Bronx Girl Knits!

Mathews' Big Move Part II

Sunday, my new best friend Stanley the plumber came over with a his colleague and spent most of the day fixing one toilet or another. By the end of the day, lo and behold we had a working toilet. At this point it was only the downstairs one, the mortar in the floor had to dry in the upstairs bathroom before he could put that toilet back.

He came back on Monday to finish the upstairs toilet, and then spent the rest of the day replacing my gas line. I told you he was my new best friend. Now I won't be so vulgar as to discuss how much this all cost me but I will say that dear Stanley gave me a "pity discount". Ok he didn't call it that but he took $700 off the bill simply because he felt bad that we had just moved in. Tuesday he called Con Ed and they came and inspected the work and turned on the gas. Whoo hoo, hot water. It was a revelation. Stanley told me that I had to get the chimney cleaned as soon as possible because we didn't know if it was obstructed. I called the chimney people and they said the earliest they would come was Thursday. I said fine. We went out on Tuesday evening to run some errands and when I came home there was a note in the mail slot from Stanley. It said, "call me". I called and poor Stanley was sitting in his house desperately worried that the chimney was obstructed and carbon monoxide would build up in the house. I assured him that I had not 1 but 2 carbon monoxide detectors. This seemed to make him feel better but he said he was going to call the chimney people and tell them they needed to come the next day. I love this dude!

On Wednesday I'm at work and my mother in law is home when the chimney people come. Now Stanley had warned me that they would say I need the chimney lined but that's what they always say and he didn't think I really needed it. Of course my mother in law called me a little while after they arrived and the gentleman on the phone said he believed I needed my chimney lined, big surprise. I hemmed and hawed and he said he would hold his judgment until they got up to the roof. When he called back he said the chimney had never been lined and there was only a bit of clay lining right at the top. Once they started cleaning pieces of the chimney started to fall down. My mother in law told me that it was quite bad, she could hear them as they fell through the kitchen wall. Ok...now I needed to decide whether or not to believe this guy. In the end I had it lined. Here's my rationalization, see if you like it, The people who lived in this house over the years (it's 80 years old) seem to have only patched things as they went along. The pipes, the gas line seemingly the chimney. The only way I could know for sure the state of things was if I got it done myself. Did the chimney need to be lined? I don't know for sure, but 10 years from now no one can tell me it does because I got it done. I feel more secure that way.

Once that was done it was over. I currently still have a hole in my kitchen wall and ceiling but the contractors who originally worked on the house have been in to look at it and will be repairing it shortly, at the seller's expense I may add. We had the landscaper come in and clean up the yard. There is still tons of cleaning to do , the deck and the front area need to be cleaned and painted and on and on and on. But it's mine and we're very happy with it. Besides I have a house now I can't afford to go out on weekends, I'll need all these projects to keep me busy.

Since this is a knitting blog, here's a quick update on my projects. Rinaldo's ribbed scarf is done and I started a pair of wool socks for Tashie. She made the crew team and needs them to keep her feet warm and dry. I was ecstatic since that was just the project I was looking for. Quick and easy socks on size 7s. Rinaldo ordered me a new cable for the camera so I hope to share cruise pictures with you shortly.