The 'Honey Do' List

Yes, all married couples know what this list is. It's when the wife asks her husband or "honey" to fix something or "do" something around the house.

Kevin has an evolving 'Honey Do' list that I love to harass him about. Today's task was replacing the handle on the sliding glass door. I honestly don't know why I put this on his list as it is a 5 minute task I could do myself, but some days I just like to see him working around the place after I spent hours slaving on it.

I do feel a bit guilty as he can't assign me to do his powerpoint presentations for work to make up for all of the slaving he does there. But I also think, he should take pride in the renovations of the house and how can he do that unless he participates?

(PJ I know you're groaning, rolling your eyes and copying this photo for your fantasy football blog. Wait until you're netted, then you'll get your due!)

Just Look at That View!

So the Solarium has been painted and cleaned up and the screens have been removed for the winter. We both thought, "Wow what a view!" when we took a step back and looked at it. Painting this room and cleaning it up has made one of the most striking differences in the house.

Now we just need to decide what we're going to do with this room. I'm thinking making it a sitting area with comfortable chairs where we can read, drink tea, entertain, play with our wireless lap tops, write in a journal or just talk. I have to say this turned out to be one of the best features of the house!

The Little Blank Wall

So we have this little blank wall between the dining room and the stairs where the stair railing is attached. And we don't know what color to paint it. Here are the arguments.

We could paint it white to match the ceiling overhang portion that it is attached to. This would create a clear delineation between the two rooms. But it would also interrupt the flow.

We could paint it 'Oat Straw' like the living room and stairway as you see it as you walk up the stairs. But from the dining room, it actually looks like part of the dining room.

We could paint it 'Iced Tea' like the dining room and it would blend right in. But like I said, you see it as you walk up the stairs, so maybe it's intruding where there should really be 'Oat Straw.'

Suggestions anyone?

Workman's Hands

I am on to my second blister. This one from replacing the 'serious' electrical sockets in kitchen. These cost anywhere from $9-13 dollars a piece. Yes, I know, Outrageous! They also have 12 gauge wire in them, in other words, HEAVY wire that requires too many patience and a strong hand to twist them into place.

I also discovered that the sockets we had were old and came with the house, so they were of course, say it with me Dad, "Not Standard." I swear this is the running commentary on this house, nothing is standard.

But back to the switches, my Dad and Brother have been continually telling me to just replace the wires in the exact same places on the back of the switches. Fortunately, I also had a very complicated lesson from my Dad about ground wires, the white wire going into the silver screw and the black wire going into the gold screw. This came in handy, because the old switches had their wires switched and upside down and every which way.

The thing with electrical sockets is this: Once you start taking out wires, you're committed. Especially in this instance, because you can't just leave it there and turn on the electricity, otherwise you'd have Live, exposed wires. I committed and I finished and I tested and everything test ok. So why do I keep praying I don't burn down the house?

Sitting Around Eating Bon Bons

The title is what I wish I was doing right now. Alas, I have the unglamorous job of cleaning up the kitchen/dining room/solarium today. This usually occurs when we're moving things into or out of a room. I spend an unusually long amount of time, vacuuming plywood floors that insist on shedding their fibers, washing paint covered linoleum and degerming every surface that the drop cloths touched.

Yes, it seems a bit ridiculous considering that we will be ripping out the linoleum floors soon and no one will ever see the plywood once the bamboo is laid. But the dirt, oh the dirt. It loves to stick to your shoes and travel around the house. So I clean and bleach counter tops and scrape off paint. This photo is an example of how' unclean' my 'cleaned' floors really do look.

Oh, and the move is occurring to free up the living room to bring in the bamboo. The bamboo needs to be unwrapped and allowed to 'adjust' to the room for at least a week prior to installation. And Kevin thought I was high maintenance!

Bamboo It Is

Everyone should know by now, but in case you didn't, we are installing bamboo on the first floor of the house.

My main reason for becoming interested in bamboo was after I learned that it is a sustainable resource. Bamboo matures in 5-6 years and can then be made into a laminate flooring. Bamboo is a great alternative to chopping down old growth forests.

It is also recyclable, so if the next owners don't want it they can recycle it. But of course, it is beautiful, unusual and exotic (see photo), so I can't imagine why anyone would want to replace it!

My Dad, master bargain hunter for home improvement stores (not to be confused with my Mom, the queen master bargain hunter of all), found a great deal on bamboo at Lowe's. We're getting it for little more than $3/square foot. I ordered it yesterday and I am absolutely convinced that it will provide endless weeks of fodder for this blog.

Stay tuned for exciting tales from the bamboo house.

Shiny New Hardware

I was out for most of yesterday and didn't get much done on the house. But when Kevin came home I did take on the task of the Master Bathroom Cabinet Hardware.

I was doing ok. I would say I got every other handle attached and then I would run into the problem that the hole wasn't in the right place for the screw and Kevin would have to try to fix it. I'm happy to report that Kevin fixed all of the problems and we now have hardware on all of our cabinets. It's shiny, new and I can stop jamming my finger trying to open the drawers. Hooray!

Cutting the Hand That Helps You

We are so busy in the next few weekends that my parents agreed to come down after church yesterday to help hang the blinds that had arrived a few weeks ago. My Dad wasn't here 10 minutes when he put his hand in our toolbox and he cut himself on our brand new scraping blade.

There was blood everywhere, I didn't take a photo (for the privacy of my Dad's finger), but it was bad. It just kept bleeding and bleeding and he wouldn't go get stitches. He has had a tetanus shot in the last few years, so that's good. It did finally stop bleeding after what seemed like an interminable time, but that could have been from the bandage he wrapped so tightly around his finger.

My Dad persevered like he always does and he and Kevin hung the blinds. Our new wooden blinds look awesome! Super big kudos to my awesome Dad for going above and beyond this weekend. Prayers for an uneventful healing of his finger are welcome!

My Professional Tape Remover

If you've been following along, you know that I spent a day prepping, taping and cleaning the trim for painting. You'll also recall that I was frustrated by the whole process and the time it took to do this. On Friday, I started to remove the tape (after two long days of sanding, priming and painting), but it was a little too soon and the paint stuck to the tape and the tape just ripped the paint off of the wall leaving me more frustrated and annoyed.

I did what any frustrated person would do, I put down the tape and left the room and said, "Monday, I'll see you on Monday!" And then, out of some husbandly feeling of duty or goodwill towards me or just out of the kindness of his heart Kevin took the Xacto knife and started taking the tape off of the trim this morning. How can you not love a man who will take the tape off of the walls for you?

Photo forthcoming when I can capture him in action.