Snap decision

Yesterday I decided to call the realtor and turn over the keys.

I called them immediately before I changed my mind and let them know that all I have left to paint is the bedroom but they can go ahead and show the apartment.

I arranged to drop off the keys today. I also agreed to allow for the listing to be extended by a month since I let them wait a month before giving them the keys.

I had to go this way because I would have waited until I finished painting the bedroom and I have no idea when I'm going to get my act together long enough to do that.

I need to clear out the bedroom so I can paint it. That means the living room and foyer will once again be a warehouse.

Foyer done

This is the two tone pattern I decided on.

Memorial Day

I finished the last coat on the trim, doors and bookshelves. After it dried I started getting everything back to order and decided to clean the carpeting since I found a steam cleaner in the closet.

Unfortunately I got a bad allergy attack, whether it's from the dust or the chemicals I don't know but it was bad. I could barely breath. Luckily I had an inhaler laying around that didn't yet expire so I was able to allieviate my breathing. I just have to be careful if I try that again.

Taking a day off....sorta

Since this is a long weekend I decided to take a break and do something I haven't done in about a year. I went to the movies. I saw X-Men III.

It had more action than the first two but it lacked something that Brian Singer brought.

Just as in the other two it made alterations to canon X-Men. However, unlike the others these changes were VERY different and dramatic.

If you're of the philosophical bend that the movies should not greatly deviate from the comics then you will totally HATE this film.

Aw..Crap

I totally forgot about the built-in bookshelves. I had to paint them white too, not that it's a big deal, it's just another round of painting I have to do.

I ended up having to scrape alot of flaking paint off the front door, actually it turned out to be all of it. As I started scraping, the paint bulging just kept expanding and before you know it I ended up taking all the old paint off, except for a few coats of old oil based paint.

It was this ugly coat of green paint. I thought maybe it was the primer but on one scraping I went a little too deep and found the original primer which was red. So now I have to put new primer on the door so I don't have to put a ton of paint on the door.

Too bad I didn't think of that with the bathroom radiation pipe. That would have saved me some heartache.

Anyways, all that leaves now is the 2nd coat for the trim.

Almost done

I got the two coats done on the walls and ceilings. I have to finish the two coats on the trim and the doors. It's a light brown/white combo, using the white on the trim. That's the same color scheme I used for the living room so I'm just maintaining the structure.

I'll finish that tomorrow.

Oh ya...Taping off the trim was a pain.

Prepping for the foyer

I had to take a ride out to Home Depot because I didn't have as much paint as I thought I did. I also needed a few more rollers because I don't do cleaning so well, it doesn't fit into my laziness milieu.

Start for the foyer

My wife suggested I take the fish we had in the tank and return them to the pet store we bought them from so I wouldn't have to kill them. The fish were three catfish which grew considerably since we first bought them.

The pet store wouldn't accept it at first but I explained to them that I would have to kill them because no one I know wants them. They eventually took them so I feel grateful that I don't have euthanize them.

I threw out the fishtank and all the accessories for it which was pretty much the biggest thing I had to clear out before I paint the foyer.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

They move the pricing around to make it look like it's going down but nothing has changed in one week. But that's the good news. Bad news is the summer hasn't even started yet.

Necessary work

I can actually see parts of my living room and dining room table now that I put everything back into the kitchen.

I can heat things up again. I didn't have access to the stove or the microwave because the microwave was in the livingroom and the stove was covered with plastic so I didn't get paint all over it.

I'm taking more time that I really should doing this but I'm slowly getting it done.

Mild surprise

I have not received a call from the realtor for quite a bit of time. I guess they got the hint when I told them I'll need the time stated.

At least I don't have the feeling of pressure their calls gave me.

Two to go

I completed painting the kitchen. I just have to begin putting everything back now and then move onto the foyer. I'm saving the bedroom to paint last and after that I tile the bathroom and I'm done.

I look forward to that day then I can be my total lazy self.

Yikes.

Back to the kitchen

I started clearing out the front half of the kitchen. I placed the cupboard hutch downstairs in the basement to be thrown out by the building staff.

It's a large 6 foot high by 3 foot piece that I had to bring down in one piece. It was bulky and I looked rather awkward in the elevator as an elderly couple entered the elevator from the floor below me.

