Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Ready for insulation

I'm also ready for my nervous breakdown. I don't know why, but this upgrade-the-electrical-and-insulate-the-house project has broken me. Oh wait, I know why: it's really freaking expensive and disruptive. Again, I would never survive a full-scale remodel.

I'm going to apologize in advance for how whiny I'm being. Break out your tiny violins.

I mentioned a while back that Greg was going to invest in the house and pay for electrical upgrades and insulation, but that changed. Everything is fine with the two of us but it left me scrambling to apply for financing and it annihilated my savings to pay the electrician. As expected, everything took a bit longer than expected, if that makes sense.

The financing took place with Umpqua Bank with a really obnoxious man who kept asking, "No husband? You're doing this by yourself?" Then he slowly explained how a checking account works and what would happen if I "just had to have that diamond ring" and overdrafted my account. I am not making this shit up.

Have I mentioned that I've been having insomnia so I cut alcohol out of my diet? It's like I'm not thinking sometimes.


Anyway. Our electrician finished all the work in the attic! Instead of wires hanging out of our living room ceiling we have this super cheap Ikea fixture.

I'm not sure this is an upgrade.

I want something beautiful and dangling in here eventually but I have no money right now. So a cheap Ikea fixture it is! Yay, throwaway culture. The good news is that my electrician redesigned the wiring so things make a modicum of sense. Everything's up to code! If we die in a house fire it probably won't be due to sketchy wiring!

I also had him put in a new receptacle in the hallway so we can better see how badly we need to vacuum.


I grabbed these $39 schoolhouse fixtures from Lamps Plus, then went into a shame spiral over how they were made in China and I should have bought real Schoolhouse Electric fixtures and supported a local company.

We really need to vacuum.

Then Greg came out and said, "I think the scale is wrong and they're too big for the space," which made me start worrying about that. But you know what? I'd rather they be too big than too small. And everyone is going to be distracted by the fact that we need to vacuum so badly in here, and then they'll be noticing that our rug is the wrong length for the hallway. So it doesn't matter.

If you need me I'll be here, waiting for my waaahmbulance and reminding myself that things could be worse. I'm not destitute, nor do I live in a country where I could be punished for being a woman and driving a car. I can put up with stupid loan officers. Also: my mother sent me this:

Reference

She's the best.

15 comments:

  1. Your mom IS the best! I wonder if they make beer sippy cups? I can send one to my son. Boo to what Greg said. They look fine.

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  2. And when your mother sent you that gift, I don't think she intended it for sipping juice. Insomnia is tolerable with a good book and a sippy cup of wine.

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  3. WHAT???? did the banking dude say? That's soooo out of bounds.

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  4. Jenni @ RainyDayGardenerSeptember 11, 2013 at 6:56 PM

    Bah, those lights look fine in the hallway! Besides, they have character! :) I vote you put the gift from your Mom to good use and re-install alcohol into your diet :) I second Ricki's suggestion for insomnia :)

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  5. I could only laugh at your humorous "complaining." You crack me up :)
    1. Those lights in the hall look totally awesome
    2. We need to vacuum our entire house and not just our hallway
    3. Why the fuck is everything made in fucking China? I mean damn America, let's make some shit!
    4. Yay for correct wiring and earthquake retrofits! (your house won't burn, ours won't fall over)
    5. Is that switch 3 feet off the floor in your bedroom still there? (that is my favorite switch in the history of home renovation)

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  6. This post makes me wonder if you and I are living parallel, intergenerational lives. We are currently involved in an insulation project, AND, I am abstaining from alcohol to try to combat insomnia. But if I did have a sippy cup of wine, it would probably just serve to embolden me enough to punch out that stupid loan SOB. What a jerk.

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  7. Remodeling is such a pain. I admire your for going through all that trouble, and especially the financing. If you ever get to the point of putting on a new roof I highly recommend skylights, we did 3 of the long tube kind and it's so nice to have the natural light coming in. I like your fixtures, you can always change them down the road since you got the wiring done right anyway.;-)

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  8. Thanks! Get it, Mom: http://www.gentsupplyco.com/Beer-Sippy-Cup

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  9. I know, right? I'd like a medal for not rolling my eyes at him.

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  10. You guys are the best enablers. :)

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  11. We installed a couple of these in a dark hallway when we had our new roof done and I *love* them. The light tubes were about $250-$300 and our roofer charged about $25/tube to do the exterior install work. We did the attic tube and interior installation ourselves, a very easy task. My only regret is not doing more (well, that and not hunting down the kind that cast rainbows all around your house.)

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  12. Several years ago we redid our kitchen (gutted and redid it, including new electrical). I also almost lost my shit. My dog was crapping everywhere, I was having a nervous breakdown every other day, it was the worst. The good news is that it doesn't last forever!

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  13. Does your mom need to adopt another daughter?

    As for the lights I don't think they're to big, and don't be so hard on yourself about not buying "real" Schoolhouse. Even with Andrew's discount they're expensive!

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  14. I finally broke down and hired some insulation contractors last fall. I gotta to say though, it was worth every penny!

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