Bright and Early on a Saturday

My Dad called on Thursday night, he saw the Blog. I think the conversation went something like this:

Dad: "How's everything going?"

Me: "Ok, why?"

Dad: "Well, I read your blog..."

Me: "Oh, so what day do you want to come down this weekend?"

My parents are on their way to rescue us from yet another house disaster. The drano my Dad suggested as a temporary fix to our blocked garbage disposer worked fairly well. But that doesn't actually 'fix' the disposer. So today he's installing a new sink, faucet and disposer. I hope as we bought a different size disposer and it will require new plumbing, gulp!

Did I mention that there's something wrong with the master bathroom light over the shower stall? I think that's where the nasty and I mean Really Nasty smell is coming from. We actually want him to investigate that first, We're hoping it's just a little rot. [I cannot believe I just said that. If you would have told me last year that I would be hoping for just a 'little rot' on my house I would have said no way.] Home ownership...sigh.

No Rest for the Weary

So this is the end of my first 'work week' at home by myself working on the house. I think I worked extra hard out of enthusiasm, a need to prove to myself that I could do this and sheer stupidity. I am exhausted! But did I ever have a fun time.

Today was no exception to the overenthusiastic Kristy that has come to inhabit my body. After taping off the tiles last night, I began by taping the ceiling and edging this morning before it became too hot.

But then I forged on and started the rolling in the heat of the morning. After a trip to Home Depot for more paint, I finished the first coat and went back and did a second coat. There is paint everywhere as I think the heat started to go to my head.

I'm cooling off before I go back and peel the tape off. I'm apprehensive as the guest bathroom paint, also a semi-gloss, stuck to the tape and left me with major parts to reedge. We'll have to see...

The Frying Pan Room

The title of this entry refers to our master bathroom, which has a lovely, hot magnifying glass, also know as a skylight. If you've been following along, you know that we have had endless problems with our master bathroom. Yesterday posed no exception to this.

After finishing the guest bathroom painting (everything except for the cabinets!) I moved on to start the edging of the ceiling in the master bathroom. This room has cathedral ceilings, a shower stall, a jacuzzi tub, a toilet and a huge vanity. All of this sounds very nice and luxurious, but try maneuvering a ladder around this room!

I was doing fairly well and I had managed to edge the whole room, but then it was time to tape the skylight. I now refer to the skylight as the portal to Hades. Stepping up the ladder and sticking my head in this space was the next best thing to diving into the sun. There was a 20 degree difference up there and the sweat was boring off of me in rivers. I had to squint to make out the edges as the sun was beating down directly on the window. Perched precariously on my tiptoes, I somehow managed to edge most of the cavity on which the window rests.

Of course, I have to say that even with the heat, sweat and blinding sunlight, it was still better than sitting in an office all day!

RIP - Garbage Disposer

Whenever you have a calamity happen with your house you always think to yourself, "This is the worst!" But subconsciously you know that the house can and will find new and devious ways to torture you. I guess you know where this is leading...yes, the house is torturing us again.

The sink won't drain, because the garbage disposer is broken. Yet another problem that our home inspector called an 'easy fix.' "Just needs to be reset," he said. He reset it and that lasted for a month. It won't reset anymore. After doing a little research on Consumer Reports I discovered the life span of a garbage disposer is 10-12 years. This one probably came with the house meaning it's 15 years old or in other words, past its prime.

When we went out to look at disposers this past weekend with my Dad we learned a few things about our sink, faucet and disposer. First, we have the weakest, cheapest disposer on the market. Second, our sink is only 6" deep, which accounts for the ricochet of water off the bottom of the sink through the air and usually on to the person washing their hands or the dishes. And finally, something we already knew. Our faucet SUCKS! It only sprays in a sprinkle, a deadly hurricane sprinkle. Hence the water bouncing off of the bottom of the sink. To put water in our teapot, we have to turn the faucet on to a mere tinkle and very slowly fill the kettle.

Inevitably this led to the discussion about what we're going to do with the kitchen. We decided that we needed a new sink that was deeper (8 glorious inches), a new faucet that does a stream and a sprinkle (hallelujah!) and a new garbage disposer (of course). But then the countertops came into the discussion. After hemming and hawing over prices, my Dad volunteered to refinish the countertops. At this point, the whole project has become a Large Project for after the upstairs is finished. The only problem is...well, check out the picture. Yes, we need the new disposer now!

That Bathroom Again

Yesterday was my first day at home and I must say that it was Great! I was able to paint the guest bathroom twice and it's looking good. I had a few problems with the semi-gloss paint that you're supposed to use in bathrooms. (Semi-gloss is shinier and allows you to wipe down the walls without staining-see how much I've learned!) When I pulled the painters tape off, the paint rolled away almost like tape. The semi-gloss is much more 'rubbery' than the eggshell that I've used in the other rooms.

I solved that problem this morning by retaping, painting and immediately pulling the tape off. Now the edging is done around the ceiling. I also managed to tape off the trim and paint both the trim and the door with a first coat. I also took off all of the hardware and washed it. I am a machine! Of course, it doesn't hurt that the bathroom is small and only has one small door!

And finally, I was able to secure my first freelance job yesterday. So I have work to do on the house and work to do on my computer. Hooray!

My Grouting Superheroes

It's been a whole weekend since my last entry, so as usual a lot has happened. Let's start with the carpet. Ever since the cat fiasco we've been without carpet and working fervishly to paint everything in preparation for carpet installation on the upstairs level. Little did we know when we picked out the carpet that it was "Special Order" and it would take 3 weeks until it could be installed.

We ordered through Lowe's and that actually worked out for us, as these remodeling projects take us three times longer than we think. We received a call on Wednesday night from the wife of the sub-contractor who would be installing our carpet. We happened to be at a concert and she told us that they wouldn't be available for calls on Thursday and Friday. I was a little aggravated as they called close to 8 pm and we weren't able to call them back that night.

I called on Saturday hoping to set-up an appointment. To realize how numb Kevin is to the cyclone that is the house this is what he heard from my end of the conversation "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that...I hope he's better. Oh jeez, well, thank you, yes." I hung-up the phone and Kevin didn't even cock a brow.

Turns out the sub-contractor went in for some normal heart tests on Thursday and had to have triple by-pass surgery. Lowe's needs to find us a new sub-contractor and no they haven't called back yet!

We accomplished a lot this weekend. After many weeks of whining, sweating, stretching myself to my limits (on my toes on the top of a ladder), complaining and throwing my hands-up, we finally finished painting ALL of the Master bedroom, my office, the guest room and the hallway. This is a major victory for me. The photo you see above features my fantastic painting techniques on our highest ladder in the stairwell. I must say the house has done one good thing for me, I no longer seem to have as many problems with heights!

And finally, my grouting superheroes. My Dad and Kevin began to regrout the disaster of a master bathroom. After many weeks of repair and retiling they finished the shower and it looks FANTASTIC. My mom keeps saying that it looks like new. We couldn't have asked for a cleaner, better looking shower. Thanks Dad!