D.I.Y. Home Improvement 101

To preface, I would like to say that Craig offers to help when I am playing handyman around the house even at the risk of my wrath. We both know that the fastest way to a fight is to try to work together on one of my projects. (I've been told that I can be "abrasive" in these situations). This in no way reflects his ability or desire to do any of the improvements.

This weekend I decided to tackle the deteriorating state of our bathroom. The only "before" picture I have (below) doesn't show the worst of it - mostly because for almost 2 years we've had shower curtains on 3 of 4 sides. The walls had cracked grout that leaked shower water into the basement. The previous owners hadcaulked over the grout with clear caulk, but somehow all that did was seal in moisture and create strips of mold you couldn't scrub off. Needless to say, we haven't had several thousand dollars handy to have it professionally repaired so we went with the shower curtain option.




THEN, about 8 months ago, the faucet started dripping. Then leaking. And seeping through the tiles into the drywall behind the fixtures. The hot stem was essentially rusted away and the faucet handle broke off. We are now using a pliers to turn the water on and off (and still leaking).

I bought a repair kit of some kind to replace the faucet parts. Not as easy as it would seem. I made several attempts (which included ripping a hole in the hall closet to be able to access the fixtures from behind) and only succeeded in creating a 3x3 tile-wide gap around the fixtures. NOW we had a gaping hole to the basement. I did the only obvious thing to do and duct taped a garbage bag over the hole and the faucet handles.

We removed the "stem" (as I now know it is called) and headed to Home Depot. After spending probably 30-45 minutes bickering about which part we might need we (Craig) asked an employee. He looked it up and ordered the part. A week later we had the part, new knobs, no drips, and still a hole in the wall. That was several (probably 6) months ago.

A few months ago I bought some tile-like board stuff (It is MDF with tile pattern on one side) to put up on the wall to repair the hole. Now is the first time I have had a chance (and the energy) to do anything about it.

I cut, I measured, I drilled, I glued. The hole is covered. I then decided that the off-white (I think it wasn't to start with) tiles needed something. I decided to first paint over them with an oil based primer/sealer to fill the grout issues. That was left to dry on Saturday night. Then I painted over those with an oil based paint. That was left to dry during today. Then I applied the caulk strips and filled in any spots that looked like it needed extra water proofing.

It is by no means a professional job. Probably not even a mediocre job. BUT, the hole is gone, the grout isn't leaking and the garbage bag and extra 2 shower curtains are retired. Plus it looks nice from afar. Bravo to me.

33 Years Ago I Was Traversing The Birth Canal.

Well, not really. I was breech. With a dislocated hip. I was actually being yanked from the warm confines of the uterus to be poked and prodded under the bright lights. Regardless. It's my birthday today. Yeay Me. :)

Why I LOVE my Prius.

Gas - $3.49 9/10 per gallon.
Average MPG - 46.1
Current MPG - infinity
Fill up every 3-4 weeks for less than $30. Priceless.

Annual Junk Day.

Every year the city we live in has a junk pickup day where they allow you to put all the big junk that you can't figure out how to throw away out on the curb. This is spectacular since it has made it possible to rid ourselves of the pool of shame. HOWEVER, it also brings out the trashpickers. I had only had the junk out on the curb for less than 15 minutes and already had a trashpicker browsing the pile. So far we've had probably a half dozen or more trucks stop and pick crap up. And when I say crap, I mean it. The P.o.S. literally smells like a really bad zoo (it was out stewing all fall, winter, and spring). We have (had, they are gone now) about 200 feet of 4' tall fencing which we took down upon the completion of our new 5' fence, some of the cheap-didn't-keep-the-puppy-out-of-the-garden wire fencing stuff, a computer chair, and some cardboard boxes. Not even worth stopping, but on they come, the cheapest humans on Earth, to pick through other peoples junk. It's like a garage sale where you don't have to bicker the seller down from $0.05 to $0.04! Sad.

Afterthought: we had two trashpickers come this evening DURING A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A TORNADO WARNING! Saddest.

Pet Peeve

When ordering dinner tonight we decided to choose a local pizza joint that is down the street from our house. We logged onto the website to get the menu and were excited to see that they had a new (and vastly improved) homepage. This particular website had been in the not quite finished stage for several years (Insert your text here). As I clicked further into the site, however, I was first confronted with horrendous and ridiculous navigation. Further into the site I was distraught by the grammar errors and random misuse of words.

