Recalculating....

Since everything delayed, I finally had to make a decision yesterday. There's no way I could get the money AND do renovations in time for CNY, and it would be too messy to move everything to Jasmin, then expect the contractors to do their work. After twisting and turning so many ways, I finally told Ammar the flooring guy that I'm postponing the floor works until after the other contractors are done. Sayang, kan floor baru...

Contractors can do the grille and plumbing dulu, so I'll korek my salary and/or reserves for money to do that. Painting can go on as usual. Insyaa Allah electricity will kick in by this week. Have extended rent in Permai by a month, so we have a little more time to get sorted and pack our stuff. If I can scrounge up some extra can do the bathroom and tiling too. Tapi mirror, shelves, water heater etc x beli lagi... Bleh. kenot, kenot.

If EPF money comes in early, I should get the wiring, lighting and fans sorted out before we move in. Buy aircon and have it installed before the flooring work starts. Same time as awning. Less messy that way, hopefully. Have not decided on the lighting and fans... is it possible to move the fan from the dining hall to the living area, I wonder. We could use floor lighting for the hall... Downlights? Pretty expensive I think.. No idea how much it would cost to do wiring and fixing the lights etc.

Should start buying furniture once the floors are done and moving the light stuff pelan2 so that the movers don't die going up and down the stairs all day carrying things. Am taking 2 of Ni Yan's mattresses -one for K Ayu and the other for the spare bed.

Had some ideas about the guest bed today (hence my lack of productivity at work) :-P Figured I could use 2 Billy book cases, one 80 cm wide, the other 40 cm and connect them together to hold the super single mattress (approx. 110 cm wide). The extra space can hold pillows and blankets. Can use one of the side boards and shelves for attaching to the floor and wall. Use hinges for moving the bed up and down. Probably can use wall uprights and drawer handle combo to hold the bed in place. If it rests neatly on the base, it should not put any strain on the wall apparatus. Theoretically.  Still need to figure some things out and get the boys' input for this. May need to reinforce the bottom with timber strips or something since the backside of the book case is not very strong. If all goes well, it should stand neatly up in the study and fit in with the rest of the book cases.

Feel a little more relaxed after postponing everything, since most of the problems are beyond my control. I won't be able to control LHDN  or EPF, so the best I can do is to go with the flow and postpone la. What to do? There's still about a million things I'll need to do myself, like paint doors and buy/ assemble furniture and move things, so might as well take it easy instead of driving myself nuts worrying about things that simply cannot be done. Had a good whining session with Zainab last night and malam ni makan w Shamila, insyaa Allah. Hope that this is the last of the insanity, and things will proceed smoothly afterwards. Aameen...

Bikin Kepala Jadi Pusing!!

It's almost the middle of January and I still haven't got electricity supply in the Jasmin apartment. Ah Fatt said he'd get my form on Friday but apparently didn't. He was going to pay deposit to Tenaga tomorrow - which is a public holiday... Jeez! Cakapla betul2 kalau tak ada duit deposit. If I didn't text him this morning entah bila dia nak buat karang.

Thankful I have a little bit more resources on hand, even though budget is pretty tight. After a long time, I actually have to really consider my available cash before spending on expensive meals or even go climbing! Managed to get toilets and sink at a reasonable price, although it's actually cheaper in Subang. Takpelah, as long as it's not horribly much more expensive.

Right now my dilemma is how to get the contractors to start work when I don't have enough cash to pay deposit. The stamping of DoA has been delayed, meaning application to EPF is also delayed. And now I'm fearful in case we won't be allowed to withdraw our savings as reimbursement.

I can paint the walls and doors slowly, but i really need work on the awning, grilles and plumbing to start already. I really want to move out by the end of the month, I don't want to extend rental at Permai anymore. Enough is enough, OK? I'm sick and tired of the place.

Renovations will take at least 2 weeks. Abah is really sticky with his fucking money. Kasi kat berok dia boleh, dengan anak berkira la sangat. Am so pissed off with his attitude! All the money dia bolot, tak kaya jugak. heh.

Just need to buy tiles, then work can start. As soon as I find money to pay deposit. Sigh. Money. Why does everything have to be so damned LEMBAB???

A Touch of Reality

After months of dreaming, hoping, praying, fighting, we finally got the keys to our little apartment. I was SO overjoyed. Who wouldn't be, right?

Luckily, I already learnt my lesson on being overly optimistic, so I set my moving date very late - the end of January 2014, extending the rental in Permai for another month. I suppose this is prudent. we were lucky to get water supply quite promptly, so things like cleaning and painting could commence. I took a week off work to sort things out and it turned out to be a pretty full week with various contractors coming and going.

Electricity, on the other hand, wasn't so easy. TNB required an inspection since the supply had been cut off for more than six months and it turned out the cost of said inspection was NOT cheap. Quite a bummer, really. After asking more than six contractors, I caved in to the one who showed up and matched my lowest offer. I had to, it's quite difficult to get things done sans electricity these days. All the contractors needed it, I needed it. At the moment I can't stay beyond maghrib because it's too dark to do anything. Thank God the unit has good cross ventilation and we are quite comfy working without fans.

Painting is progressing rather slowly because I discovered there are many things I never considered like covering hairline cracks and using masking tape before painting. And for the deep red i was using, there are certain rules i needed to follow to ensure a nice, even coat of paint. Oh well, you live and learn. Work has been much interrupted with the arrival of various contractors and a meeting in the office. Thank goodness Zu came to help today, enjoyed the company too.

The most challenging bit for me are the  grilles, especially the windows. For the study, I could not see what I was doing. Climbing out a 3rd floor window is rather dangerous, especially without safety gear. This morning could not resist the temptation to paint my room grilles due to the visibly bad rusting on it. Managed to do a fair bit, but could not do the inside of the right panel since the window panel was been locked in place. Have bought a set of spanners and planning to see if I could remove the damn thing tomorrow. It would be pretty easy to paint if it was sitting inside the room instead of outside a 3rd floor window!! I hate shoddy work but it's quite hard to do something with the challenges I'm facing.

So far have only met one neighbour by the name of Chung, on my immediate right. He warned us of multiple break in cases in the area. Right, use 2 locks, one not enough.

Waiting for uncle to tell me when he can redo my front grille - we want it fused into one panel and he said it could be done for about a hundred ringgit.

Am low on cash, though, after paying for car repairs and buying various supplies... Have asked for an advance from Abah but he hasn't done it so far :( Have not paid the cleaners because I didn't realise it was already the final weekend in December and I'll need to pay the electrician for applying to TNB. Will be back at work next week, which means I won't have any time to work on the apartment unless we have electricity so that I can do stuff at night... Sigh. abang hasn't come back with the adjudication thing, so cannot send form to KWSP to process. Have not yet bought hall colour, still looking at options but balking at buying cheapo paint. Hey, gimme a break OK, I want a nice place for a change! Will need money to engage contractors and stuff.

Oh well, at least we can have people quoting and start working on stuff already. Painting half a room is much better than just stressing about it, right? Hope electricity gets sorted soon. Will SO not want to go back to Permai if I can stay in Jasmin :)