taking over

Well I fixed the broken sprinkler in our yard, it turned out to be pretty easy since I was able to simply unscrew the broken section. So I didn't need to do any PVC joinery (this time.) I also moved all the concrete scallops out of the garage, in order to organize things so that we can use the door when cars are in there. Annie and I installed some towel racks in the bathroom and put together a shoe rack. I replaced the shower head.

We're slowly taking over control of the place, it seems. More and more of the little house decisions are ours now instead of someone else's. That feels good. We have a long long way to go before we take over everything, but for now it's nice that we've made a few mental leaps: when things break, we fix them, when we don't like something we change it, and when something's in the wrong place, we move it.

Tomorrow, shelves, and maybe some more outdoor work.

The Boxes That are Left

Due to our work schedules, today is the first time we're in the house during the daylight hours (not just morning) with things actually moved in. It's nice to experience that.

I'm not one of those math types, but there's probably some "tailing off" graph that could work for "Boxes Still Not Unpacked After a Move." At the beginning, the line drops really fast while you unpack all the important day-to-day stuff. But as time goes on, the line flattens out, always approaching zero but never quite getting there.

Those piles of not-yet-organized possessions always remind me of little refugee camps. The tissue boxes and the Legos are huddled together in a corner, the power strips are making small talk with the paint tubes and spare towels, and they're all trying to figure out What the Hell Just Happened Here.


-AKC

The Great Move of '09

Chapter 1: Preparation

With the walls painted, this last week was split between preparing the house(s) for our arrival and preparing our stuff for the move. This included:

* Cleaning up the slightly sticky tape-and-tarp landscape still covering the floors of the house,
* Getting as much of our current stuff packed into boxes as possible, and
* Having a fridge delivered to the front unit.

Surprisingly, packing turned out to be the most straightforward of the three. Because of the whole one-lot-two-addresses thing, turning on the power only applied to the front unit. The back unit has been powerless for about a week now, which made cleaning it up in the evenings rather difficult, even with flashlights. The fridge got here on Thursday, but it wouldn't fit through the doorway without its own doors being removed. In the process, something got knocked out, coolant started leaking, and the delivery guys had to come back the next night for about an hour to fix it. By Friday night though, there was at least one working fridge on the property, and that was all we needed for now.

Packing happened in small spurts throughout the week. Despite my inherent cheapskatery, I have to admit that buying a bunch of boxes and a taping-gadget was the best way to go on this. They pile easier, and that makes the loading of the truck much less of a puzzle. Speaking of which...

Chapter 2: The Move

Once again, we're greatly indebted to everybody who helped haul, lift, tape, secure, direct, and disassemble all of our earthly possessions this weekend. Time was of the essence because a.) we only rented the UHaul for one day, and b.) there was still no power in the back unit, so we really wanted to get everything in there before our daylight ran out.

The truck got packed pretty tight, but in the end, 2 trips were still required, primarily because of the fridge. This was the fridge we had bought from another roomate who moved out previously, so it was going into the truck for our back unit, but before we moved it, the people still living at the old house had to secure another fridge to replace ours and minimize the time that food would be left out. Sort of a weird game of "musical perishables." Nate can probably tell you more about this, since my involvement in the fridge moving process amounted to "staying out of the way." But long story short, we again had doorway-width issues that required the fridge doors to be removed.

Pro-tip: if you are ever moving a fridge, just take the doors off ahead of time and save yourself a headache. Chances are, you'll need to anyway.

It was already getting dark, but thanks to the magic of extension cords, we were able to run some electricity into the house. Enough to navigate a fridge and its doors by, anyway. And with everything out of the truck, we were able to return the sucker after a nice dinner and bidding our fearless movers a good night. The bed hadn't been assembled yet, so we dug out some sheets and crashed on the mattress.

Chapter 3: The Aftermath

One tricky thing that required moving was our inherited cat, Chloe. We'd heard stories of cats in new houses darting into cupboards and not coming out for 3 days, so we were prepared for the worst. But after a willful resistance to the cat carrier and some inital hiding behind the new washer, Chloe actually took to the new place pretty well. Within a few hours, she was poking her head out of the mud room, where we put her and her stuff initally, and starting to explore. By that night, she was sleeping at our feet again, and by the next day, I'd chaperoned a few excursions into the front yard. There's been no puking, no trying to run away, and minimal hiding under beds and couches; I am pleasantly surprised.

Sunday was mostly taken up with furniture/housewares and the unpacking, building, and buying thereof. We've got the living room and bedroom basically set up, holding off on the office until we get power, which should be sometime today (fingers crossed). There was an excursion to Ikea for a coffee table, TV stand (for our as-of-yet-non-existant TV a.k.a. extra computer monitor), and loads of rugs and mats. I'm quite satisfied with the amount of awesome color.