Every morning at 9:00 am we begin making the dough for our famous crust. The yeast we use comes from a special strand given to us from a bakery in Italy. It’s mixed with just the right amount of flour, spices and filtered water that is a precise temperature. We mix it up together in our Hobert mixer for 11 minutes 13 seconds. When it gets to its perfect consistency we sheet it into pizza balls. The pizza balls proof in our walk in cooler...
(strain. Hobart. Can't sheet into balls. You can tray the pizza dough balls, and once they are proofed you can then sheet (roll the ball into a sheet) them, but you can't sheet the balls)

I was willing to forgive them for all this - at least it was completed - until I decided to look for a suitable coupon for our meal and found this:


When one chooses to use a web design template, one must follow through and make sure ALL pages are complete (or removed) prior to publishing!! It irritates me immensely when I click on a link and find the page filled with the gibberish filler paragraphs that templates use to show the user what it will look like when complete.

Squirrel in our backyard

This squirrel roams our backyard frequently. For those of you who don't know squirrels, this is not a normal color. We like to call this particular squirrel the "Chew Squirrel" or "Mini-Chew" because it is the same exact color as the puppy. We also have black squirrels (which look like tiny little cats with long fingers).


Look at his lips. It's like it's thinking, "oh, you caught me!"

Uh oh.

Note the current high (70*) and the high tomorrow (36*). It's going to get ugly tonight.

Sigh.

Nothing can make you get up on the wrong side of bed the morning after like harsh lighting and full length mirrors. I hate clothes shopping.

I curse thee, McD!

Today I requested a mocha from McDonald's for lunch. Their coffee machine was broken...again. It has been broken at least 3 times a month for the last 3 months. In addition, my co-worker tried to get ice cream for her kids yesterday at the same McD's - also broken. I'm very disgruntled.

To make me even more irritated, when I drove past the same McD after dropping off Craig at work after lunch, their message board (the red dot ones that change every few second, what are those called?) had "Need a little pick-me-up? Grab a mocha". Well, I would, IF YOUR MACHINE WAS WORKING!!!

If your machine is broken, do you want to advertise something that isn't available? Take it off your sign.

Meet the who?

Today we went to see the 3D version of Meet The Robinsons. Cute movie, quite enjoyable. We could think of nothing better than to put the 3D glasses we got at the movie on the dogs. Neither dog was impressed.

I've lost my hairdresser! and other miscellaneous stuff.

My hairdresser (MJ) relocated recently. According to Craig we discussed receiving a postcard from her saying where to find her. I have no recollection of this discussion and can't find the postcard! MJ if you are out there reading this, please send another card or call me at the farm! I'm desperate for a cut and need my eyebrows waxed. I'll tip double if you call! :) Update: I found MJ and I'm making an appointment in the morning!

Yesterday, in honor of my new pedicure, I wore sandals to work. I got bit on the toe by a cricket! I've worked here 5 years and worn sandals every summer and never been bitten by a cricket. I didn't even know they bit. My co-worker T also got bit yesterday. Do we have some freak batch of nasty ones running around? Can I blame this somehow on global warming?

Last night we took the dogs for a w-a-l-k. It was perfect weather. About 76 degrees F and the sun was starting to set so it wasn't blazing down on us. Chew hasn't started shedding his winter coat and was just ROASTING. When we got home he got into the tub and waited for me to turn on the shower for him. He laid in the tub basking in the rain of cold water for several minutes. Then he got out and shook - all over me.

We get a second estimate for a fence tonight. Hopefully this one will be more reasonable, because the estimate from Lowe's was pretty obscene. Update: We had a local fence company come out tonight. He was extremely nice and helpful and he was shocked at the quote we got from Lowe's. We are awaiting his official quote, but he expects it to be 1/3 of the other one. Even if it weren't, we'd go with them because he was so helpful.

We finally broke down and special ordered a portable dishwasher. It arrives Friday. Yeay.

Have I mentioned recently that I LOVE my car? We've had the Prius back from the body shop for a little more than a week now and every time I get in I breathe a sigh of appreciation. I just love that car.

We are leaving next week on the Amtrak for St. Louis. I've been looking forward to this trip for months. I need a vacation. We're going to the zoo and the Gateway Arch for sure, not sure what else we will do.

That's all the "miscellany" I have for now.

The Moment of Truth.

We recently bought a Dyson vacuum cleaner (off of QVC, I hate to admit - they had flex-pay, so we could finally afford to buy one!). We've been in the market for a new vacuum for a while and wanted to get a Dyson because the old one was limping along and with 2 heavily shedding large dogs, we really needed a better cleaner. I also HATED dumping the canister of our old vacuum. It got crud all over the place, including my lungs, when you had to pull that stupid, filthy, filter out of the center of the canister.

Well, we are doing our Spring cleaning today and putting the Dyson to it's first major cleaning. I had the moment of truth a little while ago when I had to empty the canister for the first time. I LOVE THIS VACUUM! Push a button, squeeze a trigger, canister is empty. That alone makes this vacuum worth every penny! Plus (at the risk of sounding like a commercial) there are no filters to clean or replace, no belts to break, it is lighter, it's quieter. One drawback, it's purple and red and makes me feel like I'm pushing a little old Red Hat Society lady around my living room.

