Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

[Lily left the valley]

The 'food in a cooler outside' was our go-to method when we had power outages in the winter. Rarely did we ever have to worry about any of our fresh food freezing, but we did have to plan a lot of meals to use frozen meat if the temps weren't cooperating

Sounds like you are making the best of a less than stellar situation!

We certainly are trying. We were both scouts as kids, so all those little bits you learn scouting is helping too. In the short term, we're about ten short-end blocks away from the closest grocery store, so I can always walk over there in a pinch.

If we hadn't had the day before closing cost surprise, we wouldn't be doing half of what we are right now to make do. Less funny stories to share if it hadn't happened, yes, but it is what it is.

Of course someone accidentally put the last of the ice cream in the cooler. Well, that's gone already. Everything else seems to be holding well so far, so we may move the last of what's in the apartment fridge tomorrow. We had a mish mash of whatever in the freezer for dinner. Gnocchi for me, pot pie for him (after his ice cream, of course). Eggos will be for breakfast in the morning now that our toaster over is moved over, and I think I need to finally use the wild berries for something or other that his retired co-worker gave us that I'd let sit in the freezer all winter. We've both come to agree that by next winter we will be replacing the missing rad in the kitchen, as the temperature difference is quite noticeable now that we're spending more time in there. The cast iron stove is helping to a point, but once it cools, well, the room cools with it.

We did find the screws for the stove, thankfully. The container they were in apparently slid off the top of the bag I put it in, and Sean found it in the back seat foot well. I really did think I had lost my mind when we couldn't find it where I thought I put it.

I did figure out why the west window in the office still had cold seeping through. The parting bead, I think it's called, on the one side has popped out and just won't stay in. The wood looks to have not seen paint in ages, so I suspect swelling from the gathered snow in the window because it did not want to go back in proper--even with woodblock and small hammer encouragement. I had pushed it back in before, but apparently when I pull the bottom sash down, it's just enough to give it the umph to pop back out. So I found an old pillow case and tried to do some careful stuffing with it in the crack with a linoleum cutter (somehow, the toolbox with all my putty knives has not made it over yet, so the cutter was best as it was thinner than the basic flathead I have here so far.) I really need to make some time to clean out the broken glass on those other two storms. The quick fix is helping, but the plastic in storms will be much better, I think.

One good thing about a blizzard with all its wild winds is I know exactly which room windows have leaks in the storm systems. I also know where all the ladybirds got in too.

I did warn my Floor Manager today that tomorrow I'm not moving a single thing until I finish cleaning both the bathroom and the kitchen. We'll see if he remembers tomorrow. Two hours of shoveling in the morning ate into my cleaning time...always something.

One nice thing today was the neighbor who helped Sean get the stove body up the stairs was out shoveling too, and I walked over and asked if he wanted a hand. We had a nice chat as we shoveled out his driveway's plow wall, and then he asked what he could do for us. I laughed and said, "You helped with the stove! This is the least I could do as a thank you for that." Nice guy. Glad to be finding so many nice neighbors. Speaking of, I was going to do some ninja shoveling at our neighbor's who lent us her cart, but apparently she has someone who comes regular. He helped us cut down our driveway plow wall since he has the scoop on his truck. Sean might have been late otherwise since we only have the one busted shovel.

The last apartment I rented had a useless nightmare landlord. Since the fridge was dead, I bought a horrible little WOODGRAIN fridge from the 70's (maybe made for RV's ?) on CL for $ 30.00. I promptly painted it with melamine paint with alkyd enamel on top and it worked fine.The fridge needed to go up a steep flight of stairs in a nightmare stairwell not even 36" wide due to railings and conduits. A bar sized fridge was an acceptable solution, though the tiny freezer was drag for ice cream storage. No way could I and a friend wrangle a regular fridge, even a small one, up those stairs. The wretched landlord wouldn't pay for a replacement fridge, either, so I wasn't going to buy a new one.

Anyhow - keep your eyes open for such an economical atrocity. It was certainly better than no fridge. I've attached before and after fridge pics. The apartment was so awful there are no before BEFORE pics. I fixed the ceiling plaster, painted the ceiling, walls, cabinet, countertops and ugly fridge. I stripped and refinished the VC tile floors, too.

In case you are wondering "Why is the stove so high ?" That's because it was propped up on 2 x4's so that it could go against the wall, which it could not without the uplift due to some stupid boxed in pipes along the floor. With no uplift it stuck out 6" from the wall which drove me nuts.

