Day 9

Another gorgeous day here in East Tennessee -
The new microwave is up and running – we now have LIGHT! The cabin is very cozy, but lighting leaves a bit to be desired. One of the circuits on the control board of the old microwave burned up. It was the one that controlled the vent fan and the light. So we've been cooking in the dark since the range is in the corner and if there is still daylight it is blocked when you're standing at the range and blocked from the side by the upper cabinet. We managed, but it's SO much nicer to have the light.
The foundation guy was here. He said that the crack is indeed from settlement and it's due to the fact that up until 2009 there were NO CODES for building! Holy heck are you serious? Yep – so the lack of rebar, etc is why minor settlement is causing bigger issues. Quote $1750...which gets us some carbon fiber panels that will be adhered to the wall that is cracking and will keep it from cracking more. However he said it's possible that other walls could crack depending on future settlement. Great...

Being from Florida – land of death by codes – it never dawned on us that some places don't have codes. Especially here in the mountains! Logic (and science) tell us that mountains are on fault lines...I mean the mountains are there because two large land masses slammed together at some point in history. Fault lines = earthquakes. Granted they're few and far between (usually – save for the 3 that happened in April) here, but not unheard of. How can you not have building code requirements??? Lord have mercy....


Good thing Mr. Paisley got a raise. Two homes = two money pits!


The roofer finally showed up and his fix is only $250...for now. Evidently, every 10-15 years you need to replace the screws in a metal roof. They have rubber washers that seal up the holes in the metal panels and the rubber breaks down and can lead to leaks. He's going to seal and clean up the roof, but said before too long we'll need to replace the screws. He gave us a heads up on that. A bag of 100 screws is about $45. Mr. Paisley says he calculated about $500 just for screws. I can only imagine what the labor for that will be. Obviously we could do it ourselves – screws...no big deal. Except it's a metal roof (slippery) and it's 30' off the ground in the back. Not happening...


Mr. Paisley is digging holes to plant the hostas we picked up yesterday. He's not enjoying it LOL. Nothing like digging in rocks to try to plant something. Remember...we live in Florida...our “dirt” is gray sand. The worst part of digging in Florida is that for every shovel full of dirt you take out, half that amount falls back in from the walls of the hole. Not really a problem here...but Mr. Paisley did bust out a hammer and a chisel to dig out part of the hole (limited tools that we have here at the cabin).


I hung up a new shelf / quilt rack on the first stair landing today. I also hung up the Norman Rockwell “seasons” pieces up the stairs. They were a gift from someone I work with.


I want to paint the frames though – they're gold. I'd like to paint them black. Not really a fan of gold...plus the black pops against all the wood. Maybe i'll make that tomorrow's task.


Tonight we are going into Knoxville to do a little shopping and have dinner at Ye Olde Steakhouse. We were going to do that on Wednesday but the roofer is coming back at 6 tomorrow to do his roof thing.

Day 8 so soon?

Today was a pretty good day – I love the differences between the states I call home. Today it got up to 93 degrees here in East Tennessee. That's the big thing on the news. “It's a hot one” - being from FL where upper 90s is the norm in the summer months – I have to laugh. Humidity was 53%. We went to Lowe's and Home Depot today and both of the garden centers had fans and misters going to keep shoppers cool. Again...gotta laugh! They don't do that in Florida...honestly, the way they're acting up here you'd think it was 115. In fact at noon today it was only 85.







I did all the cleaning – amazing how many spider webs accumulate in a short time. I hate spider webs...



I also took a nap! I never get to do that.






I also repainted one of my rocking chairs. My aunt was here a couple of weeks ago and she painted them. The color was good...but i'm pretty sure she painted them in the cabin – I know this because she's crafty, talented and beyond handy. When I took them out to the deck I had to laugh. There were big raspberry pinky-purple streaks and spots that were still raspberry with not a hit of the Federal Red that she had painted them. Being a Gen X-er I want immediate gratification...she used a brush and a quart of exterior paint. I ran to Home Depot and bought a can of Colonial Red Rustoleum spray paint and knocked it out in 20 minutes. Sorry Auntie Alyce – I'll use the rest of the paint though!







We also got the railing baskets up – Auntie Alyce also replanted the 2 that we already had up so we went to buy more of the plants she put in there (sweet potato vine, asparagus fern, dusty miller) and Home Depot and Lowe's both had no asparagus fern. We did score 5 Curly Leaf Crotons (for the FL house) for $1.50 each off the clearance rack. We also picked up 2 Hosts because I wanted them – and I had a HD Garden Club coupon for BOGO perennials. Mr. Paisley also got a timer wired up to run the rope lights we put up on the deck last time we were here. We also go the hanging baskets up, but I need to decide what to put in them. I'm thinking I might go with something fake...I don't have anyone to come water them and they won't get rained on where they're hanging.






