Deb's Place

Almost Forgot

debsiobhan@aol.com — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:46:55 GMT

Randy Pausch died. If you havent seen his last lecture, it is well worth it. RIP Dr. Pausch thanks for the lessons. The Last Lecture

What I'm doing.

debsiobhan@aol.com — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:25:01 GMT

And also what I'm not doing - I'm not doing the graduation year music meme because seriously I graduated in 1979 - Saturday Night Fever, Need I say more?

More house chores this weekend. And the normal metric ton of laundry.
The wish list is:
Take donations to AmVets.
Take remaining boxes to storage.
Move toys upstairs.
Wash walls in Living Room & Dining Room.
Deal with remaining flotsam on the dining room table.
Dry out some paint.

Not quite as daunting as last weekend's list but I'm running out of steam.

In which the economy sucketh mightily

debsiobhan@aol.com — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:08:39 GMT

They laid off a couple more people at work. People that probably should have gone with the original layoffs. They were basically managing independent salespeople. In crappy economic times it doesn't really make sense to keep that extra layer of people. It still sucks. Apparently between them they were an object lesson in professional behavior and in non-professional behavior. Glad I missed that one.

What sucks worse is that our major customer has decided to order almost nothing for the next couple months. Ooh boy that's kind of scary. It really sucks to be in the building supply industry right now.

In other news the gym is experiencing a power outage. They "expect" to be open tomorrow morning. I however, do not expect them to be open at 5am. I was longing for a little extra rest - I guess I'll get it.

Small but Significant

debsiobhan@aol.com — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:46:28 GMT

I didn't actually do that much tonight. What I did feels good though, because it finished up some things. I took a truckload to storage. Storage is now getting pretty full - unfortunately I have a couple more big things that need to fit in. That went a long way toward cleaning up the sewing room and the dining room which were both repositories for things moved while painting. There's a bunch of random small stuff in the dining room (some to be freecycled) and the sewing room still has the stuff that lives there (which needs cleaning up) plus a few leftover bits. The floor there however, is walkable again.

After that I dusted walls, baseboards and vacuumed carpet edges in the spare room. Then I put the last coat of paint on the header and put the room back together. Put the cleaned comforter on the bed and pronounced it "Done". Then I did the touchup painting in the Master Bath and walk-in closet that's been on the list. That finishes up that room as well. That leaves the sewing room and Will's toy closet yet to do upstairs. I plan to work on the toys this weekend. I'm not sure yet when I'll work on the sewing room.

And so a few more pieces fall into place in the sliding puzzle that is my house prep.

Slowly

debsiobhan@aol.com — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:09:49 GMT

During the week it feels like I move at a snails pace. Of course with only 2 hours to work and after a long day at that, I suppose it really is a snails pace. I've nearly unearthed the sewing room from the piles that started with the closet painting and worsened with the room painting. I have a pile of boxes to put in storage. Now I just hope I have enough space in my storage area. It had been very organized but I fear now it will just be packed.

I had to laugh at today's horoscope:
Be confident about the fact that you are making progress -- even if you're not sure.

So very appropriate.

The Weekend Wishlist

debsiobhan@aol.com — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:56:44 GMT

1. ~~Weed and mulch the back garden~~. - done.
2. ~~Edge and weed the driveway~~. - done! Yeah baby! Finishing this is huge!
3. Dry out old paint cans.
4. ~~Clean the window ledges~~. - done
5. Wash more miniblinds. - 6 more done
6. ~~Finish resetting the office~~. - done
7. ~~Finish resetting the hall bath~~. - done
8. ~~Finish resetting the master bedroom.~~ - done
9. Finish the new house numbers.
10. Finish the spareroom header.
11. Start on Will's room and the toys. - cleaned the blinds, rehung the valances.
12. ~~Pick up the comforter at the cleaners~~. -done

I also need to ~~clean the fridge~~ and ~~pay some bills~~ and ~~do some kitchen work~~.

Also did:
Finished rehanging the pictures in the foyer.
Cleaned the bathrooms - missing the maids last week was showing.
Filled the washouts under the splash blocks.
Cleaned up the stuff on the deck and "staged" the space.

