Today is the one year anniversary of us becoming the official owners of these houses. June 11 of 2003, was the closing date.
It was when the bank gave our lawyer a check for $75,000.00, and he in turn gave Sr. and Bonnie a check for 33,000. That was an incredible day.
The reason they only got 33 out of 75 grand, is because the bitch stepmother, Bonnie, decided at last minute, to put her name on the deed of the house. All the leins and judgements against her, from unpaid doctor bills, bailing her idiot children out of prison (one of which who set the house on fire shortly thereafter, but that's another entry), etc etc, were transferred along with her name, on to the property. She fucked herself out of the full 75k, which was their asking price. 42 thousand, in leins. How DOES one manage to rack up that much debt? I don't know, and I don't care. It wasn't my problem. Karma, baby.
That was then. We immediately went to speak to Joe (yes, the same one from The Brawl) and he gave us a great estimate. The Tuesday following, we applied for the permits to start rehabilitating the burned house.
That was when Joe got into a fistfight, Jerry Springer style, with the head of the town's building department. Do I need to mention, that it took almost 4 months, exactly to get our permits? Yeah.
I know, I know what you're thinking. A smart person would have fired him then, right? He was fighting for me, he wanted to make sure the inspector (who, arguably, is a sticky dick wrinkle, and crooked as a question mark) wasn't trying to fuck us. Well, after the fight, the inspector came over to our house, personally, to apologize to me. He was rather nice, considering he got assaulted by Joe.
Look how far we've come. Just look. :|
6.11.2004
6.10.2004
The Brawl
I'm going to link these two things here, for posterity. I was originally going to post them here, only, but I decided I need a more public forum for my rant.
The Backstory
The Brawl
I could say more, but I don't want to get myself all fired up again. I just want to say, I was utterly stunned, that in a civilized society, a person can take a swing at a customer, and a woman, and not think anything of it.
The Backstory
The Brawl
I could say more, but I don't want to get myself all fired up again. I just want to say, I was utterly stunned, that in a civilized society, a person can take a swing at a customer, and a woman, and not think anything of it.
6.09.2004
Gaming
I'm not sure why, but I'm anticipating the new server opening up, in AC. AC has been boring, a minor distraction, at best, for a year now. Maybe because it's something different. Maybe because we all have the same chance, starting out new. Maybe because I'm hoping that people I know will start there, and I'll *finally* have someone to game with.
I don't do well in mmo's on my own. If I don't have a steady gaming partner, or group, then I'm adrift. It hasn't been right since the old AC crew, that dissolved in Fall of '02. Morrowind is good, still, but I powergamed through it, finished the main quest, and now have no desire to repeat all that on this new machine.
I want to reinstall NWN, and FINALLY pick back up on my mod. That thing has been is mothballs so long, I hope I remember where I was going with it. I just can't find all the CD's :|
If AC doesn't succeed this time around, with the new server, I'm quitting (again, yes, 3 times) and looking for a new MMO, either CoH, or SWG. I need something social, I think.
I don't do well in mmo's on my own. If I don't have a steady gaming partner, or group, then I'm adrift. It hasn't been right since the old AC crew, that dissolved in Fall of '02. Morrowind is good, still, but I powergamed through it, finished the main quest, and now have no desire to repeat all that on this new machine.
I want to reinstall NWN, and FINALLY pick back up on my mod. That thing has been is mothballs so long, I hope I remember where I was going with it. I just can't find all the CD's :|
If AC doesn't succeed this time around, with the new server, I'm quitting (again, yes, 3 times) and looking for a new MMO, either CoH, or SWG. I need something social, I think.
6.08.2004
Ahh
First entry from the new computer. I love this machine. Its only flaw is that there are somehow graphics card compatability problems. Once in awhile it freezes and the screen goes black. Very strange, very irritating, but I'm working on fixing it. 19" moniter, though, it's incredible, with 18" viewable. I have to sit 3 feet back from my desk, it's like being at the movies.
