cause that's all it seems to be --- weeks in between postings and then the posts seem to all be whinges about health issues...
lemme tell you that this is not fun. I look back at the past year and a half and think "o my word what the heck has happened to me!!??!"
First the more interesting stuff --
last post (*cough* almost a month ago *cough*) was about DIY here at Chez Helsby -- even as I type this Andy is cutting and nailing down the small wooden trim that goes on top of the floor to hide the tiny gap you have to leave for the floor to float... Why you may ask has it taken so long for this room to be finished? Well, for a number of reasons -- when we took the baseboard off we discovered a moldy area, which Andy peeled back some of the drywall from and sprayed mold killer and worked on that -- but the baseboard that used to be in front of it had deteriorated too much -- it needed to be replaced.
Andy hates the DIY stores as much as I do. I don't know what happened to both of us, but the DIY bug skipped us both entirely. Andy's sister and her hubby and his parents are all about the DIY and they're good at it too! My folks -- not so much all about the DIY, they do it occasionally but if it is a big job, they're more inclined to let someone with more experience do it. My brothers -- it's too soon to tell really -- the one has only been a homeowner for 2 years and the other brother is renting a house because they're not sure where they want to settle just yet and with this market being as it is, it is wiser to rent and wait than to buy and have to sell in the bad market.
So Andy makes many trips to the DIY stores (between needing things for the mower -- which is a whole entire other story which can be summed up as follows... Kristen should never have ever tried to help out by using the riding mower... ever. and from this point forward... WILL never ever try to help out again using the mower...) and he picks up the trim and the new section of baseboard (because the rest of the baseboard seemed fine) and a mitre guide.
Insert lots of time where poor Andy is miserable with allergies and right at the end of May had taken 2 of the MCSE exams (and passed them -- he's full MCSE now!! way to go LOVE!!) and was feeling fairly stressed out/exhausted/miserable/not motivated...
flash forward to last weekend... in a couple hours we're going to head over to Mom and Dad's house for Father's Day dinner on Sunday -- Andy is getting ready to nail down the last of the baseboard and cut and attach the trim... he realizes he might need longer nails... so he heads down to the basement where his workbench is.... only to shout up to me frantically.
There's #*&$#*#$^ water everywhere. In every room of the basement.... water.
I cannot believe it... I mean, we JUST had this waterproofing done!!! HOW can there be water down there....
So I go down and he starts the mopping job (we only have one lousy mop -- make mental note to buy better mop!!) and finds that its better to just mop it up with an old towel and wring out the water into a bucket. I'm wandering around the basement trying to figure out where the water has come from... I mean -- we haven't had much rain lately -- so what in the world is going on!!!?!?
(now you can understand why we both hate DIY and it takes us AGES to complete something!!)
long story short... it's the air conditioner.... AGAIN. Same thing happened 2 years ago and again last year. Basically the tray that catches the condensation drains out into a pipe that goes into the ground... well that pipe clogs... (we have REALLY hard water -- well water) and the tray fills up and fills up and doesn't drain and then just overflows.... out of the unit... onto the floor...
and since the basement guys had been here... (and the hot water hose to the washer which they detatched to move the washer out of the way -- the connection on the hose that attaches to the washer was stripped and would have leaked... I buy new hoses, attach the cold water one myself no problem... the hot water one is basically RUSTED to the hot water spout... I try.... my dad tries.... my dad and I try.... finally I call the plumber (because also the shower is clogged -- 2 birds one trip)... he takes a week and a half to get here b/c of being on vacation and also it's his "spare time" job -- he works full time as something else (plumbing inspector).
So for more than 2 weeks... no one has set foot in that basement. I can't do laundry (thankfully Mom and Dad live nearby and I can go use their machines) ... and there's not many other reasons to go down there...
So for more than 2 weeks... water has been trickling out of the a/c unit... across the floor and across the basement... it was a LOT of water.
Andy got it all mopped up and we headed over to Mom and Dads -- I called the a/c guys the next day -- they can't come out for another 2 1/2 weeks... (thankfully this past week has been very mild and we've had the windows open and been ok).
All of that to say.... so right now Andy is putting finishing touches on the cat room and we can get them back into there and my house will look more like a house and less like one giant cat room..... phew STINKY. swine cats.