Come on down, Lisa, you're next on our little game show!

(Unless of course I have miscalculated, and you've already been victimized.)

First question ... how did you wind up where you are, geographically?

Nope, I haven't been victimized yet, but I guess you're the one to do it, huh? I was just going to post to your WTF'er thread about how much I enjoyed reading it, but didn't want to draw attention to myself while you were making your decision -- guess that plan didn't work out quite like I'd hoped!

So ok, I was born and raised in the Poconos, which sounds kind of glamourous and resort-like until I clarify that I was acutally born and raised in a dying coal-town sort of near the Poconos, a town surrounded by strip mining pits instead of ski slopes. There's pretty much no industry or jobs of any kind there, unless you count working at Wal-Mart. So all the people of my generation basically got the heck out of dodge as soon as they could, most of them to the closest big cities of NY or Philly. I'm completely intimidated by NY and SO not a city person, so I ended up on the outskirts of the Philly burbs in a patch of suburbia that is more rural than anything else, and I love it here. It's close enough that I can go back and visit my parents for a day trip but miles away from where I grew up both geographically and in lifestyle and attitude.

What kind of piano do you have?

Your previous user name here was “ikplatow”. Does it mean any thing?

By the way, most of the houses in my midwestern neighborhood are made of brick or frame with siding but there are a couple here and there made of stucco. In the last year, two stucco house owners put up siding right over the stucco. You can’t see the stucco wall any more. I don’t know if they’re trying to hide it or what. Their house now has a double outer wall: the inner stucco wall and the outer siding wall. What I’d like to know is what’s going to be stated on the Real Estate listing sheet for the exterior wall type when it comes time for them to sell their house. Stucco or siding or both?

Since Quirt selected you a day early, you don’t have to answer until next month.

What music do you listen to?

jf

quote:

Originally posted by Qaanaaq-Liaaq:


Since Quirt selected you a day early, you don’t have to answer until next month.

OK, you got me. I'm trying to get out of my obligation a day early. What can I tell you, it's a 31-day month, and I can't handle the stress of it all.

How did you meet Mr. Lisa? How long have you been married?

Now that all the mold repairs are done, what wisdom do you have to pass on to others?

quote:

Originally posted by Qaanaaq-Liaaq:
What kind of piano do you have?

Your previous user name here was “ikplatow”. Does it mean any thing?

By the way, most of the houses in my midwestern neighborhood are made of brick or frame with siding but there are a couple here and there made of stucco. In the last year, two stucco house owners put up siding right over the stucco. You can’t see the stucco wall any more. I don’t know if they’re trying to hide it or what. Their house now has a double outer wall: the inner stucco wall and the outer siding wall. What I’d like to know is what’s going to be stated on the Real Estate listing sheet for the exterior wall type when it comes time for them to sell their house. Stucco or siding or both?

I have a rebuilt (well, technically, more like refurbished -- it was refinished and has a new pinblock/strings/action/hammers but has the original soundboard) 1928 Chickering 6'5" grand. It's way too much piano for my house, but it was so leaps-and-bounds better than anything else in my budget that I had to have it. (Plus it has ivory keys, which I am a total sucker for.) I don't play much anymore because the house/kids/job keep me so busy, but I'm hoping to start the kids on piano lessons this summer - maybe I can get back into it then too.

My previous user name is actually LKPLATOW, which was my network login name from a long-ago job. I ditched it because it's unpronouncable and everyone pretty much thought it was IKPLATOW (and of course because I wanted to be all celebrity-like and go by a single name, much like Cher or Madonna ... or Nina or Jodi )

I have no idea what your neighbors are planning to put on the real estate listing, but I'm guessing they're siding over it because it's leaking. I'm convinced that stucco, in any climate where it rains regularly, is just bad news. Around here, I see more and more developments of stucco homes being torn off and redone -- every single house has issues like mine (fortunately for them, most houses around here are stucco front and vinyl on the rest of the house, so the problems aren't as extensive or expensive). I think in a few years, what happened to my house is going to be the norm with these stucco houses, sadly.

Oh, and I know it's a day early but my kids are off school for the next several days, so I don't want to get too far behind on my answers -- I might never catch up!

quote:

Originally posted by Jack Frost:
What music do you listen to?

I'm pretty much all over the map with that. I have a pretty big classical music CD collection that I haven't touched in years (I used to listen to them constantly when writing papers in grad school or programming early in my career -- when I wanted peaceful quiet music to think by. Since having kids, the words peaceful and quiet are no longer in my vocabulary, LOL! But someday......right?)

