Mortgage Monday: Yard Work

As the rain continued to fall off and on and the grass kept growing longer and longer, I finally found the time on Saturday to head over to the local Tractor Supply and pick out a tractor. There are a couple of other places closer to the house where I could have bought something but I decided to give a different retailer a try based on the recommendations of family members. Being that this was my first time at the store, it was an interesting experience seeing all that they have available on the shelves… the retailer is much more like a traditional hardware store than the giants that you commonly see from the highway like Lowe's or Home Depot. I prefer going here from now on. While I was there for a tractor this time around, it is nice to know that I can stop by the store (about 15 minutes away from the house) if I were to need other items.

It didn’t take long before I found the Cub Cadet that was recommended to me via text message last week and within a few minutes I was working with someone to figure out warranties and a means to have it delivered to the house…. I can fit a lot of stuff in the Jeep but a tractor is not one of them. It was during this conversation when I asked if they knew of any local landscapers who would be able to give me a head start. Thankfully, the woman with whom I was speaking had a name on hand, her landscaper, and, better yet, he would be able to pick up and deliver the tractor for me too (for free!).

On my way home, I left a message with the landscaper and by the end of the afternoon we had coordinated a time for the following afternoon to evaluate what needed to be done. And, yes, I checked with my wife to make sure it was okay for him to stop by on Mother’s Day. After walking around the property, we both agreed to a very reasonable price with work to start the following day. While the rain today has prevented us from making any progress, the work will be done this week.

While it is going to cost us a bit more, having a four man crew come in for two days and take care of everything is well worth the investment. I have no problem maintaining but I simply don’t have the time to catch up on the yard work. And, hopefully, we will have someone we can call moving forward should we need any additional landscaping or handyman work done in the future. For now, we are really looking forward to seeing the property cleaned up and seeing our son enjoying some more time outside.  

Moving Quotes And Changing Plans

For the past week I have been busy not only prepping for settlement day (which has been pretty smooth thanks to those at the bank and our realtor) but also preparing for moving day which has been a little move involved. Having received quotes from about a half dozen companies in the area, it is amazing to see the difference in how the prices are calculated. While not as expensive as I had originally expected, it is still not a cheap proposition especially when you ask them how much it would cost to have the company pack up your belongings as well.

The range of prices that I received was rather staggering starting at the low end at $700 all the way up to a ten times multiple of that initial figure. Surprisingly the economic company that we used for our last transition, Two Men and a Truck, was the most expensive (by a wide margin) because of the fact that we are moving just outside of their ‘service area’. In the end, we didn’t go with the least expensive but rather the company that seemed the most inclusive, had the appointment available for tomorrow, and was reasonably priced (still on the much lower end of the range).

However, nothing ever goes as smoothly as it should and that was definitely proven about a week and a half ago when I got a call in the early evening which changed our plans. Who called? The realtor representing our current landlord… he wanted to start showing the townhouse in a couple of days. Keep in mind that we gave notice with our September rent check so he could have coordinated this whole process months ago.

Having not packed much of anything at that point I quickly rejected his proposal pushing the earliest possible day to this past Sunday also adding the reminder that we have a 9 month old and he will have to be flexible in scheduling appointments. What realtor in their right mind calls a tenant and asks to begin showing the apartment in a couple of days?

So, since then I have been packing the house deep into the night and making friends with the sales people at Staples, Home Depot, and Lowes. With an evening to go there are only a few more boxes left that need to be packed, the bathrooms and kitchen have been cleaned, and we are, for the most part, ready to move on down the road in the morning. One more night with the preamble coming to an end and the real story beginning tomorrow.

Cursing At The Furniture

For the past several evenings I have been able to get out of the office at a normal time and head straight home without having any other obligations in the evening. There was also a few free hours the past couple of weeks. This “free” time was quickly cashed in so that we could finally get everything put together and moved into place in the baby’s room. By the end of the day I was really wishing that Babies R Us had offered assembly when we ordered online. 

All of the furniture arrived earlier this month and has been sitting in pieces in the middle of the room. It is not that putting together the functional jigsaw puzzles was complicated it really just came down to finding the time to read the directions and putting them together. The first attempt to do so came last Saturday when hutch pieces were strewn across the floor and I started screwing the pieces together. Ten minutes later the initial project was put on hold as the pot metal hardware bent and broke thanks to a few holes that were drilled too deep. This was only the beginning of the cursing at inanimate objects portion of the day.

After a quick trip to Home Depot for some replacements and spares, we got back on track putting things together. I built the furniture and my wife supervised… our son isn’t old enough to help lift things yet. It is a model that has worked in the past so why mess with it. An hour in and the hutch was put together and attached to the dresser. I could see my wife’s eyes light up as the first piece was put into place (and then put into a new place when we reconsidered the layout.

The crib and changing table was next. It is safe to say that directions are not the company’s strong suit as there were numerous instances of putting together, taking apart, and reassembling parts where the instructions were clearly left to interpretation. However, with the sun slowly setting and the lamp we found on clearance prolonging the work day, everything finally came together leaving only the glider still in its box.

The glider and ottoman proved to be, by far, the easiest items to build and within 20 minutes of putting the crib in the corner, the room was complete. My wife, both tired and eager, soon followed by letting me know of her plans of where she wanted to place the pile of things that we received at the baby shower. By the time we went to bed that night, some of those things were already in place.

Now we are down to the details. Getting the clothes cleaned, organizing the shelves, decorating the walls (thanks to the clearance sections at Babies R Us), and stocking the room with many of the things that we will need for our son. It is all coming together and while many of the things are in place and ready, I am sure that there are even more things that we are forgetting about and will only remember once we need them. Until then, we will get everything else together and wait for baby.

