Help, I'm stuck!

Last night Mark was over. We had a nice evening grilling loads of veggies on the grill and I whooped his ass twice in scrabble.

At one point Mark needed to use the lou. I went about my business cleaning up dishes from dinner when I heard "Help me, I'm stuck, I can't get out".

Mark had actually shut the door... and we failed to warn him before hand... don't shut the door. Nearly all the new doors in our house do not shut. They have all swelled with the heat this summer (see posting about air conditioning).

So there I was outside the bathroom pushing with all my might to free our guest. When I finally got the door open, a wad of paint came with it ;) Oh, every day is a new adventure....

"This guy's a turkey"

So,
We found out today that our previous contractor (a.k.a Turkey) fudged the stairs. Apparently these stairs are not up to code and Cambridge is pretty particular about that. Our first tread height is 9 inches from the floor and the other treads range from 6 1/2 to 7 5/8 inches.

What does that mean? I've got to pay to re-frame a whole new set of stairs. Good thing we found out before someone tried to get a drink of water in the middle of the night. And William, no wonder you tripped and almost took a header!!! I thought you were just uncoordinated.

It could be worse

I was going through some pictures this morning looking for a pic of the kitchen when the guys were there and came across this stark reminder that "It could be worse". This picture was taken 2 years ago when Dennis and I were in New Orleans. That's right, nearly 2 years after the hurricane this was par for the course. It certainly puts my situation in a new light.

Is it duck work or duct work?

EWWWWEEEEE It's hot! We've had a few hot days in this summer so far and our central-air is on the fritz, no matter how high we crank it, it just aint doing the trick...

Look closely and you'll see why.

You can buy a big diamond or a fancy car for 30K

So today we had another contractor (we'll call him Marvin) come over to check out the job and give us an estimate... To our amazement, there is a lot more shoddy work than we anticipated... we're talking 30K to start and then the sky is the limit..... ARRRRGGGHHH.

To think of all the things I could do with that money. It makes me sick to think how long it took me to save that kind of money.... I don't have that kind of money, that's a %^$*-en nice car for %#&@-sake! I get that sinking feeling like... when did Tom know he was going to screw us over and take off with our money? How long was he planning it? I feel like such a sucker. He was so well-mannered and charming... too good to be true... well YEAH you idiot.

So here we are in our mid-life, living like a poor college student again. Jammed in a small bedroom, stuff piled up around us and eating ramen from a hot pot while our contractor's fiance is probably sporting a new 30K rock on her finger, care of yours truly.

Got Stairs?

I curse his name every time I step barefoot on one of the loosely hammered nails in my "Dada" stairs.

At least I have stairs you say?
Well, I didn't for a couple of months. Not only are they not finished but they creek so much that my neighbors know when my bed time is ;)

If you like having real stairs with real railing I suggest not using my contractor I'm hoping to get a set by Christmas.

When will it end

So. I'm writing a blog because I'm now going into month 9 of what was supposed to be a 3 month renovation on my condo in Cambridge MA. I hope it will be therapeutic and help me to make light of my current situation.

About two month ago I was too angry to even consider writing about it. One month ago I gave up being angry and decided to get on with my life.... and now I'm going through the joys of dealing with the licensing board, the referral company we found the contractor through, the lawyer, arbitration and finding a contractor to help us finish our job.

After reading other peoples blogs about renovations gone bad, I'm at least thankful that we have a place to live and a stove to cook on... but we're still thousands of dollars in the hole and living like we're on a camping trip from hell... meanwhile I'm sure my contractor is just fine and dandy, sleeping well at night and awaiting the arrival of his first child.