No I didn't freeze to Death

To anyone who thought I had frozen to death in my electrically heated house I'd like to assure you that is not case.

After calling, following up and threatening to find someone else for the job, our contractor finally came in a gave us ducts and vents :)

We failed inspection by the city because there was one thing we didn't do. ( taking down 3 bulk heads in our living room, making them larger then putting them back up, replacing the crown moulding and the pot lights). In the spring when our contractor comes back to set up the A/C unit and make sure it works we'll be attempting to do the last piece of work in our place to get it up to code prior to May which is when our permit expires :(

In the meantime we have a toasty house which is still a mess from the contractor, and needs to be painted, but not until the rest of the work is completed in spring. Hate the mess, love the warmth. With -10 to -18 weather I'll take the heat :)

Brrrr... It's Cold

Our new house is cold. Why is it cold, insulation, hole in the wall, broken doors or windows. Nope....it's cold because our contractor won't show up to do the work.

Our house has baseboard heaters (not all of them work, and there's none in the basement). Otherwise there's some duct work, but it isn't to code.

Prior to purchasing the home we asked a contractor to look at the work, give us a quote and tell us if the house can be properly converted to central heating and cooling by code and with a permit. He said yes. He also said he'd do the work.

Well...it took him 2 months to finally get someone out to do the drawings. He kept ignoring fiancee's calls since he recognized the number (we suspect). I called from a diff. number and got a hold of him, the following day he sent out someone to do the drawings. Once the drawings were done he took his time getting them to us so we could apply for the permit. We had to call and pester him to send the damn things.

Now we have our permit, a new quote from him and after a month he's decided to do the work. Fiancee and I think our real estate agent had a talk with him since she's the one who recommended him and provided us with some references for him.

He said he would be in on Wednesday but it snowed pretty badly. We weren't surprised when he cancelled, but we expected he would start Thursday. Well.....

He called at 11 freakin' pm and fiancee got the phone. Fiancee is too nice for his own good sometimes. I was louding saying "no" "not acceptable" etc, etc, but my fiancee ignored me and just kept saying yes. When he hung up the phone he spoke with me and confirmed my suspitions. The fucking contractor call to say he'd be in on Friday and he would magically get the 2-3 day job done in 1 with more people. Fucking get out of here!

If he brings in too many people everyone is just going to be stepping over everyone and the work isn't going to get done any faster. Because fiancee of mine who I love very much can't say "no" or look out for himself and his own I plan to confront contractor myself tomorrow (he'd better show up) once I get home from work and tell him that I expect him to be around when the city inspector comes to check out the work. I plan to make clear to him that he won't be seeing any money from us until the work he promised is done to the standard he promised.

The guy has been jerking us around and not outright saying "No". We have a quote from another contractor as well, but he can't start until January 2010. Crappy! I hate contractors, lousy, self absorbed, procrastinating, uncaring, overpriced, assholes that they are.




Photo is not mine. It's from http://rs--design.deviantart.com/art/Cold-111899985

Neurotic November

by Ryumia

Usually I blog while in the moment to capture my moods and not miss any details. I unfortunately haven't had any time for blogging.

November was crazy.

My father re-married on the eighth of the month. My brother and cousins couldn't make it, they all had valid excuses. I wish I could have said the same.

My father was so happy, and I didn't want to be the wet blanket, but that was the worst moment in my life. I sat in the back with fiancee who was very supportive, Aunt who didn't seem any happier than myself and uncle who had mixed feelings about the whole thing.

Why was I in the back you ask? Well....since meeting his now wife, my father has been going to church a LOT. He gives them money, attends courses and classes and recently he became friendly with some coo coo evangelists who introduced him to the Alpha course. His now wife already finished her 'training' so he went to the classes solo. The course ended at some ranch retreat and both him and now wife decided they would marry on the last day since their cult...oops "Alpha Family" was there to witness the momentous and happy occasion.

So as family we stayed near the back away from the blank eyed smiling people we encountered. I saw my father kiss a person who to me was pretty much a stranger since I'd only met with her two or three times. There was one part in the ceremony where they each lit one of three candles and someone lit one in between them to signify the joining of the two families. I later learned that the person who lit the middle candle was her son. Way to join those families you two. We've all never even been introduced.

Once everything was over my father wanted to have me in some pictures which of course I refused, and I skipped over the cake. I wanted to do nothing else afterward but hit a bar and drink them dry.

It was a terrible experience and I really feel sorry for anyone else who's had to go through it. I'll always be grateful to fiancee for being there for me.

The 18th was my birthday and the 28th was my brother's. We both had LOTS of cake as we celebrated separate times with work (in my case anyways) and all our loved ones and extended family. The 11th was also a friends birthday and my friends and I got together for dinner, then dessert at my place after. LOTS of cake. I almost never want cake again. ALMOST.

Picture from http://ryumia.deviantart.com/art/Cake-73228198