The evening required one more trip over to the old address to pick up some left-behinds and sweep out the old rooms, and the unpacking will continue throughout this week, I'm sure. We were dead tired last night though, and I konked out around 10pm.

Nate, if I missed anything, feel free to fill in the spaces here. :)


-AKC

pictures!

Here are a bunch of pictures of the house, with some before and afters of the painting.

we finished painting

Thanks so much to everyone who lent a hand! We painted the house in seven colors over Saturday and Sunday. For now you'll have to take my word that it looks amazing, but we'll post pictures soon to prove it.

The internet guy came by on Saturday to install our life line. He was banging around outside for a few hours to get it all set up. I haven't been able to confirm that it works yet (I tried plugging it into my laptop but it didn't seem to take), but I'm sure we can get it working by the time we move in for reals. Yes, I'm quite certain.

Also we met the gardeners who have been taking care of the place. They were very nice, and quite keen to continue working for us. At $30 a visit it's hard to say no. That's not more much than I would have charged when I was mowing lawns as a teenager, and these guys actually do a really professional job.

So for now they'll keep coming around every 2 weeks, at least until we come up with another plan. I think eventually we may want to take over ourselves, but we just have a lot of lawn that needs a lot of regular attention, and we need a chance to settle in and re-evaluate our yard master plan first.

...So next weekend is the move, and I guess the thing to do before then is to clean and pack. The new place needs to be cleaned and unmasked, but that shouldn't take more than an evening. That and we need a few more supplies. We got a few things from Target but we'll need to make several more trips (Ikea, Home Depot, Smart and Final, etc..) before we're really on solid ground for household supplies. Trash cans, trash bags, cleaning supplies, kitchen odds and ends...I love this stuff!

washers and dryers and fridges oh my

Over the past two evenings we solved our washers and dryers sourcing problem. We found a stackable, gas combo for the front unit and a regular pair for the back unit, all from the same guys. These guys run an appliance business on craigslist where they repair old appliances, deliver and install them, and offer a 30 day warranty, all for 40-60% of retail. Apparently business is going pretty well for them these days, since nobody's buying new appliances.

On Wednesday they installed the back units, and the washer started leaking when they were testing it. So on Thursday they brought another washer to replace it with, along with the stacker for the front unit. Everything is installed, tested, working, for $900. They also dragged off our old junky washer for us. All in all we are really happy about it.

On the refrigerator front, we have one for the back unit, but for the front unit we have a conundrum - we could take my parents' old fridge, but getting it here may not be worth it. They live about 50 miles away, and we'd have to rent a truck. So we're weighing whether to just go back to our new appliance-installing friends instead.

I guess we'll have to figure that out pretty soon here, ideally we'll start advertising the place around the 20th or so, and we'd like to have everything in place by that time.

keys in hand

We met our realtor at the house last night and got the keys. After our agent left we spent some time walking around the back unit where we'll be living, talking about colors and inspecting window hardware and things like that. Our plan is to come up with a color scheme and paint the house (interior) this weekend, and then move next weekend.

We also noticed some things that will need near term attention:

• we can't open the mailboxes (didn't get the keys)
• there's no cat-door for Chloe (though we want to make sure she's comfortable inside and can hold her own outside before we install a door that might let other cats inside....)
• we need to paint over some termite work.

This is in addition to our big list of mid-term attention items, which I won't go into right now. Yesterday I called around and set up our utilities:

• Gas
• Power
• Water
• Internet (Time Warner Cable, but no phone line or cable TV service)

And then today I got an email from LADWP saying that they don't service Hawthorne, so I had to set up water and power again. I went ahead and set up service for both houses. I'm not really sure how that will shake out yet, because I don't know exactly how they're set up in terms of meters. More stuff to learn.

Speaking of which, our agent recommended a book to us, Landlording. When we decided to buy a 2-unit property we talked a lot about what kind of land lords we wanted to be. Specifically, we don't want to be the evil/greedy kind. Which to me means that we need to be careful not to over-leverage ourselves, so that we don't depend on getting the rent in order to pay the mortgage. I suspect that reading this book will be difficult, morally strenuous, but also valuable.

...

Also, pictures coming soon, probably this weekend.

towards adventure

Well, we seem to have bought a house. Two houses actually, on one lot in Hawthorne, CA. With a couple of garages in between. And some yard space to boot. We'll be living in the back unit (2 bed), and renting out the front unit (3 bed). We'll most likely be moving in within the month.

Speaking only for myself, I'm a little stunned that this is happening. Being a homeowner doesn't yet fit into my sense of self. Which is not to say that I lack optimism or confidence, but it is to say that I'm out of practice. I'll have to get my hands dirty a lot more often, I expect, and overall I think that's a good thing.

In any case we've got tons of ideas for the place, and we're really excited about it. So here's to experimental homeownership: we are confident that we can make it work, that we can build a home, that by investing this place with our love, we can improve both it and ourselves.

So let's explore!