Mr. Paisley also got all the back deck screens redone.






Nothing really exciting today – since it's still part of the holiday weekend, we didn't really venture out to do anything fun because the traffic is still a little crazy. Sears called at 7:30 this morning (seriously? 7:30?!) to say they would be delivering the replacement microwave (woo hoo for home warranty) between 9-11. Dandy...since i'm already up now then while I was making a fabulous mushroom and cheese omelet with bacon on the side, Mr. P made some phone calls. Before noon tomorrow: the installer will be here for the microwave (sure, Mr. P could do it, he put the other one in, but since we paid $55 for the home warranty service call, we'll just let them do it LOL), the roofer will be here, and a foundation guy will be here. Fabulous. Then we'll have the afternoon free – might stop at the Super Walmart and the Kmart Garden center to see if we can find some asparagus fern to finish the deck baskets.






Day 7 was successful – marked several things off the “honey do” list for this trip and we've still got the rest of the week! We're looking into running over to Bryson City, NC and hopping on the Smoky Mountain Railroad. We'll see-

I have photos to post, but the uploads keep failing via The Diner's wifi - i'll keep trying though :-)

Day 7 - oh what a day...

Today's task was unloading the truck and getting everything at least unpacked from the crates. It's all unloading and i'm down to one crate - not only are the rest unpacked, but it's all put away. Extra point for that!

On the negative side...the joys of home ownership (times two) have come to light. Not only is the metal roof leaking over the living area, but the crack in the foundation has gotten bigger. It was there when we looked at the house. We hired a structural engineer to check it out before we bought the house. "It's nothing" he said. It's just separated along the blocks. Well last June it was 1/4" now it's 5/8". Concerned...because the house is on the side of a mountain. Dandy.

I know I said the blog posts would get better...but we haven't really been anywhere. We haven't even made it to the grocery store yet.  It's 10:30p and we're sitting at The Diner having dinner (and using the WiFi). When we show up here late, Lee is always our waiter. He's awesome.

The fireflies in the mountain darkness are awesome. I saw them on the way down to The Diner this evening.

Anywho - here are some photos from the midnight parade last night....errr this morning? Whatever...

or no9t...for some reason the netbook isn't uploading my photos tonight...worked yesterday. I'll work on that...

TTFN - gotta run to the Super Walmart since the Kroger is closed for the night. Small town life...gotta love it!

Day 6!

Oh my...

While I was ready to leave early yesterday, Mr. Paisley took a few extra hours off work and was home at 11:30. He mowed the lawn and got all the iguana rations ready before I got home. Sweet! Then decided to take a nap. It was after 6 when we left. So much for getting a head start.

Traffic wasn't bad, I was tired, but didn't take a nap until after we stopped for dinner. That was a minor fiasco. We decided on Cracker Barrel because I needed a birthday card. Mr. Paisley missed the exit for the Gainesville Cracker Barrel. I was starving because I decided not to make a snack while he was napping...and I had lunch early (for me) since  I normally leave work early on Fridays anyway. Normal lunch time for me is 1:30 or 2. I ate at 12:30 on Friday...but the time we got to the Lake City Cracker Barrel it was 9pm. It was packed...I guess it's the only place to eat in Lake City.

Aside from that - it was awful. I like CB - but this was just not a good night. I got the fried shrimp - which was more or less warm. My carrots were hot (the top ones) and ice cold (the bottom ones). The corn bread was not hot. The steak fries were not even warm (I ordered a baked potato, but they didn't have any). I asked for some mayo on the side and I got a side of mayo...an actual side dish bowl FULL of mayo. Weird...yeah, it was just not good period. But I got the birthday card.

We rolled in at the in-laws' house in Georgia at 2:30 this morning. TWO THIRTY. I was exhausted. We got up at 10 this morning and had breakfast. Mom-in-law got home from work at 1. And here I am writing today's boring blog post. I expected that we would already been at the cabin by now...so i'm guessing today is going to be a wash as far as getting any task done. Might be able to squeeze in the grocery trip tonight - but depends on when Mr. P decides he's ready to leave.

Tonight is the 35th annual Midnight 4th of July parade in Gatlinburg. Kicks off at midnight....i'd like to be there for it. We'll see how it goes...

Day 5! Halfway mark...

I didn't finish the packing yesterday :-( 

We also didn't get the truck loaded...because it was raining...and raining...it was raining when I left work at 6:15 yesterday, it's still raining at 9:30 this morning. The fact that there is no sign of the sun leads me to believe it will continue raining for awahile. Oh joy!

