Featured

The New Economy – by Chris Scott (Paige’s husband)

Okay girls, after reading your latest blogs, it’s time for me to weigh in.  

I finally sold my parent’s house (unbelievable in today’s world) and my parents actually did quite well.   Maybe it’s because they live next to “Bob” (see blog post “Maybe Bob is Right”) and he has all of the spam and whiskey (but unfortunately no gold), or maybe we just got lucky.   Who knows, but they are out of there.   I was there today reviewing the 72 items that the buyers’ inspector cited that “had to be repaired if we are even going to consider gracing you at the closing table” (we agreed to fix 35 of them including the huge bee hive that had grown under their siding (didn’t know that this could happen but it does) and they graciously and reluctantly agreed to proceed with closing.  

Note: as a part of my new duties at work I am partially responsible for fixing up our problem/foreclosed houses and have found that most ask for far more than they expect to get.  

Note to home sellers—and this is key if you are selling a house— hook in the wife and you are set.   The husband is along for the ride and if “she” likes the house it is all over.   We had a husband who was playing hardball on a house we were selling and we said no to his “final offer”.   The wife went crazy and we ended up getting 99% of our asking price without any complaints from there on.  I’m guessing that he had a few nights on the couch which caused him to see the light!

Back to the story–as you may know, or will know soon through Paige’s blog–I have become quite the handyman (uh huh).   I now paint, clean windows and want to buy some major power tools (on eBay of course since I can’t afford to buy them new!!).  However, Paige won’t let me do this stating that we can’t even afford to buy them on eBay much less the co-pay when I cut my hand off.   She’s probably right but I feel empowered by my new skills.   A good friend, Katie Miller’s husband and I, even installed a new microwave in our house last week (see about the broken microwave on Paige’s blog… “Broken Down or a Breakdown”).   You see, since we can’t afford to hire our “guys” anymore, all of this has to be done by someone, and that someone is ME!   And I am embracing this newfound responsibility—I even found myself actually dreaming (true) about painting our powder room last weekend as Paige had “assigned” this task to me.   When she later informed me that I was also “assigned” to paint the powder room ceiling I retreated to Facebook to complain.   Her response was “stop whining, get off of FB and back to painting!”      I must admit that it was very gratifying and I think that it looks pretty good (although nowhere near professional)..and the kicker is that it saved us about $320 in labor costs (minus the paint that splattered on my $85.00 royal blue golf shirt, but who cares!!).  By the way, I have worn that $85.00 royal blue paint stained golf shirt every day ever  since and refuse to wash the blue ceiling paint off my forearm since I view it as a badge of honor!

Now to the point of my story…this is what I call “The New Economy” where we are all saving and doing things that we didn’t do 2 years ago.    As mentioned, I am embracing this and am fired up about it.   I found an old level at my parents’ house and Paige is freaking out as I am checking the level on everything from our newly self-installed microwave to about every picture in the house as well as my kids’ heads (none of them are level—is that a problem???).   

I am becoming bold enough to think that I can do the repairs on my parents’ house by myself…I can tear out cabinets that cover the breaker box (it is called that, isn’t it?);   I can kill the 400 bees that are “hiving” behind the siding on the second floor under the siding (freaky); I can fix the pool pump, the GFCI plugs, the attic fan, the sprinkler system, the broken window, the microwave (I have experience in this one!), the rotted siding, the torn screen, the ceiling fan that doesn’t work, the light that doesn’t work and the other 25 items we agreed to in the inspection, can’t I?   

Well………Paige has brought me down to earth reminding me that while switching out a microwave (which really involved a few screws and a plug with a friend that had a tool kit that the Extreme Makeover-Home Edition crew would be envious of), painting a 4×4 room (including a ceiling) and leveling a few pictures is impressive, it doesn’t elevate me to the point where I can quit my day job and do this for a living.   Maybe one day, but that day is far, far away.

I’m good with that….I’m going to keep learning this year and will continue to embrace the challenges that the new economy will bring us.     I am completely confident that we will all emerge from this smarter, better and stronger.    I encourage all of us to turn to our faith (whatever faith that is) and try to be as positive as possible.     Good times will roll again!!!

Ladies—thank you for putting up with me—I am going outside to paint some siding and clean out the sludge that is clogging out the fountain. 

I hope that you look forward to my next blog about the guys who drop their iPhones into the toilet and have to make the “fish or no fish” decision….I’ll give you a hint–in the new economy there’s a lot of fishing going on (TMI????).

Best wishes, gals—-Chris Scott—handyman wannabe.