Cheaper, but it'll take twice as long ;)

Dad was lamenting that while doing something yourself can be a whole lot cheaper, sometimes it ends up taking longer because you end up having to do it twice, and I'm definitely starting to feel that way...

So far we've put in two shower cartridges, I don't know what was wrong with the first one, but the second one worked like a charm...

We've done the caulking in Faith's shower twice because I didn't read it carefully enough and bought clear caulk... now I know better :/

I've done the touch up paint twice because apparently the sun has bleached my room more than the hallway where the paint match chip came from *sigh* it still isn't *quite* right but at this point it's "good enough"

I had to patch the holes our sweet shelf left in the bathroom wall twice because they were just big enough that it fell in a bit as it dried and wasn't flush like it should have been.

Needless to say, I've fixed the things I wasn't happy with, and corrected some of the other patch jobs that weren't up to snuff lest they think *I* did it like that ;)

At very least I can honestly say I've stayed true to one of the life lessons I learned so very long ago in Girl Guides, and that's that I've left things better than I found them.

That dawning moment of realization

So this text got sent from our house this evening and pretty much sums up how things are going:

"Yay! We're still doing house stuff, but we're almost done! Just need to do baseboards in my bathroom, clean Sam's bathroom, caulk both bathrooms, deep clean the kitchen, touch up paint...shit..."

Staying out of the way

Ah the sound of someone else working, it's comforting and strangely enough has brought back memories of when I was three and my parents were able to afford to put carpet in the house.  I don't remember a whole lot, but I do remember running around on the really fine particle board that's now under the carpet... running into the living room and stepping on the thin strip of carpet tack they'd just laid and then sitting in the rocking chair my Grandfather made me nursing my foot... and feeling indignantly angry at that carpet tack, because it hurt!

Celine Dion, enough said... and yet there's more.

She's funny and classy, and sassy and thoughtful and raw and just down to earth really for real... and amazing, and incredible and wonderful and I would go see her again in a heartbeat!

She said the coliseum was intimate, *raises eyebrow* it has two mezzanine balconies and seats ~4,296... and yet somehow she has made it her home away from home, and it really was kind of intimate *smiles*.

She knocked it out out of the park finishing a couple of her songs in classic Celine fashion, but even knowing that she was going to do it didn't lessen the impact. In fact seeing it in person was even more phenomenal than I could have possibly imagined... until I realized she was singing the guitar solo.

*jaw dropping* whaaaa?!? 

My mind *exploded* and she shattered my perception of an amazing singer into a bzillion sparkling crystalline pieces. 

Yep, that pretty much put her light years above and beyond anyone I've ever heard. In. My. Life.

I ran the full gamut of emotions that evening, she shared pieces of herself in the way that only people who are fully comfortable on stage can, including a little leg from her cocktail dress "for Renee" she confided, and then again a little later "for anyone who wants to look", and she looks amazing! 

We laughed and cried, and I earned even more respect for another artist I admire deeply.  This artist can turn feelings into lyrics, and when Celine needed it most she wrote a song for her. It's called Recovering, and the artist is Pink! If you haven't heard it I recommend taking a listen, but it's worth having some kleenex on standby.  One of the friends we went with kindly shared her make-up wipes and we sniffled together :p

No matter what you think you know about her, if you're the least bit interested and you have the opportunity definitely go see her show live, it's an amazing experience.  She's a very special one of a lifetime kind of person, and I'm so thankful I was able to see her, it's a memory I wont soon forget!

We'll get new carpet we said...

They'll install it, it'll be easier than doing it ourselves we said... and that is probably still true.

But.

But I don't think we had any idea how much you have to do to get *ready* for new carpet. I can see why this is something you should do before you move in... or after you move out.  We've basically moved out into the garage, and while they do move furniture it's supposed to be mostly empty... so you might as well be moved out anyways.

