On Top of the World

This is my 500th post!

On Sunday we did the undercoat and the ceiling.

This is the ceiling in progress. If it looks a little pink, it’s because it is - the paint goes on pink, so you can see where you’ve painted, but dries white. It’s a great idea and very handy indeed.

The ceiling all done. The good thing about doing the ceiling first was that we could paint right to the edge and not worry about the walls too much because we were going to paint them as well. And the fact that we’re carpeting the floor meant that we didn’t have to be too pedantic about getting paint on the floor either.

After M did the ceiling we both did the undercoat. M used the roller while I did the edges. I actually got a bruise on my shin from leaning against the ladder trying to steady myself. The floor’s not very level, so the ladder was a bit wobbly in places, which gave me the willies a bit. A sign of getting older, I suppose - when I was a child I used to do all sorts of crazy stuff on the playground equipment at school and it never bothered me a bit.

Anyway, a good tip we learnt when we first started doing DIY was to tint the undercoat with some of the final paint colour. You might be able to get away with fewer coats, and it has the added bonus of giving you a little idea of what it’s going to look like when it’s finished, so it’s not quite so depressing doing the undercoat and not having the room look much better than before you started.

The undercoat finished! Well, almost finished - we haven’t done the bit under the window yet that needed the major patching because the plaster wasn’t quite dry and we had to sand it first. It looks a little better in the photo than it does in person, but it still worlds better than it was, and once the final coat is done, it’s going to look great.

We also organised for the floor to be carpeted, so the plan is for that to happen on Monday. We decided on a charcoal carpet, so it will tie in with the floor in the kitchen. I can’t wait to see the end result!

Of course, the cat was there and this time I was prepared with some food and water for him. He was so happy, purring all the time he was eating. Then he decided that he got what he wanted out of us and went to lie down in the sun. I suppose I can’t blame him - it was a nice day for it.

Yesterday we had a couple have a look through. It’s a shame that the house wasn’t completely ready for inspection, because it meant they had to use their imagination a little when we said what we were doing to it, but at least they could see that we were actually getting things done and not just saying it to try to win them over. I don’t really know whether they were interested; they were really polite, but we both know that that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

Hooray! It’s the weekend! The working week is over, so now I can finally… have my weekend sucked up by some boring house-related stuff. Sigh. The way I should be viewing this is that if it’s done now, then it doesn’t have to be done later, but I remember all the weekends we lost when we were painting and sanding and cleaning, and it’s more than a little depressing. Most of it is unavoidable, though, due either to damage caused by the previous tenants, or improvements that really need to be made before someone else moves in. Tenants suck. If you’re a tenant and you don’t suck, then good on you. And would you like to rent our house?

After going to bed at 2:30 this morning, and getting up at 11, productivity levels for today weren’t going to be at a maximum. Nevertheless, we bought the necessary items, had lunch in a nearby cafe and finally started work at 2:00. This didn’t give us much time, given that the sun sets at around 5:30, but it was still enough to get some things out of the way.

The first job was to replace a broken tap in the bathroom. Since we couldn’t get hold of exactly the same type (and it was too expensive to replace for a tenant anyway), we bought a new tap set (click the images for larger version).

The most daunting job, but the one that will yield the most benefit, is one of the bedrooms. It’s the one room in the house you really don’t want people to look in because unfortunately it lets the house down, and could possibly be a deal breaker. But no more! We’re going to patch it and paint it and put in some carpet and I think that at the end it’s going to look great. It would be nice to have the floors polished like most of the rest of the house, but I don’t think the condition of them is good enough for that, hence the carpet. M patched the wall today, and we’ll do the painting tomorrow. You can see from the photos what condition the room is in, but that is all about to change.

We’re painting it the same colour we did the lounge room:

When I was there on Tuesday, a ginger cat came to say hello, and he visited us again today. The poor thing seemed starved for attention (and food - he wolfed down the little biscuits I gave him), and I felt bad for leaving him there. I’m assuming he lives nearby and wasn’t actually abandoned by the tenants; I like to think he has a home to go to. He wouldn’t stay still long enough for me to get a decent photo, but here are a couple.

I wasn’t sure which sign to choose this week, but thought that something from my travels overseas last year would be good. I chose an Irish sign because I’d been dying to go to Ireland for 16 years, so it was wonderful to finally get there.

I took this photo when we were on our way to Cavan. Unfortunately we went on a Sunday and everything was closed except for a pub, but it was still nice to have a wander around and explore our family roots.

…M was cleaning this up:

That was all the junk left behind by the previous tenants. You’d think with all that stuff, there might be something that we could keep or sell or somehow benefit from, but there was really nothing. It was all absolute junk, except for the mobile phone charger that will work with my Samsung phone. I was pretty pleased with that find. Take that, miserable tenants!

