Hobbit Doors

I don't know if I mentioned before but in this older house, when the new carpet was put in, two of the doors weren't put back in. One of these doors happens to be on the bathroom. This doesn't matter when I am here by myself but it makes things a bit uncomfortable if anyone comes to visit.

Needless to say, doors have been a priority. My sis and I found the two doors I want to rehang up in the attic and brought them down. Unfortunately the hinges were only in half shape, and the doors were too long with the new carpet. Two days ago, I was able to get the painted on hinges off the doors and today, I was tasked with cleaning up the doorframe hinges as well as mount the hinges on the doors so we can measure and cut off the bottoms before trying to rehang them.

So today, I did it, used the chisel and managed to clean up the door frames, and attach the new hinges to both doors. Tomorrow I hope (with help from my sis and b-i-l) to hang both doors after measuring and cutting the bottoms to fit. This will just be in time since my mom is planning to spend the night at my place on one night of her visit here this weekend. I have to say with all the chiseling I did today, I really missed having someone here that I love that is also an excellent wood worker. I did send him an email about it.

Spring Has Sprung

Starting to get some blooms around here. I can tell from the things planted in this yard that I am in for a treat all through the summer.

Here is just a smidgen of what has started to bloom in the yard. We have camellias, trillium and Pieris 'Brower's Beauty blooming at this time and there are rhodies, roses and a number of other things I am sure will be lovely later in the season.

As the season progresses, I am sure I will be taking lots more photos of the lovely things blooming in the hobbit house yard. I am looking forward to some of the trees and bushes to leaf out so I can have a bit more privacy as well.

Kitchen Is Done

Everything is put away in clean cabinets and drawers. Still have a few things I might need to pick up at some point, but for now, it is workable and I am willing to wait and see what might happen before spending any more money...haha

Next projects include getting the door for the bathroom done (big deal), get bedding for the "guest" bed, getting the DVD player set up wirelessly, killing the moss and cleaning it off the sidewalk, and putting out my solar path lights.

The hobbit house continues to be an adventure that I am sure will keep me on my toes for the time being.

Making Headway

Yesterday, I managed to get the rest of the kitchen drawers stripped, cleaned and re-contacted. This allowed me to put quite a bit away. Still need to clean a few cabinets out so I can put groceries away in them.

I also was able to get the bathroom window cling applied so that the window is now translucent rather than transparent, which is great, since the neighbors backyard can see right in the bathroom.

I needed to finish the bathroom window project because I needed a squirt bottle for it and for another project and I only have one squirt bottle. Once I was done with the window, it freed up my squirt bottle for the next project....CLRing the tub.

I managed to knock that one out last night as well, and the tub looks and feels a million times better. It is actually shiny under all that hard water stain, and lime build up. I took a bath last night (first one since I left Japan) and it was so awesome. I read my book for a bit and warmed up my body from the inside out. It was pretty great!!

Leprechaun House Update

Okay, I finally got the pictures downloaded from the party down the street at the leprechaun house for St Patty's Day. I took one during the day and then a few that night so you could see all the lights.









As of today, the yard is still decorated, not sure if it is going for the rest of the month, or if it is a year long thing or perhaps will be replaced by the next big holiday theme...we'll see.

Contact Paper

So, I discovered in the midst of kitchen cleaning that several of the drawers were lined with contact paper...yet they weren't really what I would call lined. It looked like someone just slapped down a piece in the drawer without trimming it or even cleaning the drawer before putting it in.

While removing the contact paper from some of the drawers, I realized that there were two layers of contact paper so the previous tenant just slapped down this layer over some old cruddy paper that was already in there.....gross.

I, of course, purchased some new contact paper (not my favorite color but oh well) because the drawers are not painted inside. And it is being put in on nice clean drawers that have all the old paper torn out of it. I am also trimming the edges which is, I think, mandatory.

I have my silverware drawer done and 4 other drawers stripped, cleaned and drying on a towel in the kitchen. This is part of the steps that have to be done before I can put the kitchen stuff away...

Wireless Network Is Up

So I got a hair up my butt yesterday and managed to knock out not only all the other outlets and switches I wanted to do, I also got the PC set up and the wireless network setup and functioning. Desk actually looks like a desk now since I also finished setting up the printer this morning too.

I finally have my laptop in the livingroom like I wanted and I also have the Wii setup wirelessly so I can get my Netflix on...haha.

Bad news is that I wasn't able to get either of the outlets that I changed out from 2 prong to 3 prong to actually ground, but at least I am not having to use adapters on both outlets anymore hoping that they don't fall out from the weight of the plug. I also was not able to get the attic light to work after changing out the switch (and I am not motivated to play with it anymore since it requires turning of the power main again). I just keep a flashlight on the stairs in case I need to go up there at night. During the day is no problem because there is enough light.

