So - this weekend was a quiet weekend, relatively.
Started out with a visit from the Sears folxs to get a free estimate for our windows. The windows finally got counted too - a total of 24 windows in the house. Is that a lot? Average? Low? It feels - normal - for the size of our house (2300sqft). Anyhow, Sears figured that it would be about 15,640.00. Um, if you are frantically rereading that number to be sure you didn't add a zero - that's right. Fifteen THOUSAND, Six hundred and Forty dollars. Um, that's over a tenth of the freaking VALUE of the house - and that's AFTER like three or four different discounts/coupons. Um, how bout, no??
And then, I'm not even going to COMMENT on the fact that the salesman was OBVIOUSLY slushed, nor am I going to comment on the fact that Sears only sells ONE type of window, and that ONE type of window runs ABOUT 800 PER WINDOW. *faints* Crack cocaine, I tell you. There ain't enough argon/low gain coating/fusion welding in the WORLD to make spending 800 PER WINDOW reasonable - I mean, if our house was WORTH 250K - maybe. If it was worth 500K, okay - I could see it - but 98K? Shhhhit. I thinks NOT. Esp since the windows are just plain old vinyl windows from SEARS. If they were Anderson or Pella Windows - okay, maybe - but SEARS??
So yes, we will be getting estimates from other, smaller companies. Questions to ask: Who are your installers/contractors, and what sort of work guarentee would we have? What penalties are there for overruns in schedule due to contractors? What is the warrenty on the windows? What gas is the double frame filled with? What is the SEER/EER rating for the window? How is it contructed - welded, stapled, glued, spit & a prayer? Who's the manufacturer of the window? *thinks* Hmm... think that's about it.
Otherwise, the weekend was peaceful. We made some KICKASS enchiladas last night - C smoked the pork on the grill, then made some pico, and made some enchilada sauce out of some stuff he pulled out of the cabinent - oh my god, orgasmic they were.
I got a accidental bug up me ass, and ripped down 90% of the wallpaper in the living room. See, right, what had happened was I was looking for a place to tuck a stick of incense (as we haven't unpacked everything yet - and oddly enough, it's not bugging me all that much) and I saw this little 'bubbly' area next to the window moulding. So, I went and tugged on this area, and literally - the whole STRIP of wallpaper came off. It looks like it was 'stickon' wallpaper, and only the edges were actually glued to the wall. In a matter of about 20 minutes, I had stripped the whole room (except for some up high sections above the doors and the like that I couldn't reach) down to the drywall. They had actually put the wallpaper on TOP of the drywall (bare drywall, no primer - thank god it didn't really stick!) so now the living room looks - half built. *LOL* I think it might get painted before the library does now.
Anyhow, now that we are making a good bit of progress on the inside of the house, my mind is starting to turn to the outside. Well, and the length of grass and other growing things that is appearing outside - if I get home tonight before the sun goes down, I think I'll snap some pictures of the - odd growths - that are out there. So - with that in mind, this is my 'dream' listing of every fruit/veggie/herb I can think of that I would want to grow. I haven't even STARTED thinking about decorative stuff yet.
| Mint (Chocolate) | Garlic | Strawberry |
| Mint (Peppermint) | Onions | Blueberry |
| Thyme(s) | Mushrooms | Fig |
| Sage(s) | Tomatoes | Apricot |
| Oregano(s) | Kale | Pear |
| Parsely(s) | Lettuce(s) | Grapes |
| Cilantro(s) | Spinach | Plums |
| Basil(s) | Habaneros | Cherry |
| Chives | Sweet Peppers | Peaches |
| Lemongrass | Asparagus | Pawpaw |
| Catnip | Artichokes | Watermelon |
| Dill(s) | Cabbage | |
| Fennel | Brocolli | |
| Lavender | Cucumbers | |
| Rosemary | Cauliflower | |
| Tarragon | Edamame | |
| Chamomille | Peas | |
| Lambs Quarters | Squash(s) | |
| Chickweed | Eggplant | |
| Echinacea | Okra | |
| Ginger | Corn | |
| Ginseng | Amaranth | |
| Horseradish | Collards | |
| Mustard | Greens | |
| Wasabi | Brussel Sprouts | |
| Stevia | Rhubarb |
I'm still sure that I'm missing some stuff - some of the more 'unusual' herbs and plants that I've heard of in my travels around the web, as well as almost ALL of the medicinal herbs and plants. This is my wish list of stuff, as I doubt I'll be able to plant (or afford!) all of this stuff in the first year (or two). If anything, I want to start with the fruit trees, as they will be the most expensive, and then just work up to having everything else. I'm also pretty sure that I'm missing some fruits, but thinking over what we usually eat - I can't think of any that I'm missing that we can actually GROW. Hmmm - I wonder if we can grow limes and lemons in Memphis? It most likely gets too cold during the winter - and I'm not even THINKING about building a greehouse right off. Though, I do want to keep every single storm window that we have on the house to use as glass for the greenhouse/cold boxes that we DO eventually build.
Ahhh, fun, fun, fun.
Me & The Hubster are meeting at Home Depot tonight to pick out/up paint and primer and the like so that we can start painting/priming stuff - I also want to look at garden tools, as the ones I have now are CRAP, and if we are going to hire someone to tackle the yard (which seems to be the consensous we've reached) I'm going to need to transplant some of the more interesting plants.
Busy, Busy, Busy. But soooo much fun.
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