At least the quantity of useless possesions was somewhat consistent with their lack of rent payment. If you’ve got no money, why are you living in a place where you can’t afford the rent? And if you’re having trouble making payments, why can’t you tell us up front so we can work something out, rather than say nothing and hope we won’t notice?

So, M’s day was spent piling all the junk into a mini skip. He got everything in, but he had to dismantle the furniture to make it all fit. When he got there he saw that some people had helped themselves to some of it, so at least that made fitting everything a bit easier. I remember the first time I saw someone helping themselves to my hard rubbish (specifically, an old barbeque) I was somewhat offended, but after all it is rubbish, so what does it matter if someone else wants it. It makes the life of whoever has to cart it away that bit easier, and pilfering someone’s hard rubbish from the side of the road is a rung or two higher on the ladder of dignity than snooping through a rubbish bin.

Of the two inspections due to take place on Wednesday, one person didn’t turn up and the other wasn’t interested, so it’s back to the drawing board. We’re probably going to paint one of the rooms this weekend, so that will make a big improvement, as the room is in serious need of attention. We’re also going to get it carpeted. I’ll be interested to see how it turns out. Before and after photos will definitely be taken.

Tafe has finished for this semester, so I am now officially on holidays. Well, I’m not really because I still have to go to work, but it will be nice to come home every night rather than go out to classes 3 working days out of 5. The only downside is that I really have to do that assignment that’s due on the first day back next term, that I’ve been putting off for 5 months. Eh, that can wait another week and 6 days. I’m just glad that I get a two-week break from the people I want to slap. I’ll try to start next term refreshed and tolerant.

Now that I’ve stopped giving him his tablets, I think Jack loves me again. He hates the food that I’m giving him, though, because he’s meant to be eating that and only that and he’s understandably quite sick of it. I’d be sick of eating the same thing day in, day out for 6 weeks straight too. So tonight I gave him some normal food (naughty me!) and he wolfed it down. Poor boy.

M’s taking the day off tomorrow to go down to his house and put all the crap in the skip that was meant to be delivered yesterday. The tenant told us that he’d arranged with the council for it to be picked up, but of course that was rubbish (hee hee).

Oh, in other groundbreaking news that I should have shared before now but don’t think I have: we have a new electric blanket. My side was still working, but M’s stopped so it was time for a new one (what a wuss). We upgraded and got a fleecy one, so it’s all nice and squashy. It’s quite bizarre lying in bed and feeling the sponginess underneath. Mmmm. The only bummer is that it doesn’t get nearly as warm as our other one did. That might be a good thing from a safety perspective, but I no longer get into a super-toasty bed when I’m freezing.

I was going to call this post “My cat hates me” but decided with the above title for consistency. More about the runner-up title later.

Today was the final day of cleanup before the inspection tomorrow. The person who wanted the 3 month lease found somewhere else, but there are two other people interested. The day started well with a sleep in. M was going to work, so he got up at around 7. Hee hee. I got up at around 9:15 and started getting ready.

I started work at around the same time as yesterday, and it took me a while to get into a groove - there were lots of things I had to do but I wasn’t very methodical about it. I eventually got some sort of routine worked out, and so began the cleaning of the whole house. I cleaned the bedroom that had all that weird sticky stuff all over the walls and it looks so much better now. I still have no idea what that stuff was. I also cleaned the bathroom, mopped and vacuumed the floors, cleaned the carpet that had several stains on it and finished cleaning the kitchen. I left at 6:15, and by that time I think I got the house looking pretty good (if I do say so myself!).

*****

Now to the reason of why Jack hates me. I just can’t give him those tablets any more. It’s been 10 days, which is the normal course length for those tablets, but I’m expected to do it for 28 days, twice a day. Yesterday when I tried to give it to him he made a weird noise like a baby sucking on a dummy, then he started drooling. My guess was that he was trying to make it difficult for the tablet to go down. It was just awful. I eventually got him to take it, but there’s no way I can put him through it any more. I’m going to call the vet tomorrow and see if there’s something else we can do. Even if I take him in for an injection, at least that will be once and that’s it.

He recognises when I’m going to give him the tablet, and starts the dummy sucking noise straight away, and backs off. He’s not affectionate and purry with me any more, and doesn’t lick my hand like he has always done until recently. So enough is enough. I don’t want my baby thinking that whenever I pat him I’m going to try to force a tablet down his throat. He barely wants to sit next to me

I decided to get some yoghurt and try crushing the tablet and giving it to him in that. He’s not meant to be eating anything else, but since the diet hasn’t helped so far, I thought it was worth a try. I stopped off on the way home tonight and got some. After dinner it was time to try it out. I showed him the yoghurt and he seemed keen, so I put some out and crushed up the tablet. I wasn’t too optimistic, since I could smell the tablet and it made me feel sick, so I thought there wasn’t much chance that Jack would eat it. Sure enough, he backed away. I tried a couple of times with no success, then gave up.