Oh nicely done, Willa! Our current landlady is nice to a point, but she's very new at this and lacks a lot of understanding about what she should be doing. It only frustrates me because I've been a property manager, so I know what was expected of me. There's some bits here and there I fixed without even saying anything to her because I found out soon after moving in what her weaknesses were. One of our neighbors there also used to do property management. She has no idea how lucky she is to have tenants like us (and your old landlord too!)

Back in my college days especially, woooo did I have some stinker landfolks. Learned a lot, though. Especially about old homes!

There are a few minis like that on CL I've got bookmarked, but we're just waiting until next payday at this point as I watch the turnover. I joked to spouse that if anything else unexpected comes up at this rate, we'll have our pick of "college break" fridges when the time rolls around in May.

[Texas_Ranger]

Funny how different perspectives are - for me that looks just like a normal fridge! Our current one is twice that height because it has a freezer compartment the same size below but the fridge part isn't any bigger than yours. Side-by-side or "American" fridges are considered luxury items here and older houses (very loosely put, I'd say that includes anything built well into the 1980s and almost any apartment) just don't have room for one. Their energy consumption is also supposed to be something like five times as much as that of a smaller one. Obviously grocery shopping is at the very least a weekly chore here, my mom usually walks by the nearest supermarket every other day or so. Others take the car and go on a shopping spree on Saturday.

[Willa]

Funny how different perspectives are - for me that looks just like a normal fridge!

I noticed that with interior design from Europe. Kitchens are compact with small counter height/counter depth fridges, even in more luxurious homes. They are nothing like the coffin sized fridges in gigantic kitchens in North American homes.

My ex-neighbour a few years back had a giant french door fridge for her and her boyfriend, and it was always PACKED. I don't know what those two ate, or how much, or when, but I was really shocked when she opened up her fridge. I couldn't imagine having that much food on hand, or having the time to eat it all before it went bad.

[Lily left the valley]

When our fridge died at the one rental we had, we wound up getting one of the "two door" minis for the interim and loved it. For just the two of us, it was near perfect, except for the fact that we tend to buy meat in bulk and freeze it, and if ice cream is on sale, we'd have room for little else. That's one of the options we have considered here, with one of the freezer only minis in the cellar for whatever doesn't fit in the one in the kitchen. The other was a mini fridge only and mini freezer only.

Grocery culture in the States is partially driven by all the suburban living, but even folks in rural areas have somewhat the same, depending on if they farm or not. Once a month, or every other week, depending on how many kids you have, you go to whatever store(s), load up your vehicle, then take it home and load up your various fridge/freezers everywhere. Then the only time you'd go to the grocery store in between is if there was a storm coming (eggs/milk/bread) or an unplanned movie night for your kids' friends (soda/snacks). Otherwise, they just pick up milk and maybe eggs when needed while getting gas for their car. This is why when an area loses power, folks go nuts. They can lose hundreds of dollars worth of food if the power is out for any longer than a day or so. (The things I've seen in neighbors' garbage cans after a multi day power outage is outrageous--so much food!)

I remember the first time we visited my BiL and his wife in their new rental for a family gathering. It was a cute lake cottage that had been updated to the nines. Open concept everything, all new doors/lights/flooring, recessed lighting, brand new everything kitchen, etc. etc. I want to point out that they have no kids either (so far). Yet both sides of their ginormous side by side were jammed packed, and here we were trying to figure out where to squeeze in leftovers from the dinner.

That same visit, somehow finances wandered into the conversation and you could have heard a pin drop after I said our electric bill averaged about $30 a month. Everyone just sort of shuffled their feet until someone finally asked, "Did you say...$30?" When I affirmed it, they asked, "How do you DO that?" And when I started rattling off how, they all just got the "Oh, no, we can't do that" face, and the topic soon got changed.

Willa, I know a lot of folks with fridges like that, and they throw so much away.

We've had many sized fridges over the years because of all the moving. We rarely kept them even 1/2 full. Tex, you're right in that having such huge units (and often with a second in the garage/basement if not a separate freezer only) eats up money just for the electric. I always laugh my ass off when they start gushing about how "energy efficient" their unit(s) is/are. The funniest part is that the "must have" is a frost-free, which only dries out some foods that wouldn't in a manual defrost, and they use a noticeable amount more of electric just due to the mechanics that keep that process going all the time. If you tell them they'd only have to thaw their unit maybe once a year and would save over $100, they look at you like you're insane. "But..but...that's inconvenient!"