The 5.1 surround sound is nice, too. I haven't had speakers for a year. It's like being deaf, and hearing for the first time, haha.
It just looks cool, too. All sleek and black. It's lit from the inside with green, red and blue lights, and it has this thing called "The Guardian" on the front, which is a blue light, reminiscent of Kit's red light, from Knight Rider (yeah yeah, I know I'm showing my age) It even pulses and sweeps. I'm smitten. I'm in deep smit.
It's a royal pain, however, trying to fix it all the way I like it. Downloading all the little programs that make my life happy. Establishing all my favorites, reinstalling all my games, etc etc. It's a pain in the ass, but a labor of love, I suppose.
The 5.1 surround sound is nice, too. I haven't had speakers for a year. It's like being deaf, and hearing for the first time, haha.
It just looks cool, too. All sleek and black. It's lit from the inside with green, red and blue lights, and it has this thing called "The Guardian" on the front, which is a blue light, reminiscent of Kit's red light, from Knight Rider (yeah yeah, I know I'm showing my age) It even pulses and sweeps. I'm smitten. I'm in deep smit.
It's a royal pain, however, trying to fix it all the way I like it. Downloading all the little programs that make my life happy. Establishing all my favorites, reinstalling all my games, etc etc. It's a pain in the ass, but a labor of love, I suppose.
6.07.2004
So, it's been awhile
I need something to jump start, here.
Instead of my typical 3 things I did today, I'll talk about the progress since I last really blogged.
On May 26, the house was half painted, no flooring was in place. Today, the kitchen floor is laid, as well as the hallway, bathroom, and laundry room. All vinyl sheet flooring. Every single wall is painted, as well as most of the trim. There was so goddamned much trim. If I never have to paint another 3 inch molding, it'll be too soon. I'm still not done with that, either. I have one whole bedroom to do. My son's room is complete, carpet and all. He inherited a new bed, too, one of those kickass car beds, so we set that all up for him, in there.
Yesterday, we had a lucky streak. We always check out the clearance sections of Lowes and Home Depot, that's how I got my kitchen sink, half of the light fixtures, plumbing stuff, etc etc. We're in the market for a 5 foot bathroom vanity, but they're pricy, so we were gonna get a cheapy pedestal sink, or one of those tiny $70.00 jobbers, till we can afford a big one. There were two TWO (!!) 5 foot vanities! Wee! One was sold already (damn, because it was really pretty, white the exact color I wanted) But this other one...no price on it, the box was beat to shit, but it looked pretty good. We asked the guy, he came over to inspect it for damage. There really wasn't any, that we saw, and he said, "hmm, I'll knock a hundred bucks off, it'll cost $278". Good price, these things normally ran $400+, but we just didn't have that kind of money, to spend. We hemmed and hawed. As we were standing there examining the thing, we pulled it out from the wall. The bottom of the box was all crushed and torn. There was a good sized hole in the bottom of the side panel. About the size of a softball, almost perfectly round hole. Heh, looked like someone booted it. We were like "Oh no, look at that, a giant hole. Nope, not gonna take it" As we were walking away, the guy was like "huh, that sucks. This thing is destroyed. I can sell it to ya for, hmm...85 bucks" Sold :D.
That, and the flooring we were there to buy, for our kitchen, in stock stuff, had gone on clearance, as well, since I picked it out. It wound up being about half the original price. What a great shopping day!
Everything's coming together so well. The cabinets arrived today, I unwrapped a few, my God, they're perfect. It's coming up fast. Two years of working and waiting, agonizing, worrying, spending, paying out, arguing with inspectors, yelling at various workers, and we're coming down to the close of it. I can honestly say we're on the "finishing touches" It feels good, so good. It's all the more rewarding because we worked so hard, wanted it so bad.
