You Can’t Do It, We Can’t Help
In 1977 – 1978 my parents built a home in Lake Elsinore. This house was build some 30 years ago to be the place where my parents retired. Retiring it is. My father had a thing for wood. And every square inch that could be paneled, stained or shuttered was. After he passed away in 2004 I moved my things from storage, then in Van Nuys, to my father’s home until I could figure out what to do with
my life.
In 1977 – 1978 my parents built a home in Lake Elsinore. This house was build some 30 years ago to be the place where my parents retired. Retiring it is. My father had a thing for wood. And every square inch that could be paneled, stained or shuttered was. After he passed away in 2004 I moved my things from storage, then in Van Nuys, to my father’s home until I could figure out what to do with
my life. 
In 2005 I moved all of my things into storage again and there they sat until I relocated to Houston in 2006 where I lived for a year. With promise of a new career in Salt Lake City with a new non-profit cable broadcaster, I again packed my things up and put them in storage, in January of 2007.
When I arrived in Salt Lake I discovered, after being there for three weeks, that things were not going as planned and the funding they were hoping for fell through, but I was assured that it would be in place, likely before May.
Okay. What do I do until then.
The house in Lake Elsinore had been on the market for a while, and it had been reduced in price by $150,000 without much action. As you can tell from the “before” photos, it would take a very particular type of person to want to buy this property.
I thought, oh, I’ll just go stay at the house in Lake Elsinore until the job in Salt Lake comes through. Good idea. Free rent.
However, what I failed to realize is that the house was staged, and it didn’t have cable TV, a phone or internet connection – in fact, it didn’t even have a TV yet alone dishes.
Well, May came and went and still no news from Salt Lake so I thought I’d better find something to do with my life. Clearly thinking that I’d find something in L.A. and move back there, I thus began my job search.
And I did. Find a job, that is. But what I didn’t realize is Lake Elsinore is like the Bermuda Triangle, once you’re here, you can’t leave.
In January of this year I became resolved that it looked like I’d be in the house until property values improved, and, tired of paying the $250 a month for my things in storage in Houston, resolved to take it out of storage, and move it to Lake Elsinore.
I had bought all new living room furniture and den furniture when I moved to Houston, and I realized that it was not going to go with the style of the wood paneled walls. As I reviewed in one of my earlier blogs, covering the paneling was more of a task than I had realized it was going to be.
Knowing that my things were going to be delivered on or about April 15, I set upon a quest to redo the living – dining room in February, thinking I’d have it finished before the furniture arrived.
No such luck.
So, long story short, a task that I thought was going to take a couple of weeks to accomplish, ended up taking almost 4 months, with the final boxes being put away or unpacked last Sunday, June 21st.
So, there you have it! My next project is going to be the landscaping, but I think I’ll have my head examined before I begin that one!
When I arrived in Salt Lake I discovered, after being there for three weeks, that things were not going as planned and the funding they were hoping for fell through, but I was assured that it would be in place, likely before May.
Okay. What do I do until then.
The house in Lake Elsinore had been on the market for a while, and it had been reduced in price by $150,000 without much action. As you can tell from the “before” photos, it would take a very particular type of person to want to buy this property.
I thought, oh, I’ll just go stay at the house in Lake Elsinore until the job in Salt Lake comes through. Good idea. Free rent.
However, what I failed to realize is that the house was staged, and it didn’t have cable TV, a phone or internet connection – in fact, it didn’t even have a TV yet alone dishes.
Well, May came and went and still no news from Salt Lake so I thought I’d better find something to do with my life. Clearly thinking that I’d find something in L.A. and move back there, I thus began my job search.
And I did. Find a job, that is. But what I didn’t realize is Lake Elsinore is like the Bermuda Triangle, once you’re here, you can’t leave.
In January of this year I became resolved that it looked like I’d be in the house until property values improved, and, tired of paying the $250 a month for my things in storage in Houston, resolved to take it out of storage, and move it to Lake Elsinore.
I had bought all new living room furniture and den furniture when I moved to Houston, and I realized that it was not going to go with the style of the wood paneled walls. As I reviewed in one of my earlier blogs, covering the paneling was more of a task than I had realized it was going to be.
Knowing that my things were going to be delivered on or about April 15, I set upon a quest to redo the living – dining room in February, thinking I’d have it finished before the furniture arrived.
No such luck.
So, long story short, a task that I thought was going to take a couple of weeks to accomplish, ended up taking almost 4 months, with the final boxes being put away or unpacked last Sunday, June 21st.
So, there you have it! My next project is going to be the landscaping, but I think I’ll have my head examined before I begin that one!
Hi Jack,
ReplyDeleteNice thing about landscaping, for you, in July, is that it's a Spring Thing. You have lots of time to think about it before you had off to Lowe's for a wheelbarrow and manure.
The old-new house looks great! Now what about all those Lake Elsinore dogs barking all night!