gategrrl

With the money we still have that the government didn't take, the Guy and I have been interviewing contractors to repair/repaint the trim on our house, which is so bad as to be shameful. There aren't any termite infestations that we can see at this point. We probably need to have an inspection, too. BUT anyhow:

The first guy I guided around the house by myself, and he asked me what our budget was, and I stupidly told him how much money I think we had available. He gave me an estimate of about $8K, which is, frankly, outrageous. He said it all depended on what we wanted him to do. Well, duh. Oh, and he kept repeating "two coats of primer".

The second guy the Guy and I saw (this time he was home because it was early evening) seemed very organized, outright said he wanted the job because later on, we might call him back because it was apparent our house needed work not just on the trim, and gave us an estimate of around $5K. Also, there are a few homes in our neighborhood which could use some work as well. He sent us a written estimate the following day via email, with cost additions in case we decided to have work done on the stucco, etc. Gutters an extra $600. His guys would be finished in about a week, and he said he sends his crew out on only one job at a time.

The third guy we saw last night gave everything a cursory view. He works for a fairly large company in the area. He gave a quote of about $2500, including new gutters, and sending out a couple of guys to replace or repair as they went along, and be done in about a week. Also, like the others, included a water wash of the trim. There was some confusion at first about what he meant by a couple of terms, but that was clarified.

This afternoon there's another one coming (Guy won't be here, though) and then on Saturday, the final one, in the morning.

We're both leaning toward the well-organized go-getter guy we both saw who is going to charge about $5K. They have all seemed up front that for them, repairing and painting trim is a small job to them...but what few of them quite seem to "get" is that to us, it's NOT just a minor job. If it doesn't go well, we won't want anyone else in our house mucking about updating, say, the 1950s bathroom or the tiny one-person kitchen, or, god forbid, finally renovate our garage into an actual office for the Guy that he's been dreaming about since we moved in here!

At 11 :45am (give or take) the house started shaking, and Mermaid, Little Guy, Mermaid's tutor, me, and the dog, raced outside once we realized that the shaking wasn't stopping like it usually does. It was loud, I could see the roof above me moving, but nothing fell off shelves and no one else in the neighborhood ran out of their house except our immediate neighbor.

Other than that scare, and the fact the telephones and cell phones were out for about 10-15 minutes, that was it.

Makes me glad my house sits on a concrete slab that rides the earth like a surfboard.

***

And now the Guy is watching Stargate: Continuum on Blu-ray on the PS3.  :::rolls eyes:::  I've no interest in watching it.

 A couple of days ago, I went to Target, after much hemming and hawing and finally bought a mini-stairstepper.  Mostly, I bought at first for me to use, when I'm watching TV, or to use in the morning after taking the kids to school: I've been finding lots of reasons not to go to the YMCA lately (bad bad me).

What *happened* is, while the kids are in front of the TV, one of them is almost always on it now, stepping away! Heh. 



This resembles the model I bought.  Even the Guy hopped on it a few times last night. He was surprised that it gave him as much of a workout as it did - it was working muscles of his he hadn't used in a long time!

Now, if only I can get a turn on the silly thing!

 Pillsbury Toaster Scramble Egg, Bacon and Cheese Biscuits (or whatever they want to call them) are addictive. They're better and tastier than they have any right to be. I hate you, Pillsbury!