5 thing Friday - boob lights, paint, chickpeas, front door, Gina

I don't know that there is necessarily a season for home projects - I feel I've been at it for the entire year. Or, five.

The electrician that installed my garage light will be coming today to remove the non-functioning ceiling fans in two of the bedrooms and install with these very simple light fixtures.  Are they fancy? No, just functional.  He laughed when I said I wanted boob lights.

These 5 gallon containers with a bit of leftover paint in them take up a lot of space in the garage.  So I bought some 2 qt. lidded containers at Home Depot and transferred enough to handle touch-ups. There wasn't much left and I will take them to the City of Austin recycle center. Along with those fans.

I reinforced the seal on the containers with a little cling wrap and tape, then labeled them and placed with my other touch up containers in the hall closet where they won't bake to death.

Another benefit of having actual storage space I can use.

Trader Joe's has these canned cumin and parsley chickpeas in olive oil that are delicious served cold on a salad!  I'm not normally a fan of chick peas, but this was very good.  I spent a little extra money on groceries this week to fill in some empty spaces in my freezer and fridge and eat healthier.

Its hard to see in this photo, but there is a gap in the front door and the weatherstripping needs to be replaced.  I don't know why I have been putting this off...probably I just don't want to do it.  But the cavalry is not going to arrive any time soon, so its on the list of things to address today. I also want to repaint the door and clean the whole area up.

I would also like to re-do the cling film on the transom, the skinny window,

and the dining room window.  Once upon a time, it was all this floral cling, but it has faded quite a bit (over at least 15 years) and I want something a bit different up there now.  The hardest part of this project was matching the seams, which sort of shrunk over time, leaving a tiny gap of light.  Its time for this to go.

If I'm being honest, I'm ready for a lot of things to go.  But they have to resolved in the right way, you know?  Everything takes time.

Gina

5 thing Friday - a butterfly, garage light, side table, lunching, journaling

**I don't have it in me to reflect on Sept. 11th on this blog**

  

The butterfly that the tattooist came up with - and no, I didn't add anything else.

She's very pretty - but we did not discuss the amount of shading she was going to do!  I broke rule #1 which is make sure you agree on every. stinkin'. detail in advance. Its very pretty - don't get me wrong.  But she is still healing so I will show her in the future.

It was a four hour appointment, and this lady was very tired at the end of it!  I grabbed a few groceries, ate a very simple dinner, drank some wine, and was in bed before 9 p.m. Its amazing to me how quickly I get worn out in my old age.

A friend gave me a referral to an electrician to come install my garage light, so he came by yesterday and I can cross that off the list of things to fix.

Its nice to have light out here without having to open one of the doors. Not cheap, FYI.

He is also going to remove the broken ceiling fans from two bedrooms and replace with a standard light fixture - I just need to go buy those.  He said he wouldn't charge me the service fee when he returns as it only took him about 20 minutes to install the garage light. Sweet!  I have never liked the light from these fans and the bulbs are pricey.

The additional small table arrived and I had it put together in about 10 minutes. I just shopped my house for things to set on it for now.  For Christmas, the fiddle leaf fig will go live in the office and the Christmas tree will be set up in here.

My kids seem to "accidentally" leave things at my house*.  Since The Girl needed her quilt, I fixed her a birthday lunch  of mixed greens salad with apple vinaigrette, spicy pumpkin samosas, butternut soup, and this cake:

Its that viral cake mix where the guy tells you to throw the box away and add an extra egg, a stick of butter, extra vanilla, and milk. It bakes at a lower temperature, then you frost with a warmed up tub of chocolate icing.  This is The Girl's favorite cake combo!

She will be 35 tomorrow - how is that possible?

I have been journaling a LOT lately.  Its as though the mental dam broke and I have a lot to process.  I have found some great prompts on the internet - not all about grief.  Some colored pens help me stay engaged with it. I'm hoping I can destroy all of my journals someday, as the emotions in them are pretty frank.  But just in case? There is a disclaimer inside that says "these are my private thoughts and not meant for anyone else to read!".  

