So I was just looking at my last post and realized it has been four months since I posted anything to this website of mine. Well, you may find this hard to believe but I think I am more busy now than when I was working! What is up with that?? So let’s see if I can get y’all caught up with our crazy lives down here in Texas.
You remember from my last post that I mentioned we had a “punch book” instead of a “punch list”? Well, there were a lot of minor items on this list which they eventually worked off. It took them several months to do so, but eventually the little items were resolved. HOWEVER, there were several large ticket items that needed to get done. First there was the landscaping which was an absolute mess since they did it all in December (2020) and it literally got destroyed by not only the “freeze from hell” in February, but also by all the ongoing work around the house. But I’ll talk about that later. For now, I’ll cover the window in our media/game room. When we did our walk-around, we noticed that the window could not be locked. We were assured by our builder that it was just an adjustment, and that he would get the window guy to come out and take a look at it. Well, several weeks later the window guy did come out and informed us that the window was so far out of alignment that he couldn’t just adjust it and that the whole window needed to be replaced. Our builder disagreed and for the next several weeks they argued back and forth about it. Long story short, the window guy was correct. See the pic below.
We were so worried that they wouldn’t be able to match the brick, stone, and mortar. We really did not want it to look like the window had been replaced, especially since this is a real focal point to the front of the house. So the framers came out to remove the old window and install the new window. Turns out the actual wood framing around the window frame was not level and that was causing the issue. So the framers squared up the framing and installed the new window. Then the next day, the masons came out and reinstalled the brick and stone. Thankfully, when all was said and done, it looked flawless!! Big problem #1 resolved.
Next, we had to tackle the Master Closet. Trace and I will accept partial responsibility for this mess. We let our cabinet builders talk us into letting them do our closet and we did not pay close enough attention to the details of their design. And when it got installed, we walked in there and about dropped! There was so little hanging space and there were these humongous drawer and shelf units that literally took up all the room in the closet. What a disaster!! And we paid good money for this disaster which really made it hurt even more. So we went up to Dallas and visited a California Closet place. They came down to our house and took measurements and with their help, we designed a really neat and functional closet. They dismantled the old closet junk, hauled it away and built us a brand new closet. Big problem #2 resolved. So, here is what our closet looks like.
Well, now that brings us up to big problem #3 — the landscaping. Unfortunately, this is still an ongoing problem and will probably haunt us for the next couple of years. As I said earlier, our builder had the landscaper install our landscaping in December. This was such a bad time not only because of the weather at that time of the year, but also because there was still so much work going on outside the house AFTER the landscaping was done. Basically, between the “freeze from hell” that hit us in February and all the workers trampling all over our landscaped yard, we were left with a huge mess.
For starters, the lot was not graded properly so when it would rain or when we ran the sprinklers, we would get a swamp in some areas of the yard and it would just run off other areas. Plus, our landscaper installed the wrong sprinkler heads and put them in the wrong places. Also, they did not roll over the sod when they laid it down to make sure it was even and the ends were flush up against each other. They just threw it down. Then they installed the fence AFTER the sod was laid. You’re probably getting the picture by now. Our builder promised that the landscaper would come out and fix all of that. Well, he showed up but did nothing but throw down some rocky sand in a couple of places and left. Trace and I had to go around and collect up all the rocks he threw down as we didn’t want them to become projectiles when we had the lawn mowed. We contacted our builder multiple times and he promised that the landscaper would be back out but to date he has never showed up again.
So, we took matters into our own hands. We contacted an irrigation specialist and had them straighten out our sprinkler system. The pictures below give you some idea on the scope of the work that needed to be done.
By now you are probably thinking that my yard must really look like crap, huh? Well, let’s just say it is a whole lot better today than it was when we moved in. But it has cost us a bunch of money to get there. Remember I mentioned that the yard was not graded properly so that when it rained or we ran the sprinklers we would get a swamp in areas of the yard? Well, the sprinkler work was necessary to fix part of that problem. But we had to call in a REPUTABLE landscaper to dig up part of our yard and provide us with proper drainage to these swamp areas. We also had to have our mulch refreshed as our builder’s landscaper barely sprinkled any mulch in our plant beds and we were getting weeds all over the place. All in all, it has cost us about $8000 to fix the landscaping disaster that we were left with. But the front yard is starting to come around as you can see in the pictures below.
So that’s what has been taking up a lot of our time. But on another note, our son, Will, has moved in with us. He has left NYC for good. He wants to live in the Austin area, but right now the housing market has gone crazy down there. All these people from California are moving there (and every place else in Texas). They sell their million dollar homes out there and then come here and offer cash at $500,000 to $600,000 above asking price. It’s hard to compete with that. Will looked at a really nice new Pulte home, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, a nice starter home. Pulte was asking $350,000 for this house but they have cash offers for $800,000 for the house and a waiting list a mile long at that inflated price. The “experts” are saying that it won’t last. They are hoping that by fall or winter, the market will settle down a bit. Will is hoping that is true as he does not want to live with us any longer than he has to. I can’t say as I blame him as he has been out on his own for a long time now and it must be difficult to readjust to living with parents again. But I think it’s nice having him around.
Trace and I are settling nice into retirement living. We are finally going to take a vacation next month as we haven’t really had one in a couple of years.
I still work out about five days a week but I have had to stop my race walking due to a torn labrum in my right hip. Guess that is a pretty common ailment amongst race walkers. Who knew?? Anyway, I did the physical therapy thing but it did not help. So, as an alternative to surgery, I opted for a PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injection. What they do is draw a vile of your blood. Then they centrifuge it to separate the plasma and platelets from the other blood stuff. Then they inject the platelet/plasma into the hip joint at the place where the tear is. They use ultrasound imaging as a guide for the injection site. I think it has helped a bit but they say that it can take up to a couple of months for the real healing to start. This injection is supposed to accelerate the healing process. But they do say that it may take more than one injection to really see results. So I am now in the “wait and see” mode for the time being.
Well, that’s just about it for now. Hope everybody out there is staying safe and getting vaccinated. I don’t know about you but I am really getting sick of this COVID crap. I guess it’s a good thing that I didn’t throw away my masks just yet. Y’all take care!!