One thing I have a hard time with is that folks seem to have short memories and/or no concept of history. They don't realize how recent in the overall course of history so many advances in home tech and ec really are. There are also a great many people who would rather work like dogs just so they can chase the Jones's and own what everyone expects them to own so they can feel "better", rather than folks who focus on being happy with what they have and living much easier on the same funds. Example, I read an article the other day (meant for a general public--this was not directed to the well to do) that stated the average kitchen makeover nowadays was something like $20,000. To me, that's nuts. From some of the sites I go to, the average is much higher--which is worse.

Our culture has changed significantly. Prevalence of cars, sprawl, and poor infrastructural planning. The fact that most families have both parents working is no small thing either.

Wives used to make almost all of the meals and the aspects within. Baking is a lost art. I can't tell you how many people I went to college with who could barely manage spaghetti from a box and sauce from a jar. Forget baking! Now it's even worse, although there are some who are starting to realize if they want to ever pay off their college debt, they really should learn at least to cook. This point leads to all the premade/frozen stuff folks buy. We buy some too, but not as our staples. I try to bake once a week. He cooks most nights, I tend to cook my lunch. Breakfasts are more often instant oatmeal or on the run type stuff, but that's the closest we get to the average never cook folks.

Want to get a lot of folks at a party to look at you like you're from Mars? Tell them you have no T.V. or microwave in your home. (Doesn't matter when you explain you watch all your shows on computers, and you really don't eat much prepared frozen stuff--they'll still look at you in utter disbelief.)

With all the living changes, Americans' storage needs have also changed as a result, and the fridge got bigger as folks moved farther away from the grocery store thanks to conglomerates eating up smaller groceries that serviced an area. Now you have to drive to whatever strip mall/commercial district is nearby to even get groceries in many cases.

One of the reasons we moved to a place like Gardner was it had an old town feel, and part of that meant walkability. There are some sections that aren't the safest walking wise (and that area is mostly all newer strip mall stores anyhoo--and the WalMart which is way out of the way and might as well have a moat around it), but we also have a decent bus system in town, which most of the places I've lived in the last decade didn't even have and sorely needed. Some also didn't even have a taxi service at all, which we have here too. We're also not far to the nearest commuter rail to Boston (one bus ride away).

If you don't have a car, you're dangerously hoofing it/riding your bike because the shoulders are all narrow and many areas don't even have sidewalks even though it's not a rural town. Regardless of income average for the town, too.

I know this was long and bordering on ranty, but it's something that's bothered me about so many places we've lived over the years. A lack of planning and common sense really hurt communities in my opinion.

But, hey! We patched up two dressers today that have been beat to all heck with moves over the years. They're not pretty, but now they don't lean or stick and they'll hold us until we can get better. (They're hiding in our respective closets anyhoo. Not many folks will ever see them.)

That also got me to the point where I declared no more working on stuff until all the tool boxes are here and I can finally re-sort them back to some semblance of organization. The work took way too long because we had to keep hunting down where certain tools or hardware had been packed. I think my Floor Manager has learned why I was so irate as his random re-sorting of my tools now. I made him do all the finding.

Unless he gets called in, Sean's off today. Early morning will be making sure the various offices in City Hall have his name on things, and we are finally ready to sign on with an oil delivery service I think. Found what seems to be a good boiler/rad company too for when we get to that stage. We'll find out if what we hope will help us in the short run does or not tomorrow when we try to sign up for a budget plan. The level gauge is getting dangerously close to that "E" word.

Money is going to be no-room-to-breathe tight until his first check next month mostly due to all the bills that need to be paid just on the one next Friday due to calendar dates and still reeling from the closing cost surprise.

Still cleaning. I'll be doing a lot of that in the coming weeks. Each day is progress!

[Texas_Ranger]

That's one of the options we have considered here, with one of the freezer only minis in the cellar for whatever doesn't fit in the one in the kitchen.

That's the usual thing you'd find in single-family homes here, up to one or two large chest freezers in the cellar on farms where they need to store their own meat and fruit and whatnot. We do have two minis (one in the dining room with a fairly small freezer compartment) but we should be able to scale down to one again - I mean we managed with one when we were a family of 6 and now 3 of my brothers have moved out. We do usually have a bunch of meat frozen but there comes a point where you no longer know what's actually inside your freezer

Defrosting IS a bit annoying especially if you don't get winters with sub-freezing temperatures where you can just move everything outside while your freezer is dripping all over the floor.

