Tag home repair

Pre-Snowstorm at the Modern Laundromat

Angel Ackerman 1 Comment

Preamble: New Job

So, life got more hectic than usual this week. That’s a large statement on my behalf because my life is normally chaotic, but I promise this is not hyperbole.

I started a very part-time job this week (two days a week, short shifts) and the details of that shall remain for a separate post. But needless to say, the interview, the job offer, my acceptance, and my orientation happened in less than a week.

Winter is a terrible time for retail– and book sales follow retail trends– and my political journalism work won’t resume for another month. With the trials our furnace put us through this autumn and the illness that knocked us out of commission in December, I needed some predictable income even if it does only add $150 a week to the household coffers.

The Flat Tire

On Tuesday, Eva and I had a tight schedule– I had a morning meeting, Eva had some lunch dog walks and a therapy appointment and when she was due to get home, I would head out the door to my gym appointment at St. Luke’s fitness.

But when I got out of my meeting I had a flat tire with a screw sticking out of it. Luckily, a man in the parking lot had a portable air compressor and filled my tire. Then I picked up Eva, drove her to her dad’s to get his car, and then drove to the tire place.

Did I mention it had started snowing?

I had not slept much because of all the goings-on so I opted to cancel my gym appointment.

The Bedroom Reno/Redo

I’ve needed to deep clean my room for a while. I live with a bratty Goffin’s cockatoo and have three cats who live in my bedroom, so it’s always gross. I vacuum and clean cat boxes every other day if not every day but there’s still dust on everything, whether it be plaster dust, dust dust, bird dander or bird seed.

Eva painted my room originally about six years ago in Behr Diva Glam, which later turned out to be a pretty close match for “Parisian Phoenix Pink.” At that time, we painted the trim almond and ripped out the carpets but we never finished the old hardwood floors. Nala, my naughty Goffin’s cockatoo, has been peeling paint off the wall and eating window trim, and when we first painted the room we had an issue where the paint didn’t quite stick.

So, somehow, one thing led to another and the upstairs of our house has been scheduled for a deep clean. But somehow even that deep clean has gotten out-of-hand. Like maybe I should have gotten a bagster or dumpster.

We ripped down everything from curtains to bedding and Eva repainted my room and updated the color scheme. I managed to find the exact color I used to have. Eva also cleaned and updated the electrical outlets and switches. We also have a new ceiling fan to go in there eventually.

Eva decided to go ahead and learn how to refinish the wood floors and she stained them Behr “espresso” water-based poly/stain combo. This room has not had the floors done since we’ve owned it, but we also did not want to wait for the oil to dry or asphyxiate ourselves while doing this in winter.

Today, before the impending snow storm, Eva and I opted to take all of the curtains, bedding and animal beds and stuff to the laundromat.

The Modernity of the Laundromat

So, I haven’t gone to the laundromat in 20+ years– even our apartments either had a laundry room or a washer/dryer hookup. But I have retained the habit of collecting “sacred laundry quarters” for parking, Aldi, tolls, emergencies like a cup of cheap coffee.

I know of at least three laundromats within a half-mile of my house and I googled them. I decided on So Fresh N So Clean for its location across from Wawa and Home Depot and between the former salon where my favorite nail tech used to work and Papa John’s pizza in the old health food store.

I expected, thanks to the web site, that there was wifi and that I could pay for my wash with my quarters or digital options or use the change machine to get more quarters. But I did not anticipate the app. The app attempted to tell me what washers and dryers were free and texted me when my laundry was almost done.

Two weeks in the life of Angel

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

I wish I had some exciting reason that it’s been two weeks without a post. The reality is that I’ve been ghostwriting a novel and that every free moment I have has been dedicated to that client who is currently paying my mortgage. Luckily, I love the client, I love the story and I love the whole experience of being a part of the project so it’s not a hardship by any means.

The book publishing entity– Parisian Phoenix Publishing— has been paying the other costs of life. If you follow the blog there and/or read the Substack newsletter, you will see we are always doing something to keep the company and its authors growing. And if you need another reminder of why and where to buy books, check out the shop we’ve curated at Bookshop.org, where you can shop online and designate your favorite independent bookseller to receive the profits from the sale.

