The Garage Saga: Part 3

This is the third part of the Garage Saga series. If you missed part 1, and 2, you should start there first. 

Last time, we left off with the garage company not having us on their schedule. This was Wednesday, September 21st. The office called us back later that afternoon and said they could install Friday morning the 23rd. 

So my husband rearranged his PTO and swapped Thursday for Friday. On Friday morning, the installer arrived around 11:20 am and began installation. As he was installing, he informed us that there were no studs for a portion of the wall where the track was going to be installed so he would need a piece of wood. We told him we were not supplying this because we did not know we did not have studs behind the wall where the track would be. 

In addition to the lack of studs, he had also brought the incorrect length of track with him and it wasn't tall enough for what we needed it to be. So by 12:15 pm, he left, we had 15 holes drilled into our drywall, and no installation once again. My husband again called the company and explained to them this issue. He told them it was their job during the quoting process to figure out if everything was present - they are the experts. They should be telling us what we need, not the other way around. 

Holes shown in photo are larger than they appear.

On Friday afternoon, the office called back and told us they would be able to return on Saturday to complete the install. Third time's a charm? 🙄

On Saturday the 24th, the same installer arrived once again at 2:30 pm, and this, time he had the correct length of track as well as the wood we needed to make up for our lack of studs behind the drywall in that location. He immediately got to work taking out our existing garage track and swapping out the new ones.

I took the kids to church that afternoon while my husband stayed at home and supervised the install. At 6 o'clock as I was leaving church, my husband texted me that it was complete as well as a photo. I drove home with the kids and returned to a newly installed high-lift garage door. 

When we bought our house seven and a half years ago, we noticed the higher ceiling in the garage. At the time, it was also piled 10 feet high with the previous owner's stuff and a narrow walkway two sides around. I wish I had taken a photo of the mountain of possessions they'd shoved into the garage to show the house to sell. 

Before

Now, it has been modified so that we can potentially park four cars inside in the future. 

After

My husband has dreamed of this for years. I never thought much of it because it didn't appeal to me in any way and we didn't need more than two cars. I still drive the very same car I learned to drive on with my learner's permit as a high school student 🤷🏻‍♀️. I think this is more a testament to the reliability of my car than my driving skills, although my driving record is clean. 

I have to say, I love the high-lift more than I thought I would. The space feels larger. The opening and closing of the door itself is much quieter (I think most of this is due to a new system more so than changing to a high-lift). I feel like I'm driving into an industrial warehouse when I pull into our garage. It's actually really refreshing to come home to such a large space even before stepping foot into our house. 

It feels huge, even when the door is open.

Now, does the story end here? I. Wish. It. Did.

So on Saturday when the installation actually happened, they did not pick up the horizontal track for the garage door. The installer reused our old parts to complete the installation. When we called the office to notify them that the job was complete, my husband pointed this out to them and we did not pay our remaining balance because the work order had listed new parts to be used. If they didn't use the new parts, we weren't paying for them. The manager was not in at 6 o'clock on a Saturday so we were told to call back Monday to discuss the issue.

On Monday, September 26, my husband was working all day so he did not get a chance to call the office until 5:00 pm. The manager was gone by then, but at least we had called to show that we are doing our part. On Tuesday, September 27, he received a phone call from the manager at 8:25 am and they spoke for 5 minutes. 

She informed us that without using new parts for the install, they would not honor their warranty. In order to swap out the parts, they would need to send out their installer again with the necessary part, uninstall what's currently installed and swap the parts. I have no problem with them doing that, but I think from a business perspective, it is in their best interest to not waste their time doing so and to leave the part, honor the warranty, and give us a discount. That's just my personal opinion viewing this situation in what's best for both parties. 

As of today, Thursday the 29th, this has not been concluded. 

A saga, indeed. 

The Garage Saga: Part 2

If you missed part 1, read it here.

I waited nearly 24 hours for a response from Electrician #1 we were going to hire to compensate for the handyman who flaked on us. I never got one. So I searched online again and called another highly related company (Company A).

