Sad, sad day

Forget Farrah Fawcett, forget Michael Jackson, a true legend passed away this weekend,Billy Mays of infomercial fame. Before Barry Scott and his Cillit Bang there was the "original salesman". Check out his best and most famous work here

And if you can't be bothered to fix it right then use this stuff. Mrs P bought me some as a joke but I've yet to find a job that I've needed it for it so can't comment on it's effectiveness.

Feeling hot, hot, hot

8:24pm and still 90F outside....(that's 32C in new money)

The move is done

Here's a tip for you all. If your planning on moving house in 105F temperatures pay someone else to do it and don't be stupid enough to try it yourself! This is a lesson learnt from experience after yesterday as it's hotter than Hades here. However we managed to get all our stuff across to the new house and even got the rental property cleaned too. We couldn't have done it without the enormous help from Grammy.

The new house has loads to keep me busy. I've just fixed the dishwasher, albeit in "Heath Robinson" way with some tape. Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together. The handle is broken and also the compartment that holds the switches that tell the machine the door is open/shut is broken. This compartment is built into the front facia panel and a new one is $90. A new handle is $7 so I'll do that then superglue the compartment shut for a more permanent fix.

I had to install a new fan in the master bedroom yesterday afternoon and don't believe what it says on the box when they tell you it's 90% pre-assembled and a 5 minute installation. The 10% that I had to do included installing the mounting plate to the ceiling, changing out the down rod from the 3" supplied one to a 12" one, threading the cables through the down rod, attaching the fan to the ceiling mount, connecting the wires, installing the lighting fixture, installing the lightshades, attaching the fan blades, installing the light bulbs and finally attaching the pull chains. It took me about an hour to do. I had to go up in the attic space twice to locate the fan brace (remember it was 100F outside and probably 120F in the attic. The instructions didn't say which wire was the for fan and which wire was for the lights. I guessed and of course got it the wrong way round. However it was job done and Mrs P is very happy.

All painted out (me, not the house!)

Manual labour is way too hard a way to earn a living, that God I'm a desk jockey as this painting lark is killing me. In the past 5 days I've painted the kitchen, breakfast area, lounge, hall, stairwell, landing and the double height entrance way all with 2 coats of paint. I've also hung a new lamp, changed out numerous light bulbs with the aid of this fancy piece of hardware (although I really want the motorized version), removed a broken tile in the shower and cleaned out the grout, fixed the refrigerator door, installed a new water filter, cleaned all the light switches and electrical sockets, oh and moved most the contents from our garage into the new house.

Everyone (that's Grammy, Mrs P) have been super helpful in doing their bit to allow me to get on and do what I do best. This is the kids first week out of school for summer and it's fair to say that the lack of structure in their day hasn't been easy for anyone.

Tomorrow we are planning on taking the scaffolding done, as I don't intend going out on that again and it will allow the front door to be opened so that the carpet fitter can get in on Thursday and Friday. I've also got to measure and cut a new tile for the shower and then silicone round the corners to make it water tight again.

High drama

Here are a few before shots of the kitchen and living areas, unfortunately my camera doesn't capture just how dirty and marked the walls and carpets are. The "highlight" of the day was figuring out how I was going to paint a double height entry way, I measured from floor to ceiling and it's 19 foot. I went to the rental store and came away with 3 sections of scaffolding and one walk board all for $85 for the week. A simple solution to a simple problem....

Here's the scaffolding tower, it only just fit in the entrance area. Yes I did clean the windows while I was up there.


I know how Michael Angelo must have felt now while he painted the Sistene Chapel. Why I didn't rent 2 walkboards I'll never know and I managed to drop my cell phone from the top onto the tile floor below. It bounced and seemed to work ok, not sure I'd fare as well if I took a tumble. And yes that walkboard is on the very top rung and no there aren't any safety or handrails. The Victorians were right....send the kids to do the dirty and dangerous work.

Mrs P wants a new lamp to hang in place of this one. She'd best hurry up and get one 'cos I've only got the scaffolding for a few more days and I'm not sure how long my nerve will hold out!

Our House

Finaly after 4 1/2 months of waiting since we put in the offer, we've actually closed and the house is ours. It's a 5 bedroom, 3 1/2 bathroom, 2600 sqft "fixer upper". It was built in 2006 but I wouldn't have thought it possible that a house could be lived in so hard such that inside it looks like it 10 years old. I plan to detail the refurb along with pictures

The backyard and marsh beyond. Strangely enough I saw a dog swimming in there covered in duckweed.

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What more is there to say?

Home straight ahead.

Looks like there's light at the end of the tunnel as we're booked to close on our new house this week. If all goes to plan then I've got 3 days off work plus the weekend to decorate as much as I can before the new carpet (chosen but yet to be ordered) is layed. We've got a week's overlap with the place we're renting now so there's no mad panic to move in until I've done some brush work to make it habitable. It's a mess at the moment as the previous occupiers didn't seem to take much care of the place. Once we've closed on the house I'll upload some photos for a "before and after" transformation just like they do on the telly.