My MP3 player has a lot of pop/rock stuff (Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Leona Lewis), lots of folky singer-songwriter types (Tori Amos, Patti Griffin, Dar Williams), pop bands like Counting Crows, heavier rockers like Pink, 80s one-hit-wonders like Slade and Quiet Riot, 70s superstars like Elton John, David Bowie, the Eagles, and boy bands/tween idols like the Backstreet Boys and Taylor Swift -- pretty much a little bit of everything. In one workout session, I'll fit in a little Eminem, a little Barenaked Ladies, some Duran Duran, Keith Urban, Queen, maybe a little Buddy Holly...like I said, all over the map.

I don't much care for jazz or hardcore rap (and for some strange reason, I can't STAND anything by The Doors), but other than I'm pretty much open to anything.

quote:

Originally posted by BeeLady:
How did you meet Mr. Lisa? How long have you been married?

Now that all the mold repairs are done, what wisdom do you have to pass on to others?

We will be married 12 years in September.

We met at work - I had just started at the company and was in training, he was one of the trainers. I was in my mid-to-late 20s, he was 4 years younger then me, not long out of college, and still partied like a frat boy. We became good friends, but because of the age and maturity differences (and the fact that we were both seeing other people), I thought of him more like a little brother than a potential boyfriend (which is exactly what I told him the first time he asked me out...ouch!).

But we continued to do stuff as friends and in the meantime, both of our relationships fell apart for other reasons. Then one day, he invited me to the shore for the day -- it was his parents' 30th wedding anniversary and he and his sister had tracked down the same beach rental cottage where his parents met 30+ years earlier, rented it for the week, and threw a week-long surprise party/vacation for his parents, inviting their entire extended family and all their friends -- it was the sweetest thing I had ever heard and the last thing I would have expected from a "frat boy."

I had never met his parents and when I did, his dad was sitting in a darkened room with the worst hangover of his life (it was the morning after the first day of the party, LOL!) and his mom was sitting there nursing him back to health. His whole family was so sweet and welcoming (and very different from mine, which has always been a bit...erm....dysfunctional) and I pretty much fell in love with his family and him all at once. I had sworn that I would never get married (guess I never had a good role model) and had always had dysfunctional relationships with difficult men (don't know if you remember the post about googling ex-boyfriends way back, but I had just ended the relationship with the guy I posted about there). Things with Mr. Lisa were so different than anything I had ever experienced -- I about-faced on my marriage stance and we were engaged within a few months and married a little over a year after I first met his parents.

To this day, we have one of the best marriages of anyone I know -- we rarely fight or even get snippy with each other, and he is an incredible dad who doesn't grumble about watching the kids or helping with housework. We've had some challenges (the stucco disaster, 2 kids with serious health problems as infants, me battling depression for several years) and we've only grown stronger with each challenge. Not to get too overly mushy here, but I wake up most days thinking I'm the luckiest person in the world.


Hmmmmm....stucco advice. Well, personally, I would never buy another stucco house in this climate (or any climate other than SoCal or the desert somewhere) -- unless that house was stucco over stone/masonry like the 200 year old farmhouses around here. Stucco over wood framing is a recipe for disaster -- it can be done right, but the details are so tricky and there are so many of them and most builders aren't doing them and those that are aren't doing ALL of them and so most stucco houses are going to have some issue, somewhere.

I can drive around and look at new construction and see exactly where they're omitting kickout flashing or weep screeds or lapping the housewrap wrong and predict exactly where that house is going to have problems in 10 years. If it weren't for my serious ladder-phobia, I'd totally look into a second career as a home inspector, because I find the whole process really fascinating!

But if you already own a stucco house or have fallen in love with one, I'd advise you to go find one of the articles on the web that shows the kinds of details you need to keep a stucco house dry then make sure your house has them. If you are building, I'd strongly advise staying away from stucco over wood framing, but if you absolutely can't live without it, there are several details you can add to give the stucco a drainage plane and ensure that the wall is able to dry out. You'll have to print the articles and show them to your builder and he'll resist you and tell you it's not necessary and will only be wasting your money but you should stand your ground and insist, and then go to the site and MAKE SURE they're being done because a lot of builders will tell you they'll do something and then not do it.

Or just use Hardieplank, which I think is the perfect siding (as long as you like the lap siding look).

Have you sold the “Lemon Breeze” yet? It’s a classic. It belongs in a bike museum. Right now in the spring is the best time to sell a bike.

