June 21, 2011

Go to trade school: Don't get tricked

So it's summer, and that means our air conditioning stopped working. Of course!


Once you're up to date, let me tell you our current story. 

Two weeks ago, I called Landmark AC to have someone come out to do a diagnostic check of our system. Is it working? Does it need freon? Tell me if I really need a new cooling coil like the guy said last October, etc., etc. It had been working pretty well. It couldn't keep up with the most recent really hot days, and so we wanted to know where we stood with the unit. 

A new guy came out. Let's call him Tim. He said our system looked great. He said it was a little dirty, and he asked for bleach. He opened up part of the interior workings and poured in it. He also did a chemical rinse on the outside unit. I specifically asked him about the freon and any other issues he saw. 

He said our system was perfect. It was at least half a ton too small for our square footage, but we knew that. He said that the unit was practically as good as new (it's about 8 years old), and he said he had no recommendations other than the cleaning, which he performed. 

Should I mention that I loved him already? 

To recap, two different people from the same company had separately told us we needed a new cooling coil and a new transformer. One of the previous people told us we needed a cooling coil because our freon was leaking. According to Tim, we didn't even need to be topped off on our freon....so no leak from last October. 

I paid Tim for his time, and we felt great. 

This Monday, two weeks from Tim's visit, our upstairs stopped blowing air. Totally stopped. Our downstairs still blew air, but upstairs, not so much. 

I called Landmark AC, and requested someone to come back out. I reminded them that Tim had just been out and said our unit was in perfect condition. The lady on the phone said, "well, our computer shows that you need a new cooling coil from last October. Have you gotten that done yet?"

"No," I said. "Because, Tim said everything was fine two weeks ago." {Said not in a nice voice}

The lady said she would send Tim back out that same day. 

I called Chris and begged him to come deal with this. My entire summer last year was defined by dealing with the air conditioner. I just couldn't handle it any more. Thankfully, he was able to oblige me. 

I had a late evening client meeting that day, and so the rest of this story is told according to Chris. 

Tim inspected our system, and he observed that the upstairs was not blowing. 

He did some investigating, and he told Chris, "It may be your damper."

We replaced that last year. 

Hmmm, okay let me look more. It could be your circuit board.

We replaced that last year. 

Well, let me check your freon again. Nope, there's no leak.

So, that 'you need to buy a new cooling coil for $1600' from your colleague was a lie. 

Finally, Tim said, I THINK IT'S FAULTY WIRING. 

Tim says, "The faulty wiring would mean that the unit isn't getting the right information from the thermostat, and so it doesn't always know when to shut the dampers and blow more air."

OOooooooohhhhhhh

Tim stripped the corresponding wire, plugged it back it, and cold air blew upstairs. 

Seriously? 

Chris asked Tim why the previous people would have basically "made up" issues with our unit. 

"We get paid on a percentage of each house visit," he says. "The more you need us, the more we're paid. And, they probably didn't think about the wiring."

OOoooooohhhhhh

Tim charged us a tiny fee for his time (he actually spent 2 hours at the house, but charged us for much less), and we still have cold air upstairs. 

Could this be true? Could our air conditioning be just fine? Could this be over? 

Dear Tim, make it true!



June 19, 2011

Girls paint the town

Last week, my girls group got together to go to a guided painting class. Thank goodness for the guided part because I'm no painter. There were several paintings to choose between, but all the girls chose the same one. This one was painted by the director as the example: 


We could each change the colors to what we wanted. I decided I wanted to paint it to match our guest bedroom. Here's mine in process. 


When we finished up, we took a group picture. I love how they all look so good, but so different. 


Here's my finished one hung in the room. (I didn't work hard enough on this photo because you can see the reflection from the glass-top dresser on the wall.)


I painted that!


It even has fancy texture on the trees.


One final shot of the room. Sorry, with glare again.


June 16, 2011

Furmination


No one has been terminated or begun their own country. I'm talking about The Furminator.

It's this amazing deshedding tool that we use on Grace and Porter. Porter is the best illustrative subject because he loves to be furminated.   


The Furminator brushes all the hair that would eventually fall on our floor and furniture and be picked up by our vacuum


All that hair is just from a few swipes through his coat. I love this thing!