They assumed I was moving in or out. They were close but that's not for some time yet. They were amused at the look on my face as I struggled with the thing.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

Low grade gas gets the highest boost of 6 cents with mid and high grade gas getting a 2 cent increase. Will it come as a surprise when the oil companies will report profits in the area of 15 billion?

Slow going

I managed to complete all the cabinets, it was a bit of a pain but that's done, unfortunately I don't have a lot of room to work with so I can't do this in the correct manner.

Tomorrow I'll put back all the material in the first half of the kitchen and then I'll clear out the 2nd half to paint that section. It's more time consuming but it has to get done.

I keep making messes.

My living room is a mess!

I cleaned out all the cabinets in preparation for painting and started packing all the dishes, glasses, utensils and China I don't need sitting about. I'm just leaving all the items I plan to throw away when we leave.

Now I have dishes, glasses, canned foods and all sorts of crap just sitting around the house.

More kitchen

I had to go to Home Depot when I realized I didn't have enough paint to complete the kitchen. There's a lot of real estate to paint in the cabinets. I painted the walls surrounding the stove so I can move the stove back into place.

Painting in small sections is the only thing that can work for me since I don't have a large amount of time available during the week.

Onto the kitchen

I pulled the stove out of the corner to paint that section of wall. I didn't turn off the gas line since I'm a bit lazy and doing all this painting is like a 10 on my work meter.

There was still a lot of prepping on the walls I had to do so it took a bit longer than I anticipated.

I managed to get that section of the kitchen prepped so I can paint tomorrow.

Sorting out mail

I spent my morning clearing my dining room table to get all the bills together to pay them as well as to gather all my wife's replacement credit cards to mail them out this morning.

I sent them out to her by Priority Mail so she should get them by Tuesday.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

Oversight on my part

My wife's replacement cards have been slowly trickling in but since I'm totally disorganized I have to now start looking for them on my dining room table so I can send them out to my wife this weekend.

Pushing my buttons

The realtor called me this morning to find out if we can move forward with the showing of the apartment.

I had to point out to her that I stated the painting was going to take me 2 to 3 weeks and that was a week ago. I guess they are in somewhat of a hurry to get the apartment moving.

I'm not too crazy about pushy folks.

Bathroom down

Now that the bathroom is done as far as painting is concerned I will move onto the kitchen.

I'm not sure how bad that's going to be but the cabinets is the hard part. I have to move the stove and the refrigerator to paint behind them. Those things will probably slow down the process but since I don't have much of a choice I'll have to move on.

We'll see how bad it gets.

Finally the bathroom is complete....sorta

It felt like I put on 20 coats of paint onto that piping but it looks ok. I cleaned the bathroom so it looks respectable. I need to replace ceramic tiles but that's for another day. I will finish the painting before I complete the tilework.

I am very tired now and I will more than likely pass out from exhaustion.

Painting chores

I painted most of the bathroom and it came out ok. I still have to complete the radiation pipe. That's going to be the worst part.

After just two coats I thought I had it covered but I keep finding spots that I missed. Plus the rust is coming out. I'm going to have to toss on more paint.

Part 1

I drove over to Home Depot this morning getting ready to paint the bathroom. I bought a bunch of supplies and got started.

Oh yeah...I got a parking ticket picking up a V8 for breakfast.

Prep

I took everything out of the bathroom to get ready to paint. I set up the plastic and taped off the ceramic tile so paint wouldn't get all over the place.

In looking around the bathroom the hardest part is going to be the radiation pipe that heats up the bathroom. It's situated very close to the corner rising straight from the floor to the ceiling. That part is going to be a tough one.

Just great

We got the Extension of Time completed and done in time, however since we had no one available to deliver the package it wasn't important.

All of a sudden sending it out on Monday is okay.

Sigh...........

One more thing on our plate.

Today I have to spend all day to get documentation together to justify an Extension of Time. My bosses are saying we should have them prepared and submitted by today or we'll be in default.

This is usually the way it works. We let things sit until we have to react.

Proaction is not our best asset.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

Yet one more thing.

In between all the other duties I'm working on now I'm helping out our Plumbing Department get a sign-off on their gas piping system because the project GC is trying to get us to eat the responsibilities of another contractor.

Sigh....all in a day's work.

Ohhh boy.

Day 2 and IT still hasn't given access to my help.

Continuation

My assistant has now been moved into my cubicle. My big problem now is that I can't get the IT Department to share my folder that contains all my files she needs access to in order to help me out.

I gave her access to the Project Management program she needs as well but it's only half of the package.