Adventures in homesteading

Seriously, that’s what I feel like I’m doing half the time. I brought minimal things with me–when I left Seattle, I didn’t have a place, and I was looking at both furnished and unfurnished and I didn’t want to cart around stuff I wouldn’t end up needing. . .

I ended up getting an unfurnished place. And I mean really unfurnished. No curtains on the windows. Not even a shower rod in the bathroom. The place is newly remodeled–no one has lived here since they finished the work. But they didn’t quite finish the work, either.

Before anyone gets the wrong idea–I do like this place. I am really happy to be here for six months, both in this apartment and in the French Quarter. The poor realtor and the contractor are fixing things as fast as they can. There just happens to be a lot more to fix than they realized.

First there was the utilities scramble.

The original ad for my place states that the lessee pays for all utilities.

My lease clearly states that the lessor pays for all utilities.

I figured since all the other relevant parties had signed the lease before I signed it, that it was the final word.

I found out Sunday night at 8 PM that no, I was responsible for all utilities. And I had better put them into my name quickly because they were all getting turned off first thing Monday morning, November 1st.

Monday I went over to verify — would they really turn off the utilities so quickly? I figured they wouldn’t. However, I found out that I had no water in my bathroom — something else had been shut off. There was also a broken alarm in the unit in front of mine that would buzz once every two minutes or so. It was a carbon monoxide detector that was wired into wall that was broken.

So I extended my stay one more night at the B&B I’d been staying at (absolutely lovely place with a great dog who’s a therapy dog and wonderful hosts who I plan on hanging out with more later.)

Tuesday I meet up with the realtor and the contractor. They turned the water on in my bathroom, which made me happy. Lots of the broken things weren’t fixed that day. They did fix the alarm, though.

Wednesday morning I got my internet installed. w00t! That helped me feel a lot more settled. A handyman also showed up around 2 (he was supposed to be there at 9) and he fixed some of the things that were wrong. Such as:

–The electrical outlet in the bathroom over the sink was falling out of the wall.
–The tub needed to be caulked.
–There was no back porch light (and it gets very dark out there.)
–A hole in the wall next to the kitchen light switch needed to be patched.
–The front gate needed a doorbell (I live at the back of the house — if anyone came by I’d have no way of knowing they were there.)
–The gate lock needed to be replaced (the only way I could get to my place was by going in the other gate and walking around the building.)

And other things — these are just the ones that I remember off the top of my head.

As of today, after the contractor came back a second time, these are the things still to be fixed:

–I finally have hot water in the kitchen sink. However, the pipes under the sink leak.
–The ice maker for the refrigerator needs to be hooked up. There’s a flexible steel pipe that goes from the fridge through the backs of some of my cabinets. There’s a second flexible steel pipe that goes from the water supply through the backs of some of my cabinets. However, they’re not connected–proper ends need to be purchased.
–The ice maker line is connected to the hot water supply for the sink.
–There’s a broken pane of glass in the bedroom window.
–The cabinets in the kitchen weren’t installed correctly — the doors need to be swapped because you can’t open some of them.

(I know that I am detail oriented. I believe that no one who was detail oriented has looked at this place. The realtor thought everything was fine until I started pointing out things.)

I found out this morning that the heat is gas, while everything else in this place is electric. I filled out the online form, but I think they need to come and physically turn on the gas, because the heat isn’t working. It’s currently 64 in here. Hopefully someone will come out tomorrow. . . If not, it’s going to be a very cold weekend. (Kitty keeps climbing onto my lap to share body heat.)

As I said, I came here with a very minimal set of stuff. It all had to fit into the back of my car. There was stuff I *had* to bring as well — the computer printer and scanner. The kitty palace. A lot of my clothes.

After being here for a week, I’ve decided I need to buy a chair. I don’t need any end tables–upside-down boxes work great for that. But I really need a comfortable chair. I’m going to go hunting for wingback chairs this weekend. I think I’d like a rug, too.

I’m set for a bed — I have a piece of 4″ memory foam on top of an inflatable mattress. I brought the foam with me and bought the mattress down here. However, I bought the wrong mattress — one of them advertised a pump. I picked up the one without the pump. It took me 2 days to blow the dang thing up. I could only get about 5 good puffs of air at a time before I needed a break.

I’ve replaced most of the things that were stolen that I could replace, like my coffee maker, etc. I have a new pot for boiling water that has a thermostat built in which I will find very handy (it arrived today and tomorrow will be my first time using it.) There are still a couple of kitchen items I need.

I have a lovely backyard and I keep thinking I want to buy stuff for it, then I restrain myself. But I may indulge myself with a Webber grill. I’d have to leave it down here. Still. I like grilling.

Kitty is adjusting. I have a door to the outside from both the living room and the bedroom. She really doesn’t like the fact that strangers can enter into any room she’s in. The noises this place makes are different, too. She’s constantly spooked. I’m hoping that in a week’s time she’ll be much better adjusted. She loves the new kitty condo that I bought her, and she has been insisting we play at least once every day.

In tech news, I downloaded the 8pen app for my phone. Quite a learning curve, but I’m getting used to it. I’ve memorized the movements for lots of short words. The problem is remembering where the letters are, at least for me. I’m curious if anyone else has tried it.