Oh, crud!! My stoopid FitBit just told me to get off my hiney and get moving. Now it's thinking that all the exercise I got yesterday should be my new norm! NOT!!
Yesterday Tam, Ken and I went over to Kenny and Jenny's while they were at work and put the girls' rooms together. Katie had elventy-hunnert boxes in hers - all you see was the bed. The kids kept ordering her to get in there and start putting things away, but she had no place to put them. Her dresser, vanity and bookcase were still in the room where 90% of the other junk was and Kenny has been so crabby lately that she was hesitant to remind him of the fact. Kendra's room was an accident waiting to happen, again could see the bed and the cath table, but couldn't even move around in there. I think I've mentioned this before, but Kenny and Jenny are basically very lazy people when it comes to their house. I'm talking dishes from dinner 3 nights ago still sitting on the table, kids sometimes have an odor of not clean. Love them dearly, but it is what it is. So nothing is being done at the new house really, and the more they are in it the more issues they find to further dishearten them.
They made the offer in late May. Went through that hassle and finally settled on a price, but bit on the "as is" caveat. Dumb, dumb, dumb!! We tried to tell them what that meant....work, money, work, money and more work....but they wanted it so badly! Got the loan approved quickly but it seemed every inspector found something, so the bank wouldn't release the money until those things were repaired - by the kids, not the sellers. They did sign an "as is" contract, after all. There were 4 - count them, 4!! - separate closing dates before it finally happened in December, and the inspectors making their little lists missed some whoppers! The first closing date was August 11th or so, to give you an idea of how prolonged this has been. They were so fixated on stuff like the shed roof being replaced and the laundry room floor being replaced that they forgot to mention a few other details, like:
The dryer vent that is just hole under the dryer where all the moist, linty air goes. Hence the need to replace the floor, but let's not address that, right?
The electrical outlets that Ken almost cried about because they were so bad. Nothing stays plugged in, and he completely took one out and sealed it because it was so unsafe.
A light switch that is connected to - nothing. Still haven't been able to trace that back. Yet the wires are live. Go figger.
A hole in the floor of Kendra's closet that went nowhere. Katie moved a piece of cardboard that was laying on the floor in there and saw joists and dirt. That hole opened directly to the ground under the house. It wasn't a little hole, either - it was over a foot by a foot.
The second one just like it under the stove - a little bigger at 1.5 feet by 1.5 feet. This one we just found when we moved out the old stove that was in there and replaced it with the one we bought Kenny and Jenny a couple of years ago.
A constant, steady leak in the ceiling of Katie's room, with moldy carpet under where the previous owners had a big piece of furniture sitting and the other leak way in the back corner of her closet. Since we had no rain anytime the kids were over there, there was no way to know that until we got our first snow and it melted.
Light fixture in Kendra's closet that is just hanging there - open to the attic.
No carpet tack strips on any of the carpets in Katie's room, the hallway, and the playroom, which are all gross, dirty, and can't even be cleaned anyway.
Chipped lead based paint in Kendra's room.
A dishwasher without a drain outlet. Oh, and a hot water faucet that comes off in your hand.
That's just the big stuff...all houses have little things, I know, especially older, cobbled together ones. You have to remember that this is Cowley. Homes were built by a family and his neighbors and relatives with no thought to building codes, then added to willy-nilly. Shoot, there was a house where the first owners used garden hose to tap off the gas lines running under the street. We found that out when I was on the town council and someone wanted to subdivide their property since there was his dads' house and his uncle's on the same property. This guy inherited it, subdivided it, and when they tore down the rickety old house - BOOM!!! Let's just say that the house demolition didn't cost him as much as he thought it would. A plat showing all the water and sewer lines didn't even exist until we started rebuilding the water system in Cowley while I was on council, then we found all kinds of surprises. Expensive surprises.
As for the Money Pit, most of this stuff was very well hidden until closing, despite 2 inspectors, several inspections, and all of us going over several times to clear up what the inspectors did list. But Kenny and Jenny wanted so desperately to get out of that trailer, and this place has so much room, and was priced so that they could actually afford it that they jumped on it rather than getting pre-approved and then taking their time looking. Houses aren't that available in Cowley anyway, and with the girls' issues they wanted them to stay in the school system that has been so good to - and for - them. Now we're all paying the price. Kenny knows nothing about home repair and maintenance. Give him a pan and a spatula and prepare to be amazed, but a screwdriver or hammer makes him break out in a cold sweat. He has just come to realize that he's in over his head.
So Tam, Ken and I went over there while the girls were at school and the kids were at work, and we got busy. By the time Katie got home from school, her room looked like a young lady's room. We did what we could with the carpet. We even lifted it up to see if there were decent hardwood floors under it like in most of the house and were prepared to take it out and clean the floor. Nope. Kendra's room is put together, extra crap (sorry, but that's what most of it was) moved out, the hardwood floor in there cleaned, and it's really cute. Kendra shows her joy just in her smile, her giggle, and the way she explored every nook and cranny, finally finding "her spot" and settling in with a book. She was getting into her chair and going into her room before, but she had one little area in front of the toy box that was about 3X4, and that was it. Katie was overjoyed. By then the kids were home too, and I probably stuck my foot in it when I told Katie in front her mom and dad, "Okay, you are the Queen of your little palace here, this room. Your job is going to be to set a good example for your mom and show her how to keep a room clean once it is clean, and show your dad that even though he's overwhelmed and crabby about all that's happened, he still needs to parent up. I guess you'll need to be the grownup for a little while." Kenny walked out. Jenny just giggled that, "I know...tee hee..." giggle she does when she doesn't want to face something.
But that's it. That's all I'm doing. If Ken and Tam want to go over there again and keep at it, more power to them. Me and my FitBit are tired. In fact, yesterday he called me an "overachiever" because I'd done so much more than I usually do in a day. I don't want to be called names by an inanimate object anymore.
And no, you don't have to read this entire post. Just venting.
! Which means the varmints are eating the poison. Now someone needs to take down the soffit boards! Or else dead varmint smell will permeate!
) when the cockatiels decided to start up again. Thankfully the power was back on and I could just turn on a light and get back to bed.
