Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Ball!

This makes me wish it were ball season... ok that isn't entirely accurate, it is *always* ball season in California, our team just missed the registration deadline :p
But this makes me wanna go play!

Monday, February 26, 2018

Enough to do!

Clearly we didn't already have enough to do before my roommate's family descends in two weeks... because the handle on the toilet broke in such a way that it can't be fixed with duct tape and zip ties (we tried)

We were however able to fix it with one of those "most commonly broken party of the toilet" kits today - thanks Home Depot! AND the toilet handle matches the rest of the hardware now *grins*

While it really wasn't broken for very long, it's incredibly satisfying to be able to flush again with a handle we fixed ourselves.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Sometimes it gets cold in California...

See!

Well, I've definitely acclimated, there's a light layer of frost and I had to put on a toque and my down vest this morning :p


Sure was pretty on my walk home when it was all melting though :)

Saturday, February 17, 2018

No, bigger!

I did something kind of incredible yesterday's yesterday now.

It may not sound like much, but I mounted a projector screen *through* a drop ceiling all. by. myself.

*beaming*

I'm still a little gobsmacked at how incredibly lucky I got on more than one occasion.

Seriously. Gobsmacked.

I didn't break either of the ceiling tiles, the reinforcement piece I put above the ceiling tile miraculously fit (which was amazing because I totally "ished" it and I couldn't figure out another way to do it if it didn't work)

Then holding the rolled up screen aloft in both hands I was able to climb the ladder... as it dawned on me... now what?

How the hell am I going to get the loops over the hooks before my arms and my legs poop out?!?

It was one of those shrug you've made it this far you might as well just try it moments. I started with the left side, raised it up to the hook, used the hook to flip the loop up -was mildly surprised when it stayed- then held my breath while the stars aligned, and in one fluid motion put the loop over the hook like I'd done it a million times.

Holy crap that actually worked?!?!

Boohyah!

After that the other was so easy it isn't even worth talking about. I'm tired and sore, I've used muscles I forgot I had but it was totally worth it :)

Now to move the projector back to fit the bigger screen...

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Fish!

So you're probably going to laugh, but I have a deep seated childhood fear of fish. I'm always afraid that it's going to taste awful, the way it did when my Mom made me sit at the table staring at the same one for three nights in a row until Dad finally took pity on me and composted it.

I had been hesitant to try it because it smelled like fish, and my few years of experience said it would probably taste the way it smelled. So Mom had told me to put lemon juice on it because that would make it taste better... so I doused it liberally.

Needless to say now that I'm wiser, I'm pretty sure that  the reason it tasted awful was because the lemon juice had gone bad...

Anyways, despite knowing that fish is actually really good when it's done right leftover fish still makes me squirm... The thing is, my best friend's Mom just moved in with us, and she's Filipino, and she cooks fish.

Happy Valentine's

Thanks Pinterest, totally nailed it!

Friday, February 09, 2018

Paraphrased from the internets

"Not all heros wear capes, although some wear them backwards and call it an apron"

Wednesday, February 07, 2018

Maintenance gas check... Check!

Sure fire way to get the gas inspection lady to show up - make a dribbly pulled pork sandwich, take a couple bites and get drippings all over your hands... Presto! She'll show up, the dogs will bark, there will be chaos.

Watched her check the vent operation with the smoke from a match, I know it's probably *the* single best way to do it, but it's only slightly concerning lighting matches around gas lines that you're checking... I guess that's why she's a trained professional ;)

Turns out that based on the connector used on the hot water tank it's probably as old as the house (early 50's!) and being a two piece brass connector is no longer deemed "safe" so it needs to be swapped out for a new shiny-er stainless steel model. 

I must admit though I'm a little confused as to why this passed the "health and safety inspection" we had to get before we bought the place?

Next I hear beeping upstairs and figure it's one of her measurement devices, then it cuts to "Fire! Fire! Fire!" and I realize it's our smoke alarm, followed shortly by her hollering down "Don't worry, that's normal" *chuckles* turns out it doesn't bother her any as it's all in a day's work even though the sound of it drives me crazy she assured me it was fine and to just open some windows... I did, and retreated downstairs.

Official voice: *self important throat clearing* Thank you, thank you, thank you... this concludes our test. I would like to express my appreciation to the responsiveness of our neighbours for checking that we were home and knew our smoke detectors were going off. I sincerely appreciate your concern and the haste with which you checked to make sure everything was okay.

More dog chaos.

Should I be concerned that her sniffer sounds like she's flying a model airplane?  Yep, I'm pretty sure that means something is leaking... good thing I shut that one off after we moved in!

Of course she's in a different truck and doesn't have all her parts, so she had to get the connector delivered. Naturally my department meeting started 10 mins ago, and he showed up immediately *after* I was asked to speak *rolls eyes*

I had to go on mute so I could yell at the dogs to stop barking - seems pretty hypocritical of me, yelling at them, for barking... but still.

Oh, right and to top it all off? *while* I was on my conference call, the street sweeper came by. I had a minor heart attack because there's a $50 ticket you if you're parked on the street, and I had completely forgotten to mention it. I watched in horror as the street sweeper went around both trucks, and the enforcement car slowed down in front of the second truck... still on the phone knowing that there wasn't enough time to run and get them to move their vehicles...  I dashed back to my computer and discovered that thankfully they don't ticket professionals like the phone or gas company unless it becomes a habit in front of your house. *sigh of relief*

Nonetheless adventures aside, I can finally check this off the list! Everything has been electronically sniffed, tightened, fixed and cleared for use save the heater downstairs in the living where we might actually use it... (figures) That one needs to be professionally cleaned. Other than that she showed me how to light the pilot lights on our super old gas heaters, and the gas fireplace and I now have some level of confidence that in doing so I'm not going to blow the house up.

You have no idea how stoked I am to finally be able to have a fire in the livingroom while it's still winter here!

It’s a little damp out this morning

Took this when I realized that even my eyebrows were misty!

Saturday, February 03, 2018

Eeeeep!

This is what happens when you take a waffle recipe, turn it into a family favorite pancake recipe, then attempt to use it experimentally in a new waffle maker, after having helped make pancakes for so many years!

Rewards

Yesterday morning I was rewarded for hauling myself out of bed early with a beautiful sunrise, birdsong, and this... I've always had a thing for dandelion fluff :)

Thursday, February 01, 2018

If websites were burgers

Fantastic explanation of net neutrality brought to you by the letters B and K, the colours red, yellow and blue and why you should care.


Pay particular attention to the part about corporate thinking they can sell more chicken, it's subtle but it's one of the concepts at the heart of why repealing net neutrality isn't in the best interests of the consumer.