It's a beautiful morning, think I'll go outside and smile

It's bright and sunny with a delightful spring nip in the air. The lilacs and roses and hydrangea and all kinds of other things that I transplanted from my old house with its sandy soil and filtered sun, are clearly in heaven with the sunshine and good rich soil that we have here - I didn't expect much the first year after transplanting them, but my lilac for example is covered with more flower clusters than I've ever seen on it. I'm working at home today so once it warms up a bit I'm taking my laptop out to the porch and working from there; it's just too nice to stay inside.

But the best part is, I've got three guys wandering around in my house talking about where to cut cut holes, where equipment is going to be installed, etc. Yes, folks, the HVAC guys are FINALLY here. I told them that if they didn't do a good job I was going to sic my attack pugs on them. So far they seem like a very cool bunch - good sense of humor, and jumping right into the work.

Lucy: Yo, Murphy, did I just hear them guys talkin' bout takin' shortcuts on that ductwork install?
Murphy: Don't worry, doll, I'll take care of it. Ain't no sloppy holes being cut in THIS floor.



(Click here to see why dog bites are a real threat with this job, if you hadn't seen it before)

I've decided to stay out of their way and not take pictures while they're working, but I'm going to take pics every day. Whooooo how excited can one woman's life (and blog) get?!?

Now, I need to spend a little quiet quality time alone with my bank balance, saying good-bye. It's about to go completely away, and even though I keep being promised that it will eventually come back, I know that things will probably never be the same.

T-82 hours until I empty my bank account

9:30am Monday, April 16th, 2007. That's when the HVAC guys show up and take all my money start work on my house. It's hard to believe after all this planning and fretting, it's finally really happening.

I'm still nervous about it. Did we make a bad decision, going with the heat pumps? Will the contractors screw things up somehow? Will I find myself during the worst of next winter's first real cold snap wondering why I spent all that money?

Gaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

::gasppantwheeze::

Actually at this particular moment I'm just cranky because it's just dawned on me that on my birthday -- my one absolutely sacred day for the past almost 30 years of my working life to do no work whatsoever and to keep my lazy ass in bed for as late as I can and focus completely on pampering myself -- my house is going to be invaded by contractors early in the morning (and on a day like that, anything before 11am is "early"), unless they happen to finish several days sooner than their two week estimate. And I'm going to feel obligated to stay at home and keep an eye on them. Well, maybe I'll just take myself out to a nice breakfast somewhere and make an appointment to go get another tattoo or something instead. I just hope they won't be putting ductwork in the bathroom or bedroom when it's time for me to get gussied up to go out to dinner.

I'm genuinely nervous but still I'm excited. As a blogging friend once wrote, "nothing says progress like a significant outlay of cash." Once this is done and we have no money to do anything else significant for a long while, I can start focusing on some things that need my attention, such as organizing, getting some salvaged furniture and trim stripped and/or repainted and put in place, making some small decorating progress in some of the other rooms.

Yeah, I'm excited.

It's finally starting

I talked to HVAC Guy who answered the rest of my questions. I talked to Electrician Guy who is going to make room in the panel for the HVAC (not hard considering the 10 breakers currently dedicated to baseboard electric heaters and the 6 breakers dedicated to plugs for window AC units) and run the wire to the new systems. We're all going to meet here next Tuesday to walk through what needs to be done and so that they can talk about coordinating what they each need to do. I'll have a deposit check for HVAC guy, and he'll have a starting date for me, "Very soon" he said, since he wants to have this done before the vacation season starts since he is apparently very popular among the weekenders with big fancy houses who all have him scheduled up to a year in advance to come in and do annual maintenance on their systems, put in a new one if it needs it, etc. He said he no longer can do any new installations during the spring and summer, his business has gotten so busy just with basic high-end-summer-house maintenance. He said it will likely take two weeks for them to do the work on my house, which puts the cost in perspective.

Oh! Speaking of cost!! I need to see who won the "guess the cost" contest and post the winner and decide on possible prizes!

He also warned me that "with old houses, you have to understand that sometimes you don't know exactly what you're going to find or what's going to happen until you get into it." I had to chuckle. Except for 6 years with a "retro" (60's) house, which had its own quirks, that's for sure, I've only owned old houses, so this I know.

Of course, with our luck we'll have a totally unseasonable cold snap sometime between when they disconnect all the baseboard heat and get the new system in place. Hell, watch it snow. HA!
I had thought that we could wait and take out the baseboard panels at our leisure but most of the vents are going where panels are installed -- floor or base of the wall, under a window. I told Electrician Guy that we'll take out the actual units, if he can just disconnect them completely from the panels and mark the wire (I'm not going to bother pulling it out), then we can take out the units, mark and hide the wires on that end, and save us a few bucks. I thought for a while about doing some of the other electric - I'm perfectly capable of freeing up space in the box, disconnecting the heater wires, moving the AC plugs to the same circuit for the rest of the plugs in that room, etc. But he can do it easier and faster and hey as long as we're spending this much money, whats a few hundred more, right?!? ::gasppantwheeze:: I did talk him into giving me a small discount for paying by check, equivalent to the fee he'd pay if I used credit card. Hey, it will pay for the electrician.

And a quick note on something totally unrelated, I just got a very special email and I'm dancing on the ceiling with excitement that a very dear friend who I hadn't heard from (or contacted, to be fair) in a couple of years will be in the mid-Atlantic area soon, and will hopefully be coming to visit me for a few days. This is good incentive to finally get all the windows cleaned, since she usually assigns herself that task if she visits and I want to just relax and play and catch up! Oh, this makes me a very happy girl.