Welcome to Chez Cliff!

I can’t believe it.  I have over 50 posts about my houses.  Incredible.

For those of you not suffering from the heat of California, let me tell you right now that it’s horrible.  For the past two days, it has been above 100 degrees and it’s killing me.  I’m so grateful I have A/C in my car again.

Yes, I know that compared to Katrina, life is pretty good.

This morning, my cell phone chirped with the announcement that the carpet guys were on their way.  Early.  No problems!  I drove over to the houses and let them in.

First off, let me say that carpet salesmen are liars.  Liar liar pants on fire!  I measured 47 yards in my house and this guy came back with 57 yards.  I guess the reason for this is that carpet is cut in certain chunks or sections.  So they don’t lay down carpet exactly to what the floor space is.  Oh no.  The carpet is cut to the dimensions of the carpet.  Which makes absolutely no sense to me.  Anyway, the moral of the story is that he wanted to charge me $200 more than what I told the sales guy I wanted to spend.

Some negotiation later, we were back down into reasonable territory.

I will say that the house looks stellar!  I was in complete shock when the new carpet got laid down.  The carpet guy was patiently waiting for me to write a check yet I could get my hands to function.  The new carpet is just spectacular and made all the difference in the world!

During the three hour installation, I decided to take advantage of this time and do some work myself.  I put together the new medicine cabinet from Target.  Of course, one hanging piece was missing from the back.  I have no idea how I’m going to get it on the wall.  None.  I also touched up the bathroom with paint.

I decided to take this afternoon and evening off because of the heat.  I was tired also.  It was interesting because I kept having this feeling that I should be over at the houses, doing more work.  I’m not sure why I stayed at Anne and Tony’s.  Usually feelings that strong I act on.  But not today nor tonight.

But I guess maybe I should have been there.  I received a call from my tenants this evening.  Actually they left a message. 

"Cliff, this is Mean Grandma calling.  Please give me a call as soon as you get this message.  Thank you."

The day of the plumbing incident, I asked my tenants three times for their phone number and they refused to give it to me.  Now how in the world am I suppose to call them back?

I’ve posted new photos.  Finally!

You can see them here:  http://baguetteandspam.typepad.com/photos/transition/

The bathroom.

The last room that I’m changing before my house is unleashed onto the renter market.

The bathroom.

I know it has to be changed.  All the brass fixtures have corroded.  The medicine cabinet, which I already removed, was rotted beyond repair.  The toilet with it’s blue plastic padded seat . . .  Let’s not forget the mold on the ceiling and walls . . . Who are these people?   I guess I need some more "cultural sensitivity" training.

I really have to thank the internet.  I thank my lucky stars that someone actually took the time to create a website dedicated purely to toilets.  It has helped me out.

First thing, removing the padded toilet seat lid.  I don’t understand the idea behind these padded seats.  The idea of spending any more time than necessary on a toilet is foreign to me.  But do they have to really design padded toilet seats to make the more comfortable?  Where’s the cup holder for crying out loud?  Do they have a model where I can push a button and have room service?

It is sometimes disgusting to be in my head.  I knelt down in front of the toilet, staring at the blue padded seat.  I thought to myself "I’m about to touch something that countless people have sat on and pooped through.  And peed."  Then I remembered who use to live there.  "And puked on . . ."  I thought to myself "40 ouncer’s naked butt sat here."  And then I looked down at my hands.  My wonderful, blue latex covered hands.  I thought that as long as I didn’t come in physical contact with the seat then I’d be alright.

Two minutes later, the toilet seat was off.  Nice!!  Gloves in the trash.  What’s next?

Of course replacing the seat was another matter.  I saw the initials "ASM" on the back of my toilet.  I didn’t know what ASM stood for but I figured that "S" stood for "Standard".  So I went to Home Depot, my unofficial third home, to get a replacement. 

Easy? 

Bzzzzzzz!  Wrong Answer but thanks for playing!  Chuck, what do we have for our parting contestant?

