The Year Ahead

We’re only 3 days into the New Year and already I’m worried about that promise Sunday!  I really have no idea what I’m going to write 3 blog entries a week, when last year I was hard put to write 12 in the whole year!  So, I’m going to ask you all to help me out, if you’d like.  Just post a comment to any blog entry with a suggestion or request for a topic, and I’ll try to write about it!

Okay, now that’s out of the way, let us begin!

I’m beginning this new year of 2012 with a sense of anticipation.  Scott and I have quite a few plans for this year.  I’ll outline them for you.

Our home was built in, we think, 1920 (the County says 1910, but everything else points to 1920)  It needs a bit more work.  First of all, one of the two beams in the basement that support the house is sagging.  Because of this, most doors in the house to not shut properly.  The bathroom won’t latch.  The Den door won’t latch.  The door to the basement stairs won’t CLOSE (there’s a 3 inch gap) and the swinging door between the dining room and kitchen won’t swing.  If you are in the Dining room and the door is shut, you have to walk around to the kitchen… or get down on your knees, and grab the door at the bottom and pull!

Also, we get water in the basement every time it rains.  Sometimes a trickle, sometimes up to 3 inches of water!  Can you say “Eeewwwwwww!”

In addition to this, the retaining wall at the back of the house has been threatening to collapse ever since we moved in way back in 1999.  That year the neighbors to the south of us lost their retaining wall.  They did a pretty poor job of repairing it, and it looked terrible… we sweat through praying it wouldn’t collapse and take ours with it.  This past August, 12 years to the week after it collapsed, it caved again, this time damaging the garage on the property above it, as well as some minor damage to our garage.  They’ve repaired it nicely, this time (new owners).

So, PLAN # 1 FOR 2012:  We’re contracting with Thrasher Basement Systems to come out.  They’ve already given us an estimate for the cost of repairing the basement and putting in a sump pump and for repairing the retaining wall.  While they’ve not provided an estimate in writing, they said they can level up our sagging beams and put in new posts for under $1000 (in addition to the cost of the water sealing and retaining wall).

Our yard is mostly weed, and doesn’t grow well.  Our driveway, on the other hand has more grass growing out of the cracks than we like.  So PLAN # 2 FOR 2012 is to replace the sidewalk and part of the driveway.  Yes, Cousin Don, 2 years after you and I spent an hour on the phone discussing what we need, we’re finally going to do it!

When we bought our lovely home, it was a nice shade of blue/grey… almost a Wedgewood Blue! At the time, I thought it could do with a paint job.  Now it’s just downright disgusting, so PLAN # 3 FOR 2012 is to repair/replace all the fascia and soffits that require it, and paint the house.

Back in about 2000, we had to completely replumb the house.  As a result, some holes were created in the walls and ceiling in our main bathroom.  In addition to this, paint has been peeling off the ceiling since the very beginning, and there’s problems around the shower/bath.  PLAN #4 FOR 2012 is to gut and remodel the bathroom.  Yes, we’ve said this every year for 3 years now… this is IT!  I promise!

But that’s not all, oohhhh noooo…. not in the slightest.  Some of our plans are for the simple pleasure of enjoying life!

To that end, Scott and I have the following plans:

TRAVEL PLAN # 1 FOR 2012:  We’ve never been to Florida, so we’re gonna go!  And the primary reason is to visit my Aunt in Ormond Beach!  Yes, Aunt Jeanie, we’re gonna come down and see you, if that’s okay.

TRAVEL PLAN # 2 FOR 2012:  We need an Ikea fix, so we’re going to drive up to Minneapolis for an Ikea visit…

TRAVEL PLAN # 3 FOR 2012:  Two cousins on my Dad’s side of the family live in London.  As in England.  Cousin Molly made the huge error on Thanksgiving Day of saying “You guys ought to come over for a visit.  You can stay with us!”  So, we’re going, tickets are bought & paid for, and the dates are set.  However, for security reasons, you’ll just have to wait until we go to find out when!  We’ve also already arranged for a friend to live in our house during that time.

TRAVEL PLAN # 4 FOR 2012:  July brings with it the Hays Family Reunion, so we’ll be off to Branson, MO.

TRAVEL PLAN # 5 FOR 2012:  Can’t miss out on Rendezvous 2012.  This year, we’ll have some doggies with us!

TRAVEL PLAN # 6 FOR 2012:  Uh, not sure there’ll be a #6 for us this year… but I got a bit of a hankering to go to New Mexico for Christmas.

So, as I see it, there should be a LOT of stuff to write about!  But I STILL welcome your suggestions, because I don’t want to bore you all with the minutiae of water proofing basements!