(414) 671-9513 niki@rentmaqua.com

This week our painter started work! He put in about 10 hours on the first day and we realized there’s a major problem. On the soffit material around the entire house, the white paint turned yellow. Oh, dear. He couldn’t make it back to paint again for a couple days, so while he was gone, I painted the soffit material on the porches white. They turned yellow. I waited several hours, then tried a second coat. It also yellowed, although not as much.

 I had originally wanted the soffit of the house coastal sage, to match the siding, but had thought it would be too much work if I was doing it at the top of a very tall ladder. I talked to our painter about it, since yellow soffit is just not acceptable (and also not his fault). We agreed that he would paint the soffit green, and we would pay extra since he would now be painting it twice.

 And the verdict? It looks awesome! I love the contrast of the green and white. The greenish is pretty unique and different from anything else on the block, which is what I was going for. Yay!

I finished removing all the thinset and it looks great! I didn’t clean yet since the bathroom is one of my workspaces and is filthy. When I removed the ceramic tile, it had been laid under the toilet and there were a few shards left under there that I hadn’t been able to remove. While I was peeing a little later, the whole toilet shifted and I almost fell off. I looked down and saw a little bit of water trickling out from under the toilet. Gross. I finished my business and removed the toilet immediately. At first, all went smooth and I was super cocky about how all those novice homeowners on HGTV always spill toilet water on themselves. I spilled not a drop. But while I carried it out of the house, I spilled LOTS of toilet water on myself.

So, I have posted photos here before of the little village living in the burrows in our front yard. Yeah. It’s a problem. So, I finished getting the shrub stumps out of the ground. It was back breaking and frustrating. Everytime I thought I got the main root, there were two more. Finally I got them out! I felt like a conqueror! Then I had so much adrenaline that I dug up the entire village. There were toys and dirty diapers in these burrows. Nasty. After I dug them up, I filled them back in with the soil, but I’ll have to buy more, as well as some seed to level the entire area. So far, no parts have been reburrowed! The infestation may be finished!!!
This weekend, Wade and I went to Lisbon Storm, Screen, and Door to look for doors for our house. Some of the original doors are missing and the three-panel doors are not super common, so I’ve had no luck finding salvaged doors in our sizes. We bought some doors that will work with the house and will let in some additional light. I just have to finish them!

 On Friday, we got word that we did not get the house we had the offer in on. We were pretty bummed, although everytime something doesn’t work out in life and business, it seems like something better comes along. We’ll keep looking.

 There was one thing that gave me a major boost this week. It’s my winter tradition that during the dark, depressing, cold months, I allow myself to drink eggnog in my coffee instead of milk and sugar. Typically, I start doing it as soon as eggnog is stocked and finish when it’s not. While stationed overseas, the commissary typically didn’t stock eggnog before Thanksgiving, but this is the USA, baby! Walmart starts stocking eggnog in October!!!