It'll pay off so well, once we get this house rented. A brand new house to move into, and a smaller one, to rent out, and use as a "money battery" Man, if you had asked me three years ago, if I saw myself becoming a landlord, and owning multiple pieces of property, I would have laughed.
I feel blessed, and lucky. When this all started, I was bitter, and unhappy about it, it still bothers me. I can't bitch though, we came out of this so much the winners, it's stupid to be hung up on what's really just water under the bridge.
Instead of my typical 3 things I did today, I'll talk about the progress since I last really blogged.
On May 26, the house was half painted, no flooring was in place. Today, the kitchen floor is laid, as well as the hallway, bathroom, and laundry room. All vinyl sheet flooring. Every single wall is painted, as well as most of the trim. There was so goddamned much trim. If I never have to paint another 3 inch molding, it'll be too soon. I'm still not done with that, either. I have one whole bedroom to do. My son's room is complete, carpet and all. He inherited a new bed, too, one of those kickass car beds, so we set that all up for him, in there.
Yesterday, we had a lucky streak. We always check out the clearance sections of Lowes and Home Depot, that's how I got my kitchen sink, half of the light fixtures, plumbing stuff, etc etc. We're in the market for a 5 foot bathroom vanity, but they're pricy, so we were gonna get a cheapy pedestal sink, or one of those tiny $70.00 jobbers, till we can afford a big one. There were two TWO (!!) 5 foot vanities! Wee! One was sold already (damn, because it was really pretty, white the exact color I wanted) But this other one...no price on it, the box was beat to shit, but it looked pretty good. We asked the guy, he came over to inspect it for damage. There really wasn't any, that we saw, and he said, "hmm, I'll knock a hundred bucks off, it'll cost $278". Good price, these things normally ran $400+, but we just didn't have that kind of money, to spend. We hemmed and hawed. As we were standing there examining the thing, we pulled it out from the wall. The bottom of the box was all crushed and torn. There was a good sized hole in the bottom of the side panel. About the size of a softball, almost perfectly round hole. Heh, looked like someone booted it. We were like "Oh no, look at that, a giant hole. Nope, not gonna take it" As we were walking away, the guy was like "huh, that sucks. This thing is destroyed. I can sell it to ya for, hmm...85 bucks" Sold :D.
That, and the flooring we were there to buy, for our kitchen, in stock stuff, had gone on clearance, as well, since I picked it out. It wound up being about half the original price. What a great shopping day!
Everything's coming together so well. The cabinets arrived today, I unwrapped a few, my God, they're perfect. It's coming up fast. Two years of working and waiting, agonizing, worrying, spending, paying out, arguing with inspectors, yelling at various workers, and we're coming down to the close of it. I can honestly say we're on the "finishing touches" It feels good, so good. It's all the more rewarding because we worked so hard, wanted it so bad.
It'll pay off so well, once we get this house rented. A brand new house to move into, and a smaller one, to rent out, and use as a "money battery" Man, if you had asked me three years ago, if I saw myself becoming a landlord, and owning multiple pieces of property, I would have laughed.
I feel blessed, and lucky. When this all started, I was bitter, and unhappy about it, it still bothers me. I can't bitch though, we came out of this so much the winners, it's stupid to be hung up on what's really just water under the bridge.
6.05.2004
I know, I know
I've been naughty bad neglectful. Not just to this blog, but to my online everythings. I'm alternating busy/apathetic. When I'm not racing around trying to tie up loose ends, cleaning, packing, painting trim (omfg, there's MILES of trim in my house, I wouldn't have believed it if someone told me. Miles and miles of contrasting colored trim, painted with a half inch brush. Definition of tedium, right there), I'm sleeping or playing Morrowind. I've thought of countless things to write, but couldn't make myself sit and write.
I'll be better about it, I promise. I'd type more right now, but I'm feelin sorta woozy.
I'll be better about it, I promise. I'd type more right now, but I'm feelin sorta woozy.
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