We’re making good progress in every area except getting internet. The internet was supposed to be installed next week so Vince called this morning to confirm they would be here next week. Nope . . not happening til maybe August 30. I know Vince was dreading telling me and actually I thought I’d go nuts without the internet but I haven’t had real internet for 8 days now and it’s not bad. I will be happy to get it back but there’s so much to do here, I’ve hardly had time to think about missing the internet. So . . I’ll be having lunches several times a week at McDonald’s til we get internet.
To prove to you that I’m making progress, here are some house photos.
Obviously, we’re not eating at home! This photo was taken a few days ago and tonight will be the first meal we’ve eaten here. I’ll tell you about that later. For several days I’ve had the kitchen in a “cookable” condition about noon and then by the time I should be cooking, it looks like this again. Flat surfaces attract clutter! Still haven’t found the crockpot either. I will have the kitchen completely clean by this evening. Really! Stop laughing! 
This was the dining room several days ago. Every day I unwrap tons of paper and flatten it out and then Vince rolls it up and . . well, I don’t know what he’s going to do with it. He’s supposed to be checking to see if there’s a recycling place here but for now, it’s all piled out on the porch. There was a table and some plastic chairs in here when we got here but we took those out and now we have our own table and chairs.
The pile of paper in this photo is what I’ve unwrapped this morning! The table will be clean for dinner tonight and the rug will be under the table. Stop laughing! Really . . it will be clean and we will eat at that table tonight.
See all those windows? That’s what’s killing me .. the sun comes beaming through those and it’s impossible to keep the upstairs cooler than 80º from about noon til dark. The owner is still working to come up with a plan. Another problem is there isn’t a single return air vent in this house . . not one!
This was the family room a few days ago. More windows! The view is beautiful but the sun is brutal! A lot of these boxes are too heavy for me to move and they need to be put in the basement and left there til we get to a permanent location so I’m hoping Vince will have time to work on that this weekend.
The family room now! Lots of progress . . really! We can walk around without crawling over boxes. The blue recliner behind the brown recliner is going into the master bedroom. The bedrooms stay cool so when it gets too hot in the kitchen/family room, I can go sit in the master bedroom and knit or read.
We’ll never get all the boxes unpacked because I doubt we stay in this house forever. We don’t want to buy it and the owner wants to sell it so once our six month lease is up, we will probably try to get a one year lease but I understand his wanting to sell it and get his money out of it so . . we’ll leave a lot of stuff in boxes til we see where we’re going to end up.
Melissa says
The answer to your heat problem is solar screens! They make such a diference. We live in North Texas so we know heat! It does feel like you are living in a cave but we take them off once it cools down some – you know in January! Just kidding. It should cool off sometime in October if we’re lucky. They aren’t too expensive. We just got some on the back of our house and they were about 45.00 apiece for 36 x 60 windows.
JudyL says
If we were buying this house, we would probably replace all those big windows with better quality windows and put the electric awnings over them. By the time we could order solar screens, cooler temps would be here and we only have a 6 month lease.
I’m not sure I could live with solar screens. We’ve had those before and I need more light than they let in.
Patsy Seay says
What we did to the east and west side of our house – we put super solar screens over the outside windows and it works like a charm. They aren’t beautiful, they’re black, but it definitely works. We can see outside like usual, but there is no glare coming in, and no one can see in. However, at night if there are lights on in the room, anyone outside can see in. We have storm windows and the glass gets only a little bit warm using the screens. I know it’s not your house but maybe the owner might consider them. If you have vaulted ceilings that will keep the thermostat at 80, too. Our son has found that out in his home. Solar screening isn’t allowed where he lives.
Take care . . .
Jane says
I was so where you are about a month ago and am quite confident I’ll be there again! About your paper & boxes. Next time you get to the internet, go to the local freecycle cite and advertise them. People will be delighted to get free packing material. Hang in there!
Patsy Seay says
Melissa’s post wasn’t there when I started my previous post. We leave our screens on all year. They are supposed to defect wind, too. The winter sun would be nice, but winter is short compared to summer! LOL
Sandy says
Your house looks like mine did after the movers left! I spent days unpacking and putting things away. I couldn’t even open the kitchen cabinet doors or drawers because boxes were in the way. Wardrobe boxes filled one of the bathrooms, so you couldn’t even walk into it! A week of work and at last I was able to sleep in my new place!
Patsy Seay says
I meant “deflect.” Should have read what I wrote!!! : /
Robin Crittenden says
if you can find them, take some of your quilts and hang on those curtain rods to block the light from coming in there. It’s shouldn’t hurt the quilts with the blinds closed. This will keep the heat down too and if it were a cold winter (sounds good) it helps to insulate the room if the windows let in cold.
Just a thought and better than spending money on a house you aren’t staying at. I’m sure Vince could even figure out a way to roll them up in the mornings.
JudyL says
The sun will kill the quilts. I even ordered a new slipcover today because the sun coming through will fade the sofa. I may try to find some inexpensive curtains with sun blockimg fabric for the linimg.
Stephanie says
Suggest to the owner that he get solar screens. I live in San Antonio and have them.