Oh, and, as an added bonus, I got a child sized vacuum with it too. Not that we have kids. I'm thinking of teaching Chewie to push the baby vacuum around the room.

It was a glorious day for fence running!

Woo Hoo!

Happy first day of Spring!! Time for spring cleaning, robins, worms, tulips, daffodils, cooking out, and new dog fences! Woo Hoo! My favorite season!

Canine Gastronome

Recently, we have been having some issues with dog eating disorders. Booker has always had issues with bulimia. It comes and goes. Right now we've (and by we, I mean Craig) been cleaning vomit up at least once a day for several weeks. You're probably yelling, "Why haven't you taken him to the vet!?" We know it is because he inhales his food sans mastication and then vomits it all up 15 minutes later. He's always had the problem. We think it is from his early life of living on the streets. We never yell at him for it, but recently he has started trying to hide it by covering it with whatever he can. The other day Craig found some under a washcloth and I saw him pulling a blanket and a towel over it.

Chewie, on the other hand, has never had issues with food. We got him much younger and he's always had the bin of food in the corner that he knows that he can get into in case of "emergency". He likes to graze rather than binge. However, he recently decided that he really doesn't care one way or another if he eats. He just sniffs at it, takes a kernel, drops the kernel, sniffs again, walks away. He'll eat when he's hungry but it makes it a challenge when Booker stakes out Chewies dish waiting for us to look away so he can steal a few gulps before we catch him.

In light of these issues, we decided to go to the pet store and browse the dog foods to find an allergy food for Booker. We read and compared the bags and finally decided on Natural Balance Potato and Duck Ultra Premium Dog Food. No soy, corn, wheat, rice, eggs, or dairy; especially for dogs with allergies or sensitive stomachs. You've never seen happier dogs! Booker hasn't hurled in 24 hours and Chewie picks thru the mix of old and new food for all the new food and then resigns to eat the rest. Then they beg for more. Apparently, our dogs are as big of food snobs as we are. Who'd've thought?

A Few Comments on Fingers

Yesterday at work my co-workers were comparing their manicures. Both had lovely, long, painted, filed nails. My nails, in contrast, are chewed stubs with torn cuticles. Even if I didn't chew off my nails, I couldn't have long nails. I've tried, but they interfere with my typing (75 wpm) and with making frames. As it is I slice the nails with the chopper blades when making cuts on the frames.

On another finger related note, I burned the daylights out of my thumb and fingers on my left hand last night. Never grab a metal handle just out of a 400* oven to hold your pizza stone while cutting your pizza. No blisters, I guess I got them under cold water fast enough. However, I had 150 frames to make last night and the burns were making that difficult. I sent Craig to the office supply store for some "finger condoms" (or whatever they are called) and in the meantime concocted some finger protectors out of rubber bands and duct-tape. It amused me so I thought I would share. They actually worked better than the finger condoms since those only came in Med-LG and didn't fit on anything but my thumb.

Mr. Chew's Mini-Me.

Mr. Chew


Lil Jon

Flickr issues?

So... Our photo hosting site seems to be having some issues. The thumbnail images of our sets and links are not the photos we've uploaded (i.e. they are someone elses pictures). Some of them are not-so-nice. So, if you've been to our site(s) and seen something nasty (I have), please be aware that it is an error with Flickr and not a picture we posted!! Yikes.

Happy Chinese New Year of the Boar

This weekend I spent in Chicago with my sister, Kevin, and my mother. We went to the Museum of Science and Industry for a symposium which Kevin was on the panel of and to see the Body Worlds 2 exhibit. Museum was crowded (as usual) and we didn't get to go to any of the exhibits because my mother is slow. We enjoyed the symposium and found it quite informative. We then spent 2 (hot) hours in the Body Worlds exhibit. No picutues allowed, look at the link, it was very interesting. By the time we finished in Body Worlds, the main museum was closed and we (except my mother who rode in the wheelchair we rented so we could progress faster than a snails pace) were exhausted.

Today we headed over to Chinatown to celebrate Chinese New Year. The year of the pig starts today. My mother is a pig. (HA!) Mother was exhausted from the walk from the car to the train and the train to the parade, so she went into the resaurant and had tea and spring rolls while Laurie and I stood and watched the parade. It was about 26*F but still quite fun. Afterwards we had lunch and were glad she held a table because the line was out the door (literally). Great food, good company, nice day. (Tradition has it that the dragon comes into the restaurants and markets after the parade. We were right in the middle of the action for this! It was great!!

One thing here is not like the others...

You can see better if you click on the picture and then select Original size.

I was searching for squirrel pictures (long story) and stumbled upon these results.