So, rather than try to catch you up with every bit of crazy while I’ve been away, let me provide this fine list:

The Initial Joys of Summer

  1. The Teenager only has a few more days of Teenagerdom and she has spent much of the last month renovating our garage into an indoor/outdoor living space. She is hosting her birthday party out there and I can’t wait to show you the final result.

2. I have started using the outdoor patio more as the Internet extends that far and there’s really no excuse.

3. We decided to try the Papa Johns Cheeseburger Pizza and their new Spicy Lemon Pepper Wing Sauce. The boneless wings are terrible, but the sauce is out of this world. And the burger pizza– especially with the $10 promotional price point–might be our new favorite food. The Teenager has proclaimed that all pizza should have pickles.

4. I spent some more time with my cat, Fog. We normally use a “crate and rotate”-style system for all the animals. For the last year, my boy Fog, our old tripod Opie and the cat the rescue gave up on, Canyon, have been in my room. We decided to let them free roam and this meant I got to spend some time during my long work days with my man, Fog.

5. Speaking of cats, our houseguest, Paulie, still loves to bite me, but he has gotten quite forward about being in my business.

6. We pre-gamed the Teenager’s birthday by going to Dave & Buster’s for some arcade time and then visited this strange convenience store with the old style poker video machines, alcohol, vaping supplies, penny candy, ice cream, strange snacks and all the household goods one would expect from a convenience store.

7. I made some new recipes including rhubarb quick bread (think banana bread but with rhubarb) and my own twist on fried pickles. I smeared/shredded cheese on a kosher dill pickle sandwich slice and then pinched it into a piece of Italian meat before breading and frying. Both were amazing.

8. My 2015 Jetta turned over to 71,000 miles. The Teenager has been driving it for work, so it only had 55,000 on it when I got laid off from Stitch Fix in September. But in other exciting news, before the end of the month, the Teenager should pay off her 2012 Nissan Rogue which we’ve had two years when we only planned to keep it for six months. It’s pretty much ready for a demolition derby now, but it was The Teenager’s first car loan and she paid it off six months early.

And lucky number nine….

(The Celts believed 9 was a holy number, because nine was a collection of three sacred threes.)

9. Today, I got to have a lavender matcha latte with my book-making, mixed media, painting artist friend Maryann Riker of Justarip Press. We stopped at Spectacular Coffee at Easton’s Silk Mill after indulging in a green sale (yes there is such a thing!) at Vasari Oil Paint.

The Starter House

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

In January 2003, my now estranged husband and I bought our house. We hadn’t been planning on buying a house. Some time in the months after we got married we moved from our first apartment to a bigger one, and I honestly don’t remember why. Maybe the rent went up in that shoddy building or maybe I got sick of incidents like the time the landlord had someone take the tires off my car thinking my car belonged to a tenant who owed him money.

Darrell and I loved our first apartment. We could pass the groceries directly from the sidewalk through the kitchen window. We could sit outside with our cat who liked to play with the neighbor’s dog. And the guy who owed my landlord money– I think he owned ‘The Cat Who Came to Visit,’ the cat who used to sneak in our open windows and sit and watch our fish tank. Or was it our lizards?

Our second apartment was in a sorta-questionable neighborhood but it was only $100 more a month than our first apartment for a lot more space and essentially what was a two-story cottage attached to an apartment building. (This was circa 2000: $475 for our one bedroom in downtown Easton, $575 for our “two bedroom” on Easton’s South Side. Compare that to today. If you want to, do a real estate search on zip 18042.)

That particular landlord and his administrative partner kept putting the property on the market because the insurance assessor kept claiming the building was worth far more than the owners thought it was worth and to prove it, they would try to sell it for that price.

Finally, I had enough. We had a great landlord in that second apartment. And we didn’t want another landlord who would take the tires off of my car.

