Monday, June 20, 2005
bob the builder
what a weekend for home renovation. i can't escape this place. it has been a 4 day renovation fest 2005. i am over it, but feeling quietly satisfied. friday, had the second final i was anticipating. as expected the professor was a total wanker and put questions on most material he wrote. good thing i studied that part. however, came home to start digging in the garden. basically, i cut out a lot of plants and other crap and cleared one of the garden beds. then spent most of saturday digging up hydrangeas from one part of the yard and transplanting them to another part of the yard. oh joy. it was hard work, but i did it. sunday was spent doing much the same but more focused on digging out another garden bed and ripping out a few of the trees and bushes in that corner. the biggest worry was the thousands of bulbs that i sifted and pulled out by hand. i got most, but am sure there are many more in there, but will have to attack them when they spring up. today, was an inside day, fitting the new door handles, we purchased months ago, onto the doors. it was totally time consuming, but the doors look awesome. cherry had spent saturday and sunday painting them while i was in the yard. after the 8 day straight painting episode i had last month, i threw the towel in and gave it up. the doors just hung there, half finished, and cherry took it upon herself to complete them. i wasn't going to do another thing about it. together, the door are finished, swinging, latching, happy doors. next project...
on the hardware side of things, there was many adventures to be had. after all, what do-it-yourself home renovation weekend would be complete with about a million visits to the hardware store. it began saturday arvo with a trip to get turps (paint thinner) and to look for a smoke detector, an axe, and some hedge shears. so i went to the local hardware conglomerate. they had a sale on the axe and hedge shears, but ran out on the shears. i was told to go to the big area headquarters warehouse to find the same shears at the same sale price. first trip- i only bought turps. that night, on a hot date, cherry and i went to the hardware conglomerate big area headquarters and did a little evening courting throughout the isles as we picked up the axe, smoke detector, a new tape measure, and the shears. there was no sale price on the hedge shears. i presented my case at the sales desk. the problem was the local hardware conglomerate, where i had visited earlier in the day, was closed. there was no way to confirm the price of the hedge shears, bad luck. i passed on them, and bought everything else. first thing sunday morning i was back to the hardware conglomerate big area headquarters for my sale priced garden shears. after about 20 minutes of phone calls and discussion etc. store 1 had no idea about the price i was presented the day before, so headquarters thus had their hands tied. i was about to walk away and leave the whole matter behind me, when a manager presented herself and decided to intervene on my behalf. in the end i got what i wanted for the price i wanted. not that i am penny pinching, but money is a bit tight for us at the moment, and i know that eventually we will need these shears, although we are not desperate for them now. the price difference was about 33% or 1/3 less or $20. basically, in the end it was more a matter of principle for me rather than financial. so major situation avoided. today, monday, while putting on the door handles, i had to shorten some of the screws according to the smaller width of the doors. i needed a hack saw, which we don't have. i was over the hardware conglomerate so ventured to the local pawn shop and found exactly what i was after, plus a pitch fork, which we were in the market for anyhow. the price? 15 dollars for both. the pitch fork, brand new at the conglomerate was about 5 times that price. you do the math. then it was down the street to the local hardware to purchase a blade for the saw. while there, we finally broke down and bought the wheel barrow we have been shopping around for since about the time we actually settled on the house. they are pretty pricey, but due to our yard and plans we had to get one. so we did. just to keep the ongoing tally up to date- turps, smoke detector, tape measure, axe, shears, pitch fork, hack saw, and wheel barrow.
yes, we are certainly gathering quite the collection. on one hand, here i am trying to downsize and liquidate my belongings so i can feel more streamline in my life, and on the other hand we are buying all these tools. i guess we are becoming the quintessential home owners. who would have thought? certainly not me. i feel as if i am living the suburban nightmare at times, yet in some ways i am blissfully going along with it all. it is no wonder all my inner turmoil.
on the hardware side of things, there was many adventures to be had. after all, what do-it-yourself home renovation weekend would be complete with about a million visits to the hardware store. it began saturday arvo with a trip to get turps (paint thinner) and to look for a smoke detector, an axe, and some hedge shears. so i went to the local hardware conglomerate. they had a sale on the axe and hedge shears, but ran out on the shears. i was told to go to the big area headquarters warehouse to find the same shears at the same sale price. first trip- i only bought turps. that night, on a hot date, cherry and i went to the hardware conglomerate big area headquarters and did a little evening courting throughout the isles as we picked up the axe, smoke detector, a new tape measure, and the shears. there was no sale price on the hedge shears. i presented my case at the sales desk. the problem was the local hardware conglomerate, where i had visited earlier in the day, was closed. there was no way to confirm the price of the hedge shears, bad luck. i passed on them, and bought everything else. first thing sunday morning i was back to the hardware conglomerate big area headquarters for my sale priced garden shears. after about 20 minutes of phone calls and discussion etc. store 1 had no idea about the price i was presented the day before, so headquarters thus had their hands tied. i was about to walk away and leave the whole matter behind me, when a manager presented herself and decided to intervene on my behalf. in the end i got what i wanted for the price i wanted. not that i am penny pinching, but money is a bit tight for us at the moment, and i know that eventually we will need these shears, although we are not desperate for them now. the price difference was about 33% or 1/3 less or $20. basically, in the end it was more a matter of principle for me rather than financial. so major situation avoided. today, monday, while putting on the door handles, i had to shorten some of the screws according to the smaller width of the doors. i needed a hack saw, which we don't have. i was over the hardware conglomerate so ventured to the local pawn shop and found exactly what i was after, plus a pitch fork, which we were in the market for anyhow. the price? 15 dollars for both. the pitch fork, brand new at the conglomerate was about 5 times that price. you do the math. then it was down the street to the local hardware to purchase a blade for the saw. while there, we finally broke down and bought the wheel barrow we have been shopping around for since about the time we actually settled on the house. they are pretty pricey, but due to our yard and plans we had to get one. so we did. just to keep the ongoing tally up to date- turps, smoke detector, tape measure, axe, shears, pitch fork, hack saw, and wheel barrow.
yes, we are certainly gathering quite the collection. on one hand, here i am trying to downsize and liquidate my belongings so i can feel more streamline in my life, and on the other hand we are buying all these tools. i guess we are becoming the quintessential home owners. who would have thought? certainly not me. i feel as if i am living the suburban nightmare at times, yet in some ways i am blissfully going along with it all. it is no wonder all my inner turmoil.