We didn't have a microwave for a long time but it's definitely handy for heating up leftovers. I also do own a TV but can't really remember the last time I've used it. Yesterday I quickly looked through the contents of a VHS tape inherited from my cousin (turned out to be a documentary on the Beatles, some 1990s film by Robert Redford with Brad Pitt about a 1920s childhood in Montana and some horrible German comedy, mixed with funny mid-90s commercials) but that took about 10 minutes. I've got neither cable not satellite, the TV is only connected to a DVD player and VHS recorder. A big tube TV inherited from my granny too, mid-90s vintage.

But as we've said before, we both aren't exactly average for our age group, a bit more like the immediate post-war generation.

[Lily left the valley]

The temperature dropped back to single digits tonight. We have a bit of a bump back up coming, but it looks like the Lion put the Lamb on a cruise to Hawaii that might not return until April. We might get some snow this weekend, but hardly any worth worrying about.

Turned out the oil company only starts the budget plans in May, so that was out. We didn't have enough cash on hand for their smallest allowed, so now we are proud owners of a diesel can, and have staved off the bobber hitting the dreaded E word. It was cheaper to do it this way than get an "emergency" visit, and we knew we wanted to get the can eventually so we weren't hunting for one pre-storm later. Sean had to go to four different places to find anyone who still had one in stock. Both auto stores in town sold out when Stella hit. The one he bought was the very last one that hardware store had. (They told him, "We saved this one just for you." )

We took care of some things with the city so everything's in the right names and such. Our mail forwarding seems to be official, as our label on the apartment box is off, and not even junk mail. The box I thought had all our mortgage paperwork in it does not. So I need to find that soon just to make sure all the numbers I've been working with are the right ones.

Yesterday I remembered that we thankfully hadn't yet traded in CC points for a Best Buy gift card in case we bought a new fridge. So now we will soon have a credit towards our balance based on the points we had instead. It actually was worth more doing that, so I'm glad I know about the option now. (We only got the card last year.) That will help with groceries in the coming weeks. We're both a bit anxious, but we also know where the light is waiting for us at the end of this painful but short tunnel, and that makes all the difference. I've got some photos to take tomorrow for some CL ads, so we'll see how that goes. I still have credit to burn at my favorite second hand shop, and I hope to get over there this weekend to finally get the kitchen shades, and possibly some other bits for the windows that need them.

Speaking of windows...I have found all sorts of former brackets and such for rods long gone here. I will try to get some pictures of all the styles at some point. Some look to be original, like the cafe rod mounts in the upstairs bath.

I did notice that the local paper is looking for an Assistant Editor. Trouble is, they want someone proficient with InDesign, and although it's not much different from all the other layout programs I've used, I'm not sure they'll be happy that I really haven't used that specific program much. I also haven't worked at a paper professionally for a while now. I'm still going to apply, but I really don't know if it will go anywhere.

Sean did a run with the PT, and I later walked over to grab a backpack and a box I could carry's worth from the kitchen--hard to make dinner without certain things sometimes. What's left in the fridge over there wouldn't fill a grocery bag. The kitchen stuff is about 1/3rd moved over, hopefully the rest by the end of the weekend. We didn't get as far with unpacking as we'd hoped, but I'm happy with any day that has progress, however small. The only things left at the apartment I'm concerned about is the piano and the chifforobe. Everything else fits in the PT, and we shouldn't have any trouble getting it out in time.

Did I ever mention we're not too far from the rail line that runs through town? There's a train going by right now, and I really like being able to hear it, as done Sean. We're not really in a whistle zone, so we don't have that to worry about.

Sean actually said the most unexpected thing yesterday, he asked me if I knew how much he loves our new old stove. I've never heard of him talk about an appliance in an appreciative way to this extent, so I was really happy to hear him talk about why when I asked for specifics.

But as we've said before, we both aren't exactly average for our age group, a bit more like the immediate post-war generation.

Very true.

You're also right about the defrosting, and I'm the type of lazy where I'd wheel 'em outside if they were really bad. Less mopping.

Sean brought a TV with him when we moved in together. Took me about a year to convince him we could live without cable, and then we finally stopped having a TV once we bought widescreen external monitors with connections for players.