So we bought a house. At apparently the ideal time to buy a house. It was out of our price range at $95,000 but luckily the price dropped while we were talking to our real estate agent. It dropped to $89,9000. I have never felt so old as I do today writing that.

The next year, the other half of our twin sold for $120,000. The following year (or so) an almost identical home a couple doors down (but without a garage) sold for more than $150,000. And I’m not sure, but now some of these homes are selling for $200,000. I can’t even.

Anyway, the point of this post was not to comment on the insanity of the real estate market. I wanted to tell you my definition of a “starter home.” Our home is “half a double” in town with a nice school district and in an almost completely walkable neighborhood. We have three bedrooms. We had two full baths until I asked the plumber to rip out the rotted downstairs shower in favor of a stacked washer and dryer so I don’t have to worry about falling down the basement stairs.

But now I can say I have two washing machines.

We have an enclosed (heated) sun porch, a detached garage that’s got an entire workshop, and despite some issues and small or weirdly shaped rooms, it’s a solid brick house. And when we bought it, I thought about people who called it a starter house. They implied that some day we would buy something bigger and better.

But now I think I have a different definition of starter house. It’s the house you learn on, practice maintaining, and in so many ways, the house I have both cherished and failed.

I have learned– the hard way– that the starter house teaches you about plumbing, windows, drafts, electricity, floods, patching plaster, staining floors and painting walls, all on a regular timeline to keep the house functioning. My toilets exploded a year or so ago. The toilets were probably eighty years old and my daughter sat on one too hard and cracked the tank in the middle of the night. It ran and ran and flooded the house.

Which was our second bathroom related flood in this home.

I’ve learned a lot about deferred maintenance and things I should have done and things I need to do. And the costs of owning home. Which is still way less than the cost of renting in my area. So, I use my home as a learning tool for my daughter who has taken home repair and wood shop and pays attention to every person she meets who has skills.

Because her father and I do not.

So on Wednesday, I had a job interview and a business meeting and when I got home, The Teenager had successfully patched the concrete on the garage floor. She decided to tackle replacing our faucet. Because we have an external dishwasher, it puts pressure on the faucet and they have a shorter-than-usual shelf life. We found a new one that I could review for Amazon, saving us the expense.

But we found we didn’t have the strength to remove the old one– which was regularly flooding the counters and the floor. Apparently the plumber had used a power tool to install it. The Teenager emptied the trap and removed the pipe. Unfortunately when we disconnected everything, the one piece of old pipe disintegrated.

The next day we called the plumber. Since The Teenager did most of the work already, it took the plumber minimal effort to attach everything and we really like our new faucet. Now, we just need to find another way to use the dishwasher or hand wash dishes, which I haven’t done in 20 years (20 years almost exactly as I got the dishwasher in May 2004 right before The Teenager was born).

The dry sauna and the wind tunnel

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

I just took my first fall in two-and-a-half weeks, after the jubilation of finally finding my specialist yesterday.

Maybe I didn’t sleep last night. Maybe I did too much at the gym. Maybe I was stressed after reading the report of the insurance adjuster that my home has more than $10,000 in damage from what I call, “the toilet explosion.”

I tripped. I think I might have misjudged the length of my steps when I tried to step over the industrial fan in my bathroom. I went in to wash the drain cleaner down the drain that I had prepped after my shower.

I fell into the cute submarine toiletry holder I let the teenager when she was a little girl. The smashing plastic sent me over the edge of the tub and I hit my head and my left elbow on the ceramic tile wall on the far side of the tub.

I was trying to protect my left ring finger, the one in the cast. I’m less than three weeks away from getting this cast off. I hope for good. Nine weeks with my finger in plaster.

My head hurts. My elbow hurts. But I think I’m okay.

If you look at the photo, I was crossing over the air mover in the foreground and my ass ended up in the box with all the soap and shampoo.

Since temperatures here have been in the 90s, the impact of that equipment in my small bathroom has made it very dry and very hot, probably 110 degrees. The towel rods melted.

I called it my dry sauna. I would sit there and wrap my cast before you bathed and took a cold shower in the hot room. I loved it.

