The Nerve!

The previous owner of this house passed away and that is how I got the property. In the mail came a letter addressed to me starting with

"May I offer my condolences on the passing of....................................."

The very next sentence says that the reason they are contacting me is that they understand that the property may be coming up for sale. (I don't know where they got this "understanding" because I never once wanted to put the property up for sale!) The writer of the letter says that he is looking for property in the area and would be interested if it became available - if not now - then he would like to be considered in the future in case it does come up for sale. He offers to purchase the property as is and that he will pay all cash and that he will close the sale in 30 days.

I was insulted by the letter and of course that could have just been that it reminded me of the passing of the previous owner. I know that there are a lot of people out there that would be glad to get an offer like this in the mail but I'm not one of them.

Expenses - Getting New Locks!

It's better to be safe than sorry and I was afraid that I would lock myself out of the house! The whole thing cost about $175 but it dawned on me that it was well worth it! I think the lock on the door was as old as the house itself! The cost included the installation, the service call and the extra keys.

I would have to put this under "emergency" expenses because it was something that I didn't plan to do. So its probably a good idea for you to have an "emergency" expense set aside because emergencies will come up!

*** Article: Every Day That The Furnace Works Is A Good Day – By AlanDetwiler ***

"The things that make our lives better -- our homes, food, clothing, andour families -- should make us feel good by just knowing we have them. Butthose important things likely have been a part of our lives for a longtime. Human nature turns our attention away from the familiar. So weseldom feel very happy about what we have. But if something important tous is taken away and then is somehow recovered, we feel joy andappreciation.Too bad we humans can't feel so fortunate about things before they aretaken away. How great we would feel about our health, our abilities tomove around, our mental abilities to reason and remember, and the numerousother things that are out of our minds just because we take them forgranted. Shouldn't we make 'asset awareness' a higher priority in ourlives? What better way is there to get more out of life? That little bitof wisdom would make us happier if we could just get ourselves to put itinto practice.My furnace stopped working late one evening last winter when thetemperature outside was heading toward the lower twenties overnight. Therewould not be a furnace repair shop open at that time of day. I have quitea few tools, am mechanically inclined, and have some knowledge of how thefurnace works. So I went down into the basement and started removing thepump/blower assembly from the oil-burning furnace so it could beinspected. When the mounting bolts were removed and the assembly takenout, several small pieces of shattered plastic could be seen lying at thebottom of the combustion chamber. The plastic shaft linking the motor tothe oil pump had shattered into many small pieces. There would be no heatin the house overnight and probably a good part of the next day.The temperature in the house had dropped into the lower 60s around 8 p.m.when I noticed the furnace was not coming on, as it should. By 10 p.m.when I had discovered the root cause, it was in the mid 50s. Fortunately,I have a lot of extra blankets. I took three, folded each in half for atotal of six extra layers and put them on the bed. I put on a coat, asecond pair of pants, heavy socks, a knit hat, and knit gloves and went tobed.I was quite comfortable that night. The next morning, the temperature inthe house was 48 degrees F. I was dressed warmly and was reasonablycomfortable as long as I kept moving quickly and didn't slow down. Theurge to stay warm felt like an overpowering concern. A call to the nearestfurnace repair shop (about 10 miles away) gave me the good news that areplacement part was in stock. The $12 price seemed like a real bargain toget back a heated home again. Just after noon I had completed the repairjust in time to eat lunch as the house warmed up to the balmy 68 degreeswhere the thermostat was set. What luxury!We have so much. We heat our homes. We provide ourselves with food andother necessities. We have many luxuries and creature comforts. Every oneof those good things should be celebrated and enjoyed. All of what we haveis special -- the newly acquired, the familiar, the big/important things,and the little things. It is special to be able to prepare a plate of foodfor supper, take it out into the yard, and sit down in the sun and eat it.If that doesn't seem special, visit a nursing home (most of us will livein one some day). Most of the residents there are wheelchair bound. Theyeat in their rooms or in a large dining hall with other residents. Thoseare their only two choices.When I walk out onto my lawn with my plate of food, I am going to enjoyit. I hope I always remember -- every day that the furnace works is a goodday.

About the Author: Alan Detwiler writes about things to do to have fun.

His website is http://www.leisureideas.com

The Kitchen Sink Is Still Clogged.......

And I found out that while the water is slowly draining down the clog the pipe in the basement is pretty much rusty to a fault!  So far I have duck-taped it hoping that THAT will help.

The piping system probably needs an overhaul but I want to take my time with this and get someone reliable to do the job - plus I have to set aside a budget for it.

Well the heater came on for the first time this season

I still had the windows up!

For some reason I just walked by the radiator and felt that it was warm. The heater hasn't been on since - I believe - May. The temps are supposed to go down into the 40's tonight and I'm sure that the heater will kick back on again.

