Wonderful neighbors

Today was all about building and cleaning. We bought Marcos a cheap dresser at Ikea, which you have to build yourself. So, that was my task for the day. Marcos set about doing the weekly cleaning. It was a lot of work and I smacked my thumb hard putting together the last drawer. But at least his clothes are out of boxes and the bedroom is 99.9% complete. I still have to run to Target to get a set of double drapery brackets so that we can put up the curtains on the single uncurtained window. Most of the rooms were thoroughly swept and mopped.

So, suffice to say, it's been a long and exhausting day. Imagine my surprise when I thought I had heard someone come to the front door. We don't have a working doorbell yet (it will be installed when the electrician comes to fix all kinds of things on Wednesday). I go over and see wet footsteps and a bag. A Starbucks bag.

Our neighbor from 3 doors down left us this:


And this:


Yep, we have good neighbors.

Delivery madness

As some of you know, we bought new appliances that we scheduled to be delivered on the day after Thanksgiving. Marcos realized that he would not be able to install the stove himself because the previous owners painted over the gas shut off valve. Rather than risk an unnecessary explosion, we paid a lot of money to have Sears send someone over to install the stove.

The delivery people were scheduled for very early in the morning on Friday and were on time. The installer also arrived at the same time, turned off the gas, cut the pipe, and then left. The delivery people, however, refused to haul away the old stove because it had a whole other appendage on the back and they didn't think it would fit down the stairs. Why they couldn't take off that back piece is beyond me. They did take away the fridge. Of course, I had to meet the old landlord to turn over keys and everything, so Marcos was dealing with this by himself.

Apparently the delivery people were supposed to set up the fridge (like put the arms on) but they didn't. So Marcos did all of that. I called the supervisor to complain and told him to send those guys back to pick up the stove.

It took a couple of phone calls to get the installers to come back. They also refused to take the back piece off of the old stove. Again, it was screwed in so I wasn't sure what the big deal was. But the bigger problem was that they wanted to charge us $45 for the flexi-pipe to attach the stove to the gas pipe. This is on top of the $235 we'd already paid for the installation. I spent almost an hour on the phone with Sears arguing about this and finally they agreed to pay for the pipe themselves. The installers tried to leave and Marcos told him that if they did, he would tell Sears that they refused to do the job. He told the same thing to their boss. After all of this fighting, the stove was installed. I still had to buy an appliance extension cord since the power cord did not reach the outlet. While I was at the local hardware store, I learned that a flexi-pipe for a gas stove costs about $15.

Marcos unscrewed the appendage on the back of the stove and the delivery guys finally came back to pick it up. They put a small gash in the stairwell wall for good measure. Although we can't really fault them that much for it. The stove must have weighed a half ton at least. The whole thing was made out of heavy steel. And we want to re-do the walls anyway.

Without further delay, here are our new appliances:


For all that trouble, I will admit that it is very nice to have new appliances. I can actually see what is in the crispers and the wine bottles fit much better. And we both love the new stove. You can control the heat so well and we have a storage drawer at the bottom. Our inaugural dinner was our favorite dish: pasta puttanesca.

Moved in and unpacking

We have officially moved in. It's been almost a week. So far, we have the bedroom 99% complete. The movers could not get Marcos' armoir up the stairs without breaking something, so we need to get him a dresser. The office is also 99% complete. We are just waiting for Marcos' desk to arrive so that he can set up his corner.

The kitchen is 99.5% complete. There is still a box we haven't found that has cereal and whatever was on the dish rack. Our appliances will be delivered on Friday. We ended up having to pay for the installation because the previous owners painted over the gas switch. Yes, they were idiots.

The next project for me is to get to the parlor and the first floor backrooms. We have decided to wait until we get the floors done in the parlor before unpacking the books. We will also need to figure out what to do with our bar materials. We know how important that is for Ray.

It's been a very emotional time. In putting together our office, I decided that now is the time to get rid of old files that I really don't need anymore. There are probably 40 pounds worth of papers that I decided to chuck. It was emotional if only because it makes me think about how far we've come in such a short period of time. Fifteen years ago, I don't think I was even thinking about getting a PhD, much less buying a house - in Boston of all places. And who knows what we'll be doing 15 years from now.

