This is the view from my kitchen window right now:
And this is from my living room window:
Pretty nice huh? At least as long as I don’t have to be outside for very long.
This is my new friend Frank:
He’s a Venus flycatcher and lives in a cage in my living room now.
So have I told you how great my mom is? I’m feeling like crap these days, and had to throw in the towel on organising the renovation and she just runs with it.
We’we been amazingly lucky that the handyman that did the demo turned out to be a great guy and incredibly competent and has agreed to do the majority of the building work for us. They (my mom and JH) have apparently finished painting the ceilings and prepping the floors today, and are starting on panelling the walls tomorrow. The kitchen has arrived from IKEA. We need a few more things but I’m hopefully we’ll enough to do a little shopping next week. Fingers crossed we’ll be done early December!
So I’m kinda wishing I never started this process. The demolition is done, and I have finally gotten rid of all the horrible tiles on my floors, but I’ve also discovered that previous owners have done amateur electrical work that is certainly not up to code and everything has to be redone. That changes a few things.
The electrician will be here on Wednesday to see what needs to be done, and give me an estimate. It’s probably going to eat up all of my contingency budget. I might have to go for the handyman version of a builder in stead of a professional carpenter, and that might effect the quality a bit. On the other hand, I had planned to do the job myself so…
You know planning involving any kind of builders and contractors should come with a massive warning label. I actually know this, but I was really hoping that I could be the exception to the rule. I’ve only had one of the contractors through the door as of yet, and he was of all things a day early.
Two of the others actually contacted me with proper excuses for why they had problems coming, and they are hopefully coming in today to give me quotes. The last one didn’t bother to call when he was late, and sent me an bullshit e-mail long after he was supposed to be there so I’m not gonna bother with him any more.
I’m lying on my mothers couch at the moment just basking in tidiness and quiet. She gets to help out with demolition in my apartment and doing one of her favourite things: going to our local dump/recycling centre. Yeah I don’t get it either.
I’m exhausted. I’m really exhausted. Right now I’m waiting for the first of four contractors to come and view my apartment so that I can get some quotes, but I just want to pick one at random and be done with it.
The thing is, this last week has been incredibly productive. I always knew that if a healthy person tried to do what needed to be done that it would be done in a few days. My mother just proved that by packing all my stuff up and taking away things for charity and recycling in just a few days. I’m supposed to do the “paper work”: getting a contractor, organising demolition and getting rid of the large pieces like my old couch and the dishwasher.
It’s all done. Someone is coming to get the dishwasher today, and someone else the couch tomorrow. The demolition is scheduled for tomorrow morning, and as I said four contractors are coming today and tomorrow. But it really is a bit to much for me. I keep telling myself that it’s just one more day, and then I have a few days off. Can it be thursday already?
My body decided to stage a major uprising against me the last few months, and any progress in getting things done came to a screeching halt. Sitting in this mess didn’t exactly help my health.
I have a major problem with asking for help. This is normal i guess, but when you are ill it kind of cumulates in that you don’t want others to have to pick up the slack for you. Cue Monday 27th of October and me sitting down on my computer playing a game. All of a sudden my vision started rolling in two different directions. I called my mom telling her what was happening, and that we would have to cancel plans we had that day. She told me in no uncertain words to call the damn ambulance RIGHT NOW, and as we all know you listen to your mom when she gets that tone of voice if you are five or forty-one.
I think the ambulance was here in five minutes, so was my mother. They rushed me to the hospital. I didn’t really realize until I got there that they thought I had a stroke. Anyway, I spent a week in hospital and the result was a minor brain haemorrhage, and a malformation in my brain stem that is probably something I was born with. I’m doing pretty well – I have a few minor issues, but all in all have been pretty lucky in how it all played out.
Getting back on topic. My mom coming in and having to do things for me made her realize how bad things have gotten. She has appointed herself building foreman, and is roping in the help I need to get the work done. The living room and kitchen is almost empty. There is someone coming on Wednesday to do the demolition needed. I have ordered my new kitchen, and I have a few builders coming to give me estimates next week. When the building work starts, I’m staying with my mother and she will be here with the contractor.
Right now I’m sitting in a bedroom that is nice, clean and tidy and liveable. I’m gonna stay here til I the next time I have to move wich is hopefully never.
Frk Johansens adventures in home improvement 