I actually would have had my clothes all packed last night, but I had some of them hanging on rack on the back porch to dry and...well they got rained on. So they're drying again. Should be good to go when I get home...just have to fold and toss 'em in the suitcase.

I have a list (shocking...that's what Mr. Paisley would say) of what I still need to throw in there. Everything for the truck is piled up in the living room (yeah, the one I cleaned as task #1).

I'm confident we will leave earlier than when we had originally planned (since I have a 2 hour extra window thanks to my supervisor).

Task #5 is to get some software downloaded on the netbook.

Almost to the halfway mark - Day 4

Before I get into Day 4's task, check out Heaven Essence my cousin Amanda sent me a large bowl candle and a bag of heart shaped lotion bars. You HAVE to try these things! At first I didn't think i'd like them - the lotion bars seem thick and sticky when you start rubbing them on your skin, but within a few minutes that feeling is gone and your skin is just super soft! I really like it a lot!


On to the saga of the missing UPS delivery. Seems our regular UPS guy is on vacation or something and some yahoo is covering his route. Lucky us. Luckier that Mr. P was outside when he delivered my new outdoor rug - turns out he delivered our missing Wednesday package to the neighbor's house at the side door. Evidently, it was because our mailbox is closer to his driveway  than his own mailbox (our driveways are right next to each other), my mailbox is beside the driveway - well between the two. He has a sidewalk that goes from his front porch to the street and his mailbox is beside that. Right square in the middle of his house. This reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw yesterday. 

Or the end of the BS show "The MENSA convention has left the building" So Mr. P is thinking "sweet! I can get the box back". Wrong. Our neighbor (who is a complete ummm arse to women in general) hooked up with a woman who (he says) is from Columbia. She does not speak to us. She will not answer the door. Mr. P and Mr. UPSman stood at the door knocking for a good 5 minutes while she sat there doing whatever on the computer (all the blinds are up). Seriously...give me the freaking box - not only did the UPS man not really look at the address, but either she also didn't or she just doesn't care and plans to ignore it until the neighbor gets back. His truck has been gone a few days - assuming he's working out of town. Great. Hope your house doesn't catch on fire, no point in the neighbors banging on the door. 


So I wrote a note and taped it to the door. She'll probably ignore that too. I should call my brother in law and have him come over in uniform. She'd probably pull the blinds and pretend she's not home...


On to day 4 - today's task, PACK. Yep, aside from getting the rest of the stuff into the storage unit, we need to have everything loaded up for the trip and Mr. P needs to get his tools cleaned up in the back yard. 

Mr. Paisley has run 4 loads of stuff to the storage unit since I got home. I don't know why...I could have shoved it all into one load. Whatever...it's getting done.

I have laundry going, it's been raining since I left work at 6:15...should be a fun night.
Actually, we might leave the loading up part until tomorrow. Get it all gathered up tonight and pack in in the truck when we get home from work. Mr. P gets off early because...well that's how it is where he works. When you go off being on-call you leave at 1 on Friday. That said, today my supervisor said "we're going home at 3 tomorrow - i've had enough of this week already". SWEET - that's an extra 2 hours!


Sorry for the boring posts...they'll get better starting Saturday!

Day 3! 10 in 10

 

So I forgot to click "publish post" last night...such is life. 

Business cards are done - at least designed. I need to print them on the business cards - might do that tonight. We'll see. One side is the Paisley Pumpkin banner, the other side is a million ways to contact me or find me on the web.

Day 3's task isn't really limited to one day. It was to get everything off the porch and into the new storage unit. Progress has been made, but it's not done yet. We actually started this on  Monday. Luckily Mr. Paisley gets to hand off the "on call phone" when he gets to work tomorrow (errr today since I forgot to publish this post yesterday). That means he'll be home at a somewhat normal time and he will hopefully have the rest of it done when I get home...

Here is the porch mess that started last Friday - 

 

Mostly bins of car parts and of course car parts that are too big to fit in bins. In addition to what you see, there is also a large vintage solid wood desk, a cart that used to hold my sailboard (sold that a few years ago since I don't live on a lake anymore...), an engine and an engine hoist. Everyone has a spare engine laying around right? Totally normal. As of today (errr yesterday since I didn't publish the post)everything you see in the last shot is gone (except for the wood door and the boat chair - the boat chairs stay here). 

The stuff that still needs to be moved is a lot of what is in the first shot - bumpers and whatnot that is laying on the bench. Should be able to get it out of here in one more load. *whew* Can't take the mess anymore!

Yes - my flowerbeds need work...that will not be on the 10 in 10 list...but it is on another list. Remember the LIST post? I like lists...I also like containers. They make stacking easy...and label makers...so one knows what is in the container when it isn't clear.