Like they say the seasons are changing!

I found where the kitchen sink is leaking to

It's not a pretty site! The pipe is leaking in the basement and the pipe is in back of another pipe which makes reaching it quite difficult. I know that I am going to have to replace the pipes because they have been there for a while now. But at least when I have them replaced I'll have a warranty and will know that the pipes are new.

Now I got to find a reputable company to do the job.

The Kitchen Sink Is Still Clogged.......

And I found out that while the water is slowly draining down the clog the pipe in the basement is pretty much rusty to a fault!  So far I have duck-taped it hoping that THAT will help.

The piping system probably needs an overhaul but I want to take my time with this and get someone reliable to do the job - plus I have to set aside a budget for it.

Bee In The House!

I just got finished killing one of the biggest bees I have ever seen!  It looked like a woolly mamoth kind of bee from back in the prehistoric days!  What gets me is how did it get in the house?  And I don't think that I even want to know the answer to that!

Wish List - A BIG Window!

Although I'm very happy with the house that I live in, one of the things on my wish list is a very, very big window so that I can enjoy both the sunrise and the sunset. 

I do have those views now with some of the smaller windows in the house but someone recently mentioned about it and it made me think about having one myself.

Well the kitchen sink is still clogged up but......

The water is draining down although it is draining so slow.  I finally managed to get some unclogging product from the store but I really should get the Liquid Plummer brand.  I have been plunging the drain ever so often and the water is slowly going down.  I'll have to wait and see.

I miss being able to use the kitchen sink!  It's where I wash my hair (which is probably one of the reasons why it is clogged now!)

I do have a garden!

But there has been so much that I have had to do that I haven't been able to get out into it.  You know what that means don't you - WEEDS!  A few days ago I was pruning the hedges in the front.  I'm also pruning away some of the weeds that are around the house as well and as you can well imagine if you don't take care of them the weeds grow and grow - which is what they did!  They even managed to find a crack and grow through it so that there was growth INSIDE the windows!  The weeds are growing so tall that they are starting to reach my second story window!  As the weeds continue to grow their branches get thicker which makes them harder to cut!

I have a lot of work ahead of me!  It's been so hot and humid that I haven't been out as much and then it starts to rain which makes the weeds grow more!  But I am determined to have a Martha Stewart-like atmosphere - you know with the birdbath (already got one of those) and the windchimes (got a set of them (sharks) hanging already) and just have a pleasant little outside area - with a garden!

Weeds!

Late in the afternoon (when the sun was going down) I continued to clear the weeds from one side of the house.  They had overgrown so much!  Plus there's a rosebush there that is at least 20 years old.  I should have took a picture of it so that I could post it here but hopefully I will remember to do that the next time!  Anyways the rosebush had grown so much that it was bent over and touching my neighbor's lawn.  Today I managed to cut it back but I still have a ways to go!  The weeds have grown thick and the area is kind of on a slope so getting around it ain't easy.  I have made progress though and it shows.  I may have to call a tree service to get rid of the thicker weeds which have grown into small trees!

The weeds grew right through the window and that was what I heard when the wind was blowing strong.

Hopefully this will serve as a lesson to those of you that don't know and the lesson is that if you don't get rid of the weeds they will grow and grow!

Well the kitchen sink is clogged up!

This just happened today and I'm hoping (actually praying) that the water will go down!  I'm in an anxious state right now because I surely don't have enough money to pay a plumber!  I don't even have enough money to by any LIQUID plummer! 

Drafty House!

Don't get me wrong I love my older house but when its windy outside you can feel it inside.  I don't know why but the kitchen gets the coldest.  Again I don't know why?  The back door has one of those "slips" underneath the bottom and the windows have no areas where the wind is coming in.  Unfortunately there is a hold in the wall closer to the diningroom so that might be one of the reasons.  I want to patch it myself so I'm going to have to learn more about that.  Another contributing factor could be the radiator.  There was a time when the kitchen had no radiator at all and the new one that was installed is smaller than the regular cast iron radiators.  I have been told that a difference can be felt but I can't feel it.  Maybe I blocked it out?

This is the beginning of March and the warmer weather should be coming soon so that gives me some time to plan what I am going to do.

I Hate Mortgage Companies!

I HATE mortgage companies!  Now-a-days it seems that a mortgage is bought and sold so many times and with every new company that buys it comes a whole new barage of paperwork!  The only good thing is that the property taxes are part of the mortgage payment.  But lately I have been getting the feeling that its not even worth going through all the hassle if you have to constantly deal with whoever is holding your mortgage note!  I am soooo tempted to find a way to pay it off and just set aside that money for the property tax payments that come twice a year.

Yay! I don't have to buy a new VCR!