He picked up the phone on a Saturday and spoke with me about what we needed. I told him we were on a time crunch and needed this done by Wednesday of next week. He said they had some time Tuesday morning and they could come by and take a look. He did not give me a quote over the phone because he said all projects are different and they'd give the quote after looking at our specific house and project. I thought that was logical and fine and left it at that.

I texted Electrician #1 back, notifying him we would no longer be needing him because I did not receive confirmation he was going to try to get us on the schedule. Now this text he responded to in a timely manner. Strange why he didn't even text me an "ok" after my text the day before...

If he had only responded to my text promptly like he did
to all my other texts....he might have gotten hired for the job. 

The electrician Jonathan contacted (Electrician #2), did not respond with his availability until Sunday evening, and by that point we had already scheduled with Company A. We told him Monday that we had already booked with someone else.

On Tuesday, September 20th,  Company A came out to our house in the morning. Before he came, I received a text message with the name of the technician and a license number. Out of curiosity (and probably a good habit to be in), I looked up the number on the Texas Department Licensing and Registration (TDLR) website. The license number pulled up the company name but not the electrician himself. I called the office to inquire about this and was told it should have had the electrician's license number. She hung up saying she'd call me back after she figured out what was going on. I never got a call back. When he arrived, I asked him about this and told him I couldn't find his name or license number on the TDLR website. I asked him if he could show me his license. He couldn't because he didn't have it with him. The closest thing he could show me to prove himself as a licensed professional was an email dated January 2022 confirming his renewal for an apprentice electrician license. 

We put aside the license situation for a while and had him give us a quote for our project. Originally, we were wanting one outlet installed, but then it occurred to my husband if he wanted to complete the project in its entirety and plan ahead, we would actually need two. Company A gave us their quote and we looked at each other in shock. There was no way we were paying that much money for two outlets. I even asked the electrician if he could complete the job right then and there, and he gave me some wishy-washy answer which wasn't a confident yes**. After an hour and a half of going back and forth trying to see if there was any way we could get the price lower, we paid him his service fee and he left. 

My husband called Electrician #2 back and ask him if he still had availability for Wednesday. He said he did and could do the job for us and quoted us less than 1/3 of the price of Company A. Electrician #2 was also a master electrician and we were able to search and verify his license on the TDLR website. 

Electrician #2 called my husband later that day, Tuesday afternoon, and actually told him he finished his other jobs early and could arrive to install the outlets for us shortly. He arrived around 2:30 that afternoon and was done in an hour and a half. The same amount of time we spent going back and forth with the electrician from Company A was how long it took Electrician #2 to complete the job and charge us 1/3 of the price for it. 😐

We finally had two new outlets installed in the garage. The rest of it was smooth sailing, right?

Wrong.

On Wednesday, September 21, my husband called the installation company just to confirm the following day's installation schedule. When he called the company, they told him we were not on the schedule. 😳 We had paid the deposit of half the project cost over a month ago in August and my husband was told that the requested date (September 22nd) would be submitted for approval. 

What we were not told was that our request for that date was denied on their end and we weren't actually on their schedule at all. 😱

Tune in next time for part 3.

**I did my own research later and found that anyone with an apprentice electrician's license here needs to work under the supervision of a master electrician. I don't believe this company intended on sending anyone else out with him to complete the job so there's some questionable stuff there. 

The Garage Saga: Part 1

Preface: If you know what kind of degree I have, you'll know that I value good communication skills with proper grammar as a plus. If you know what kind of person I am, you'll know I am very thorough and think through multiple perspectives when possible.

Let the saga begin....

***

On July 21, I sent a text message to one of our neighbors who is a handyman in the area. I asked if he could install a new outlet for us in the garage. He came over a few days later to look at our project and told me he could do it in his spare time because he was busy with projects during the week. We weren't in a rush, so we agreed to have him do this for us.