Kitty is learning to use the petdoor which is a great improvement for us both I believe.

I managed to get over to my favorite store for Thai ingredients and stocked up completely so I am set to make just about anything that sounds good (minus the fresh stuff I have to buy day of). I don't have the kitchen put away yet, because it requires a lot of cleaning that I haven't gotten to yet but it has been functional for the one week I have been here.

Need to get the door thing worked on tomorrow so I can have a door on the bathroom before I get visitors in ten days...and I need to get settled in so I can start on our taxes, which are looming in my brain...but one day at a time, and one task at a time...that is my motto...haha.

No Such Luck

So, started working on the livingroom outlet that I had already dissembled and it started turning into a mess. The leads were too short and there was no way I was going to get the wires reconnected with the box still in a position where I could actually tighten the terminal so I ended up having to splice the neutral to give myself a bit of space.

This of course meant another trip to Lowe's, after I had already been out and about earlier (thinking when I got home that I was home for the day)...but I was able to get a few other things I needed while I was there.

Found out that I do have enough stuff to cover the bathroom window (so it is translucent rather than transparent like it is now), so I hope to get that accomplished today along with some cupboards cleaned out in the kitchen so I can put some dishes away....did I mention that the previous tenant really didn't clean anything so the cupboards are petty gross and I am not putting any clean stuff in them until I clean them out.

Looks like I am going to have to try some paint thinner on the hinges on the door I need to hang so I can get the old hinge off and a new one on. Just can't have visitors for long periods of time if the bathroom doesn't have a door on it...yuck.

Needless to say, the list hasn't shortened but I do have a three prong receptacle in the livingroom that functions allowing me to not use an adapter any longer!!!

Of Course

As it would always be, there was no fixing the electrical as easily as I expected.

The outlet in the kitchen I wanted to fix had to be DXed completely. It had an open neutral problem but after moving all the wires around and even trying another receptacle, the problem was still there so instead of leaving a dangerous outlet available, I capped off the wires, and put a blank plate over the box so no one would get hurt in the future trying to use it. I am assuming that something is wrong with the neutral line farther up the line (which is weird because both outlets on the other sides of this one work great). Anyhow, I had kind of resigned myself to not using that outlet anyhow so no big loss and at least it is now safer than it was before.

Found out pretty fast that the new breaker box is not labeled correctly so I have been relabeling it where I can just so I can be sure what I am turning on and off. Found an outlet in one of the bedrooms that is wired backwards but I am not using that one right now so it will be one I fix later. The switch I need to change out so that the attic light will work will require me to turn off the main power so I will tackle the one in the bedroom at the same time as I do that.

In my attempt to turn off the power in the dining room (where the computers are hooked up), I found that the livingroom was wired too so I figured since I had more room in the livingroom to work, I would try one of the outlets in there first to see what I was looking at. Turns out that these outlets are all the older wiring and there is hardly any slack in the line to work with so I had to Lowe's to get groundwire (the boxes are metal so I can ground the new plugs to the box itself) and to see about getting some splice. I don't know if I can pull off the splice, it just depend on how much room there is in the box for everything to fit...but at least I can try it on this one outlet and know from there out if it will be easy or hard to do for the rest.

So today is going to be an electrical day again but I am hoping that by the end of the day, I'll have the outlets redone and up to code, and that I will have my wireless, PC and printer all up and running so I can move my laptop off the computer desk. First though, I need to get some exercise and a trip to Target in.

Ja mata ne (see you later in Japanese).

Electrical Tribulations

Wish me luck...heading down to the basement to shut off the power to two rooms to see if I can change out the outlets in one and fix an outlet in a second. If this works, I'll tackle a couple in the livingroom too.

Have to do this so I can get my computer workstation set up properly and perhaps even find some work in the new future...haha.

In other news, I did get some pics of the leprechaun house yesterday and I'll post them later.

Magna Cart

I bought a little collapsible handtruck to keep in the car to help me get things from the car to the house since I don't have a driveway and the sidewalk is pretty long. This is especially so because I enter and leave through the back patio doors.

I LOVE this little guy. It is small and flat so I can leave it in my car without it taking up a bunch of room and I keep two totes in the car too so that when I go shopping, I can put all the stuff in the my totes and then haul it in using the handtruck.

Last night when I was bringing over some of the last stuff (although I still have some clothes left to move this weekend), the handtruck turned what would have been 5 or 6 trips to the car and back to get everything into just 2 trips...it was fabulous, especially since it started to rain right as I was finishing up.

Cleanliness???