And downstairs— the fans and dehumidifiers are on 24-hours-a-day. You know when you are in a tunnel? The roar of the exhaust fans? That’s my living space.

But today we got the news— the water did $10,000 in damage. It looks like the floor, subfloor and wall in the bathroom need to be ripped out. And we need some plumbing.

There’s a wall downstairs that will need work, and there will be painting. And a new ceiling.

And my hardwood floors will need repair and the entire floor downstairs will need to be refinished.

I think the insurance company is going a little overboard. But we’ll see what ServePro rips out when they start demolition next week.

But maybe… just maybe… we can move some of these fans tomorrow. No more falls.

First Experience in Home Improvement vs. Home Repair

Angel Ackerman 2 Comments

My husband and I moved into this house in late January 2003. As with any older house, there is an endless list of things that need to be done— from bathroom sinks that flood the house to ceramic walls that fail to sewer lines that crack and hot water heaters that fail. And back decks that threaten to collapse.

Home ownership is not for the feint of heart.

But this is the first time in almost 20 years I am undertaking a home improvement project versus a home repair. And it’s a small one, but it’s still a roller coaster.

I’ve been through two small mom-and-pop appliance stores. Times have changed. I used to go to a family-owned appliance store (Schaffer’s Appliance in Easton) where I could walk in the door (like Norm from Cheers) and they didn’t know my name but they knew my Maytags.

I could walk in and say, “I need the stove to match my refrigerator” and they usually knew off the top of their heads what model I had. If not, they had a small box— like a recipe box from back in the day— where an index card listed my name, contact info and all my appliances.

I miss those days.

When my original Maytag Performa washer (circa 2000) died about four or five years ago, Schaffer’s had sold the business to another small shop. But now that shop has closed.

When my original refrigerator (alsoMaytag circa 2000) died two years ago, the replacement came from Best Buy and the experience was decent but I hate the fridge. When Schaffer’s delivered a fridge, they delivered it cold. They ran it at the shop to make sure it was good to go.

So now I’m building a laundry room.

I ordered a Samsung washer dryer combo from Lowe’s, based on various reviews I read online. At first, I had some issues ordering as I did it online and I’m not sure I got all the connectors/plugs.

Last night I received a call from Lowe’s asking if I really meant to order a washer and a dryer. I got nervous I accidentally ordered two pair. The person on the other end assured me I only ordered one pair.

The very nice person called back stating that they didn’t have my dryer, in any color, but they could deliver the washer. I told him I had a washer so I didn’t need two washers. I needed a dryer.

This confused him.

I’m building a new laundry room, I explained, so the combo has to be stackable. The old dryer has been dead for three years, but the washer is fine. It’s just not stackable and it’s not coming up from the basement.

So we canceled my order and he said I could come into the store and special order something but that Samsung could take months.

This made me grouchy, but such is life.

He called back at 8 p.m. and said he mentioned my plight to his manager and she found that model of washer/dryer that someone had recently canceled and I could have it.

So appliance delivery on again.

But out of three handymen with electrical experience I contacted only one even contacted me. My neighbor offered to help, but with the time frame, I have about ten days to figure this out.

Just me and the animals

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

The teenager and I did some cleaning today— all getting ready for the plumber to start building my laundry room on Tuesday.

The bathroom off the kitchen now looks like this:

But on Tuesday the shower is coming out to make room for a stackable washer dryer.

Meanwhile, after the gym and while the teenager was off at the diner doing her work thing, Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab foster cat tripod Louise and I did some more work on the fourth volume of the Kink Noir series by William Prystauk, a gritty erotic look at all the definitions of love with a hearty dose of darkness.

FURR Louise

Then FURR Khloe came to relieve her. Apparently I need babysitting.

FURR Khloe

At 6:30 pm, I harnessed up the dog and we went to try a $3 pumpkin spice cold brew at Dunkin and pick up the teenager at work. The woman in the drive thru gave Bean a munchkin but she didn’t like it— probably because it was round. This mutt can’t eat round items.