In other Porter news, he's taken to our new dining room table and chairs.


 It's Porter approved!



**This is not a paid promotion for Furminator. I just love it!

June 13, 2011

Ode to old friends

So long old friend. 



You've been with us for six years, and you've held many an important person. 



But recently, you've given out a little, and that's okay. You're getting older. 



And, truth be told, you and your friends never really fit in well with our new house. I'm not saying it was a color issue but...



And, so while we're sad to see you go, we'll remember you like our friend Charlie did: "I've never seen a table foster so many long conversations." So true, my friend. 

As you and your friends are leaving to go live in the attic (except your truly broken brother who is out by the trash), please pass along some wisdom of the ages to the new folks.



We want to be sure they keep your memory alive and host lots of long conversations and delicious meals. 


We think they'll fit into the family nicely because it appears we found a long lost cousin of Coffee Table. They both seem to have similar features.






So here's to you, six-year-old dining room set from Sam's. May the attic treat you kindly, and may your replacements uphold your honor. 



June 11, 2011

June 7, 2011

My readers have spoken

Never say I don't listen to you, dear readers. We purchased a Dyson!



Recently, I put out an all-call to my readers for input on vacuums. Who loves their vacuum? Who wants to throw it down a flight of stairs, etc.? And do you know what? The only people I heard from were people who own Dysons. They really love their vacuums, and they wanted me to know that uprights are okay; bagless is cool; and Dysons are worth the money. 

This really caught my attention. So Chris and I did some research, and we decided to take the plunge. We basically purchased exactly the opposite of what we had: we had a bagged, canister vacuum. 

Once we decided which Dyson we wanted, I went and did what I do best: find a deal!

Turned out that Sears had the Dyson the cheapest, and if you ordered it online and picked it up at the store, it was even cheap. DONE!

That was Sunday. 

Monday night I had a work event, and so I put together the Dyson and let Chris have the first go with it while I was gone. 

I wished I had asked him to take photos. He reports that he filled the dirt canister twice. Once from the upstairs and once from the downstairs. 

So today when I got home, I had a go with it. 

I vacuumed the upstairs and then the down. Then I saw this: 


What is all that?


So I did what any normal person would do. I took the dirt canister outside and investigated it. 


Here's the first thing I saw as I slowly opened it. Dirt. Real, actual live dirt. 


A lot of it. 


Then hair. Brown hair. Wonder where that came from....Grace.....


A lot of it. 


Now remember that Chris had vacuumed the entire house just yesterday evening. There was a whole lot more in the dirt canister but I didn't want to dump it all out because I didn't want to pick it all back up. Nor did I want it wafting through my backyard. So just imagine. There was more. 



Then I looked around the filter and saw a ring of dirt and hair. AHA! I thought. What a terrible design. I'm going to have to clean that out with a chopstick or something. 


Then, I took it to our big trash can, opened the dirt canister and gave it a little whack on the side of the can. The ring of hair? Yeah, it just fell out. Oh. Cool. So, no chopsticks, then? That's cool. 

I think what you call us is converts. Thanks, Dyson. We'll leave the dirt to you. 



June 2, 2011

A Compromise

If you'll remember, I redid the guest bedroom with new bedding and a lamp. You can see the entire post here. 

The finished project looked like this: 



We lived with it for a while, and Chris mentioned that maybe we could tone it down a bit. So I went on the hunt for a woven blanket or quilt that I could use to break things up a bit. 

Finally, I found one from Peacock Alley that was tremendously discounted, and I snatched it up!


Here you can see the sheets, blanket and comforter.


I think the added layer really works.


Porter still likes it too. 

A Compromise

If you'll remember, I redid the guest bedroom with new bedding and a lamp. You can see the entire post here. 

The finished project looked like this: 



We lived with it for a while, and Chris mentioned that maybe we could tone it down a bit. So I went on the hunt for a woven blanket or quilt that I could use to break things up a bit. 

Finally, I found one from Peacock Alley that was tremendously discounted, and I snatched it up!


Here you can see the sheets, blanket and comforter.


I think the added layer really works.


Porter still likes it too. 

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