On August 5, I sent him a text message seeing if he was available between the 13th and the 27th of the month to add the outlet for us because we needed to schedule with the installation company. No response. On the 19th of the month, we had another handyman over to work on a separate project for us. Just before the handyman finished, I heard a knock at the door. Turns out, it was our neighbor handyman. I went outside to speak with him, and he asked me if I still needed his help with our project. I told him we did. He lifted his arm to show me that his arm was in a sling. He had hurt his shoulder and would need time to recover. I told him that was fine, we had scheduled our project install date for late September so he had time. He told me that would work and would get back with me.

On September 7, I texted him again and said, "Our installation is September 22, so there's two more weekends before that install. Let me know if you haven't fully recovered yet so we have time to find someone else if needed. Thank you."

His reply: I will get im [sic] out of town until Saturday.

some punctuation would help...

I specifically worded my text to give him an out if he needed one without feeling guilty. And he didn't take it! So....I trusted him to get back with me. 

On September 16, I texted him again and said very directly, "let me know when you're going to install the outlet this weekend so we can plan around that time. Thanks." He sent me a reply two hours later, the fastest reply I'd received from him in the last nearly two months of choppy communication.

"Hay [sic] I just had my arm worked on and cant [sic] lift it above my head fo 2 weeks. So if you need to get someone else it's ok im [sic] sorry I didn't tell you before.

...hay is what cows eat...🙄

Anyone else infuriated? This is supposed to be a professional. And this was what I got. Absolutely ridiculous. This was Friday September 16th. We had 6 days to find someone else to do this for us.

I texted another electrician (Electrician #1) I found online. He told me his quote and said he could rearrange his jobs the following week to accommodate if needed. My husband called an electrician (Electrician #2) he had found online. We told him we needed the job done by Wednesday. He told my husband he would get back with him about his availability.

At 4:30 pm that day, I told Electrician #1 that we wanted to choose him for our job and asked him to tell me his earliest availability for the next week. All day he had been great about responding to my texts in a timely manner. But after I sent this one to him, I got nothing.

I waited nearly 24 hours and then....(to be continued)

Gardening Updates

 This summer, I tried gardening again. We started by buying pots and planting seeds. Unintentionally, my "trying" turned into multiple different attempts for different plants. We are currently on attempt number 3 at basil. I last wrote about this in May. This is a continuation of that blog but can stand alone if you're just now tuning in. 

My original pot of basil seeds started to sprout, but something wasn't right about the growing conditions and so they failed to really take off. My little sprouts stayed sprouts for what felt like months and then they died off. Later, they started to grow again, but then my biggest sprout was nibbled before it had a chance to continue growing. For attempt number 2, I used a different soil mix to start my seeds. However, the temperature was much higher so the combination of the elements once again did not yield proper sprouting.

Attempt number 3 was actually an accident. I had mixed soils with ungerminated seeds when moving plants (yes...that's a big no no in gardening but I did it anyway) and then I saw the basil finally sprouting. Rather than pluck them out for the trash, I decided to repot them in little cups to continue growing. Risky as they could have died in the process, but I didn't have anything to lose at that point.

Since it is now mid-September and our temperatures feel more like comfortable summer temperatures instead of scorching ovens, these seeds were able to sprout and germinate.  

Let's see how big they can grow before temps drop below 60.

My other plant babies were my peppers. 

My original pepper plants which had sprouted from saved seeds have grown into very large plants. I did not top off my pepper plants this year just to see what would happen out of curiosity. Various gardeners online gave mixed advice as to whether or not you should. I decided not to because I wanted to see what the plants would do just growing on their own. Because I did not top off, my plants ended up with a taller Y split and ended up being very tall plants overall. 

These pepper plants have endured a lot with me. They started out in pots. These pots were moved to the side of the house when our patio was being installed. Then, these pots came back to the patio with me. After a few weeks, these peppers moved back to the side because of the intense heat. During our sprinkler installation, these plants were moved back to the patio again to evade the workers and their digging. After the sprinklers were installed, these plants endured a transplanting into their permanent home now in our raised bed planter with designated sprinkler system zone.

Half of these plants were revived from the dead...that's another story.

After a really hot summer, I finally saw baby bell peppers sprouting. 

Can you spot the pepper?