Since we rented for so long, some places provided a microwave, but we've also lived fine without them. The apartment we're almost out of has a mini. It's easy to find them dirt cheap, which we probably will eventually since they are useful for reheats especially. I'll just figure out where I can stow it since we use them so rarely. Might eventually get worked into the one piece I've been sketching for the kitchen.

[Lily left the valley]

Yesterday Beebe stayed nice and warm even though it wasn't too far above freezing outside. We'll be dipping into the emergency funds to get another can of oil today. I don't want to test how accurate the gauge is to really be empty, versus some that have that slight reserve below empty. The space is there on our gauge, but I really don't want to deal with having to fire up this boiler just yet. Haven't had time to read the manual and it's heavy on the electronics. Friday can't come soon enough.

Speaking of money, our mortgage suddenly showed up on our electronic banking as a credit line. We're a bit confused because there it says our next payment isn't due until May when we thought it would be April. I found another office box, so hopefully I'll be able to dig out the house paperwork. I recall there was an actual paper slip we had been given at closing...I think the attorney called it a "ticket", and something about for the first payment if needed. So maybe it's just that the auto debits don't start until May. I just need to look over all the info again for peace of mind. I'm hoping to get the shelving units together early this week so the office related paperwork will be easier to find again.

We started moving the comics. Hooray for roll carts because longs are heavy. More kitchen stuff over too, still need to finish cleaning the kitchen here. At least the dish rack for drying is here finally. Towels on the sink sides was working, but the rack is more efficient space wise. Finally brought the half hoosier over as well. After putting it in place next to the stove, it seems my measurements were spot on, thankfully. I don't know if I mentioned it, but I did find a plug on the wall we intend to put the fridge against. I don't know how I forgot about it because it's practically at eye level.

I also cleared out the driveway a bit more, as the sun was strong and helping things along. We definitely are going to step the landscape around the driveway on our side so I don't have to haul the snow quite so high when I'm shoveling next winter. I just hope when we call around to make sure we won't hit any utilities, none of them are along that rise. Something from the town has a cap in the driveway, but I haven't had time to take a look yet (probably water.)

Things are humming along, and I am grateful for that. Sidetracks are frustrating at times, but at least when it's done, it's out of the way.

[awomanwithahammer]

Interesting update to the pink: the section on the jut out behind the toilet isn't tile at all. It's plaster scored to look like tile. It could be that this was a quick and dirty way to mimic tile that is under the board, but I don't know yet.

Lily, I had this same plaster "tile" in my bathroom; my house was built in 1941, so it was around at least that long! At some point, it was covered over with another layer of drywall. And, yes, it was painted green.

Plaster tile.jpg (51.57 KiB) Viewed 680 times

[Lily left the valley]

Lily, I had this same plaster "tile" in my bathroom; my house was built in 1941, so it was around at least that long! At some point, it was covered over with another layer of drywall. And, yes, it was painted green.

Thank you for the image. The scoring method fascinates me for some reason. It could be that since I've dealt with so many faux whatevers for theatre, that seeing something like this actually makes me feel rather at home. Here's someone else that made do with what they had to reach a desired effect. The biggest difference, of course, is that my efforts weren't meant to be permanent, only to last as long as the show.

I'm hoping when it comes time to take off the the layer on top, it won't destroy them. I don't have high hopes for that, but still hoping none the less. Now that I know it can be done and considered "of the period", my brain is already thinking, "Oh, we could add a trim line like so and paint it like that one pattern we saw in an idea photo." It's rather freeing, really.

[Lily left the valley]

FANTASTIC NEWS
Happy surprise in the other office box where I did find all the house related paperwork.

Our first mortgage payment really is actually not due until May. Even the paper ticket says the same date as what was online. I'm wondering if this has something to do with why our escrow went from two to three months, but right now I don't care either way because this is the break we've needed. This just evaporated our worries about getting a full fuel delivery, and a truck for the last big bits to move. Heck, with luck we might also be able to find decent used appliances as well before the end of the month, and still have leftover funds after putting back what we took out of our dire emergency stash for oil.

I also had a chance to read through some of the closing documents more attentively than I had during closing because we were whizzing through everything. The PO really was in a sorry state financially. They were quite far behind in paying the property taxes, and a sizeable chunk (almost a third of the sale price) went to pay off that LOC we had seen linked to the home. It seems they had problem tenants here for more than just last year.

Hooray! I can't wait to tell Sean when he gets home today.