We are spending Thanksgiving with our good friends Dawn and Jon. Thank goodness for good friends. I couldn't imagine spending another entire day unpacking and setting up. We really needed the day off. We will be picking up the rest of the stuff we left at the old apartment and giving it one more vacuum. Tomorrow morning we will be handing off the keys.

I have no pictures to share right now, but they will be coming soon. Have a good Thanksgiving.

Prequel - Part 2: - Addendum

If you read the previous post you know that the plan for this evening was to tidy things up to be ready for the movers. Since Marcos has class until late on Thursdays, I was going to do this myself since I didn't expect it would take very long. The best laid plans....

As you know, we've had many problems with our doors. Well, the previous owners decided to take the doorknob to the third floor bathroom. That also happens to be the only door with its original hardware. We're talking late 19th century hardware. While I can kind of understand why they would take it, it still seems really weird that they did. So, I really don't understand why they would take it. But I also don't understand why they would leave dirty dishes in the sink either.

Anyway, I arrive at the house at just before 6 pm. I then go upstairs to change. I enter the bathroom to use the toilet and to change and, without thinking, close the door. It is when I hear the latch click that I realize that, even though the knobs are gone, the door still had the tongue. If you haven't already figured it out, I am now locked in my own bathroom. There is no knob to turn the latch to open the door. I can't stick my fingers through because its old hardware and there is only a narrow hole that even my little fingers can't get into. I tried my hair claw, which also does not work. So, yes, I am locked in the bathroom with no way to escape.

As it happened, I had my cell phone. You might think that I always have my cell phone, but normally it would be in my jacket pocket downstairs in the parlor. It just happened to have been clipped to my belt. So I call Marcos. In another stroke of luck, he was still at his desk. His class starts at 6 pm. I called at 5 minutes to 6:00 and he just happened to be at his desk.

So, Marcos cut his class short and came to rescue me from the bathroom. In total, I spent almost 1.5 hours in the toilet. It was not an entirely wasted though. I managed to put up the shower curtain and test to see that the drain plug in the tub worked (it did). I had a conversation with the gas company about changing the gas meter and spoke with a good friend of mine who is going to help us put the needed floor in the parlor. If I had had any cleaning supplies, I would have done some more cleaning, but I didn't. So, while I felt like I spent a lot of time looking at all the work that needs to be done in that bathroom, it wasn't a total loss.

If you are wondering, we did manage to get things tidied up after grabbing a burger and relaxing for just a bit.

Tomorrow the internet goes off and will not be back until Saturday. We'll try to post an update on Sunday.

Prequel - Part 2: Two days and counting

The moving company finished packing us up. This is what our home looks like in boxes:



Marcos took Simba to the new house to get her out of the way of the movers and to get her acclimated to the new place. She did well. She followed Marcos everywhere for a while but eventually did forays into the other rooms on her own. By the time I got there in the evening, she was wandering about by herself. Never really too far from either one of us, but clearly getting comfortable with the new digs.

When we brought her back to the apartment, she was a little miffed. Not only did she come home to a moving box forest but there were no stairs for her to lumber up and down on.

Here, she is expressing her unhappiness. Oh well. At least they didn't pack her medicine.

We did find one new problem that will require an electrician to fix. In the meantime, the guest room will be illuminated by corner lamps. And the television. If it isn't one thing....

Tomorrow, it is just tidying up and getting each room ready to receive it's goods. The move begins on Friday. You may not hear back from us until sometime next week.

Moving in - the prequel

Today the movers are here packing up our apartment. We've never hired other people to pack us but we just don't have the time right now. The movers are here right now and they are doing a fabulous job so far. Boston area folks - I highly recommend Pony Express Moving Services. We've used them for all of our moves to and from Boston. Except one where we used an East Boston based company who did not do a good job, sad to say. Pony Express is the best.

Marcos is at the house with Simba getting her acclimated to the new house. We hired some junk remover people to get rid of the construction trash in the basement and a huge area rug that the previous folks left behind. It wasn't too expensive, thank goodness.

As of last night, we have pretty much cleaned everything except the first floor bathroom and the parlor. Marcos will be installing the curtain rods so we should be able to get some privacy by the end of the day. It's all coming along. We have no new pictures to post as yet. But we'll be taking some pictures tonight.

