May 2017 – Page 3

Remodel Update

Demolition continues and building starts!

We are taking out a small section of kitchen wall to open it up to the dining room. And oops, they discovered an unexpected water line! (You can see it in the picture running vertically on the far right.) They nicked it before they realized it was there, and apparently they got a good soaking before managing to get the water turned off. They’ll have a plumber move this line out of the way.

Typically I’d never remove a window. I love the natural light. But the evaporative cooler is just outside that window, and it’s loud.

This house has plenty of windows already. It’s up on a hill, very exposed with no tall trees or shade of any kind, in the middle of the desert. It gets lots of light! Also you can’t see in the photo, but the entire wall to the right is all glass – a sliding glass door and a large window. Occasionally its nice to have a spot without direct sun.

Here’s the new subfloor, so the living room floor will be the same height as the rest of the house.

Our contractor says we’re ahead of schedule, yay! I can’t wait to get moved back in.

China

I woke up this morning thinking about how little I know about China compared to Europe. I’ve never visited either location, and I don’t personally know any relatives in either location. But I know (or imagine I know) so much more about Europe. It seems crazy that there is so much going on in China and I’m totally ignorant.

For example, look at these lists of primary cities in Europe vs China.

First, Europe:

Istanbul, Moscow, London, St. Petersburg, Ankara, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Kiev, and Paris. The only one of those that I didn’t “grow up knowing” is Ankara.

Now here’s the amazing thing. There are huge, enormous cities in China that I’ve never heard of. They’re much bigger than the European cities.

In Europe, the only two cities that are above 10 million people are Istanbul and Moscow. In China, there are at least 10 cities that have over 10 million people.

Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shijiazhuang, Harbin, Wuhan, Suzhou…these cities ALL have over 10 million people! I cannot pronounce them, I cannot spell them, I certainly could not place them on a map.

Here’s a bunch more, all with population over 7 million people.

Zhengzhou, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Xi’an, Nanjing, Chongqing, Changsha, Hong Kong, Fuzhou, Foshan…Ok, I’ve heard of Hong Kong.

For contrast, the US doesn’t have ANY cities over 10 million people.

So yes, if you count metro areas, then the US has two; New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas are both over 10 million people; New York at about 20 million and LA at about 13 million.

But look at China’s top metro areas!

44 million people…35 million people…30 million people…21 million people.

Ok, enough data. My point is, why don’t I have at least a vague familiarity with these places?

In the US, we all have some knowledge of Paris, right? Or at least we think we do. Paris seems familiar to us. I’ve never been there and I don’t speak the language, yet I imagine I have some sense of what parts of the city probably look like. I can guess roughly what types of food I could find there. I know a little bit about the beliefs and concerns of the people who live there. I could talk about some of the differences between London and Paris and New York. But what would I know about differences between Guangzhou and Shanghai?

Organizing!

I really love only working part-time instead of full-time plus part-time! I have fewer migraines, am less grumpy, and I have time for lower-priority items such as organizing my life.

I really like everything all neat and organized!

Here’s all my beads sorted into trays that fit into two carry bags.

We’re going to move again soon, and for the first time in several moves I’ll have time to sort and get rid of some things. I won’t be able to go through everything, because some of it is too inaccessible in the garage and the storage unit, some of it still packed in boxes from the last move. But I’ll slowly sort all of it once we’re moved.

Construction has FINALLY started

Or actually, deconstruction has finally started!

We spent a lot of time this winter designing a big remodel plus living room addition, but it turned out it would cost way too much. Big disappointment!

We scaled the remodel down to something much more modest, and got bids at a small fraction of the cost of the original project. This new, smaller remodel does not include any architectural changes, no additions, and no expensive finishings (no wood beams, etc.)

Now we are finally able to start! Today the demolition guys were at it. Wow, it’s real now!

We are replacing the downstairs carpet with tile, and before we do that, we’re going to raise the living room floor (which is one step down). The step down is dated, and it’s a trip hazard.

John always disliked the brick underneath and behind the wood stove (I thought it was fine), but we are taking it out.

Now we need to decide what to put around the wood stove instead.

The 45-day countdown: Day 3

In our first “House Hunters” episode, we looked at these 3 houses:

House #1 (Needs work)

House #2 (Large and expensive)

House #3 (Cute but expensive)

See, I’m being repetitive, just like the real show! But unlike the show, we’re actually considering 6 houses. Here’s the other 3.

House #4

This one has been sitting on the market for a long time (over 3 months), because it is over-priced. The on-line photos are also poor. It’s possible they’d come down in price, since it’s not selling. Or they could just be waiting indefinitely for that “right” buyer. Either way, it could be a nuisance to negotiate with a buyer who has an inflated opinion of the property’s value, and an agent who doesn’t bother to post good photos.

