I have paint chips!

peach?? wait, I didn’t get peach! oh yeah, breeeeeeeathe…

just the possibility of that makes it A-Ok!

You two are so cute.

My husband was laid off 4 month ago, hasn’t worked at all in 2 and he has painted every room in this house wih $25 worth of “oops” paint. It how he fights off the depression and it’s really nice to come home to this colorful home after a couple of years of beige.

And this is a total aside, but regarding Saturn returns..I’ve been on Facebook recently, and this past week about 25 friends from high school pop up. I was thinking it was crazy, but as I was driving last night I realized it is a year until my 30th high school reunion … oh wait….it’s just a Saturn return. See,I’m learning.

Thank you, Dr Z….

Shannon, yeah. That was a $20,000 repair. The house has never really been the same. I would really like to get out of here, however I don’t think it’s in the cards so…..

I can’t imagine spending $20 000 on a house, Elsa..

gah, not to be glib but I understand spending that kind of money on a house. anything major always seems to cost at least $500. there were no gutters on my house and that alone cost $750. you don’t think of gutters being a necessity but without them my front walk was an ice-flow all winter. I was worried some missionary would fall on my steps and sue me. cabinets installed are inordinately expensive. flooring, plumbing, and lighting all require not just materials but professional labor costs. it adds up fast.

the house next door was built a year after mine in about the same market and cost about 1/3 more because they used top of the line materials as opposed to my bargain ones. I used laminate counters, vinyl flooring, plain woodwork– they used granite, wood, custom trim. I have an average house. I don’t think I could replace what Elsa did for 20K. she is amazingly frugal. these things add up fast. forget about the time cost and 20k is still cheap. I’d need to add the cost of therapy on top of that.

When you have to replace every door in your house (including the one on the MAIL BOX) you are screwed.,

My house was built in the 70’s, what was standard then is not standard now. That means if someone punches a hole in a closet door (as my tenants did) you can;’t just go to Home Depot and buy a replacement door. No, you have to re frame the opening. You need carpentry skills…. you need a truck, you need all kinds of things or you need to live with the holes punched all over, have people come over and think what they think?

::shakes head::

If you’re me, living around holes punched in every single wall in the house… in the cabinets… it’s very hard to live in an environment like this and er… write this blog for example, never mind have your kids be able to invite their friends over or anything else you can think of.

I kept their security deposit ($1000) in daze. Did not realize I had to send them a certified letter providing and accounting and CO law provided this oversight entitles them to sue me for 3 times the amount of the deposit, so they did, They sued me for $3000 plus whatever else. They tried to tack on suffering or whatever.

I went to court… with pictures. The judge took one look at them and did the math (because they WERE entitled to $3000). She came up with $20,000 figure now that I recall and asked me if I would like to counter sue for damages… they would wind up owing me $17,000.

I said, no thank you, I will never collect anyway… it is worth it to me to just walk out of here and never have to see these people again in my life.

In whatever case, that was just from looking at pictures. When you actually get into this stuff is when you find out, everything in the house is NON standard…

Anyway.. too add, this is just all a lot worse then most anyone could imagine. And it represents the loss of my hopes and wishes and dreams because I bought this house / moved here when my daughter was 3 months old the future seemed so bright. I just can’t restore things… put them back the way they were because I have run out of resources.

One thing I did add up… I am pretty sure a million dollars has been spent on my daughter’s care over the last 4-5 years. You probably can;t imagine that either, Rob, however it does not change these fact.

If you have ever wanted to feel small and insignificant in this world, you should try being me for just a day.

Ahh Elsa..I’m doing a big wish here.. cosmic order.. whatever.. that a big hearted team get together and make your house feel like home again, like on the DIY rescue programmes..is there anything like that where you are? Or are you too private for that stuff? I am going to keep visualising your delight as you see your house put to rights. You so deserve that to happen.. Good people are everywhere, sincerely decent folk who would so want to help… I once had rentors who trashed the place and then made life hell for a while, but it wasn’t anywhere as bad as you and thankfully it all turned around and calmed down. Your Pluto to the Moon, then Saturn also at your Moon..ahhh.. as well as the great angst you’ve experienced with your daughter .. it IS a domestic revamp, eh?