get some conversation going on the HT.

[midwestyankee]

Yankster, might I suggest a Karl Rove mask? He certainly frightens me senseless every time I open up a newspaper

But I also think you'd do an outstanding Bette.....your qualms can be soothed by two simple words: water bra!

Karl Rove is, indeed, one very scary dude.

I won't even "go there" regarding your second suggestion, though I recall that I once did a fair turn as Edith Piaf.

 

[Eilan]

This is for all you home-improvement types.

My husband is in the process of cutting a hole in one of our ceilings so he can build a staircase leading to our partially-finished upstairs area. There's no indoor access, though the house's previous owner made a half-assed attempt to do so. It's another 800 sq. ft. of living space, and we can definitely use it!

Fortunately, he knows what he's doing, so nothing's gonna collapse.

 

[Guest]

 

[Eilan]

I'm getting flashbacks. I did this back in 1988 or 89 at our previous home, which had been built in the 1892. What a mess....horsehair plaster on lathe.

I soooo hope he's cutting through sheetrock or some type of modern material.

Wood. It's a log home built in the late 1940's, and the ceiling is 3/4" oak boards. All the rooms have walls made of cedar, pine, walnut, etc. They're quite nice, actually, but if this place caught on fire, it would be one hell of a bonfire.

My primary job is flashlight holder.

 

[Guest]

 

[Eilan]

How do you like living in a log home? My wife and I came vary close to building one in the early 90s; we had the land, in a nice small New England town, plans were done, had pricing for all the sitework etc, but the economy was so bad we couldn't sell our house because there were so many foreclosed homes on the market priced way lower than we could go. In the end, it was probably best because the schools there suck now.

We've had the house on the market with two different realtors in the past two years. It's not because we don't like the house, but we have four girls and one bathroom. Since the oldest is 7, it's not an issue yet--but it will be. Two years ago, we made an offer (contingent on selling our house) on a 4 bedroom, 3 bath split-level brick house on 5 acres. The owners got tired of extending the offer, and understandably so. Last year we found a 7 bedroom, 4 bath house on 10 acres for the same price as the first house, but, again, our house didn't sell.

The problem with our house is the one bathroom, combined with a lack of inside access to the upper area and a crappy kitchen. We're going to try to do as much work as possible work by ourselves and without borrowing money. But we can't do much at the moment because although my husband has a nice retirement pension coming in, one or the other (or both) of us will have to be working in order to have enough money to do everything we want to do.

After the stairway is in, then we'll put plans on paper to build an addition out the back of the house for a master bedroom and bath. If all goes well, we'd like to start working on that in the next 6 months. The older girls will likely end up with our bedroom, and the babies will get their old room. The tiny bedroom that the babies are currently using will become a guest room. Someone turned that bedroom's closet into a laundry room several years ago.

So, you hold a flashlight and type at the same time?

Nah. I come when I'm called, and he took a break while I went to pick the older girls up from school. Right now he's doing ladybug control on the bay window in our living room.

 

[Guest]

 

[Eilan]

I will say though that I fucking hate realtors.

I'm not a big fan of them myself.

I don't think my husband anticipated having four children when he and his ex bought this house, particularly in light of their fertility problems. But with babies #3 and #4 less than 13 months apart, we outgrew it in a hurry.

When our house was on the market the first time, we'd scheduled the open house for the weekend that I would be in the hospital giving birth (I was being induced). A lot of people saw the house that day, but we got no offers.

One guy wanted to make an offer, but it would have to be contingent on his house selling, and he decided not to do that. One or two people couldn't get financing. Another woman wanted to lease the house for a year with an option to buy, but that didn't help us.

I liked the first realtor. I think she did try hard.

I wasn't happy with realtor #2. She was never on time for anything. One evening she was supposed to show the house at 6:30. She called and asked us if we could leave by 5:45 so she could show it sooner. When we returned home at 7:30, the realtor and the person looking at the house were JUST arriving! The house was on the market nine months and we didn't recieve anything resembling an offer.

Our problem is that we still owe quite a bit on this house, and we were trying to get out of it without losing money, so it might have been a bit overpriced. Another issue was that the realtors didn't seem to understand that, with four small children, it's damn near impossible for us to make the house look unlived-in.

So we'll remodel and MAKE this house work for us, and it'll be even nicer than it is now.

 

[Guest]

 

[Eilan]

This sounds like a great plan, and if you a lot of the work yourselves you'll probably end up with higher equity. Plus, it sounds like you have a nice lot too.

Good luck on the renovations.

Thanks.

The lot sucks, but our next-door neighbor has a bulldozer, so we can work around that. This guy also used to do some logging, so if/when we decide to get rid of some of the many trees, he can help us do that safely.

