Adventures in Tueller-Land

It's been a long time since I've posted anything of substance. And since I'm supposed to be recording what happens in our family, I suppose that is what I need to do this afternoon. So, here goes:

I lived the life of a single parent for a week as Stephen went to interviews. One in Atlanta, and one in Salt Lake City. Another he has on Wednesday is for a job in Denver, but it will be via phone. Each place treated him well, and if we get an offer at each of them it will be very hard to choose one. We are praying that we will have inspiration. Actually, it seems that Stephen is praying that he'll have a strong preference, and I am praying that only one will offer something so I don't have to think about it anymore. Ha, the differences between men and women!

In the mean time, I decided (with help from Stephen, of course) that the upstairs freezing pipe problem had to be solved before selling our house. So, we hired an energy auditor to come figure out what the issue was since we had already

1. put an extra heater in that bathroom
2. put extra insulation in the kitchen ceiling/bathroom floor
3. wrapped pipes
   
4. given up and decided to use the down stairs bathroom during the cold snaps.

The auditor gave us some great news, followed by some bad, followed by some good. (Whew! That was a mouthful). The problem could be fixed. The fix was not easy, the exterior walls in our house have ZERO insulation in them, and the attic has an R4, when an R49 is recommended for our climate. I'm not happy with the folks that remodeled and re-sided our house. AND, although I think my house is awesome and I will tell all about how great my neighbors are when I sell my house, I will not be recommending buying homes from our neighborhood association to others anymore. Hence, my total resignation from the membership board.

The other good news is that although the insulation company will have to drill holes every 16 inches in each of our exterior walls to blow in the insulation, and bring huge hoses through our windows up into the attic to make the house livable AND that my heat bill could have been 4 times lower for the past four years (UG!!), is that NIPSCO gas has a program going on where they will pay half of a home improvement project if it lowers your gas usage. So, I can get all of this done for less than $2,000--which is good, since I'm saving up to move, and trying to sell my house. Oh, and next year, 30% of that can be written off on my tax files due to the new green infinitives.

The other upside/downside is that I have to pack NOW because per the clause in the insulation contract, they are not responsible for any broken things, and the house will shake when the air pump is turned on and there are hoses every 16 inches in my walls. I have to have everything cleared out so they can walk around with the hoses and not knock things down, and all things must be off the walls. Oh, which I will have to repaint. This is happening in March, so if you don't hear from me, assume I am cleaning/packing.