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Well, we just finished our second weekend trying to see how much of ourselves we could pour into fixing up our house back in Memphis. That, and trying not to kill my mother...
I've gotten all of the old electrical outlets replaced with modern ones, put a new fan in the front bedroom, and discovered in the process that the contractors who painted the room had taken the old fan down, painted under it, and put it back. I strongly suspect there's nothing wrong with the fan that wouldn't be fixed by properly re-connecting it. However, it was a housewarming gift from Rhi's mom, so we decided to take it with us.
I also had a Terminix inspector come by to make sure the house was "clean" -- which it is, thank heavens -- but Mother got really ticked off at me for doing it. Apparently she feels that there are other companies in town that are better/cheaper/etc. For some reason, it didn't sink in when I told her this was a *free* inspection...
At one point, she even sent Rhi out to tell me, to act like Rhi needed me to come inside for a second, and to tell me not to sign anything with this guy, with the implication that I was about to do so, and Rhi was supposed to stop me.
First, this is definitely *not* the best and brightest approach to take with me and Rhi, and it raised both our hackles a little bit.
Second, all my life I've been surrounded by a family of lawyers and salesmen, including my mother. I've learned a thing or two about what to watch out for, out of sheer self-defense!
Third, neither Rhi nor I could exactly be considered stupid, nor are we prone to rush into things.
I know that dealing with houses is Mother's field of expertise (she's one of the most successful realtors in the city), but the "Mother knows best and you shouldn't do/decide anything without checking with me first because you'll screw it up" attitude ticks me off.
This is the same woman who said we needed to replace the linoleum in the bathroom -- something Rhi and I have never done. Her comments about that have prompted us to decide that the next time she has a problem with her computer, we're going to tell her to just re-install her OS.
Anyway... end of gripe-session.
For now, anyway.
Fortunately, next weekend is our anniversary, and we're planning on vanishing off the face of the earth, to a nice spa facility, and getting properly pampered. 8-)
I've gotten all of the old electrical outlets replaced with modern ones, put a new fan in the front bedroom, and discovered in the process that the contractors who painted the room had taken the old fan down, painted under it, and put it back. I strongly suspect there's nothing wrong with the fan that wouldn't be fixed by properly re-connecting it. However, it was a housewarming gift from Rhi's mom, so we decided to take it with us.
I also had a Terminix inspector come by to make sure the house was "clean" -- which it is, thank heavens -- but Mother got really ticked off at me for doing it. Apparently she feels that there are other companies in town that are better/cheaper/etc. For some reason, it didn't sink in when I told her this was a *free* inspection...
At one point, she even sent Rhi out to tell me, to act like Rhi needed me to come inside for a second, and to tell me not to sign anything with this guy, with the implication that I was about to do so, and Rhi was supposed to stop me.
First, this is definitely *not* the best and brightest approach to take with me and Rhi, and it raised both our hackles a little bit.
Second, all my life I've been surrounded by a family of lawyers and salesmen, including my mother. I've learned a thing or two about what to watch out for, out of sheer self-defense!
Third, neither Rhi nor I could exactly be considered stupid, nor are we prone to rush into things.
I know that dealing with houses is Mother's field of expertise (she's one of the most successful realtors in the city), but the "Mother knows best and you shouldn't do/decide anything without checking with me first because you'll screw it up" attitude ticks me off.
This is the same woman who said we needed to replace the linoleum in the bathroom -- something Rhi and I have never done. Her comments about that have prompted us to decide that the next time she has a problem with her computer, we're going to tell her to just re-install her OS.
Anyway... end of gripe-session.
For now, anyway.
Fortunately, next weekend is our anniversary, and we're planning on vanishing off the face of the earth, to a nice spa facility, and getting properly pampered. 8-)