1 Down

debsiobhan@aol.com — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:07:45 GMT

I believe I am ready to call 1 room done. Unfortunately it's only the Laundry room. I started to reassemble the downstairs but I really slowed down washing the blinds. They were totally filthy so it was needed but I only managed 2. The kneeling and bending over was killer but I knew I needed to get the office blinds done so we can start putting that back together. The furniture is there and clean and the only thing I'm putting back on the wall is the clock - which is up. Now I just have to figure out what stuff to put back and what stuff to pack up. Well and move on to all the other rooms. Oh and the really bad news is that the caulk in the hall bath is separating from the tub. I may have to peel and recaulk it. ARGH!

Chaos Central

debsiobhan@aol.com — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:29:33 GMT

The painting is finished. They oops several places. The only place that pisses me off is that the slopped paint on Will's comforter. Not sure if I'll be able to get that off or not. Of course the comforter is 8 or 9 years old and has been mended to within an inch of it's life so I can't get too torqued. Of course the house is a total wreck. The stuff is still stacked in the non painted rooms. All the carpets need vacuuming. The switchplaces look terribly dirty except where they painted them (sometimes when I would have prefered them not to). The unpainted rooms look a little dirty too. So much to do.

WOW

debsiobhan@aol.com — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:28:58 GMT

They painted the blue hallway. Now it's off white and it's so bright. An amazing difference.

The landscapers fixed the walk where it meets the front step. You can't even tell that it's different - it just looks right now. If you hadn't seen how it was before you'd never know something was done. Which is just what I wanted!

An E Ticket Ride

debsiobhan@aol.com — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:41:23 GMT

Dang I should have buckled the seat belt - who knew this summer would be such a screaming rollercoaster.

The painters are zooming along in the house. Except that DH had called and said they couldn't get the border down in the hall and they'd have to paint over it. Except that they did get it down - every bit of it - before I got home. I couldn't get a hold of the landscapers then low and behold I go to the bathroom and come back to find a message on my cell and oh by the way they'll be here tomorrow.

The trains are down and even the tables are nearly disassembled. Looks like even with a kick-ass weekend's work I'm the one falling behind.

Accomplishments

debsiobhan@aol.com — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:40:27 GMT

I totally kicked butt today.
So far I have:
     changed the bedsheets,
     taken down valances to be washed,
     done 4 loads of laundry,
     bought groceries and put them away,
     took a load of stuff to storage,
     picked up my farm share,
     picked up one comforter at the cleaners and dropped off another,
     stained the new boards on the deck,
     stained the new railing on the steps,
     painted the shed.

Oh my god am I tired.

Insult to Injury

debsiobhan@aol.com — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:03:20 GMT

As if I wasn't having enough fun trying to strip and clean 5 rooms for the painters in my spare time yesterday evening the AC went up. As in water all over the basement floor. Mike just happened to notice it because he went into the mechanical room to look at a storage container. So I got to spend my evening cleaning and prepping in an unairconditioned second floor after a thunderstorm that did nothing more than jack up the humidity.

On the plus side I did get it finished. And they showed up today and worked on the exterior painting. Just as well as it was hot with no AC. On the plus side the husband is already home with the painters to the service call is not an issue.

Then when I couldn't take even one more thing the boy broke his braces tonight. There's a spot where the wire goes across a gap where the tooth isn't in and he broke the end of it. Sigh.

Zero to Sixty

debsiobhan@aol.com — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:41:05 GMT

I got a message on the machine Monday from the painters. I was a touch worried because they said they schedule 2 weeks out. That would put the work squarely on the week Mike is in class. So I called back yesterday. (And called back, and called back - the lady was constantly on the phone.) Finally we connect and she asked about colors, finishes etc. Then she asked how much notice we needed and said good news they might have a crew as soon as Thursday. Which is good. And bad.

Now the work will be done fast which is good. Unfortunately it means I have only slightly more than 24 hours to do all the prep work. Well 24 hours less sleep, work, meals and a dentist appointment. Which is to say a couple hours each night and a couple hours prior to this mornings appointment. In this time I have to move out all the accessories, all the small furniture and dust the walls and baseboards. Thats for 2 bedrooms, the office, a bathroom, laundry room, 2 halls and stairs.

I'm a bit stressed.

