My big, fat nightmare :(

“...two steps forward, two steps back...” (Paula Abdul)

Or in my case, two steps forward, a MILLION steps back! And the million steps back have occurred in the past 24 hours. Here’s a quick recap of THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY...

THE GOOD:

Just hired another contractor. He’s a general contractor that does/manages ALOT of different kinds of projects, which now, is a REALLY good thing! I hired his company to demolish my ENTIRE bathroom (tear out tub/shower enclosure, install new tub, moisture barrier, cement board, install new shower fixtures, reattach drain, tear out vanity & sinktop & also tear out existing floor tile)...along with the bathroom demo, they are taking out my old kitchen sink and reinstalling a new one w/ new fixtures (thought we’d do it but it was a bigger problem, of course) and last but not least, take out existing exterior entry door and install a new steel prehung entry door.

Seems pretty straightforward and actually has been for the most part...all is pretty much going according to plan. A couple little adjustments along the way based on the original scope of work but nothing major...except for the door. And that’s where we move into THE BAD...

THE BAD:

Where do I even begin? I’ll start with the door. Wanted to get a new entry door, steel prehung because my current wood door is seriously warped thanks to rain over the year and no cover protecting it from the elements. Seems like an easy fix until we find out (after new door has been purchased) that its not a standard size!!! Which means a prehung steel door is NOT an option. And what’s worse is trying to find a non-standard size door that’s not a serious chunk of cash is next to impossible. Its a special order and lots of $$$. That project is on hold. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. My door is roughly 36x78 1/2 :)

Next issue: I had the gas company out on Monday to do an overall safety check. Well, clearly being safe is a bad idea. This setoff a chain reaction that I am still spinning over. My cute rep showed up and checked the fireplace, furnace and hot water heater. Well, the furnace checked out fine. The fireplace needs a uncoated coil replaced...okay not tooo major. The big problem is that the water heater (a) isn’t vented properly (b) has a problem with the run off drain (c) and another problem with the pressure relief valve

The guy who came to look at it is from my home warranty company and made it sound like my place is a ticking time bomb. Good times. Welcome to my life! More to come on all of this. Tho my current contractor checked into the venting problem and it seems that when the association had a new roof put on the building, the decided to coat my vent in stucco!!! seriously, there is like an inch of vent left! More on this later tomorrow too.

Now, I’m trying not to cry...everything seemed bad but manageable...and when the day starts out like this, I didn’t think it could get any worse. WRONG!

THE UGLY:

TERMITES! Yep, welcome to southern california! So what seemed to be a small incident in the guest bedroom has now become a bigger incident in the master bedroom! Yep the guest bedroom is “fine” and has been treated, case almost closed. The master bedroom requires me to take out a portion of the wall so that we can see the bigger problem. At this point, I just want the work to get done right the first time. I have a deadline of May 31st for getting out of my current place.

Today could not have been a worse day if it tried! I’m pretty sure Mercury is no longer in retrograde, so why is all of this happening?!!??

Oh, and if you get emails from me trying to get you hooked on Canadian drugs or trying to sell you Viagra, please ignor them. I can’t keep my eyes open any longer and will have to deal with that in the morning.

One last thing...a HUGE shout out to my FABULOUS crew, both professional and non-professional, who are working on the condo with me. Its been a long uphill road, I can’t wait til the coasting begins...tho I’m not sure when that will happen :(