Heart-to-Heart at 6 am
We're doing okay - but we had to have an honest talk with ourselves about the $$ we've socked away for the kitchen, and what this coming year may bring.
We were lucky enough that when we sold our house we ended up with a small pocket of cash we'd earmarked for the kitchen redo.
Of course, given the past 3 months, we've begun to eat into it, which is frighteningly easy to do. When I was sick 5 years ago we rang up a bunch of credit card debt which I wasn't aware of until a year later (Gerry was protecting me, but when I found out I felt like the floor had just caved in! It wasn't like he had much of a choice - I was earning NOTHING and his work was curtailed to take care of me.) That took some time to climb out of, but we did!
Right now I'm piling on the teaching engagements - but because of Gerry's health, we will most likely need some kind of nanny / housekeeper type of person to pop in when I'm out of town.
Add to this the fact that half of our wacky kitchen is now foundation-less, we've decided to scrap the Addition portion of the redo. Everything to the right of the double dashed line is on posts, not over a foundation. This portion was originally a porch, which was finished and insulated to be part of the kitchen.
We still need a bathroom, and if you've seen our kitchen you'll understand that it's a lot of room, but not well designed - and ugly - so we do need to address that.
So here's our latest, most realistic of layouts. Gerry woke up this morning wondering if we even NEED a contractor, but I'm thinking with all of the other stuff that we're carrying on our backs, the last thing we need is to act as our own contractor. Oy.
I think - having been there - that a long-term or chronic illness makes one see how things are today, and think that's how they'll be forever. But things change.
I remember having really good, high energy days when I was recovering from my hysto a few years back. I'd make BIG plans, assuming that the energy boost was here to stay. But then a few days later I'd crash. Tired, hard to move, barely able to get downstairs - let alone reseed the back yard, put in a stone patio, whatever I'd decided three days earlier I just HAD to do.
It may be that Gerry's feeling that now - we've had a good week - a few REALLY good days - but still the pain is very much here and I can tell he's absolutely exhausted. Perhaps part of the 'no contractor' thinking was due to the pain pill I got him at 4:30 when he woke up very sore? Who knows.
Those pain pills can make you feel like you can do anything.
We'll have a better idea of how debilitating this episode will be after Tuesday, but between the stem cell stuff and the shunt, it sounds pretty intense. I think we're living in a calm period before the storm of chemo hits us. It's like we're waiting for Hurricane Chemotrina.
I'm thinking it wouldn't be the time to take on a major do-it-yourself project without the guidance of a contractor. But so far the quotes we've received are higher than we were expecting (and I thought we were being realistic - actually extravagant - in our expectations!)
I guess it's kind of clear which side of this I come down on. Now let's hear what the other quotes are, and how upset the contractors we've met with are that we've changed our original plan...
We were lucky enough that when we sold our house we ended up with a small pocket of cash we'd earmarked for the kitchen redo.
Of course, given the past 3 months, we've begun to eat into it, which is frighteningly easy to do. When I was sick 5 years ago we rang up a bunch of credit card debt which I wasn't aware of until a year later (Gerry was protecting me, but when I found out I felt like the floor had just caved in! It wasn't like he had much of a choice - I was earning NOTHING and his work was curtailed to take care of me.) That took some time to climb out of, but we did! Right now I'm piling on the teaching engagements - but because of Gerry's health, we will most likely need some kind of nanny / housekeeper type of person to pop in when I'm out of town.
Add to this the fact that half of our wacky kitchen is now foundation-less, we've decided to scrap the Addition portion of the redo. Everything to the right of the double dashed line is on posts, not over a foundation. This portion was originally a porch, which was finished and insulated to be part of the kitchen.
We still need a bathroom, and if you've seen our kitchen you'll understand that it's a lot of room, but not well designed - and ugly - so we do need to address that.
So here's our latest, most realistic of layouts. Gerry woke up this morning wondering if we even NEED a contractor, but I'm thinking with all of the other stuff that we're carrying on our backs, the last thing we need is to act as our own contractor. Oy.
I think - having been there - that a long-term or chronic illness makes one see how things are today, and think that's how they'll be forever. But things change.
I remember having really good, high energy days when I was recovering from my hysto a few years back. I'd make BIG plans, assuming that the energy boost was here to stay. But then a few days later I'd crash. Tired, hard to move, barely able to get downstairs - let alone reseed the back yard, put in a stone patio, whatever I'd decided three days earlier I just HAD to do.
It may be that Gerry's feeling that now - we've had a good week - a few REALLY good days - but still the pain is very much here and I can tell he's absolutely exhausted. Perhaps part of the 'no contractor' thinking was due to the pain pill I got him at 4:30 when he woke up very sore? Who knows.
Those pain pills can make you feel like you can do anything.