One More Down

debsiobhan@aol.com — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:30:47 GMT

Well, actually 3 down. The handyman took all day and cost far more than I expected but the back steps have a wooden railing. The deck boards have been replaced and the shed door has a bunch of new trim pieces. The poor guy spent hours on the steps which were apparently neither square or level. Then the shed door bits had not just water damage but an ant's nest in them. Apparently they were not pleased with losing their home and bit him. Now I just have to stain the deck boards and railing and paint the shed.

Ooh and the painters called - perhaps we will get scheduled!

Done and Beat.

debsiobhan@aol.com — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:28:54 GMT

I finished my two projects. I had a fantasy that I'd do more, but I finished the two I really needed finished so I'm happy.

A short time ago I put the last of the stuff back into the closet.  That was the last thing.

Yesterday I got up early again, and put it to good use by scraping a little more caulk. (See previous entry, had I only known!)   I took a bath in my tub (the only place that was not needing caulking or curing). Then I went out to THD and got some more caulk (which I didn't end up needing but better safe than sorry). Then I headed over to the farm for my veggies. From there a quick stop for bread because I needed it.

Came home and started first with grout. See I had a spot in the tile missing grout and a crack down one seam. When I was at THD I noticed grout in a tube. I bought a tube and regrouted the broken spots and a couple others. Then I had to clean things up again. I called and bailed on the swimming as the weather was teh suck and I wasn't nearly done. After lunch I did the caulking then finished painting the trim. I cleaned up a bit and was done in plenty of time to go to my brother's 5th of July party.

I discovered I was very tired. I had one drink and thought better of anything else non-caffinated. I chatted with the sibs and the other guests. Ate many foods. Watched everyone play with sparklers. Then watched as the local redneck contingent put on a heck of a fireworks show in the elementary school parking lot. Nothing organized mind you, just a random set of yahoos with some serious boomers. They got enough loft that we could watch them over the trees from the corner of the deck. A nice end to the evening. Shortly after the show I headed home and crashed.

This morning I did more cleaning up then went sailing. There was a ton of traffic in the inner harbor which made me nervous at the tiller.    Then it started raining which cut our sail a bit short. Just as well since I needed to come home and get the groceries. Dealt with that, ate lunch and then started refilling the closet.   I purged a bit as I went so that item can be ticked off the list. Now the sewing room is a wreck again but a night boxing up donations and I'll be all set.

Now the boys are home. I'm totally beat and tomorrow is another work day. Good thing too, I can use the rest.

Argh!

debsiobhan@aol.com — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:13:58 GMT

Nothing like finding out after you've spent hours scraping and peeling caulk that goo gone will melt it like butter.

Slow Going

debsiobhan@aol.com — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:05:39 GMT

I worked from around 7am until 10pm. Not straight through, of course, I took a number of breaks. And I accomplished a bunch but much of it was slow going. I reseeded the back where the vegetables used to be and watered it. I stripped caulk in the bathrooms. I spackled and sanded in the closet. I stripped more caulk. I washed the closet walls. I stripped more caulk. I vacuumed the closet. I stripped caulk.

There's definitely a pattern here. The caulk was evil and viscious and I could probably sit in my shower with a razor blade and strip caulk for a couple more hours. Except that I've declared it close enough. Because geeze this is getting old. I did manage to finish up the boy's bathroom. Stripped bleached. Thoroughly dried and recaulked. My shower is up to the bleached and dried part. I need to go get some more caulk to finish. My predescessors were apparently totally caulk happy. I've recaulked before but mostly just the part where the wall meets the shower pan. This time I stripped the upper joints too. And some on the outside. Anywhere there signs of mold or mildew. I spent hours standing, kneeling and sitting in that little !@&%! shower stall.

After dinner I painted the closet. I was using leftover paint from a previous project. I kept looking at the paint and looking at the walls and praying for a little loaves and fishes action. Happily it held out for everything but the trim. Normally in a closet I'd just use the wall color on the trim but since I'm out of that it will get the standard brite white trim, no biggie. Plus I've got a brand new gallon of that. One patched spot did something funky and kind of bubbly when I painted but there's not a lot I can do about that now unless I want to resand and buy more paint.