Everyone was warned, ha ha.

Gina

*I have a theory about that, but as I have said before, I am not a storage unit!

Little project: the red tool chest

This started as an incidental project while I waited for the mower maintenance guy* on a hot summer morning.

I was out in the garage anyway, so I decided to do round three (or four, I lost count) of cleaning out the red tool chest.  I bought this as a Christmas gift to Mark in 1982 while we were in college, and it quickly filled up over the years as he acquired tools.  When his mother died, he brought ALL of the tools home from her garage as well.  At one point, you could not close the top, bottom, or drawers.

(And there are smaller tool boxes in the garage that I will empty some day.)

I pulled things out, drawer by drawer and wiped down the insides of the chest and the handles of the tools with antibacterial wipes.  There were a lot of duplicate items, so I only put back what I wanted or needed to keep.

Then I organized it as best I could.

And there are things I will donate.  Like giant plumber's wrenches that I can barely lift. Multiple drill bits that match nothing I own. A belt sander I will not use. An extra electric engraver.

I access the top most often, so it had to be tailored to me and the things I use.  And it absolutely has to be able to be closed.

There are still things in here that one day will go - probably to my boys.  But for now, the bottom flap closes as well.

Mark's general rule of thumb was that if one was good, 5 or 6 was that much better.  If an item had any perceived value, he was going to hang onto it.  Most of us understand that if you cannot find what you need in the collection of things you do not have organized, it isn't as useful. Once you run out of space, its time to take stock.

More does not equal better.  You either need to adjust the amount of things you own, or the size of the place you are storing and organizing.  And unless you use them for work, how many hammers or axes do you really need?  It was a sticking point for us, to say the least.

My garage may not be beautiful to anyone but me.  But if you ask me if I have what I need and do I know where it is?  The answer will be yes.  And now there is room in this toolbox for me to adjust what I may need in the future for whatever project I am working on.

Gina

*And Mr. Berry spent less time counseling me about how often I need get the mower serviced, instead showing me how to do those things (cleaning the filter, changing the oil, making adjustments) myself.  I would say it was a productive day!

Little project: garage opener bulbs

I truly am trying to make headway on my summer bucket list - I would say I have at least a third of it done.  But along the way, these other mini "projects" keep popping up and I think, oh I can do that right quick. Case in point are the bulbs in the garage door motors. 

One of them is burned out, so I decided to replace all four and in the process discovered that the opener on the storage side of the garage actually works.  I could have sworn Mark told me that its motor was burned out.  But no, it opened smoothly and quietly - unlike the side I use all of the time.

These motors are 30+ years old and still going strong.  I do need someone to come out and adjust them, but I can change the bulbs and clean them up.

I hauled out my trusty ladder and unplugged them first. A YouTube video later, I had figured out how to open the lightbulb cover.

They were very dirty and had a couple of dirt dauber wasp nests in them.

(side note: do you know that people actually sell large wasp nests on Ebay? What a weird world we are in. Mine got tossed into the driveway.)

Things like this make me pause - why did we never have actual pull strings on the emergency release?

I found some paracord and a 2 knobs from my stash and put one on each door, making it long enough for my 5'3" self to reach.

You would think a simple project like this would take maybe 30 minutes, tops, but I also had to look things up, go buy the dang bulbs, and talk myself onto that ladder.  I also swept out the garage and set some stuff by the trash bins.  Plus, it was already climbing in the 90s here.

I'm gonna have to pace myself with outside projects in the summer...

Gina

Big project: repairing the garage screen door

I got a wild hair last week and decided to tackle a project that's been on my list of things to do for months - repair the screen on the door leading into the garage. (Actually it was more like a year and some change.)  I had all of the supplies for it except the spray paint but I thought "well, why don't I see if I can take the door down first?".  Just do the first step, no pressure.

Ok, well I could.  Then I thought, Oh man, this is also going to have to be sanded and repainted. And the hardware needs repainting, too.