It was a beautiful sight. I think I was almost as heart-warmed seeing peppers growing on my plants as when my first baby was born....but not quite. I watched these peppers grow and counted them every few days to see if new ones were coming. 

And then some got eaten. That was a bad day when I discovered gnawed-off stems where I knew baby peppers were. 

I consulted some friends for advice, did some research online, and found a way to cover the peppers so animals couldn't just eat the fruit off the stem so easily. I used some plastic netting that comes with a package of Asian noodle thread I buy. (Anyone already know which one I'm talking about?) I wrapped up my peppers with the netting and used a twist tie to secure it closed. 

My husband said it looked like they had pink wedding veils on. What a great description. I hope this will deter whatever was eating my peppers long enough that I can take a bite out of one of my peppers before this year ends. They still need 2-3 weeks minimum to grow bigger before I should pick them. 

End of post advice from this experience:

1. I'll probably top-off my peppers in the future just to have shorter plants and a lower Y split, especially if I want to overwinter the plant for next year's growing season. 

2. Saving random things comes in handy if you have the space and capacity to store them in an organized fashion without turning into piles of junk.

3. I'm very proud of my pepper plants. They've been through a lot, and they've pulled through. 

Consumables

I've never been a fan of consumables. Specifically for this post, I would be referring to stickers. Are stickers fun? Yes! Are stickers cute? Yes! Would I buy stickers for my children to play with? Nope. The reason is logical but narrow-minded. I specifically don't like buying things like stickers because they end up stuck on pieces of paper or items, and the pieces of paper will eventually get thrown away. 

So why are there so many stickers at my house? I've bought stickers to teach. As early as 11 years ago, I purchased reward stickers for my classroom when I was a student teacher. I used a handful here and there and had leftover which I saved and carried over to my future teaching positions. I still buy stickers to teach. I go through multiple stickers a day and about every 2-3 weeks I need a new sheet. For teaching, I buy bulk ones so they last me at least a year if not multiple years. 

A few years ago, my Christmas gift to my students included a few sheets of stickers each. I had tons leftover because when I bought the set, even though it was advertised as 232 pieces, almost half of the bundle was sticker sheets. 

Only two shiny sheets left...

My children recently discovered stickers. I know, they're very late to the game. I've held off for a long time. It started after a friend babysat for us. They took the kids out on errands and bought them stickers from one of the stores. After that, we noticed how entertained they were by stickers. I remembered my extra stash from Christmas stored away and pulled them out again for the kids to play with. They loved it! I could even teach a 30 minute lesson while they busily pulled off stickers and pressed them onto a blank piece of paper without being bothered. I’ve been able to take a shower without fear of my child tearing down the house. We can make it through a meal at a restaurant without fussy children.

My son's stickers on stickers. 

Specifically, my children love the stickers that are shiny and holographic. They're very keen on this - they prefer the "fancier" stickers and always ask for those first. It's not a taught skill. I didn't teach them to preference the shiny stickers. They just naturally figured it out. Sadly, we are down to the last two sheets of the shiny stickers. My daughter asked me a few days ago if I would buy her more stickers. I went online to look for sheets of shiny stickers and I couldn't find anything like what I wanted.

My daughter, on the other hand, is very organized.
I did not teach her to do this...but she probably inherited my type A 😅

All I want is a sheet of the shiny holographic-type stickers in bulk. And I couldn't find it. I'm actually pretty close to just buying the Christmas stationery set again which included stickers and just save the rest of the pieces for other purposes. 

My daughter also uses the outsides of her stickers now. She learned it from us because we would peel the outside off first so our son could peel his own stickers without the border pieces. 

So my perspective on consumables has broadened. Although they will all eventually end up in the trash, what they afford me along the way is more valuable to me as a parent: time to shower in peace, eating at a restaurant calmly, being able to not have my children say "mommy" 10x in a row and leave me alone for 10 minutes, fostering my children's creativity. I'm sure a child therapist or psychologist could go on and on about why consumables, although not financially efficient, are a wonderful "toy" for children. 

Do you buy your kids consumables? How has it saved your sanity?