Slowwwly but surely
I didn’t mean to take a couple weeks off the blog, but between being slammed and getting very sick, it just didn’t happen.
I was as sick as I can remember being and basically rotted in bed for a few days, oscillating between violent shivers and sweating through the sheets. Not a productive stretch. I did, however, watch Sky High, and that movie still rocks. There is something about pacing that is clearly aimed at kids that really works for my rotted TikTok brain. Fast plot, simple character arcs, and the whole thing wraps in about an hour and a half. Absolute gold. Mid 2000s family movies understood something we seem to have forgotten. Not every story needs to be two and a half hours long with seventeen subplots and a morally conflicted antihero.
The house is coming along at a pace that keeps me motivated, but by no stretch does it inspire confidence that I will be satisfied anytime soon. Fortunately, I found a competent helper who has been a huge boost, helping with the bathroom tile, some framing, and just generally making it great to come home and see progress.
The drywall crew that took over the skim coating did solid work too. Once I deep clean the first three rooms enough to get the drywall dust under control, I can bring in the flooring guys. After that, it is priming and painting weekend. I am hoping to turn that into a bit of a party vibe. I will do a few hours of prep to make sure the floors are protected, then spend a few hundred bucks on rollers, brushes, and ladders and let my friends have at it.
I started gutting the electrical in the kitchen to add pot lights and quickly realized I was not just affecting the kitchen. Everything is tied together in ways that only make sense if you were the person with the wire cutters 50 years ago. I was suddenly impacting crawlspace lights, random exterior switches, and some mystery live wires by the fire pit that look like they were meant for 240 but apparently someone just used whatever was in the truck.
All in all, I got in over my head and had to call my electrician to bail me out. I am getting tired of that cycle, but it is hard to juggle a full time job with the stress of potentially burning my house down because I guessed wrong about what previous knuckleheads did when they "updated" the wiring.
I do not want the forensic electrician's report to read like the TikTok audio I keep hearing in my feed:
"Oh, my son did the electrical work. He is very handy."
"Oh cool. How long ago did his house burn down?"
"...three years ago. Wait, how did you know his house burned down?"
The windows have turned into a much bigger issue than expected. I am going to try to restore the ones in my room to preserve the charm, but the rest are in rough enough shape that a full rebuild just is not realistic for me right now. I keep going back and forth, but honestly I would rather not take that on. I have too many other priorities, and the trim carpentry alone is going to be plenty of work. Baseboards, doors, windows, all of it.
That said, I cannot wait to start trim. As much as drywall makes a place look like a house, trim is what makes it look finished.
The goal for the next two weeks is to get the big picture window back in and trimmed out, then install the French doors and hopefully start moving my bedroom stuff in. I do technically need a light, but for now I will just move the Sputnik fixture from my current bedroom and throw a cheap Amazon special in there for the next renter.
If I do not start moving in soon, I know I will keep postponing, so I want to get the ball rolling and line up a subletter. Paying rent, the mortgage, the drywall crew, and my new helper Jake all in the same weekend was brutal. I cannot wait until I can at least cross rent off that list.
