A Little Door'll Do Ya

So I've managed to calm down about Saturday. Mike was nice enough to give me half of his Sunday - which is usually "guys day" - to work some more on the upstairs.

First thing, we made a trip to the HD in Plymouth, since the one in Wareham was all out of the size bi-fold closet doors we needed - plus we needed more finish nails and some fertilizer. (Yes, our precious lawn is suffering.)

And - get this - I almost bought a fridge. Ok ok ok ok ok ok. So we were leaving HD and you know how they have all their closeouts right in the exit there.... and they had an LG, bottom freezer, french door, stainless steel, matte finish - the high performance fridge of my wildest dreams. ON CLOSEOUT! For $1500 something. I was dying. I was drooling. I was caressing. It had those super cool drawers in the fridge part. It had a cube size select ice maker in a pullout drawer in the freezer drawer which pulled out so super smoothly. Did I mention Closeout priced?!

I had to have stood there for at least 10 minutes mulling over it. I wanted to take the plunge - buy the thing. I wanted to so bad!! Mike was no help - he just kept telling me to do whatever I wanted. And I wanted the fridge! But I knew it was wrong... especially with everything else we're trying to accomplish right now. Not to mention the $500 in upstairs finishing materials I had just bought in the last two days. Not only that, but I didn't even know whether it would fit in my kitchen design. Or, even more importantly, if it would fit through the door to the house!

That's what tore it for me. I told myself, "we'll never even be able to squeeze it in." Never mind the fact that I shouldn't be spending money on impulse. But I think about it even now... wonder if it's still there. Just down the street from me right now. I know I made the right decision.

That was my frame of mind when we got back home. We installed the office bi-folds to test fit and that was the end of my half Sunday allotment. Mike was off on the boat and I decided to stay home and relax after that. It was nice.

I have to admit I went upstairs several times while Mike was gone, just to look at the closet doors. They make the room look so much more finished - even without trim. Now we just have to test fit the doors in the bedroom, take 'em off, stain 'em and put 'em back up again with all the trim.... which we need to put a second coat on, hopefully tonight.

Another Inturruption

How often has this happened to you - you're trying like hell to get work done around the house and everyone in the world keeps butting in on you and you can't get a thing done.

Let me tell you about my yesterday, and how absolutely frustrated Mike and I were. First off, we had to do a scrap metal run in the morning, which I knew would hold us up until about noon. And of course we hit traffic and didn't get home till about 12:30. But the second we got home, a guy stopped by to look at our boat, which is for sale on the front lawn. And he held up Mike until about 1:30.

At that time we were pretty hungry, having skipped breakfast, so we had lunch. Then we made our list for home depot and were really eager to get going. We were literally sitting in the truck when another guy stopped by about the boat. Once that guy left, we headed out. But 5 minutes on the way to the depot and a guy called about the boat - wanted to trade us for a truck and wouldn't take no for an answer, no matter how many times Mike said he wanted cash. So he was stuck on the phone with him allll the way to the store.

In the store, Mike got a call from his friend, who wanted to stop by our house. Leaving me to hobble down the aisles while he was yapping away.

We managed to get everything and get out of there. But once we got home, another person stopped by about the boat. Then, once he left and we were working, our neighbor called and wanted to invite us over for dinner. And then that guy with the truck called again, begging for Mike to just "look at it" before he said no.

Mike was so frustrated, he said fine. At this point it was around 6pm. We had cut a bunch of trim pieces and were ready to start staining.

And then the guy with the truck stopped by - Mike had to talk to him for a while, look at this stupid truck, and then finally sent him packing. And then our neighbor stopped by, just as we started staining. Which was ok, because he was just watching us and talking to us.

But then Mike's friend came by - drunk as a skunk and twice as annoying. We finished staining as fast as we could and I retreated back into the house. Mike now had to make a beer run and take care of his friend. And then our neighbor's son came over to hang with the guys. Then they went up to our neighbor's house for dinner. I stayed home - I was tired and annoyed.

It was the most impossible day ever! But at least we got most of the trim cut and first coated. Amazing that we got anything accomplished!

Doors Suck

So I think the bi-fold wood doors are going to run more like $70 a piece. That's not a set - that's a piece. Two closets times two doors equals $280. That's just crazy in my opinion. That's going to bring my "finish the upstairs" total into the $500's range, I'm sure. If not more.

I should just bit the bullet and go for broke. Have to take the plunge sooner or later. No use beating around the bush. What is today but yesterday's tomorrow.

Ok - now that all my sayings are out of the way.... I must admit I haven't told Mike any of my crazy Saturday schemes. And he's only agreed to put up the already stained trim and to cut and stain the window trim.... I don't know if that includes straightening the bedroom windows. But as I see it, it'll be easy for me to weasel my way into more.... I mean, we'll already be at the Home Depot getting window trim - so why not buy the doors, door trim, and the recessed light trim? And if we're already cutting and staining trim - why not cut and stain the door trim and the doors?!