And then old neighbors stopped by and we got to visit and hang out in another neighbor’s yard while there was quoits happening.

Isn’t that what Saturday should be?

Lessons I Have Revisited This Week

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

For a while, I was writing everyday on this platform. Recently, life has gotten busy and I shifted my focus to more organized blog entries than random posts.

So I slowed my writing down to times when I am rested and focused— which sometimes isn’t that often. But seriously, this week brought me great joy and also sorrow. In those emotions, I revisited some favorite life lessons. Many, but not all, involve cats.

First, there is Louise, the freshly amputee cat. She spent two weeks under my bed. Probably still confused and uncomfortable from her surgery, but also scared and scarred from her experiences before someone contacted Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab to get this injured apparent stray some help— both material and medical.

After two weeks under my bed, she’s trusting me. She’s super affectionate, cuddly, purrs like a machine and playful. She’s gentle and sweet and doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.

Louise tested my patience and rewarded me with her love.

Hermes, yes another foster, got adopted yesterday. He came to us as a very sick kitten on July 31, 2020 as part of the Greek Pride. His sister Hades sent me to the hospital. But that’s another story.

Hermes was terrified of human hands for most of his life, and he’s still a quirky cat. His new family knows his flaws, but they are confident that he should be their cat.

Hermes reminded me that some growth is slow, but can transform everything about how you live your life. And that we are all on a different timeline.

Touch of Grey, a four-year-old owner surrender, has been with us about two weeks because of her tendency to be bitchy and nasty. She’s been an angel with us, even going so far as to try and convince Hermes’ parents to take her home instead.

Sometimes we only thrive in certain environments. What nurtures me might not work for you.

The hardest part of this week was caring for the Ten Little Kittens who were starving and probably have distemper. Only two survived the week. (More on that here: Ten Tiny Kittens) To see some kitten cuteness: Parker Playing.

Sometimes there is beauty and divinity in the briefest of lives, and knowing you did something, even if it leads to heartache, is better than doing nothing.

Okay. No more cats. I had a conversation with someone whom I’m known for a long time— decades. She has had a good career with the same employer the entire time I’ve known her. She’s my age. She asked where I landed after last year’s job loss. I mentioned the Stitch Fix warehouse and expected the conversation to drop or to get that sense I get from people that my job makes me less important or less of a person now.

Instead, she asked if we were hiring and if I thought it was a good job. I explained the pay, the good and the bad. Apparently she has no holiday pay, no paid time off, and ten hour days. Her job is taking a toll on her body and she just wants to move on.

This country places too much emphasis on our jobs and careers as the definition of who we are. And it’s upsetting how basic quality of life items like health care and paid time off are regulated by/ reliant on corporations and small business owners. Your worth is not based on your occupation.

I went to the diner last night to have pancakes and see the charming teenager #1 at work. One of her regulars asked her to help with his dogs so he and I have been talking. He’s a conservative Christian Trump supporter and I am a liberal with socialist leanings. I told him right off we probably had very different opinions on a lot of issues. But we had a polite discussion and did not attack each other.

Listening and sharing information has to be a polite and earnest exchange. People can have different opinions but respect each other and, even so, cooperate.

This old house and this old brain

Angel Ackerman 2 Comments

This is my first full work week post-Covid. Last night was the first night of the week that I felt competent and capable.

And now today that feeling is gone. I’m slow. I can’t even say I’m tired but my brain is foggy and I just can’t do more or move faster.

Last night I packed 75 fixes at the Stitch Fix Bizzy Hizzy. I took about 5 1/2 minutes per fix which was a nice improvement over the previous night.

But tonight I am averaging 6 1/2 minutes per fix— almost double the goal of 3 3/4 minutes per fix. Three minutes and 45 seconds to fold five pieces of clothing into a box. Neatly.

They announced mandatory overtime tonight. Starting Monday everyone must work eight extra hours per week. I’m struggling to survive 40 so this was not the news I needed.

At home, the parakeet chicks look like real birds. Mama Periwinkle still won’t let her best friend Peek-a-Booboo into the cage—I tried to reintroduce her into the cage and Periwinkle flew over to her, grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the ground. So poor Booboo remains in isolation.