It's quarter after 8 in the morning, apparently we're close to the carpet place so we got the call at a little after 7 and they were here by 7:30... luckily we were *mostly* ready and literally only had a few things to gather and move out of the way, as opposed to yesterday and the day before when I kept thinking "Okay! This room is almost done, I think I just need one more box"... 

Meanwhile in California...

It's so hot even the stuff that's been hung up on the line feels like it's hot out of the dryer!

And so it begins

We're about at the point between cleaning and life, where we're still living in the house, but trying to make it look like we don't.

I'm seriously considering seran wrapping things like an Italian Grandmother once they've had a good deep cleaning so we don't have to clean them again :p

Great stuff...

I had an idea, but it wasn't until I saw it referenced on the Internet when I stumbled across something else that I really wanted to try it :p

Basically you put something in a container drape cloth over it and fill the container part way with foaming crack filler and then put something to contain the foam and walk away and let it sit overnight.

I don't know why, but despite having two people tell me it was overkill I still wanted to try it because I thought it was a great idea.

So I did a test run, and it didn't work quite right... but I figured I'd learned enough to do it, namely that you can't use a plastic bag because it needs to breath in order to dry.

Writing this out I realize how ridiculous it sounds that I'm still writing about trying it.

Well, you've probably figured this out already, but it was a bit of a disaster.

I ran out of foam, then I put too much in... and the container I was filling was plastic. I left it longer to compensate which seemed to help (or so I thought) until the third day when I opened it up, took the item needing protection out and an hour later it didn't fit... and still the foam kept expanding.

I let it run its course, and then set about the task of removing the evidence of my failed experiment.  I heard a bread knife works well, and boy did it ever! I started tearing out huge chunks until I discovered there was still a large pocket of gooey mess... by this point it was all over my right hand, and I was past the point of no return.

I didn't think it was going to be an ordeal getting it off, until I exhausted my go-to hand cleaners and started to panick a little. Luckily only one hand was sticky and I could still Google with my left hand :p

Thank you to the guy who said ten minutes of rubbing with peanut butter, and a couple cold beers worth of picking it off while sitting on the front porch. I'd tried butter, but not nearly long enough. Between the peanut butter and some serious scraping with a knife edge I was able to get to the point that it didn't look entirely awful.

Once I got past that the rest of it came out of the container pretty easily with some help from a putty knife and a screw driver. A quick trip to the fabric store, three pillow cases and less than 20mins later we'd effectively acheived what I'd been working on intermittently for the better part of a week *sigh*

Thank you for letting me try it and fail. After a conversation with my Mom I realized something, some people try, fail and move on. Whereas I see the potential for something and I keep trying to get it to work... I like to think it's kind of an Edison-esque "I've found 99 ways that don't work"

*indignantly* For the record I still think it's a good idea.

Adventures in house repairs

We're prepping the house to move, and I think I'm just about at the point of breaking even between things I wanted to fix, things I have actually fixed, and things that I had to fix even though they weren't on the list because I accidentally broke them...

So far I've learned that you shouldn't leave the open paint can lid I on the floor where the dog might step on it, she didn't mind you, and she sat down immediately if quizzically when she heard the panic in my voice, but it was an eternity of a minor heart attack when I thought she had.

I've learned that there's no incentive for getting the water turned back on when you're doing a plumbing job like having to poop.

I've also learned that I have no idea how the bathtub cartridge works, and that no matter how simple it looks, its probably worth my time to pay someone who knows what they're doing. I can admit that now right? Even though I just spent two days, more than a fair amount of time,  and two cartridges from home depot... I was successful which is the important part, and now looking back on the fun times we had. No? Okay no. But it is pretty satisfying that it works now.

I've learned that reading the directions, and realizing you might have done something wrong, can be enough to make something that appeared to be working, not work.

I've learned that adventures in plumbing will wait until you're naked and in the shower to start leaking into the kitchen through the light downstairs.

I already knew I hated vinyl flourescent light covers, but I've just learned that they hate me too.