Oh the Joys of Home Ownership

So the first post was a bit of an introduction.

Now I get into all of the things that go wrong after you purchase a home! First off, if you have the option to buy blinds through a builder...DO IT! Blinds are Expensive! We thought we could get all the blinds we needed for a cheap price, and then we started pricing them out. We have 20 windows in the home that need covered, not including the back door. So take the average price of $50 per window, multiplied by 20 and you come up with WAY TOO MUCH. Well, way more than we were willing to pay anyway. So we ended up calling the same people that do the installations for M/I during construction and got a quote/price/order from them that was definitely more reasonable. Then we were told they would have to be ordered, and would arrive in 2 weeks or so. That, was 3 weeks ago, and we just got our appointment to have them installed on Monday, so the wrapping paper we have on the windows will work for now. So, Rite Rug, a reasonable contractor service to do business with, haven't had any problems with them so far, as long as they show up when they said they would.

Then, it was suggested that we get a programmable thermostat so our EnergyStar efficient house could be even more efficient. Sounded like a great idea, so we went out and bought one from Lowe's...10% off on their thermostats if any one is looking! :D Got home, tore into the package, popped the old thermostat off the wall looked at the back of the new thermostat, 5 wires, 8 slots...yay...So then I start reading the instruction manual, finally figure out what kind of heating/cooling system we have wired in, plug everything in, hook it up to the wall, turn the heat way up and wait on it to kick on. Nothing....At all...no fan blowing, no gas lighting...nothing at all. SO, I went back through the manual, found the section where it tells you that you're supposed to shut the electric off to the furnace BEFORE removing the old thermostat. Yay...so I tore into the furnace, found the little tiny 3 amp fuse they have in there to protect the furnace from idiots like me and ran off to Home Depot to find another one. Lo and Behold, Home Depot doesn't carry very many blade fuses, and of those that they do carry they don't have the 3 amp that I need. Okay...Off to Wal-Mart then, they carry everything. However, they don't carry 3 amp blade fuses. So I get an idea and walk over to the automotive section. Woohoo found some 3 amp fuses. Ran back home, put the fuse in, turned the power to the furnace back on, and boom! Up and running like a champ. Programmed it all in, and expect to be saving mucho dinero from now on from my furnace! So, programmable Thermostat = Good Idea, reading the instruction manual before disassembling an expensive piece of necessary equipment in your new house = better idea.

Another item of no small importance...our Leather Couch that we were so proud of buying and how great it looked in our apartment, wouldn't fit into our lower level finished basement. However, "luckily" our window down there broke, and the opening was large enough to slide the couch through. So we had to get the window replaced, and our supervisor had assured us that when the window guy came we could take out the center post and slide the couch in through the window. Took all the measurements and set about waiting for the window guy to show up. It was going to work, and it was going to be awesome. When the window guy showed up Monday, we asked him if we could move the couch down there while he had the window out. His answer, "Well, that would be great if that worked, but this center post right here can't be removed." So, we couldn't get the couch down there. But we wanted the couch down there, so we propped it up in the position that we thought should work if it wasn't just barely an inch too long and I set about to shoving as hard as I could to get the couch downstairs. Derya was downstairs trying to pull, I was at the top of the stairs trying to push. I gave one last heave, and we heard a crrrack from the couch...said "What was that?" and the couch went over the edge of the stairs, sliding down like a sled on a hill and knocking Derya down and out of the way. As she fell off to the side, there was nothing in between the couch and the wall, so we got 3 beautiful holes in the wall. Yay, more work to do. We then had the couch stuck in the stair well, we couldn't get it around the final corner and into the room. We were both hot and sweaty, trying to twist and turn the couch as best as we could to get it into the room, it finally gave way when it saw we weren't giving up and slid into the room. It looks awesome down there, great color for that room, perfect size for what we need, and just as comfortable as we remember it. Upon walking back up the stairs, we noticed that the crrrack that we heard was the ceiling drywall breaking. That's right, it broke the drywall in the perfectly textured ceiling. A gash about 2 inches wide and about a foot and a half long. So again, I ran down to the Big Orange Box Store down the road and picked up some drywall mud, a sanding block, a drywall knife, and a drywall tray. Started spreading the mud over the holes in the wall and realized we'd have to put multiple coats on it so it doesn't stay wet in the middle and just dry on the outside. So, took 3 coats total, but I have the wall completely patched up. Not sure what I'm going to do about the ceiling though, it's a little bigger than some drywall mud...we'll see. :)