Author: Ratpuke7

Had an awesome time on the North Shore of Oahu.  We met my sister’s family there.  I hated the 9hr flight but somehow it was better than flying the 7hrs to Ireland.  Got to go to Pearl Harbor, see the Arizona Memorial, see the Missouri, see the Oklahoma Memorial.  Didn’t do the Bowfin submarine since I already have seen the U505 and the USS Pampanino in San Francisco.  Did some snorkeling in Turtle Bay and Sharks Cove with my sister and brother-in-law.  Went to the botanical garden and Waimea Valley in Haleiwa. Did the hike to see the Lighthouse at Makapu’u Point.  Did at East Shore drive and saw the Chinese Hat, had a fresh shrimp for dinner at Romy’s Shrimp Farm and roadside stand.  Walked the Banzai Pipeline beach and watched my niece and nephew boogie board it.

While we were gone, the house was painted by a little blonde named Sharon who was given license to make decorating decisions in our absence.  Her business is to paint (I secretly think she is half artist) and she did an awesome job with the color details, wall fixing, and cleaning up.  What a pro.  Being an amateur painter and self improvement fan, I couldn’t be happier with the job she did.  We had a 70’s intercom system that she took down, patched and painted the walls, a popcorn ceiling that needed painting, wallpaper removal in 4 rooms, and interesting sparkly ceilings that also needed painting.  I would recommend her in a heartbeat.

The boyz from Dibble were back moving the furniture back in yesterday.  What a good group of movers.  We have used them twice now.  I would definitely recommend.  Matt (supervisor) is a stand up guy – very reliable. Definitely diamonds in the rough.  Their office staff is professional and courteous.

Ratpuke7

Life sure throws us challenges, that’s a big “fo sho”.  The move last Wednesday went well.  The movers were a fun lot.  They were a bit rough around the edges.  I guess that’s prerequisite in order to do that job all day.  Man, that’s not something I would like to do.  My back was sore and I’m in pretty good shape.  The wood floors are in, save a small bit in the master bedroom.  Today I met the sanding guys at the house.  I got a recycle container full of oak scraps for the fire pit – can’t wait.  Our home work over the weekend was to pick out some floor colors.  Picked out a nice range from light to dark – still fairly conservative though.  We have been living like vagabonds out of garbage bags instead of suitcases (yea, kind of my fault) I keep forgetting the suitcases and I have no room for them in the minivan.  When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Over the weekend, we were staying at a friends lake house in South Wilmington.  I didn’t get a lick of sleep Sunday night due to all the tornado warnings and the flood alerts every 40min.  I couldn’t imagine driving to work every day from there.  Ugh.  I just keep thinking of my Hawaiian vacation in 3 weeks.

Ratpuke7

Maybe I am jaded with online stores now, but I was disappointed with the Amazon Prime day, however I did get a good deal on a pressure cooker.  Now I need to find some good recipes though.  We closed on the house last Friday and the family helped a great deal tearing out the carpets.  Even the lollypop guild – Connor and Liam helped.  Big thanks to my brother-in-laws, there is no way I could have done it without you.  Bought a “Bagster” yesterday for the carpet.  I think I will stop on the way home to get a plastic tarp for it in case it rains, I won’t exceed the weight limit.  Hopefully the garbage man grabbed all the garbage.  Many things to worry about.  Moving day is tomorrow.  Wood floors begin getting installed on Thursday.

Ratpuke7

Argh, I’m getting sucked in to this flippin “Game of War”.  Now I am taking the reins of an alliance.  Everything takes time.  In the meantime, we are closing on the house Friday.  Can’t wait.  Spoke with the floor guy and he will begin the day after we move in.  He said that we could easily live there while they are working except for when he starts staining and varnishing.  That’s kind of a relief.  Hmmm, haven’t really thought out the bathroom situation until now.  Not a good thing.  July 4th weekend was uneventful.  I did however get some new type of hot sauce from the “pepper guy” from work.  I need some new banner photos.  I haven’t done shit this year on that note.