Wow - you have a good memory!

I did sell it, can't remember if it was last fall or last spring. I listed it on the Philly craigslist for $225 and someone drove down from Rockaway NY to buy it (I told them they could have it for $200 since they were schlepping such a long way). Not bad for something I spent $10 for at a yard sale! I'm kicking myself because the guy actually had two of them -- the other was a blue men's version. At the time, I was thinking of riding it myself and I couldn't see Mr. Lisa as the beach-cruiser-bike type, so I passed on the other one -- doh!!!

nice to read about you Lisa

I am wondering how the landscaping is coming along. And waasn't there a trellis in the making? And a rose problem?

And what about the neighbors that built down in the back (or too close somehow) - how did that all work out?

I'm curious to see the progress on the basement. You usually seem to have something in progress around the home front, although when I first got to know you in these forums, it was the repair work. I'm not sure how old your children are now. Do they help inside and/or outside the house?

It warms my heart to hear you talk about your marriage. My wife and I are working on our 35th year together now. That party you met your husband's parents at sounds like a blast. The whole story reminds me of the adage "Love is where you find it."

You mentioned your job. Do you and your husband still work for the same business?

When the kids are in bed and the husband is busy with something, what do you like to do?

Fiction or nonfiction? Read anything that you'd recommend or that might surprise us lately?

Any celebrities or public figures that you love or hate?

Favorite thing for dinner when you're in a hurry?

Did you have anyone take you up on your very generous housing offer for the WTF reunion on Memorial Day weekend? (I'm not asking for me and my wife because I intend to squire her around Philadelphia a bit for being a good sport and coming to meet some of my internet friends. Maybe you have a suggestion of places we shouldn't miss.)

I'll stop for now because I don't want to swamp you with questions. I can alway ask more later.

Big Al

quote:

Originally posted by lilylady:
I am wondering how the landscaping is coming along. And waasn't there a trellis in the making? And a rose problem?

And what about the neighbors that built down in the back (or too close somehow) - how did that all work out?

The landscaping is coming along ok. Last summer was a season of neglect -- Mr. Lisa got sent away to NYC on a special project for the entire summer so nothing got weeded/mulched/planted all season. I'm paying for it this season, badly. My roses (which I was supposed to make a trellis for so I could train them up the porch posts) are now flopping all over the porch and scratching people as they walk by. I have several beds I left empty waiting to decide what to plant -- they're still empty (except for weeds, which I seem to be cultivating in abundance). I have a long spring to-do list and not much time to do it.

I haven't seen any evidence of the rose rosette disease on any of my other garden roses. I do see it regularly on the wild roses all over the place (in fact, it seems to be killing off a lot of the wild roses), so I know it's probably only a matter of time til something else gets infected. I've been trying to keep our fields mowed instead of letting them get overrun by brambles and the wild roses. Hopefully that will help hold off the inevitable. And in the meantime, I'm just going to keep planting roses because I like them and because they're one of the only things I seem to be able to grow well (disclaimer - I only buy VERY HARDY antique roses and super-bred-roses like knockouts that are disease and pest resistant --thus my ability to grow them well!)

The neighbors down the back built their house and moved in but they are not very nice to us. We mostly mutually ignore each other, except for a bit of a kerfluffle where he called the police on us saying our landscaper intentionally destroyed his property (the landscaper ran over the propertly line stake with his mower by accident) then let loose with a long litany of complaints against us for things we didn't do. I think he's a bit of a nutjob, actually -- supposedly he started cursing at the cop and almost got arrested when the cop took our side in the dispute. So we're just ignoring each other. (I never did figure out what was peeing on our porch but I'm fairly sure it was some kind of wild critter and not him, thank goodness!) The bushes we planted all along the property line are coming into their 3rd year now, so I'm hoping to see big growth (first year sleep, second year creep, third year leap, right?). The faster they grow the quicker we don't have to see him (and he can't see us) anymore. One big section of the hedgeline is forsythia bushes and they look AMAZING right now. Another nice rainy summer like last year and they'll be huge! I wanted to make the entire hedgeline forsythias and the landscaper talked me out of it -- every spring for about 2 weeks I think I'll be kicking myself for listening to him, LOL!

Big Al - lots of good questions, but I'm way tired and going to be super busy this weekend (have LL#1's 9th birthday party tomorow -- hey, there's an answer to one of your questions! -- and out of town for Easter on Sunday.) I'll try to pop in tomorrow to answer, but I might not get to it til Monday. Just didn't want you to think I was ignoring you....