Thursday, June 2, 2011

Where There's a Will

There's generally a lot of money involved. Either to make your own way, or to inherit. Yesterday, we received the news on the A/C unit. It turns out, whoever built this place, put in duct work that was way too small, and wouldn't return air to the unit, therefore starving the poor thing of any fresh air. It's the same reason this house is always freezing downstairs, and too hot upstairs, the circulation is wrong. Of course they can fix it. For 2600.00!! Oh, and did I mention, this is a rental? Which is good, because we didn't want a place to sell when we move, but at the same time, 2600.00!!!!

Why not have the landlords pay for it you ask?

  • Exhibit A: We asked them to replace a doorknob on the front door, so mom could turn it. 6 months later, we did it ourselves.
  • Exhibit B: Our dishwasher broke. They told us to replace it and just take it with us when we moved. 

So we are assuming that they'd tell us the same thing about the A/C. We did call them, because fixing it will require a building permit, and there's an off chance they might notice that. And of course, this comes right on top of the fridge breaking, and us replacing that as well. And of course, 2 weeks before our vacation. How much you want to bet, that we will finally get this fixed the day before we leave so the cats live in cool comfort while we're gone, but we have to pack and clean the house in heat and humidity. Lovely.

Yesterday, I spent the entire day running my taxi service for people, running Kevin all over for things he needed, getting home, and 10 minutes later running to pick up the kids, then taking them to lessons, home again to plant my tomato plants and then we built a platform for the van.

We had purchased this van, so everyone could go on vacation with us, dogs included. Because we hated leaving them behind, and they hated it even more. It's been a great success, except for long trips where we want to bring extra things with us. The dogs travel in a large wire crate for their safety, and it takes up 2/3 of the back of the van. The other 1/3 is a seat for one kid. This leaves us with a small area behind the seat for luggage and if necessary an area on top of the van. The problem with this, is it blocks the view, and also a lot of airflow for the dogs. Not to mention, it means cutting way back on extras, like spinning wheels, fiber, yarn....

It finally dawned on me that we could build a platform for the crate to sit on, so we could slide things underneath. This was supposed to happen the day Kevin was injured but obviously that was postponed. So yesterday we went to Lowe's to pick out wood and I got a lesson in how to assemble it from the Lowe's guy. This meant last night, after 10 hours of driving around the city, I was outside trying to assemble a platform. Actually, it went together really easily, I even countersunk the screws, and Kevin got to stand there and give me instructions. I slid it into the van, and then spent the next 20 minutes (really longer than it took to assemble it) figuring out how to get the crate in there. But it finally fit, and now I can take my spinning wheel with me on vacation guilt free. After all, where there's a will, there's a way.

1 comment:

  1. Geezzz! Wishing you a very relaxing and enjoyable vacation. Sounds like you certainly need to get away. So happy you found a way to take the wheel and fibers! A girl's gotta have her priorities straight! Have loads of fun!

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