Madness In My Method

It's almost been 2 months, but they have been busy months.


On June 29th, Middle Nephew left to go to Nebraska. He was scheduled to be on a return plane Tuesday, Aug 9. The airport in Grand Islands, NE, is so small that the folks that man the ticket and security checkpoint have to close down that location to then go open the gate for loading the plane. They do this 45 min before the scheduled takeoff time. So, Nephew arriving at 2:30 for his 2:50 plane flight meant that he was late and they had already shut down the computer system to check him in. So, he missed his flight and was going to have to miss his first day of school.

The next day, he arrived much earlier for his 2:50 flight (they are also so small there's only 2 flights at the same time every day to DFW). We got a text at 3pm saying they were having pilot motherboard issues so the flight was delayed until 4:10. Around that same time, in DFW, we were getting a massive storm system blowing into the area, so by 4:30 they had announced the flight would be cancelled. Nephew was not one of the ones to see the writing on the wall and so his next available seat was Saturday. He was now missing 2 more days of school.

The boy calmed down after freaking out 2 days in a row and took it in stride that we was getting to enjoy an extended vacation. He finally made it home, and Mom and I picked him up from the airport and brought him straight to my house since he's been out of state the entire time since I bought it.

Speaking of my house, moving is all done, but unpacking and rearranging furniture is still happening. The previous owners cemented off the drain and skimmer for the pool, and per my insurance I have to have it functional within 60 days of close in order to keep my insurance. In order for the house to appraise for the mortgage to go through, the sellers had to refill the pool with water at least, or cover it or fence it in at best, but the latter were $2k+ options versus the $200 water bill option. The pool guys were scheduled to start last Monday, but the sump pump they had crapped out over the weekend. They finally brought one over Tuesday morning after I had gone to work, so Dad came over for a few hours to use the bladder hose to water all of my yard. By afternoon the outlet the sump pump was plugged in crapped out, and he had already been there a while. I got home from work and plugged it into a plug in the house and proceeded to spend the next couple hours also watering the lawn in the heat, dripping sweat and getting dirty ass pool water all over me in the process. By 9pm the pool was officially drained, I had taken a shower, and the lawn had been saturated with water. The next day, Wednesday, was the same day mentioned above, so the yard got double drenched in water, I learned where all the low spots are in my yards, I learned how to use the sump pump that's in the front yard to clear the sidewalk and the French drain going around the house, and I verified that I couldn't hear or see any leaks coming from the roof into the attic. The attic was at least 10 degrees cooler than in the garage, which was actually a nice thing to see.

The pool guys officially started cutting out the skimmer and drain on Friday and have completely removed the coping and tiles. I'm not sure what the next steps are, but I'm just waiting for them to do their thing. I'm also waiting for the solar panel people to do their thing. They are currently in the permitting phase which can take 1-10 weeks depending on the municipality. I also have to cut out some semi-circle windows that are in the front of the house to get the solar screen guys to come out and do their thing. That's causing half of the house to heat up from the summer sun beating in, and it's the side of the house where the thermostat is located, so half the house is hotter than the set thermostat temp while the other half is getting too much A/C and become a bit frigid. Those solar screens should even out the disparity.

The pool table should be arriving today. This means rearranging a couple of other dining tables that have been placeholders in other rooms while I worked out where I finally wanted them. Hopefully I'll have the pool table put together by this weekend. That will just leave a couple of pieces of furniture to work out were they will go, even if that means determining that they will be going back to my parents' house.

I officially put clothes into my new dresser after finally moving around all the bags and boxes that were blocking the drawers. I still haven't gotten around to going through all the boxes of clothes still in the closet. I've just been wearing the same groups of clothes I set aside specifically to be worn, washed, re-worn, etc., until I got settled in.

I bought little hooks to hang all the night lights that are currently either still in boxes or strewn on the hearth in front of the fireplace. Most everything officially has a place to go, even if that place is still a stack of boxes. The kitchen cabinets are all just about sorted, games and puzzles are in their cabinets in the game room, 3 china cabinets are full of china, dolls, stuffed animals, and other collectibles, I'm still waiting on at least one more bookcase for the library to be set up, so all the books are still in a pile of boxes in the way of everything, lots of wall art is lined up where the bookcases will be going, and anything office/paperwork related is at least either in my room or on a desk in the game room. The couches and stereo are set up in the game room, and the movie theater seating and DVD cabinets are mostly arranged in the living room. I'm still not completely satisfied with the arrangement, but at least it's workable right now, and I can easily have 8 folks come over and watch a movie and either get a recliner or a bar stool, or another 6 can sit at the table in the dining area and watch TV as well, not to mention anyone sitting on the hearth or the oversized ottoman.

Speaking of seating, I seem to have ALL THE SEATING. There are:
3 wing back chairs
1 old rocking chair
1 barrel chair (still in the garage)
1 antique desk chair (still in the garage)
3 dining tables with 3/6/6 chairs respectively
5 leather recliners, with 1 regular, 1 also being a rocking chair, and 3 electric theater seats with lights and built-in cup holders
5 bar stools and 1 regular stool
2 sofas that can seat 3 people each
2 benches that will come with the pool table and can sit 4-6 people depending on how much everyone squishes in
and 4 bar stools and bar table out on the back porch

That's enough for now. I'll probably do another update later.