JudyL says
He desperately wants to sell the house and I doubt he will spend anything on it right now. We’re probably going to have to survive til it gets cooler and then leave before summer comes again.
Debbie R. says
I think I noticed that ceiling fan wasn’t moving? That would help some it was on. Maybe it was and just didn’t look like it in the picture.
JudyL says
I took those pictures this morning and had not turned the fans on yet but we do keep them running.
Linda in NE says
I’m not laughing. Really!! Just being thankful it’s not me unpacking all those boxes and making order out of the chaos.
Whoever built the house must have really wanted lots of light, what with all the big windows. Must have forgotten the hot summer sun though. You mentioned no air return ducts….is the heating all electric baseboard? Surely a furnace would need some kind of air return.
JudyL says
They wanted all the lake view they coud get. This house was built when people weren’t so used to being cooler too. I think having no return air vents is the main problem.
katie z. says
No return air vents? Who thought that was a good idea?
Shirley Albertson Owens (sao) says
You really are making great progress. That must feel really good!
sao in Midlothian, VA
Diane in CA says
With no air return are you pressurizing the house? If so, can you treat it like it is a swamp cooler and open a window to vent it out? Do you get movers again if you find a house? Maybe Vince is storing all that paper if you are moving yourself..
Marilyn says
I’m sorry you’ve moved in this 100+ heat to Texas. It is not fun for residents much less newcomers. We pretty much leave our ceiling fans in our main living area running 24/7. Sorry, but I’m glad it’s you and not me unpacking boxes!
Karen says
Judy I don’t know if anyone has suggested this – for a cheap fix (seeing as you are renting you don’t want to spend a lot) some people around here in Arkansas that work night shift tape aluminum foil to the windows in the rooms they want to keep dark. If you are only using your upstairs for sleeping you might want to try this. It will reflect the heat and the sun out and keep your upper floor cooler. You might even want to do this on some of your downstairs windows in rooms where you do not need a lot of light – it could be a temporary fix anyhow until the heat breaks.
Karen
Sandra Neel Hutchins says
Oh, you brave heart. Your house sounds like a good place to rent, but not a great one to plan on buying. For some odd reason our builder did not put a return air vent in my sewing room over the garage. It is ten degrees hotter in there in the summer than the rest of the house. I can’t imagine a whole house without return air vents. BTW, we have lived here eight years and yesterday I emptied the last of the boxes from our move! That one box had sat in the guest room closet all these years, now I can truly say we are unpacked!
JudyL says
Good for you. I can hardly wait to get somewhere and get completely unpacked. Those return air vents are so important and the a/c is never going t work right without them.
Karla says
Judy don’t know if this will help you but we put that aluminum backed styroform sheet cut to window size. It reflects the sun and doesn’t let the rooms get as hot. Its not pretty to look at but the house does stay cooler and it is economically feasable. I rent too and this helps keep all the rooms cooler even in the evening temps. just another idea for you to think about
JudyL says
That sounds like an option. We’re the first house as you come into the subdivision and that’s the side of the house people see first so we probably won’t be making many friends by doing it but it is a fairly inexpensive option. Thanks.
Karen Langseth says
Judy I think you need to find the best contractor and get on his list to build something…that way you will have your home in the place you want it, built the correct way and have all these issues solved…..
JudyL says
For several reasons, we can’t build hee.
Gwen says
Judy, I know this is a new house, but if the AC is not cooling well the owner should have the duct work checked to be sure everything is sealed. A joint could have separated or been missed and you could be cooling an attic. Think is is odd that there are no return air vents! All those lovely windows will make it hard to really keep cool.
JudyL says
It isn’t new. It was prbably built in the 70’s and recently redone basically as a flip house. It didn’t sell and that’s why the owner agreed to rent it to us.
lw says
I agree with Karla that aluminum foil, while not particularly attractive, would keep the house cool by reflecting most of the light. You could leave a small window in the middle of the large window and your air conditioning would be a lot more effective. It would only be for a couple of months, I think it starts cooling off mid-September.
AnnieO says
Yay for progress! You are doing all this work yourself and that is a huge amount of “to-do’s” everyday–you are certainly to be admired for all that is getting done!!!
Hope you find time to solve the window/sun problem soon.
carol c says
Judy
Walmart sells some stick on black pleated “black outs” that are ususally hanging on an end of the shelf in window covering section for 4.88 per window. my dh uses them as he likes it super dark in his room all the time., you might try that if you fidn them up there.
P.s>I got my new computer with w win7pro and I have a lot
to learn, back from the maker
barbara says
jc penney used to sell thermal drapes. you were supposed to use them as a lining for draperies or whatever. they weren’t real fabric, but more like vinyl or foamy-stuff, as i recall. gorgeous? no! but they were plain white and would look fine from the outside. inside you could cover them with anything. another option is silver-colored miniblinds (think disposable plastic). yes, there is such a thing. they’re real blinds, so who could complain? and you could open and close them at will.
barbara says
i just googled thermal curtains and found, among other things, Eclipse thermal panel liners. there are a number of these products available at several well-known stores.