 

[bisexplicit]

1) I'm back. So, now you can all throw away the party decorations. And EJ can leave again.

2) This is my 7000th post. That probably means I post entirely too often.

 

[midwestyankee]

1) I'm back. So, now you can all throw away the party decorations. And EJ can leave again.

2) This is my 7000th post. That probably means I post entirely too often.

How much is too often?

You are currently averaging 28 posts per day but you are hardly unusual in this respect. To give you some idea of the scale of this, our friend cathleen joined Lit in 2004, averages 35.75 posts per day, and has a total of 35,657 posts to date. Another friend, kayte, joined Lit in 2002 and has racked up 75,681 posts at a rate of 54.14 per day.

Put another way, if you spend 3 minutes on Lit for every post you make, that adds up to just over an hour per day. Is that too much time to spend doing something you enjoy and that puts you into contact with interesting people? That's for you to decide, but we like having you here.

 

[bobsgirl]

How much is too often?

You are currently averaging 28 posts per day but you are hardly unusual in this respect. To give you some idea of the scale of this, our friend cathleen joined Lit in 2004, averages 35.75 posts per day, and has a total of 35,657 posts to date. Another friend, kayte, joined Lit in 2002 and has racked up 75,681 posts at a rate of 54.14 per day.

Put another way, if you spend 3 minutes on Lit for every post you make, that adds up to just over an hour per day. Is that too much time to spend doing something you enjoy and that puts you into contact with interesting people? That's for you to decide, but we like having you here.

And it's easy to spend an hour here without realizing it!

 

[midwestyankee]

And it's easy to spend an hour here without realizing it!

Especially when the company is good.


Wanna go for a malt? I'm buyin'.

 

[bobsgirl]

Especially when the company is good.


Wanna go for a malt? I'm buyin'.

Twist my arm (not to be confused with KarenDee's AV). Okay, okay, I'll go! Can I have chocolate?

 

[midwestyankee]

Twist my arm (not to be confused with KarenDee's AV). Okay, okay, I'll go! Can I have chocolate?

Chocolate, it is.

 

[Quoll]

1) I'm back. So, now you can all throw away the party decorations. And EJ can leave again.

2) This is my 7000th post. That probably means I post entirely too often.

Yay welcome back.




I just woke up and my witty isn't working yet

 

[EJFan]

Yay welcome back.




I just woke up and my witty isn't working yet

indeed... welcome back, bi! missed you!!!!!!!!!!

and quoll... you're SOOOOOO in luck! i just happen to be a witty-repair man... certified and everything! if you want, send your witty to me here in the states and i'll work on it for you, then send it back, good as new.

 

[Eilan]

indeed... welcome back, bi! missed you!!!!!!!!!!

and quoll... you're SOOOOOO in luck! i just happen to be a witty-repair man... certified and everything! if you want, send your witty to me here in the states and i'll work on it for you, then send it back, good as new.

Do you do snark?

 

[bisexplicit]

How much is too often?

You are currently averaging 28 posts per day but you are hardly unusual in this respect. To give you some idea of the scale of this, our friend cathleen joined Lit in 2004, averages 35.75 posts per day, and has a total of 35,657 posts to date. Another friend, kayte, joined Lit in 2002 and has racked up 75,681 posts at a rate of 54.14 per day.

Put another way, if you spend 3 minutes on Lit for every post you make, that adds up to just over an hour per day. Is that too much time to spend doing something you enjoy and that puts you into contact with interesting people? That's for you to decide, but we like having you here.

I like you 'cause you make sense.

And thats all.

 

[bisexplicit]

Yay welcome back.




I just woke up and my witty isn't working yet

Aww, I wish your witty was working, 'cause then you wouldn't resort to nana usage.

 

[bisexplicit]

indeed... welcome back, bi! missed you!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah you missed me. You totally cried every day that I was gone.

 

[EJFan]

Do you do snark?

i can, but i'm not certified... so if it's under warranty, you'll have to pay. if it's not under warranty and you have no standards, i'm your guy.

of course, i'm the guy for anyone with no standards.

 

[EJFan]

Yeah you missed me. You totally cried every day that I was gone.

well... honestly... no, i didn't cry. but i haven't cried since 1983 so don't take it personally.

besides, i HAVE to be glad you're back. while you were gone, there was no one threatening to kick me in the nuts.

 

[bisexplicit]

well... honestly... no, i didn't cry. but i haven't cried since 1983 so don't take it personally.

besides, i HAVE to be glad you're back. while you were gone, there was no one threatening to kick me in the nuts.

Oh, don't worry, I will kick you in the nuts so many times that you WILL cry.

(And heres something scary to think about - I wasn't even /born/ the last time you cried.)