Nala might be done plucking but the damage is done. Her wings look like Buffalo wings.

And tomorrow Loki has another family coming to consider him.

The teens have an appointment at 11 to use the gift certificates I bought them for the salon. They both plan to get a set of acrylic nails.

In preparation, teenager #1 is trying to finish household projects. Like mounting the new dustbuster to the wall. And swapping out my bedroom door.

I had several beautiful moments with my daughter this week, and some good reflections. So I guess this blog entry is a good introduction into what may come in the next few days.

And if you google “how many calories do you burn folding clothes,” the answer is an optimistic 148 an hour. That suggests I’m burning 1,000 calories a night.

As I fold, I listen to podcasts. And I think. And I am reminded how often is takes finesse and skill to do our best when we are not good at something and wish to be.

I intellectually tell myself that coming back after Covid to a new job is hard, and that I have to stop comparing myself to my experienced colleagues. But it’s hard.

My new floor

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

So, after the kittens spilled charcoal lighter all over the floor in the mud room last week, the teenager became adamant she was going to lay a real floor in that area.

It’s had only a subfloor since my husband and I bought the house more than 17-years-ago.

Last week, I took her to the independent hardware store to get the supplies (and I also got copies of my house keys, drain clog stuff, a plunger and wasp killer— and when your backroom absorbs an entire bottle of flammable liquid because you have no floor out there, those items all count as necessities).

She worked on it three hours today and actually laid it twice. And now some of our friends keep pointing out that she didn’t stagger the interlocking laminate.

Well, the room didn’t have a floor for 17 years and it has one now.

I’m proud.

She did it all by herself.

Friday Funday

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

Today had some elements of greatness among the toil of a long work day in the midst of a pandemic.

  • We had a lovely walk.
  • We had pizza.
  • I got a free doughnut.
  • We got a Yum box.
  • We went to Family Dollar for school supplies and found some other surprises.
  • My truck is only $5,000. Maybe I can really buy it.
  • I got a new plunger.
  • I helped my blind friend Nancy open a Twitter account.

If none of that sounds interesting just skip this entry, but you might enjoy this “a day in the life.”

I had to go to the local Goin Postal to print and mail a grant for work. I brought the teenager along so she could grab some Little Caesars pizza and school supplies from Family Dollar as I figured I’d be in the shop for an hour.

The dollar store had clearance jelly beans for 75% off! I got three bags for $1!!! The teenager got lead for her favorite mechanical pencils and pens for my home office. We also got two really big cans of cat food. Because four cats.

The teenager procured some food items too— though some may not qualify as food. Lemon sugar wagers, pickles, blueberry muffins, beef ramen, generic pop tarts, sour freeze pops and Slim Jim’s.

We came home and she did school work while I did office work. At 2 pm, I took my meal break to go to the local hardware store. We needed caulk, wood patch, drain unclogger, a plunger, and items for a floor in the mud room.

I’ll have to take some photos of the nice laminate plank flooring the teen picked out for her floor. I even got wasp killer and some keys made.

Spent $180. But that includes 60 square feet of flooring.

That was also when I noticed my old aging truck was only $5,000.

I’ve had my eye on this beauty for four years.

I want this truck.

So we then stopped at Dunkin because it’s Free Doughnut Friday and since I only leave the house about once a week might as well make it exciting.

I worked late. Went straight to a telephone meeting with Nancy, my blind friend who I do computer stuff for. Long story short— we ended up putting her on Twitter and she followed a whole bunch of NASA stuff. Try explaining Twitter to a blind person. Just try.

Then once we finished, the teenager and I had her Universal Yums box for dinner. It was amazing! Scandinavian goodies for the win!

Unboxing and tasting video here: April 2020 Scandinavia Universal Yum Box

And then I tried the new plunger. It worked so well the gunk was coming out that little hole in the drain circle where the flipper for the tub plug goes. Under the spigot.

And that was my exciting day. Everyone even hung out with me.