OH BOY -- Home Improvement time!!

[nickg]

well looks like me and the wifey are about to take the plunge on more home improvement.

new vinyl siding, all new windows, and new entry doors and screen doors, including the garage.

had one guy come over this morning for an estimate, another guy coming over this evening and another coming next tuesday -- not to mention the couple of other compaines we are waiting to hear back from for some more estimates.

so let's see over the last 3 years we've built a new back porch, a new furnace with central air, and last year a new front porch.

boy...over the next "X" amount of years the whole house might be fixed up just in time for me to croak!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

Nick, are you aware of Title I loans? They give you money at a VERY low interest rate to fix up your house to improve the neighborhood.

How's that for some government pork? :)

Maybe time for a pool?

[nickg]

i have a small yard so an in/above ground pool of any substantial size is out of the question. but we do have one of those "Intex" pools -- the kind were you inflate the top ring and it automatically fills up. plenty of room for me and the wife to lay on our rafts while downing some cocktails.

too bad i had to take it down on sunday for the season!! :(

[jeny]

i have a small yard so an in/above ground pool of any substantial size is out of the question. but we do have one of those "Intex" pools -- the kind were you inflate the top ring and it automatically fills up. plenty of room for me and the wife to lay on our rafts while downing some cocktails.

too bad i had to take it down on sunday for the season!! :(


Nick, we got one of those Intex pools this summer too. It has been FANTASTIC. We thought about getting a pool, but didn;t want to spend the $20,000 plus to get it in a home we most likely won't be staying in for a very long time. It has been such a hot summer and Alexa and I were in that darn thing nearly every day. It is a perfect size to lie around and for me to take a toddler in.

[nickg]

jeny -- we got ours last year and since then about 3 other of my wife's friends got one. ours is only a 10 foot pool but who the hell cares? when it's 90 degrees you don't get any cooler in a big pool than you do in mine.

like i said, it's more than big enough for us to float on our rafts while we are relaxing. too bad the summer sucked this year with all the damn rain we had. didn't enjoy it as much as last year but it was still great to come home after work or after bustin' your butt working out in the yard in the hot sun and then taking a nice dip!!

we call it the "best $100 investment we ever made!!" ;D ;D

besides, it's a LOT less maintenance with the chemicals and filters with a smaller pool that's for sure!!

[jeny]

Right Nick, I like it because it takes 10 minutes to clean and hardly takes any chemicals. And, if in the years to come, I am nervous, due to their ages, that my kids might let themselves out of the house and drown, I can just not put it up that summer.

[nickg]

well we got 2 estimates down for now. another guy is coming over tomorrow.

i think we'll just end up getting the entry and screen doors at lowe's and let them install them. seems like that is cheaper than letting the siding/windows guy do it for some reason, though you think they would be cheaper if you are giving them a "package" deal to do everything.

oh well...whatever it takes.

looking forward to it though. can't wait to see what it looks like when it's all finished since i'm so used to seeing what the house has looked liked over the last 40 years since we first moved in there when i was a kid.

the new porches have added to the look of the house since they were built but man new siding and windows will help tremendously with giving it a new facelift...thank God!! ;D

UNFORTUNATELY i'm not one of those guys who knows how to do that shit or i'd do it myself and save a lot more money. too bad!!