I then put out some yoghurt on its own and gave it to him, to try to say sorry for being so mean. He ate it, but hardly with the usual enthusiasm he shows for yoghurt. I’m so horrible I’ve even made his favourite food depressing for him Now that Operation Cleanup is over, I think it’s time to start Operation Win Back Jack’s Love.

As I mentioned yesterday, today was spent cleaning. By the time we got ready, bought the rest of the stuff we needed and had breakfast, it was after 11:30. I got straight to work on the kitchen, and worked solidly until 4:00. It really was gross, and even after all that time it’s still not completely finished. I still have to do the benchtops and clean the floor. That cloth I bought yesterday (the one where you only need water to clean) was quite good, but the bad thing about it is that you don’t get that nice just-cleaned smell that you do when you use cleaning products. I used it a bit, but then switched back to the old, familiar method.

While I was in the kitchen, M was cleaning up outside. While we were cleaning, one of the tenants turned up. The purpose of his visit was that he needed access to the property later in the week when the electricity was disconnected. I didn’t think there was much chance of access being granted, and we told him we’d had the locks changed. Anyway, there were a few arguments, resulting in him threatening us with his lawyers. Pfft - if they were the same ones who told him that he had a right to his bond, then I think he needs to change lawyers. He also spun some ‘poor me’ tale of being in on work cover and having no money. There was some more arguing and then I figured that there was no point discussing it any more, so I asked M if we were done and we just walked off. Stupid trash.

Although the kitchen looks a lot better, there’s still a lot to do on the rest of the house, so I’ll go back again tomorrow to try to make it look as nice as I can before the inspection on Wednesday.

Today we had an inspection at M’s house. We’ve been having trouble with these tenants for a while, with them not paying their rent, and M had sent them an eviction notice, giving them 7 days to pay what was owing. They paid, but recently stopped paying again, so M sent another notice. They had said before that they were planning on moving out in a few months, and M wanted to arrange an inspection. The agent that found the tenants for us called them but didn’t hear anything, and we got a call from her the other day, saying that she’d talked to the tenants who said that they’d moved out over a week ago. They figured they didn’t have to give any notice (which isn’t true, and was clearly written in their lease that they did), and since they weren’t living there any more, that they didn’t have to pay rent either.

They asked the agent when they were going to get their bond back, and when she said that they had to be up to date in their rent for that to happen, got really angry and said that they were going to talk to their lawyers. Whatever.

So an inspection was arranged for today. They didn’t turn up, so we started the inspection without them. While they didn’t exactly trash the place, it was left in a pretty poor state. The kitchen was disgustingly filthy, the main bedroom had goodness knows what all over the walls and there was furniture, rubbish and various damage. Needless to say, they won’t be seeing any of their bond. I took plenty of photos just in case they try to dispute it but I can’t imagine how they think they would have any chance if they did.

Tomorrow M and I are taking the day off to go there and clean it up, and get the locks changed. The agent said that there is someone who is interested in it for a 3-month lease while she’s waiting for settlement on a house she bought, so hopefully we’ll be able to clean it up enough that she’ll want to move in. It would be good to find someone so soon, and not lose too much rent.

On the way home we stopped off at the hardware store and bought what we needed to repair the damage they did as well as clean everything. Before these tenants moved in, I spent 4 hours cleaning the kitchen, and I have a feeling it will be a similar amount of time tomorrow. But we bought one of those cleaning glove things, so we’ll see if they actually work.

*****

On a yummy note, some of the best pancakes I’ve ever had was when we went to Galway last year, and M found this Irish recipe, and made some tonight. They were fantastic!

Pancake Recipe

Ingredients
125g / 4oz Odlums Cream Plain Flour
Pinch of Salt
1 Egg
300ml / 1/2 pint Milk
Oil for frying

Method
1. Sieve flour and salt into a bowl.
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour, break in the egg and add about a third of the milk. Beat well, gradually pouring in the rest of the milk and drawing in the flour to make a smooth batter.
3. Pour batter into a jug and allow to stand for about 30 minutes.
4. Brush a pancake pan or frying pan with oil. When the pan is hot, give the batter a stir before pouring a thin layer onto the pan.
5. Fry until golden brown. Turn and fry the other side until brown also.
6. Stack pancakes on a large plate, as they are cooked.

I suppose this is a rather obvious choice for this week’s theme, but when this photo was taken, I’d recently got the windows tinted and I thought it looked very cool indeed.