The “Fair Lady working at Shuttles” is still giving me issues with twist step and 4 directions.  Not fair.  Seems like such an innocuous name.  Devastating.

Ratpuke7

I won’t sugar coat it, it kinda’ blows not closing on the new house tomorrow.  I understand all the new mortgage rules, but its financially stifling.  I was on a soap box but deleted the rant.  Hopefully we can close sometime mid-next week after the holiday.  I just want to get this done, get my new wood floors in, and sit on my new patio, have a beer, and contemplate Hawaii and football.  Somehow, someway, someone is letting me stream music via XM JavaScript.  Thank god.  I forgot how lame it was to work without music.  We still have a shitload of work packing boxes to move.

Seems weird with the kids moved out.

Ratpuke7

I am really glad we are not moving far and will have 2 houses so we can get stuff coordinated – at least for a bit.  Everything is coming together.  Takes a lot of planning and coordination though.  Speaking of which, I think this Tai Chi practice is working out. Can’t wait till I have a basement to practice in.  Packing every spare minute is for the birds.  I want to sit and watch TV.  Yea, I know – no hockey, no football, no rugby, no basketball.  Just baseball and golf >yawn<.  Wish I didn’t have to pack my art stuff, some plein-air painting sounds good right about now.  I got sucked into this “Game of War” crap.  More about that later.

Ratpuke7

While the fair lady movement seems simple from a superficial standpoint, it definitely takes coordination to move forward or twist step while doing it.  Another day of frustration and the learning process.  Throw the four directions in – forget it.

Ratpuke7

Well, I’m going to try to learn the guitar again.  For the 3rd time.  I won’t start trying again until I am in the new house.  Actually, I feel as if life has been on hold until we get into the new house.  Time is tickin’ from the monthly standpoint, but it seems as if time is going slowly from the daily standpoint.  3 guys over to look at the house, 3 estimates, no emails with said estimates.  Can’t anyone get it done?  I mean use an ounce of technology and get the quotes emailed – WTF?  Maybe I need to stop using my last name which no one can write down correctly, and start using ratpuke7.  The buyers lawyer (at least I think it’s the buyers lawyer) is aggravating the crap out of me almost to the point of me telling them to go pound sand.  Well, got the quote from the contractor.  Good price – it’s a go.  We shall see.

Ratpuke7

Well, I missed painting – damn HFM.  I ended up on a WebEx with Oracle last week and by the time I got home, painting class was started.  Luckily I was able to leave a lame ass excuse for my bud.

The inspection was, well… interesting.  The buyers came back with all kinds of stuff to fix.  Most of it we declined due to it being what I would consider a waste of money and effort.  There is an eve roof over the garage which is sagging slightly due to the butthead that we originally bought the house from never caulking that corner of the house for what must have been several years.  When we had the roof and siding done, I asked the guy who was doing the work if it was worth fixing.  He said “no” because he would have to pull the whole front of the garage off.  A total pain in the fanny.  So, it was never fixed.  When we had the attic insulated, I wanted the attic fan replaced since it sounded like a WWII plane flying over the house.  The guys that did the work said that the attic was so small and we had so many vents as it was, it wasn’t worth replacing.  So they disconnected it so it wouldn’t start a fire.  It never got replaced.  The couple of things that they should have asked for, they didn’t, namely to replace the window well that was pulling away from the house (It’s been a source of water in the basement – its being replaced on Tuesday) and replace the washers in the back spigot.  To be continued.

Ratpuke7

What a stressed filled drag – listing a house and getting it ready for sale.  Fixing everything that was broke, cleaning everything that was dirty, finishing everything that was unfinished, arranging, putting stuff away for showing.  Received an offer in the first 6hrs – even before it hit the MLS.  Now need to wait on US Waterproofing to fix window wells, order dumpster for playhouse debris, finish odds and ends and enjoy life and start packing while the house gets inspected, and approved by lender on appraisal.

My buddy invited me to paint on Thursday.  I am so psyched.  Its been almost 1 year since my last art class.

Ratpuke7