So this is what owning a house is like

One of the things that it is recommended that you do before you close on a house is do a walk-thru just to make sure that the house is in good condition. We scheduled the walk-through to happen the morning of the closing. Then we get a phone call from their broker saying that the owner isn't there and she doesn't know where he is. The owner and his girlfriend live 2 hours away. We were supposed to close at 12:30 and they didn't leave their house until after 10 am. The bank attorney could not change the closing time. So we had to close on the house without having seen it since the inspection in early October. And perhaps that's a good thing.

They hadn't cleaned out the house. It was still filled with their stuff. So, we gave them until noon on Sunday to clean everything out. We did this because we are nice and reasonable people. And because we'd rather them get their stuff out rather than having to be responsible for removing it ourselves. It took them until noon on Sunday and they still left a mess.

Here's the parlor.
Notice the trash left behind.

Here's the kitchen:

Notice something missing? And yes, those are unwashed dishes.

I haven't even taken any pictures of the basement. We're going to have to hire someone for that cleanup.

OK. No big deal. We can clean stuff up and throw things away. So, Marcos gets busy on changing the locks.


And that's when we notice that all of the doors have been damaged by multiple changing of locks and the installation of dead bolts on inside doors. The previous owner had been renting out rooms. Basically, this place was a flop house. No big deal. We can replace door knobs. And then we find that, sometime this morning as they were getting the last of their stuff out, the door to the master bedroom became locked. And we don't have a key. We went out and bought a pipe saw and Marcos cut the knob off. Because dammit it is our house and we can do that if we want to! And it was cheaper than hiring a locksmith.

We've replaced almost all of the door knobs with non-locking knobs. Eventually we will have to replace most of the inside doors, at least if we can't repair them. It's amazing how badly this house was cared for.

Yep. A helluva move-in. And we haven't even moved in yet.

We still have a bit of cleaning to do before next Friday when the movers come. But the good news is that we will have new kitchen appliances by the end of the month.

You can see the rest of the pictures of the house by clicking on the gallery link above.

We have done our part to relieve the mortgage crisis.

We have finally closed on the house. We'll send pictures and everything later but here's what our new home looks like:



Here's where our new home is located:


View Larger Map


It took us 4.25 months but we finally did it. Whew! Now we have to go buy new locks.

Be sure to check here on Friday night

Tomorrow is the day. Be sure to check back here Friday night to hear the word.

Happy Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day. We want to take this opportunity to honor our family members who served their country. The Elder Luna (may he rest in peace) served in the Pacific theater during WWII. He was in the Army Air Corps, which later separated from the Army and became the U.S. Air Force.


It's also the 233rd birthday for the US Marine Corp. The Elder Estrella (may he rest in peace) was a marine who served in Korea. As the story goes, he first served in the Army but after his discharge he decided he wanted a greater challenge. So he enlisted in the Marines.



As we remember those who have come before us, let us also remember those who are doing their duty today. Whether we agree with the current wars, we have an obligation to our soldiers and their families. You can help by calling your Congressional representatives and senators and ask that they support greater funding for veteran's health care, especially mental health care. You can get more information and sign the online letter at http://standup4vets.org/.

Fall is here

Signs of Fall in New England:

1. The girls are starting to cover their bellies.
2. The guys and anyone over the age of 30 are starting to wear sweaters and jackets.
3. There are fewer people hanging out in the plaza in front of the church.
4. When it is 70 degrees, everyone is outside remarking on the warm fall weather.
5. My students have real doctor's notes for missing class.
6. The stores have their Christmas stuff out.
7. When it is 50 degrees and its raining, everyone is inside complaining about the early winter.
8. The cat spends more time under the covers on the bed.
9. Elections.
10. Hmm. What else? Oh, yeah - the leaves start to turn. :)

The New and Improved Website

Family and Friends,

Marcos and I decided to make managing and updating our website easier and more efficient. So, we've embedded my blog and his Picasa album into our website. Our goal is to provide updates and stories as often as we can.

So, for our first update, we are still waiting to hear about the house. We'll let you know when we have something else to say.

The cool thing is that you can click on the comments button below and leave comments about anything you want. Go ahead. Try it.

Other than that, we are still working, Simba is still a cat, winter is coming. That's pretty much it for tonight.

N&M