Firearms Friday: We All Need A Good Work Bench

For the last few years, while my wife were living in an apartment packed from end to end, top to bottom, I had to have my desk serve double duty as my work bench as well. It was always a process and a project just to get things started as everything needed to be cleaned off from the usual work day so that I could pull out the work mat and attach the vice to the side. Once that was all done, it didn’t really leave much time to get things done. Of course, having the office next to the bedroom didn’t allow for any work getting done beyond cleaning at night either.

Now, in our spacious new place, for the first time I am able to set up a dedicated work bench (from Home Depot) in the basement, two floors away from the bedrooms. In a different part of the space I have my desk set up solely dedicated to writing, filing, emailing, and other work on the computer. Finally, each of my passions have areas designated for each. While I will maintain an organized space, there is no more clearing off and hiding away electronics, papers, tools, parts, and cleaning supplies. Everything can be left out, set in their designated spaces.

Just having each of these areas divided in the basement, I feel as though I have more time to do what I enjoy and the small projects that I want to get done are accomplished much faster leaving me with more time to spend with my wife. Everything is easily accessible. Still locked away but a simple matter of security that is still much faster than the previously lengthy process of shifting purposes for a single work space.

This new workbench will also impact my work as it will allow me to bring new content to this blog. Reviews of firearms, equipment, and parts can now be achieved now that I have a work area dedicated to those projects. I can also now take on minor cleaning, repairing, and upgrading projects that will not only provide additional content but will allow me to better educate myself on different processes and systems. So look for some different content every Firearms Friday as I continue to organize and get my work bench outfitted to fit my needs. It should be fun and provide a much needed respite both now and in the future!

Some Assembly Required

It really is that simple!

These days, unless you are buying high end furniture, there is going to be some assembly required whenever you purchase larger items for your home. Over the past week, I have been putting together all kinds of items for the new place and while time consuming, it might be the most relaxing part of the move. There is something that seems to be lost on some people when it comes to using your hands and building something.

I have always been this way even though my career doesn’t require physical labor I still enjoy the actual act of creating and watching something take shape. This is part of what drives the writing process for me because whether I am typing of actually writing, it is still using my hands to shape my creation. And although I do so without an instruction manual, the results have been decent thus far.

But that doesn’t satiate that urge completely. There are times when I look forward to really working with my hands and building something or putting something together. I can, most of the time, turn my brain off for just a little while, follow the instructions, and watch the desk, couch, table, chairs, bookcases, etc. take shape. It is the simple process that relaxes me while also rewarding me with something useful in the end.

These are the moments when I can take my time and make sure things are done right. There really is no debate on how something so simple is put together. The odd thing is that whenever I say something like this I usually get weird looks from people especially the ones that firmly believe that anything that you have to put together your self will fall apart before you get any good use out of it. This is definitely untrue.

Like many projects, if you take the time to put things together correctly, tightening every screw and fastening all the joints, these pieces of furniture will last for years. While I cannot dispute the superiority of solid wood furniture over particle board, the basic fact of the matter is that if you ensure that the structure is solid, they will last. I have seen many instances where things fall apart regardless of material because of shortcomings of the constructor not the structure.

Some boxes remain in our home waiting for me to set aside the time to put them together. Others have already been emptied and the items built. So there has been some assembly required over the past week but nothing that I haven’t done before as many of the pieces that we had moved I put together years ago and they are still just as sturdy as when I first constructed them. That might be the most satisfying aspect of the whole thing.

Donuts, Presents, and Dinner

Following my morning visit and photo session with my son, it was a rush to get to the office for a day full of internal meetings and conference calls. My calendar is full of such calls and meetings for the next week and a half due to the usual end of the year chaos and also the additional logistics required by account transitions. While I usually head into these meetings a little sluggish, the morning memories carried through and brought a different light to my day.

However, I had to make a quick stop along the way to pick up a “holiday treat” for the office so off to Wegmans for a box of donuts. With the detour behind me I got back on the road and made it to work just in time for my first meeting. Of course, now I had another errand that needed to get done but with little time to do it… I still had to pick up a “Secret Santa” gift which I needed to have in hand by the end of the day.

A few meetings into the day and I now found myself in the middle of the afternoon without a gift in hand and still a few other errands that needed to be taken care of since I was not going to get back to the apartment until late that evening. And then I thought of a gift that was both thoughtful and something that I could take care of in a few minutes. So I made the long trek to the internet and found exactly what I was looking for… a digital gift card to BedandBreakfast.com.

One item off the list and a couple more to go so I did something that I really hate to do during the week… I stepped out of the office. I was only going a few blocks away to the bank and Home Depot but it is still not something I enjoy as there are a bunch of other things that need to be taken care of at my desk. Thirty minutes later with a new debit card and a back seat full of packing boxes, I got back to the office with enough time to knock out a few items before my next marathon meeting.

By the time that we all walked out of the conference room nearly everything was checked off my list for the day with a few things added for Monday morning (I had to take Friday off). It seemed as though we were all relatively in sync as late in the afternoon, we all gathered around a table and signed our names to the holiday cards that would be going out the following week. 400 scribble signatures later and it was nearly time to head to dinner.

We all met down the road at Bar Louie for a company dinner and party. With drinks in hand and appetizers on the way, we all took turns revealing the name we pulled from the box and exchanging gifts. As it turns out the person whom I had gotten a gift also pulled my name and we both purchased perfect gifts for one another. She was excited to have an excuse to get away and I was happy to have a Phillies outfit for my son!

Everyone was happy with what they received and we all had a good time chatting and relaxing around the dinner table not thinking or talking about work. It was a great night that seemed to fly by and a good way to bookend a day that began with me being able to see my son again. However, this was just the beginning of a long night and a tiring weekend…