Pros: Close to the foothills
Cons: Over-priced and the listed price is over our budget

House #5

This house has been sitting for almost 3 months as well. It’s a high price per square foot, probably because the owners have added some custom updates and want to recoup their expenses. Unfortunately, the upgrades aren’t what I would want for a rental. The windows have built-in shades between the two window panes. Those are neat, but in the intense New Mexico sun, the strings will rot and the blinds will break inside the windows. And that’s an expensive fix. Also they’ve installed new, white carpet, which is just not practical for a rental.

Pros: Close to the foothills, well cared for by the owners.
Cons: High price per square foot, and also listed over our budget

House #6

This house is similar to House #2 in my previous post, and in the same neighborhood, but this one is smaller, and thus, less expensive. It’s only been on the market for a few days, and shouldn’t have any trouble selling.

Pros: Closer to our budget than any of the other 5 houses. Newer, and doesn’t need very much work.
Cons: It is tall and narrow, and feels like a townhome inside, even though it is a detached home. Very close to the neighbors.

And I don’t know, what do you think of that mish-mash of style elements? Traditional southwest wood accents…but with a turret?

Fiction

I would like to recommend this piece of fiction in The New Yorker magazine. Generally I’m wary of fiction in The New Yorker and also the Atlantic, because it’s never uplifting. And this piece is emotionally difficult. But I appreciate its direct honesty.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/17/you-are-happy

Sometime New Yorker fiction is obtuse and vague, trying-to-be-clever. But this story is straightforward. New Yorker fiction can also be depraved, or worse, depraved and trite. But this piece rings of tragic truth, sensitively handled.

The 45-day countdown: Day 1

We sold our rental property in California yesterday (yay)! Rather than taking the money and going on wild spending spree, or trip around the world, we’re going to put it all back into rental property. This seems the prudent thing to do in order to help fund retirement. It also postpones taxes by rolling the money into replacement property. This is similar to rolling over other types of funds. The money never goes into your account, so it stays invested. It’s called a 1031 exchange.

One of the rules of the exchange is we have 45 days to identify new property. We’re buying 2, and luckily we’ve already identified the first one. So we only need to worry about finding the other one. This simplifies things considerably – I was worried about trying to buy two at once! I feel under a lot of pressure to do this right. We’ve made mistakes buying property in the past, and I want to choose wisely.

They always look so much better in the photos than in real life!

Now let’s play “House Hunters!”

House #1

House #1 is an older 1-story, 3-bedroom.

(uh, no, the metal buffalo doesn’t come with the house)

Pros – Across the street from a park, pretty backyard
Cons – funky layout, needs updating inside, I don’t like the street name, and the listing price is over our budget.

Now you’re wondering what the street name is. It’s Admiral Emerson. It just doesn’t sound very homey to me.

House #2

House #2 is a 2-story, 4-bedroom on a small lot, in one of those newer subdivisions with tall skinny houses right next to each other.

Pros – 4-bedroom, nice inside, doesn’t need any work, should rent quickly
Cons – It feels like a townhome inside, even though it’s not. Also, it’s right next to the mailboxes for the neighborhood, so lots of people are stopping on the street in front of the house to get their mail, oh, and, it’s over our budget.

House #3

I haven’t seen this one yet, it just came on the market this afternoon. So it could be a lot worse in person than it looks online. But it sure looks pretty from the picture!

I think this one will sell fast.

Pros: Great curb appeal
Cons: There’s a hot tub in the backyard, which I’d love if it were for me, but I’m worried about liability for a rental. It’s also listed at a bit over our budget, but not by as much as Houses 1 & 2.

The things that scare us in the night

My dream that was interrupted last night, was one of social rejection. In the dream I had joined a group; a religious organization or a club of some sort. And I was not being accepted into the group.

It was subtly done. They took my donation check, but wrote on it that I had failed to show up for the volunteer meeting (although I was at the volunteer meeting when I handed them the check). They had no lunch for me, when everyone else was provided lunch. They ignored my attempts to say anything. So I was crying on a metal folding chair in middle of a meeting room, my daughter attempting to console me, when suddenly…

I awoke to the screaming of a little dog. I know that it’s convention to say a dog is “crying” but this dog was definitely screaming in terror or wild pain. Our minds always try to guess the causes of the unexplained, and I envisioned a dog having partially dislodged or chewed a plug and electrocuting.

I have not jumped out of bed so fast in 25 years, not since my own children were babies and I slept with one ear open to the sounds of coughing, puking, crying and the things that go “crash” in the night.

Still asleep, but somehow wide awake, my feet took me in the direction of the screaming, as I shouted, “I’m coming, I’m coming!” with John running right behind me.

There she was, my littlest, my oldest, my frail and graceful Rosie who never makes a sound, dangling by her hind leg as if in a trap. She had somehow gotten caught in what I thought was a completely dog-safe house. I picked her up, and all was instantly well again. She was not injured, only briefly terrified.

Perhaps the theme of this post is not terror in the night, but consolation by those who love us.

Kentucky Derby

Our neighbor invited us to her Kentucky Derby party on Saturday! She said they dress in costume, so I had to google it to find out what to wear. I don’t know anything about the Kentucky Derby!