That's evil girl power right there. I know its evil too. The whole Saturday will be gone before he even knows it. But I haven't pulled out the whip for weeks - so nobody out there can say anything. Plus, there is a lot I can do in terms of cutting and measuring to help out. Not like I'm not doing my part.

Are We There Yet?

It's time. Time to get back to work. And boy is that upstairs just screaming to be finished. We were sooo close before collapsing 500 yards from the finish line. So close I bet we could finish the entire thing in a weekend... we should have just a marathon Saturday and try to beat the clock - how fast can we finish the upstairs? Starting gun goes off at 7am - and we've got to be done by midnight.... that would be so cool. Mike probably wouldn't think so though, with me being less than 1/2 as helpful as I could normally be.

But really - to finish finish everything, there's only a few things left:

Install office trim (which has already been cut and stained - it's in the basement and ready to go)
Re-install 2 bedroom windows (they're crooked because of the house lift)
Install window trim on 4 windows (needs to be bought, cut and stained)
Eyeball trim for 2 recessed lights (takes two seconds)
Closet doors & trim for two closets (need to be bought & stained)
Trim & doors for 2 attic holes (need to be bought & stained)
Office railing (bought and installed)
Office ceiling fan

So minus the fact that everything needs to be stained - it's all totally dooable. Wow, I just mis-spelled Dooable. Sweet.

The cost for all this is another story - but I would guess about $300. The eyeballs are $25 each, the closet doors are probably at least $100 a set, so that's $250 there.... Hmmm, maybe more like $400. We have some trim in stock already. We'll see. It's a small price to pay to call the upstairs "done."

100% done. No "except for's." I get all giddy just thinking about it.

That's it - I'm going to try for it. Maybe if we can do just a little bit each day this week it could be done by Sat.....

Whip Crackin' is Backin' Action!

Hello world! I'm back and highly motivated! HIGHLY motivated. No, I'm still not ready to run, skip, jump, or other leg-type-activities. But I am in good spirits. And no, I haven't been drinking spirits... mmmm, spirits.

Back to the subject.

So, last week I devoted myself to a tedious planning task not to be undertaken by the faint of heart... or faint of butt. Because it requires a large amount of time on your butt. Since most of my time as of late has been of the butt-sitting variety - I decided it was high time. So, I got out my pencil (which is hard enough because I despise pencils. Stupid pencils.) and I got out my paper. And I got out my tape measure..... which I then broke. So I got out my other tape measure! And then I got out my laptop and went to work.

I painstakingly measured my kitchen. And then I went to ikea.com. And thus commenced the hours and hours of drawing, erasing, adding, clicking on stuff, drawing some more, calculating, moving, erasing some more, getting another pencil, getting another piece of paper - etc etc. And by the end of the third day, I had created - KITCHEN! And it was good.




Why? Well, it is true that we have a kitchen. I found my cabinets for $200 at a yard sale - full set! More actually, then I ended up using. And I do like them - I like the color and all. But they are old.

And in the very near future - we are going to have to rip them all out anyway to fix the drywall in the kitchen, which got the biggest beating from the whole house-lift-basement. Sooooo, if we have to take them all out anyway - why not put back new ones? And in a coolio configuration designed by me instead of in a hap-hazard make 'em fit or else kind of former configuration? Capeesh?

The design is totally awesome and reflects the fact that I spent waaaay too much time on it. And really, it won't even be too expensive. I already have the countertop - which will still fit as long as we don't break it getting it out. And we already have an awesome granite sink and newish appliances. (Except for the fridge which is totally too expensive for words.)

Under all realistic conditions - none of this madness would even think about starting until after next year. There's too much other stuff to be accomplished. But I'm working on that too....

Down on My Knees - I mean, luck.

I've determined that I'm the luckiest unlucky person ever. Just when I thought things were going so perfectly - I had money for my new laptop, my good friend Justin was coming for a visit, I was going to Europe in Sept... just lucky lucky stuff. Something terrible had to happen.

Last month - I slipped on a wet floor, dislocated my left knee, had to go to the ER, was outta work, and now in physical therapy - all the while hobbling around on crutches, not being able to do anything fun. And that's the short version.

So that's the main reason I haven't blogged in a long time. It's been just a crappy summer. I've had a handful of fun times at friends' houses - but I can't go out to the bars or go to the beach, ride the motorcycle, go camping, take belly dancing classes, work on the house.... or even go for a short jog. I'd be happy with a non-hobbling walk at this point. Forget running. Makes me want to start balling again.

Mike meanwhile has finished the CarBQ. He bought a new boat and a new motorcycle. The boat is nice, the motorcycle is ok - though I don't really like cruisers. Now we've got to sell our old boat and motorcycle. The garage gets smaller by the day, it seems.

Of course, we haven't even been able to finish putting the trim upstairs. Or construct the stairway railing. I'm still content to at least see it most of the way done - but I'm getting sick of my office mess - books and milkcrates of stuff everywhere. But it's useless to put all that on the shelves just to take it all off again to put up the trim.

At this point, it's a struggle to even keep the house clean.

So that's the story ur-body. I miss writing to all of you. I hope all of you are having a great and productive summer.