Had this VCR that didn't have a remote!  Thought I would have to buy a new VCR and thank goodness I got one of those universal remote thingies!  This was bugging me so much 'cause I couldn't operate the VCR and more importantly I couldn't record anything!  Now that I have the remote and have since used it I can record once again.  My main reason for wanting to record is now I can record something and then watch it later (and skip over the commercials!)

But I see that they have TV/VCR (and /DVD) combos too so I want to get one of them to replace one of the TVs that isn't working too good.

Paying Taxes! - A Necessary Evil BUT!

I found out something very interesting about the local tax that I have to pay in my area.  It's bad enough that this tax has to be paid but to add insult to injury it seems that it would be better for one if they are very careful as to how they fill out the forms.  I'm speaking specifically of the quarterly returns that have to be filled out with "estimated" income.  There is a minimum amount that is exempt but lets say that you made under the minimum for that quarter but you want to list it on the quarterly (dare I say be a good citizen and all that).  It turns out that ANY amount that you list as income for that quarter is subject to the tax - regardless of the amount (even if its below the minimum!.  Let's say for example you list a small income source of say $50.  Even though $50 is below the minimum amount subject to the tax if you list it on your quartely you will have to pay the tax on that $50!  Then when you file your yearly that tax amount that you paid will be refunded to you (and not in a very fast manner!). However if you just put $0 (because the amount is under the minimum) then you won't have to pay a tax on that $50.  But you will have to report the $50 for the yearly return but since its under the minimum you won't have to pay a tax on it.

I Can't Believe that the boiler is leaking!

Remember I mentioned that I was able to get a new boiler.  It was from a grant program that provided free repair or replacement and my boiler was in such bad - or should I say that it was just old - condition that they replaced it free of charge!  But when I went down to the basement (for something else) I noticed that there was water on the basement floor - something I thought that I would never see again.  Well I was a little bit rattled by that but I should be grateful that I was even able to get the darned thing for free.

At first, after seeing the puddle of water I kind of panicked wondering if something was going to "blow up" but I do remember the previous boiler when it leaked (and man did it leak!).  But just to be on the safe side I'm going to call the place and ask if there is something that can be done.  This boiler is only a few months old and I surely don't want anything to be wrong with it!

It's not only cold but its windy too!

One of the problems with living in an older house is that you can feel it when the winds are blowing strong!  Right next to me I can feel the cold air from the window.  Of course the window does have a crack in it that should really get fixed and that would probable help my heating bill as well.

The Snow is coming!

How glad I am that I still have some rock salt left over from last time!  Just as it started to snow I went outside and spread the salt.  We're getting a lot more snow though and even though spreading the salt helped at first the new snow is covering it up.  Since tomorrow is Sunday there is not as much of a rush to shovel it up but shoveling I am going to have to do!

Thank goodness I'm pretty stocked up as far as necessities are concerned so I won't have to go out traveling no time soon!

Weird messages on answering machine?

I guess anyone that has an answering machine has gotten a weird message left on theirs at least one time or another.  I don't know if they did it on purpose or if it was just an accident but it was a very weird message!  There was a lot of background noise and other peoples' voices could be heard in the background and to tell you the truth I couldn't even understand what the person was trying to say.  They probably don't even know that they dialed the wrong number.

I just got my heating bill today!

I can't believe that its so high!  It's over $200 and that is a lot!  I so need a fireplace (actually more than one) so badly.  Last month the heating bill was higher than this one!  I know its February and I know its winter but this kind of bill is really so high!  I try to conserve and stay on a budget but I just cannot turn the thermostat down any lower!

I'd be curious to hear about high others heating bills are and how they compare to mine.  I'm in the Philadelphia area by the way.

Speaking of raking up the leaves........

I'm reminded of how much other "yard" work there is to do.  Not just the backyard but the front of the house too.  Most notably there are still leaves that have gathered in the "crooks and crevices".  There is also the clearing away of overgrown weeds and being able to cut down the weeds that have turned into little trees.  Also people seem to love throwing their trash just any old where - something else that I have to clean up.  I wish I had a video camera posted by the window so that I could catch them in the act!  I would post it online for all to see!  Well anyway I have a lot of clearing up to do so I see a lot of filled up trashbags in my future.

The Grant Came Through!

The heater was replaced with a brand new one!  And best of all I didn't have to pay ANYTHING!  The men came and examined the old heater and determined that it was too old and too damaged (water was leaking from it everywhere!) to repair so I got a brand new one!  They had a heck of a time getting it down the narrow steps of my basement (remember its an older house) but they managed to do it with the help of a long rope!

So now it sits in my basement humming along while outside the temps are in the low 30's with snow (and ice) on the ground and more snow is expected (1 to 3 inches!).  I am soooooooo glad to have this because I've been told that this kind of job might cost upwards of $2,000.00 or more - money which I sorely did not have! 

What a very wonderful (early) Christmas gift!