Friday, August 8, 2008

Friday Five

1. Daily ins and outs around here lately have been -- busy.

2. Projects that have been completed, are underway, or are being planned that have made life busy for A. and I:
  • budgeted, in excruciating detail, the cost of buying and installing a wood-burning stove rather than remaining solely at the mercy of The Propane Motherfuckers all winter;
  • moved money around accounts to pay for said stove; 
  • researched, then bought a CHAINSAW;
  • researched, then bought a trailer;
  • bought fencing materials;
  • put up 3/4 of the fence;
  • bought more fencing materials;
  • finished fence;
  • Choosing stain for new fence;
  • Finding a good evening to stain the fence;
  • Scheduled insurance adjuster to see if we had hail damage to the roof and found out that we do, indeed, have major hail damage and need a new roof;
  • Pursue estimates from SEVEN different contractors to fix the roof and some siding;
  • dealing with copious amounts of INFURIATING paperwork form homeowner's insurance company;
  • Buy and install new storm door on front porch; and
  • collect estimates to rent machinery and buy gravel to redo lane out to the house.
3. Surprises that have made the list above even more stressful than average:
  • Final estimate for the stove came in $800 over the original estimate. Throws off my entire "it will pay for itself in two years easily" argument and I am now doing something known as "fuzzy math" to make it all work. and here I thought I'd never have anything in common with President Dodo!
  • The insurance company will only cover cost of replacing roof less the cost of our deductible (ok, I get that) as well as less its depreciation. Huh? Since it is being replaced for hail damage -- as clearly stated on the claim -- how old the roof is should be irrelevant, yes? Has anyone else heard of this?
  • So, it appears as though I will be reading and then re-reading our policy and anything else I can get my hands on to prepare for a fight with Foremost Insurance. (Yep - I am naming them. Fuckers.)
4. I've had a headache for about two weeks now and it won't go away. I think this hideous Friday Fave Otherwise Known as The Mundane and Ridiculous List that Won't End is causing it. I hope I don't have to amend Section 3:1-4 with anything else.
5. Needless to say, I've been a huge Stressball and yelled at A. for no good reason. He definitely didn't deserve that. So, I feel like an asshole on top of everything else.
Bonus: This weekend, A. and I are going up to the mountains to get wood for our More Expensive Than Previously Thought Wood Stove. I've never done this. Should be a shitload of work. I hope A. doesn't down a tree in my direction, but I wouldn't blame him if he did.
Happy Friday to you!

4 comments:

  1. Yeah, I've heard of the depreciation issue regarding homeowner's insurance.

    Go check get that headache situation checked out. Two weeks is a long long time to have the same headache. The general guideline is you should see your doctor after the worst headache of your life or if something significantly changes about the nature of your headaches.

    Oh, and after looking over your completed list of things to do and the things you've done, I can totally understand why you've had a headache for so long.

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  2. wow. you guys are like... pioneers, from the olden days. wood stoves! cutting down trees! building fences!

    my landlord emailed me this weekend to ask if i could tape paper to 4 windows that some outside contractor is going to be resealing for water leakage. that was my total involvement in the process. i am in awe of you guys :-)

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  3. I am with Alice on this one. You are so... involved with your own living situation. I am impressed with that.

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  4. From one Grand List Maker to Another: isn't it weird that even though the list creates MASSIVE HEADACHES, it's **so much better** than it would be if the items weren't, you know, **on a list** and instead were floating freely in your brain??!

    Or maybe that's just me.

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