Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Adventures in bathroom fixes

One phone call to my Dad for moral support (to see if he thought I could do it) as well as some safety first on how to check if something's *hot*... (preferrably the right way, not the 'just touch both wires with a screw driver while holding the plastic handle - and if it sparks it's hot' kind of way)

Also, I had colour coded the wires with tape so I could plug the fan I took out back in the right way, but I wasn't sure if there was a way to tell with the new one I was getting, which way it should go... Also I wanted to check if they had mickey-moused it by just twisting the wires together - Apparently not, as that's totally standard as long as they have those caps on, and since it's a/c it really doesn't matter which way you wire the fan in... which was good for me because they clipped the plug and wired it into two black wires.

Note from common sense: If you use these comments for home or bathroom reno's of any kind you're an idiot, I'm not a professional, and this is not an advice column.

One replacement upgrade kit later, that was much too large... partly because I guessed the worn off model number wrong, partly because I got excited about 50% stronger and 25% quieter! ...and partly because there's no perspective for how big something is online... *sigh* Oh well it will probably fit the downstairs bathroom :p

Once I had the boring replacement unit I still had to unscrew and flip the nuts around that hold the damn motor together, and swap on the old fan blade because the new one wouldn't fit through the hole... no upgraded fan experience for me :(

It sure is nice to hear the white noise of my bathroom fan again this morning though... for something I don't usually notice, I sure missed you ;)

Sunday, September 27, 2015

"Day"-ja vu

That feeling that you've already been here today...

Oh wait, we have.

We literally went everywhere twice yesterday... except garage saling first thing in the morning...

We drove all the way out to Pomona to move the Ninja's cousin into his new place for school, drove all the way back picked up some stuff from Home Depot and then got the phone call to meet up for dinner at Gen Korean BBQ... back near Pomona...

Got cleaned up and organized, and on our way out there the plans changed... to Gen Korean BBQ near where we had just passed on the freeway, we exited, saw this Stop Korean BBQ place and researched it on the way back to the other one...

The other one had just opened and was crazy packed, so we changed plans and looped *back* around to Stop Korean BBQ via the freeway... which was less busy, and was able to seat our party of 8 when everyone got there *phew*

That's not all though... here's the kicker:

After dinner, we were going to play pool but the pool hall was a little more upscale than our collective skill set... so we ended up going home and playing at Scratch... which is in the same complex as the Home Depot

I'm not sure how it happened but it felt like something out of an episode of circus-circus

:p

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Labour day weekend, how appropriate

562 trips to Home Depot and the project we started last weekend has an end in sight... of course that's what we thought yesterday... and the day before that.

Before we discovered that we needed just one more floor tile and they wanted to sell us the entire case... before a nice guy said this case is already open, its garbage to me (you can have that one)... and we hastily exited the store whispering "Start the car! Start the car!!!" Before we cut one wrong...


and as a desperate last measure cut it in half with mad exacto knife skills and made an overlap to fit ;)


Which was just before it turned 11 and was too late to nail in the base boards for fear of waking the neighbors... So here we are again, 12 hours later caulking the baseboards because they "mostly fit" and the end is still in sight...

The list is getting smaller, but each item has sub items you don't even know about until you get there... *fingers crossed* the end is drawing near, I can feel it!



Monday, September 07, 2015

Lady luck

I've come to the conclusion that lady luck smiles on different people in different ways... some people are lucky with parking and some with cards...

But me? well I'm just lucky. 

Not in any predictable way of course (because that might be useful), but I consider it the very best kind of luck.  I'm lucky when I need it, and sometimes when I don't think I need it or deserve it, like good karma.

Sometimes I win raffles, I get this tingly feeling literally just before it happens, like I just know it's going to happen, and then it does! Sometimes I have good shopping days, where I find everything I'm looking for, and it's even in my size! I've even had days where I'm able to find things someone else is looking for... in *their* size!

I think one of my favorites, was my Dad picking out a girl at a ski swap saying "You look about the same height as my daughter, go pick out a pair of ski boots" and she found me a $275 pair of boots (that still had the price tag on the bottom) which Dad picked up for ~$20... Which I then proceeded to wear for the next 18 years, until they were so completely and utterly packed out they hurt my son's and my feets. I never got to thank her, but I wish I could because they were wonderful! 

Recently I've been contemplating buying a wet suit so I can surf in the "winter" (who am I kidding, I'm acclimated and wussy now), but the trouble is that each brand fits a little bit differently.  I'd been looking at the swap meet because I don't need a new one, but was really struggling with sizing, some looked good in the top but then the legs were for someone with treetrunk thighs and the crotch came down to my knees :/ others were a good length, but were designed with Peter Pan in mind and there was no way they were going to fit over my boobs... 

So this last weekend we had gone to the swap meet with a list, the top item being a surf board bag... and we hadn't found it anywhere (so I bought a punching bag instead)... and then the Ninja found me the leather jacket I've been looking for for ages, and *then* while I was buying a churro because I was starving...

 

she found the surfboard guy we'd missed earlier! He said he didn't usually sell board bags, but since she was so charming and we'd come to the swap meet looking for just that and he *happened* to have an extra one he'd make an exception and sell it to me, and then I spotted this wetsuit over in the corner...

I liked it, and it looked like the most likely to fit candidate so far, but I was still wary about buying it without trying it on... and then he said I can give you a deal on the board bag and the wetsuit together, and tell you what, I'm here every Sunday... if the suit doesn't fit you can exchange it until you find something that works for you. 

*mentally SOLD*

At which point I had to ask the Ninja how much cash she had... *grins* I think we literally walked away from that swap meet with $4 left... in her pocket ;)


Oh, and the wetsuit? Fits like a glove *grins*



Sunday, September 06, 2015

How convenient?!

The recipe called for two yolks, and I thought I was going to need two eggs.  Luckily I cracked this one first!