Gun Shy Consumer

I think I've figured out why I'm not moving ahead on house stuff this week. I plan on going down to several places that specialize in bathroom remodels and window replacement, but I just can't get myself into the car and locate these businesses to ask about estimates, etc. The fact is, after dropping $155,000 in cash for the house, I'm feeling reluctant to go dropping sums in the thousands of dollars for things like bathroom remodeling and window replacement (both things that are really needed and not just vanity upgrades.

Even though there's plenty of money in the bank to carry me through at two years of non-income and still allow for these upgrades, I'm just gun shy to make them happen. One reason for the hesitation is I haven't had the electrician in yet to check out the wiring in the house. I know there are several issues that the home inspector pointed out, but I'd like to have the new lighting fixtures and fans up before I have him come in and check out the rest of the house. I'm worried that he'll find something major that will cost thousands to repair (which I doubt).

Sunrise hits the Lutheran church at around
5 o'clock on a Sunday morning, hours
before the bells toll at 8 for services.

Once again, it's that attraction to cataclysmic expectations that I'm so fond of.  But rather than wringing my hands over the unknown, I've decided to approach all this with a speculative air this week, going into the businesses to simply discuss my ideas and get ballpark estimates, rather than nailing down start dates right now. Then, this Saturday, Jim and Emily and I will be putting up the new lighting and I'll have the electrician in the next week to do the small fixes and let me know if there are any big fixes (i.e., replacing old wiring) that will be required; also, finding out how much it will cost if I need to bring in an extra circuit for the soaking tub in the new bathroom.

Also this Saturday is Natalie's birthday party in Winona, so we will have a cutoff time with putting up the new lighting/fans. I already have my birthday present for her. I only hope she likes it. The party is actually a family pizza feed. Her real party is going to a water park on Sunday, which I do not plan to attend, since I fry like a shrimp on the barbie if exposed to direct sunlight for more than 20 minutes. Sun block doesn't seem to do too much to mitigate the cooking of flesh; perhaps I'm just not using the proper brand.

The car's due for a lube and oil, so checking out local mechanics is another thing I need to add to the to-do list. Once that's done, I also have to register it here in Wisconsin and get myself a local driver's license, to boot (according to their DMV website, I probably won't have to take any sort of test; they just kind of swap out the new license for my California one).

Then the biggie: getting health insurance here. This means going through the Obamacare website, since Wisconsin did not set up its own insurance scheme like California did. The premiums will be higher and the government supplement will be lower, but it makes sense to get it. For now, I still have the Californian policy in force, and I have another month to find coverage here. I've been online and have an idea of which plans I want to seriously check out, but that will require a call to the insurance companies themselves for a fuller explanation of the coverage plans. It's enough to make you move to Canada and renounce your citizenship.

I'm starting to mesh with the timetable of the house: what time in the morning to close things up to keep the house cool all day (gotta love those brick walls!) and when to open up in the evenings and kick on the ceiling fans so that things are cooled of by bedtime. Of course, humidity levels affect the schedule, and there's always the air conditioning, but I've discovered that the AC unit can only handle one floor at a time: it either cools the downstairs or the upstairs, but not both at the same time. Luckily the registers are all easily accessible and fair efficient at closing down the air flow. Even then, I've only used it once or twice since I moved in.

Independence Day is coming up, and I'm not sure what La Crosse does to celebrate, but I'm sure there are activities galore and, I'm hoping, some fireworks. It won't be the Rose Bowl display by any means, but I'll take the smaller crowds and the smaller display anytime.

So, once more, lots of non-news. Which is a good thing, I suppose. No news is good news but non-news is just kind of boring. But, hey; it gives you something vacuous to read, and that's a good thing.