That flat bar across the screen was to keep the kids from pushing directly on the screen and it did a great job until the screen part just wore out. (its a 30 year old screen door!) That bar will have to be removed and cleaned up.

I removed the torn screen and the hardware, then scrubbed the whole thing.  Sanded some rough spots.  Then taped up the remaining screen to prevent overspray.

I set it on top of a big leftover piece of plywood out in the garage. 

I taped off the door sweep - I had replaced that not too long ago. Then I stopped here because I had to buy paint. And lately, it works better if I divide these kinds of projects into manageable chunks.

The next day the hardware got a fresh coat of black paint.  Then I sprayed the door, let dry, turned the door over, sprayed the other side.  It was tedious, but we had a 93% humidity day and I knew that painting was going to be the most time consuming part of this project.  Could I have just replaced the screen without spiffing up the door and hardware? Yes.  But not really.

Day three I got out here and started replacing the screen.  I had a new package of spline and found the tool plus a small roll of screen fabric out in the tool chest.  Hooray for saving those two things.

The hardest part was being on my old lady knees on concrete!  I used a flat head screw driver to make sure the spline was deep into the corners.  Then I trimmed it all up with a utility knife.

A break for lunch then I will do any needed paint touch ups and put the hardware back on. It was so hot out here I thought I might melt.

Re-hanging the door was HARD.  But I was home by my lonesome and as we know, it doesn't take whiskers.  You just have to think out what you're going to do, then calmly proceed.  I remind myself often that Mark wasn't born knowing how to do these things, and he learned them so I can too.

The solid door got a good scrub and I even painted the trim around the screen frame with leftover paint from painting the garage.  So clean and neat!

What a difference painting out here made, not to mention repair of the screen and previous purging of all the junk that was sitting near this door as you walked out of the house.  The screen door took three days of slow and steady work, but I'm very pleased that this project is crossed off the list! 

Gina

5 thing Friday - garage, switchplate covers, bumpers, crystal, cooking

Yesterday I came to the final stopping point with painting the garage.

I have scrubbed or painted or organized every single part of this garage.  I went through ALL of the tools, camping equipment, kids boxes, fishing poles, scrap wood, and etc.  Cleaned the floor.  Scrubbed the inside of the garage doors. Left to do is: 

*get rid of that propane tank

*deal with some scrap lumber

*hang a piece of art created by The Girl

*help Bubbie move

*get the ceilings retaped and painted

*get one garage opener replaced, dismantle the other

*replace the locks on the garage doors

Once Bubbie's things are gone, the wall above will be empty and I could throw a dance party in here!  I will show more of this later, I'm sure.  I mean doesn't every single woman obsess over her garage? Ha! 

For now, only one garage opener works - the other motor has been burned out for years.  But all of these switches can stay, so let's make them pretty.

I ordered some switch plate covers with a Talavera tiles print.  They're like tiny pieces of art.  I want to order some pretty ones for inside of the house, too.

This week I also did a quick project in the kitchen - replacing the bumpers on the inside of the cabinet doors.

I had to scrape off several different versions of bumpers.  The cork ones fall apart and the foam kind don't have enough cushion.  I had also used felt pads at one point.

Hopefully these will stay put - they do make the door quieter.

I do enjoy my outdated kitchen, though of course there are things I would like to change in here.  For one thing, the cooktop exhaust fan went out this week.  Also, some day I would like to lose this wallpaper.  Change out the light fixture.

I can envision using this space a little differently, too.  Maybe a tabletop bar?  A place to set a portable record player?  Ideas, please.

Recently I hauled out some of the crystal that belonged to Mark's parents.  I've been using it to drink out of because why not?  There is a complete set of pink martini, iced tea, and wine glasses and there are clear cut crystal tea glasses.  If I have them, I may as well use them.

I haven't done loads of cooking this week, unless you count ramen noodles, salads, or pancakes.  But tonight I am making Maple Glazed Salmon bites with cabbage slaw, and will pick up a few groceries.  I will also make time today to read, nap, and do a pedicure.  TGIF!

Gina