has crapped out twice now in 3 years. Granted, I don't know how long the prior AC unit went between breakdowns, but it never broke down once in the almost 6 years we used it. We only replaced it, because I wanted a more energy efficient unit (hah, an energy efficient central AC unit; I must be smoking something), and the furnace had given up the ghost. So we decided to replace the AC unit at the same time. I totally regret it now.
I'm hot.
Today, I turned the AC on for the first time in a few days, when the inside temp in the main level of the house hit 78. Eventually, I figured out that the house really wasn't cooling off. Being relatively smart, I opened the back door to listen for the compressor and heard... ... ... nothing, of course. The outside AC compressor unit has crapped out again. So we turned off the AC at the thermostat, waited 10 minutes and turned it back on. No dice. TheHusband flipped the fuses just in case (although they were both in the "on" position). Nope.
ThePinkThing came downstairs saying that she couldn't sleep because she's too hot (duh, it's 85 degrees up there...). So we went around the upstairs opening every window, because (thankfully) it is at least 15 degrees cooler outside than inside. We also put a fan in TPT's room and turned it on. I am in hopes that she will fall asleep, and not decide to stick something in the fan "to see what happens".
Why are modern products so damn crappy? This is a Carrier unit, which is supposed to be good, but it has crapped out twice now in 3 years. Granted, I don't know how long the prior AC unit went between breakdowns, but it never broke down once in the almost 6 years we used it. We only replaced it, because I wanted a more energy efficient unit (hah, an energy efficient central AC unit; I must be smoking something), and the furnace had given up the ghost. So we decided to replace the AC unit at the same time. I totally regret it now.
I'm hot.
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