Wow, did I mention that the previous tenant of the hobbit house didn't clean things? I mean, on the surface the house looked clean but in reality, she was a bit of slob. None of the blinds or window sills were clean (spiderwebs, dust and bugs that just couldn't figure out how to get out of the house). I have had to vacuum every window and blind.

Today, I am tackling the refridgerator so I can feel comfortable putting my veggies in the crispers. She didn't wipe any of the crispers out or take out any of the shelves to wipe them down either. 409 has been my friend today getting rid of months of drips and other unmentionable things from the fridge.

I have been cleaning the cupboards one at a time as I figure out where I want things to go, so my kitchen is still a wreck but it is getting there.

Right now, I have a sleeping bag in the washer that needs to be moved to the dryer, two pieces of the refridgerator soaking in the tub, and three pieces of the refridgerator drying on a towel on the kitchen floor (not enough counter space for all that).

Once I get the fridge done, I can put some of my groceries, that are presently residing on two shelves in the fridge, away and figure out what else I need from the store.

Better run, have to get back to the cleaning...

Leprechaun Party

I have a neighbor down the street that is apparently really into St Patty's Day. This is totally fine by me...to each his own right? The entire yard is completely decked out as much, if not more, like someone who is crazy for Christmas would do (only everything is green and gold). At night, he has lights and spotlights all over the place that you can see before you even get to our street.

Tonight they are having a big party that they have invited the entire neighborhood to. I probably won't go but I do plan to take a picture of the house this morning and then perhaps again tonight with the lights on.

I am really curious if is this is a one holiday thing or if I should expect an amazing Easter set to come out next week...

Neighbor Observations

So the neighbor on the left has a crotch rocket that he seems to think is best warmed up by revving it as high as he can for about 5 minutes before finally driving. Fortunately he seems to limit this activity to afternoons...we'll see if that continues as the weather gets better.

Neighbor on the right is a four plex with its own parking lot but most of the people seem to think they should park on the street. Thing is, my house doesn't have a driveway so I have to park on the street and I think the house was empty for a while because without fail, when I have a car full of things to unload, they are parked in front of my walkway so I can't get in without getting wet from the bushes nearby. My car has been out there for two days now so hopefully they will get the hint that they need to move back to their own place or at least to the other side of the street (where they wouldn't be blocking anyone). We'll see.

First Shower

This is going to be a few posts of firsts I think. So the water pressure is not great but at least it was warm. I'll have to figure out if I am going to try to get another shower head or not. The head is already pretty low (being a hobbit house and all) so I am not sure if another shower head would just push it even lower...we'll see what my options are.

Need to find something I can hang over the shower door too so I can have a couple of hooks for my scrubby's...

First Day

So, I didn't sleep as well as I had hoped on the new Ikea (futon) couch. I didn't fold it out, just slept on it as a couch and that was a bad idea. Add in that it was my first night in a new place, and that my back was hurting from all the moving, I woke up feeling like my cold was trying to come back and not motivated to do much of anything.

I had to clean a few things up just so I could make some breakfast and get Kitty set up for the morning. Managed to get some laundry done in my little basement (that I can't stand all the way up in), and organized a bunch of stuff that has been bugging me (like the tool box, electrical stuff, and batteries).

I finished programming my new home phone with all the phone numbers from my cell and got my first call in the evening from my mom. I also managed to program the cable TV (new thing for me since I was living somewhere that didn't have cable for the last 4 years). Find that I turn on one channel and then just use it as background for getting things done in the rest of the house.

Still need to get my PC, wireless, printer and Wii set up but really want to get the kitchen finished so I can function in there on a daily basis and since I have the laptop, the PC is not such a priority right now.

Decided to fold the Ikea couch/bed out tonight and I think it is going to be much better. Finished the shelf for the bathroom and am finally able to get the towels up off the floor.

Will post some pics as soon as I can. Don't want to post the outside of the house until things start to leaf up and blooom so it will look nicer, but I can start doing some shots of the little "hobbit" things around here, like the scary basement stairs, and the little doors.

First Night

Okay, didn't get everything moved over tonight but at least I got most of it and I have what I need to get some things done tomorrow. Only have some clothes and some pieces of furniture to move and then I will be done.

Find that I am making a list of little things I will need (at least temporarily). Seems like I am having to spend a lot more money than I want to but at least I can carry a balance for a few months if I have to until I find work.

Kitty hasn't figured out the pet door yet but she'll jump through it if I hold it open for her...I am sure given enough time, we will both adjust to our temporary life.

Kitchen really needs some cleaning done, so right now it is a mess with stuff all over the place because I don't want to put anything away until I can get it cleaned up. And finding the motivation to clean is hard to do...