We'll have a better idea of how debilitating this episode will be after Tuesday, but between the stem cell stuff and the shunt, it sounds pretty intense. I think we're living in a calm period before the storm of chemo hits us. It's like we're waiting for Hurricane Chemotrina.
I'm thinking it wouldn't be the time to take on a major do-it-yourself project without the guidance of a contractor. But so far the quotes we've received are higher than we were expecting (and I thought we were being realistic - actually extravagant - in our expectations!)
I guess it's kind of clear which side of this I come down on. Now let's hear what the other quotes are, and how upset the contractors we've met with are that we've changed our original plan...
10 Comments:
Sometimes it's best to go ahead with a less-than-perfect plan, in order to get the job done at all. An ugly bathroom is better than no bathroom, and you need one now! You're wise, I think to stick with a contractor. Gerry isn't the only one who can crash, you know.
Sometimes it's not a bad thing to think "small" when you have so much to deal with. Good that you're exploring every option.
One thought I had regarding the nanny/housekeeper idea. There are a lot of wonderful responsible college students/grad students out there who might be just the ticket. There might be a cool person out there, just waiting to help out and be around while you're away. Offer the person a few square meals, some reasonable pay, and a little family life, and you might find a great helper and friend. Just a thought. My mom has hired many in her time, and they were (almost) all wonderful folks to have around!
Wait a minute!
When I told Annie we might not need a contractor I didn't mean we'd do all the work. What I was trying to say is now that we're no longer building an addition it may be more cost effective to hire someone who sells him/herself as a handyman/plumber. Of course we'd expect that person to have references and insurance. It just seems to me that the name "contractor" adds Ks to the price.
-Gerry
Sorry Gerry - my mistake, Mwa!
Oh, our first blog spat!
LOL, well, if that's a spat, Kudos, because that was a nice one, LOL!
I know the right person (perhaps one of your fiber fans!) is out there that will be a wonderful caretaker/nanny!
I second the grad-student suggestion. One of my best friends was an assistant to quadropalegics as her pay job all through college. She's an amazing person, as are teh people she worked for, a number of whom she remains in touch with these days. If you really want someone with some nursing experience, try seeing if there is a local school of nursing and seeing if they have a placement/training program.
Good luck ot both of yOu!
I just started reading your blog, Annie. I'm also in the throes of a budget-minded remodel and I have spent a good portion of the past year studying, sketching, figuring and re-figuring to make it work. I'd be interested to see your previous layout diagram too. Maybe some "fresh eyes" would help you see some new options. My sil listened to my plans for busting out two walls and with one alternative suggestion saved us a lot of work and expense, and created another cost/space saving idea that made everything perfect. I've also had great luck finding materials on Craig's List and other local sources such as Corian countertops in perfect condition for one tenth the cost of buying them new, allowing us to afford hiring a contractor to install them. Good luck!
I'll add my 3 cents here. Plumbing = $ - and you are pretty well needing a contractor to deal with the plumbers. And I come from a family with a goodly number of plumbers! I'll mention again that the words "plumbing inspector" are enough to cause me to do an impression of Linda Blair, if you get my drift. OTOH, our contractor, who is a dear, had me do virtually all the ordering on our bathroom, including the specialty I am known for, which is snarling at suppliers and other people (like the aforementioned inspectors) who would promise have things at a certain place and time. He referred to this as "putting the fear of Ann into them."
So, here's the thing. If you are looking at buying from either Lowe's or Home Depot, try their "moving" thing, one or the other should snag you a 10% off coupon. Trust me when I say that 10% off your flooring for a bathroom is worth filling out some freaking forms. Often one of the coupons is in the USPS moving packet, but I'm hearing that it's a mail in card and they return you a coupon these days. Lowesmoving.com or homedepotmoving.com could get you a 10% coupon. Often you can even snag these on ebay.
And of course, often you can get stuff on-line from the same stores, but cheaper and with rebates than you can in person....and they deliver it. I'm big on delivery.
Good luck making the decision to go with or without a contractor. If you can find a good handyman who can do the work for you...excellent! Remodels are expensive and with an old house, they tend to get even more expensive because of the surprise factor. By the way, our kitchen is on posts (yep, a converted porch) and I live in almost constant fear that the kitchen renovations we did will eventually cause the back of the house to fall off.
OK, have you found gardenweb.com's renovation forums? A wealth of information.
Also, it might be worth asking the contractors/handymen about money saving suggestions - they shouldn't be that surprised by your cost savings driven changes. While there can be problems with putting plumbing on an exterior wall (especially if the old walls are poorly insulated, of course), there could be some savings if you ran all the wet stuff in a row, W/D, bathroom sink, toilet, inside the bathroom, then dishwasher and kitchen sink, in the kitchen. Again, if you just make sure to have something close to a 60" diameter turnaround circle (in plan), inside any closed space, you will have enough room for laundry baskets or perhaps an emergency wheelchair/cane/crutches, etc.
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