Of course there are two different shapes.  Oval and round.  UGH!  Who designs these things?  About France, Charles De Guelle was quoted as saying "How can one be expected to govern a country with 246 cheeses?"  Oh yeah?  Well we got you beat buddy!  We got two different toilets!  Mass confusion everywhere!  Red, blue: Republican, Democrat: Round, Oval.

Who remembers the shape of the last toilet they sat on?  I certainly don’t!  I’m lucky to have matching shoes when I leave the house!

I didn’t leave Home Depot empty handed though.  I was carrying my "I’m so bad" ego.

Next, the mold.  Even though I bleached the ceiling already I decided to "re-bleach" it.  And this, of course, required the use of that wonderful TSP cleaning compound afterwords.  That TSP is great at killing odors!  I wish I could spray it on some people at work.  "Didn’t have time to shower?  No problem!  A squirt of TSP and you’re as good as new!"

The mold killing primer, coincidentlly called "Killz", was placed on the ceiling.  Paint over top and it was as good as new!  Some of the walls needed to be touched up so I did that as well.

Bathroom is done.

Next on the list:  carpet!

Ever since purchasing these homes, I’ve been sent a series of articles from people regarding the collapse of the real estate bubble.  And each article begins with the author telling a story of a friend.  "Hey doctor, I have this friend that has this thing . . ."  yeah, right.

Each article starts out the same way "I have a friend who recently bought a condo blah blah blah value of that condo went down blah blah blah"  And I have to keep reminding people that I didn’t purchase a condo.  I bought real terra firma.  It’s also interesting because, much like the legal incident from last month, the same people who send me these articles are the same people still living in apartments.

My mentor told me that people all around me would spend their time and energy, telling me all the reasons why something won’t work.  This isn’t so much advice for me.  It is reinforcing the walls they have erected in their own minds.  How does that phrase go?  Repeat something often enough and it becomes true.  Or something like that.  I come from a background filled with negativity and I refuse to live in it today.  Sorry Charlie!

And then, there are articles like this.  And my energy level just sky-rockets!

Incredible.  Values of homes in my little area have gone up 30% in the last year and sales are up 7% from last year.  Things are looking good!

My next project in the house is the bathroom.  I’ve done some preliminary work in there.  For instance, last month, the mold growing on the ceiling was cleaned with bleach and then washed with TSP.  Well, I did that again tonight.  And thank goodness I had that respirator!

I’ll be posting some photos of the intermittent house work shortly.

After finishing for the day, I stopped by my neighbors house.  I had a request to make of them, regarding the paint job.  The younger handyman wasn’t around but his father was.  It’s hard to say no when someone offers you a chair in a tranquil setting.  Within minutes I was regaled with pieces of advice.  How to live life, how to love, things to look for in a woman . . . elderly people are a real treasure.  Before I knew it, I was up helping get groceries in their house and I got the grand tour.  They have really nice hard wood floors.

I think they’re from the Czech Republic.

Retco, my neighbor, has invited me over tomorrow.  He claims to make the best espresso.  His coffee is from the middle east somewhere . . . and I have yet to find anything to beat the espresso’s in France, compliments of Lavazza.  I just love Lavazza!  Anyway, I try to keep an open mind so I’ll be tasting his espresso.

It’s nice to know that I’ve got such great neighbors.  Tonight, I didn’t feel that I was up there all alone.

Ever since Google launched their "Google Earth" software, I think I’ve visited almost every country on the face of the earth.  Like many others, I’m disappointed in the quality of the images from "not so populated" areas of the world.  For instance New York City is in huge detail but my home town is nothing but a blur.

Well today, I decided to put my houses (mes maisons) on the blog.  It’s simple to see.  On the picture, I shadowed in red my two houses and back yard.  You’ll notice that there is grass in the back yard.  This is obviously before my tenants left their "stuff" there.

The areas in the blue shadow are the two brand new housing developments going in right behind me.

Why do all this?  Because I did nothing today on the houses but I wanted to add something to my blog.