Saturday, September 16, 2006

Cul serré

I swear I wasn't fishing for compliments yesterday, but it sure was nice to receive them!

The goal this weekend is to finish the bathroom. The problem with our apartment is that we renovated everything but didn't really finish. So a couple walls are still unpatched and painted, there are lots of moldings and baseboards to install. The piddly jobs that we procrastinated on for over a year. (Yes I know that's not a complete sentence.)

We already had a row over the "finishing". Our disputes always go something like this:

Spouse: We have to replace the baseboard heater in the bedroom.

Me: Why? It works fine.

Spouse: It's old and it's going to break soon. Plus look how ugly it is. A new white one will look so much better.

Me: It's a rental unit! Why replace something that works.

Spouse: It's forty dollars. That's nothing.

Me: It's wrong thinking is what it is. This is a business. We live in a shitty neighborhood. There's no point in styling out the place.

Spouse: I'll pay for it.

Me: Pfft.

I imagine this conversation will play out in many forms in the coming weeks. I think I feel my inner tightwad surfacing.

17 comments:

Jack said...

We are always eager to start a new project, but it's funny how we run out of steam right before finishing it.

I think we're all the same.

Spouse is right BTW. Change it now, and you won't have to get someone to come when the appartment is rented.

I meant it, if you guys need help...

Lemuel said...

I recalll seeing a "vid" on someone's blog that was a (Canadian?) ad entitled "What's wrong with gay marriage" and it featured two guys in bed grabbing the covers from each other in their sleep. It ends with the simple statement: "The same thing that's wrong with any marriage." I thought it was so clever and true at the time.

Your dispute over the heater reminded me of that. It only proves that you're really married.

On the side, though, I guess I do not understand rented apartments. If you guys are renting this from a landlord, I would have thought that the heater (and the remodel) would have been the responsibility of the landlord. Maybe I missed something and that you guys own the place in which you now live.

Nicki said...

It's usually experience if the place looks nicer, you'll attract better tenants, and the odds of them caring for the place better increases.

Spend the $40.

Doug said...

Rest assured, Torn, we are all the same. There are so many little projects that sit 90% complete around our house, it's sometimes depressing. *hugs*

Btw, I don't think "Pfft." is a complete sentence, either.

A Bear in the Woods said...

Don't you just love it when other people spend your money? Be sure ti give in if your start to feel that burning, tingling sensation down there. You're the only fellow I know that manages to make hemmorhoids sexy. It's a gift, I suppose. BTW,I sent something in the mail for you. I hope it will get to you at your old addy.

Doug said...

Oh, and thanks for the ongoing French lessons. I'm learning all sorts of great phrases!

Chunks said...

Maybe I should put a for sale sign up at my house and someone would get inspired enough to finish our little projects.

Let spouse pay for it. Then you will both get what you want, in a way.

I think you should post a picture of what it is you two are fighting about and then we can make better, more informed opinions of whose side we are going to take. HAHAH!

Jane said...

Glad you can see the humour in the situation.

Spend the $40. The suggestion about attracting better tenants is a good one.

The investment will pay off in the end.

GayProf said...

Well, in some ways it sounds like you and Spouse will keep each other in check from steering too far in one direction over another. It’s all about balance, no?

Kalv1n said...

I agree comletely. I can't get JR to stop doing things like this. In our last place he replaced the counter top, repainted the entire unit, refinished the floors, and oh, I can't remember. And then the LL didn't want to give a full return on our deposit. I think I was vindicated. What a bitch that LL was. Stand your ground. And isn't writing a sentence fragment occasionally a lovely indulgence that just spreads a grin across your face (for me it's starting sentences with and).

CoffeeDog said...

Oh our house remains virtually unfurnished because we cannot go furniture shopping w/o starting WWIII.

Freak has a point....so $40 might make a difference.

Chris said...

There's something about using the word "row" to describe an argument that makes it sound so much more sophisticated. I really enjoy your writing. :)

Sam said...

I see your comments Kavin! I have to live there and I dont enjoy living in a dump. Maybe that's Spouse's angle too. On the LL she hated the color of the kitchen, that was why we eneded up fighting over tehe deposit. And to clarify, I got almost all of the deposit back. I hate her! That place was 200% better than when i moved in. She was in Thailand buying little boys and had handed her properties over to someone else who approved the color choices. Her own handy man was thrilled about what I had done to the place. She always kept everyone's deposit I heard, form people who knew her, always. She is a slum lord and when she returned to the states and even came over she was fine with it all until it came time to return the money she had hoped she could keep. Thanks to prepiad legal, well just having it i never actually had to have them call her, I got 90% of the money back.

Now Im headed for home depot for a new faucet. I hate this one and it doenst have a spray attachment. That will teach you Kalvin! I also hate these whote walls... I just have to make sure i cant get kicked out of my rent controlled apartment if I paint first before i make a move.

Sunshine said...

Ok, I'm a bloody yoyo - I'm with you on this one. It's a rental property, so why spend the money? Then again, it's tax-deductible, not to mention you live on these premises. Ok, I'm doing another yoyo - maybe you should just bite the bullet, if you have to look at it every day. Man, I don't know. This stuff is hard. :P

Anonymous said...

How do you go about changing a baseboard heater?

-Jason.

dpaste said...

Any conversation that ends in "Pfft" is worth having just for the sheer joy of going "Pfft."

Patricia said...

ok i can tell i like you both because as i'm reading, i'm thinking, well... serge has a good point. then i continue reading and think, well wait, richard has a good point too. back and forth like a ping pong match i go and then i smile when we all end up at pfft.