I finished up that around 9:30 did some minor clean up and collapsed in a heap at 10. Popped awake at 4:30a which is just annoying. Today I have to get caulk, get my farm share, tape the edges, paint the trim and caulk the shower. I'm supposed to go swimming this afternoon but I guess that depends on the weather cooperating.

3 day chorefest

debsiobhan@aol.com — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:09:18 GMT

I consolidated my lists yesterday. They became a single 4 page word document. It has everything by room that I want to do. There's an auxillary list of things I think should be done that probably won't be but it's pretty short. It's not all heavy work, some of it is things like staging (put slipcover on couch, remove family pictures ...). So far only 4 items have been marked off the list. (Yeah I'm a dork, I get satisfaction from opening the document and changing the font on completed items to strikethrough.)

Theoretically I should be able to get a couple more done this weekend. I started last night by emptying my walk-in closet. May I just say that my shoe collection is apparently out of control. My husband has a vast collection of button down shirts he never wears. Also the dust is very thick behind the hamper. I fixed the hardware (replaced a support, realigned a connector) Then removed excess hardware - apparently the closet hardware was installed with the hunt and peck method - and patched holes. I also sealed some worn spots on the diswasher rack.

Today I've re-reseeded the back former vegetable garden and watered it. I've put a second coat on the diswasher rack, a second spakle on some of the closet holes and then started stripping caulk. I've been at that for a couple hours now and am getting a little beat up and fed up. I've torn up 2 knuckles and accidently stabbed my thumb and I'm mostly done 1 tub and started on the shower. (I thought I was done the tub but realized I should redo the front edge too. I don't know how old that caulk is but it's fighting back fiercely.)

If I can get the caulking, closet painting and maybe a couple othe touchup jobs done I'll be happy.

Slow Progress

debsiobhan@aol.com — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:42:00 GMT

Things are moving slowly. I'm astonished how long it takes for things to move forward. Right now I'm waiting for the companies I've sent deposits to, to call back and schedule the work.

I'm at the point where I can no longer move through my home without seeing something and thinking I need to {clean, fix, paint, move} it.

It's gonna be a long summer.

A Few of My Favorite Things

debsiobhan@aol.com — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:35:04 GMT

I love that the Google ad generator gives me links to Spam recipes when I'm clearing out my spam folder.

Cheesy

debsiobhan@aol.com — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:27:09 GMT

I wonder why it is that I have a whole book of Cheeze Whiz recipes?

Make that 2 books?!

Slow Progress

debsiobhan@aol.com — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 21:45:24 GMT

Things around the house are progressing at a snails pace. We got powerwashed (yeah!). The deck looks great but has to have 3 dry days before it can be sealed - of course it's rained here daily. We've gotten painting and step fixing estimates. We sent them checks. Now we wait to get on the schedule. The husband's decluttering continues. A couple small fixes are scheduled. The rest is waiting on the painting. That really needs to be done first.

I've got a list of little things a mile long to clean, fix or stage. I really need to step up and start my part of the decluttering too. I just need the interest and energy.

Scientifically Proven!

debsiobhan@aol.com — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:47:43 GMT

I have a heart - so there! I know because I not only heard it today, I saw it. Another in the long line of checks that seem to have been piling up since I passed 40. In this case the regular doc heard a heart murmur. As with everything this required a visit to a specialist. In this case I'm happy to report that not only am I not going to keel over from this tomorrow, my heart was actually not in too bad a shape. The murmur is a benign aortal flow murmur which means a not bad for me swishing sound in the aortal valve. Of course the downside is the heart walls are a bit thick but that's fixable. Also as is typical the fix is me losing weight. Sigh.

But anyway that's it - it is proven that I have a heart! Now if I only had a brain.

Changing

debsiobhan@aol.com — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:28:11 GMT

When in the world did the 11 year old switch from unrelenting channel loyalty (Cartoon Network and nothing else) to channel surfing. I fear unless I stop this I may never see an entire episode of anything again.

Preferences

debsiobhan@aol.com — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:58:05 GMT

I've never really thought of myself as an anime kind of person. But now the boy is hung up on watching a tv channel which is essentially all anime all the time. There's some of them I really hate (Hare & Guu - I call it the screaming show) but I've found there's a couple I really like. One called Shingu and another called Spiral are particularly good. I've seen an entire season of each now and am hoping for a new season. Unfortunately it's summer re-run time.