Well…after doing the 5 hours on the bedroom yesterday, my plan was to take it a little easier today but, you know me, that was just not going to happen…but I didn’t plan on a really busy day like today…started out with getting on the bike downstairs and then right to the baseboards and spent 3 hours on that before I just called it a day…I did get them pretty much done so I was okay with that…so I made lunch and it was warm enough to get outside for a ride…finally…so I got 13 miles in and got back here in time to see part of the champions league matches and write checks for a bunch of bills I needed to pay along with getting my absentee ballot request filled out…but it was bugging me that I didn’t clean up enough so I suited back up in the work clothes and put in a couple more hours in the bedroom cleaning and then starting work on the window in there…the beige paint they had slathered all over my nice vinyl window was irritating the heck out of me so I worked on figuring out how to remove that without hurting the window and came up with a brainstorm to use rubbing alcohol and paper towel and lots of elbow grease and the paint mostly came off….so I know I can restore it to normal with just a little more work…I gave up for the day around 7 and that made for a long, busy day…going to try to take it a little easier tomorrow…yeah, right….my hand really hurts…owwww….
Category Archives: My Life
This is kind of funny…
Well…started on the trim in the bedroom this morning with getting at the baseboards with the sander and that didn’t work very well….so I got my angle grinder out with the 60 grit flap disc on it and started to try that…after about a foot, all of the upstairs smoke detectors started to freak out and scream every alert they have at me…with the one in the living room cycling through both the fire and carbon monoxide alerts….so I just removed the one in the bedroom that is just like the one downstairs that freaked out when I was using the grinder on wood and had to remove that one, too…and, like an idiot, I forgot to open the window and put the fan in it to take the dust outside since I didn’t think there would be a lot of it…but, there was and I was coated before I finished…but the grinder worked great in taking off the carpet infused paint and after three hours, I almost have the baseboards ready to be filled and sanded…but, the work really screwed up my shoulder and thumb again so I may have to be a little more careful for the next week and try to let them heal a bit….break time….
April 5th
Well…made it all the way to 6:21 this morning with only getting up once overnight and I’ll take that…more tossing and turning than normal but that’s okay…my hand and shoulder got better after two ibuprofens yesterday and they don’t hurt that much today…will abuse them again today working on the baseboards so the pain will probably come back…who am I kidding? The pain will come back and I am really looking forward to the day when I can paint the bedroom and have it done but I still see that as a month away but I’m inching toward it…it looks like I maybe able to get out on the bike outside today around two or so…will still only be 48 degrees but I need to get some fresh air and can suit up for that…then it looks like big rain for a few days and then back outside Sunday…and then back into the 40’s again and the whipsawing of temp is driving me nuts…I think this is going to be one of those years where we go from winter to summer and skip spring altogether…and I’ll miss that…I do love the smell of spring and the feel of the sun when it warms up….not much to do today…just the bike ride and then on to the trim in the bedroom that I have to figure out how to sand with 5 coats of really hard, old paint and carpeting stuck in it….don’t want to use my grinder with a flap disc but I may have to…and that will make much more filling necessary…oh, well….more later….
There’s something wrong with this….
Well…this has been one of my strangest days in a long time…maybe not strange but different than most of them…I mean, still drinking coffee at 3 in the afternoon? There is definitely something wrong with that…I’m normally done with coffee by 10 in the morning but all of the work today put me so behind on everything that I just had lunch at 2 and that never happens..but, that will mean there is no possible way to get a second meal in today so I guess I’ll have to live on a baked pork chop and a handful of oven fries….and I really need to stop drinking coffee or I won’t be sleeping until tomorrow…I am done for the day and need to get to my allergy meds and even an ibuprofen since I am not very good at using my left hand on the space bar….maybe tomorrow will be easier…hope so…
Running late…bear with me….
Well…damn, running late, late, late today with working 5 1/2 hours on the bedroom and just finishing up…haven’t even looked at the news today so I haven’t been able to find a topic yet or eat lunch…and my right arm and hand just gave up on me so now I’m hitting the space bar with my left thumb it hurts so much not even using it…but I did get all of the plaster work and divot filling done…used up another 8 pound tub of the plaster filler I’ve been using and I am getting a little concerned about all of the dollars going out…spent 300 bucks on house stuff this month and that’s without the 3 gallons of paint I need to keep moving…glad I got the 400 dollar check for my insurance rebate but I still need to save for the 700 bucks going out in August for my car insurance…oh, well….need to go read some news so I can come back with a political one….more later…
April 4th
Well…that was better…slept pretty well last night and feel okay this morning and my eyes are better…at least I could read my tablet without resorting to having it two feet away and everything seems clear today so I’ll take it…but, I’m coughing like crazy so the trees must be starting to bloom and my allergies are going nuts….crap….I think my right shoulder is edging up to needing some rest since it hurts all the time now and I have more abuse to heap on it today and for the next few weeks as I get the bedroom ready to paint…I do need to plaster a couple of spots that I missed yesterday and I can’t figure that out…I mean one place as big as my hand is right next to one that I filled and I just had to shake my head about missing it….and I do need to do a corner and fill some of the bad skim coat on the ceiling that they ended a couple of inches before it hit the wall…so probably two batches of plaster today before I get to fixing the divots that I put in the walls scraping….we were supposed to get3-5 inches of snow last night but it looks like it stayed warm enough for it to be all rain…we even had a winter weather advisory on all night until noon today and I really, really hope it’s the last one for the spring….not much to do today….back on the bike again here in a few minutes and I hope to get all of the divots and holes in the walls filled so I can sand later in the week….I really can’t believe how many nail holes there are in the walls that were revealed when I removed the wallpaper….not sure if this is a contender for the worst room in the house after the mess that was the kitchen but it’s close…the trim was painted with the carpet in place and some of the old fibers are still stuck in the paint and I’ll have to get some really coarse sandpaper for my small sander to smooth that out…damn, there is still a lot of work to do in there…but it will be worth it when I move in….more later….
Now I have a work disorder…
Well…along with my other disorders, eating and sleeping…I now think I have a work disorder, too…you know that I normally take Sundays off to let my body heal and to just live for a bit every week but today I just couldn’t….so I got to work on the bedroom and got all of the plastering done that took about 3 hours…it looks okay but I think I do need to smooth it and maybe even fill a bit more later in the week after I give it a week or so to dry….I am still having problems getting the consistency of the plaster right and only having about 5 minutes from mixing to it setting up is a pain in the butt….so I had to make up 5 batches to fill the 10 places I needed to cover…but I am going to try to not be anal about it not being perfect…after figuring out that perfection is not what I’m after anymore…just clean and better than before is good enough…and that is really hard for me right now….and I can’t use my right hand much other than to do this…so I guess I do need to pay attention to that and maybe cut back a little on the work…but not much…
Going to start thinking differently…
Well….after I had a brainstorm yesterday, I think I’m going to start thinking differently about this house and what is acceptable as I clean it up and repair the big faults in the walls and everywhere else…I think I’m going to start thinking of this place as an old French chateau or an Italian villa instead of the pristine American house where it is necessary for everything to be perfect…when you look at some of those old European houses, they seem to embrace the age and flaws in brick work, walls and floors instead of covering them up and trying to make them perfect….and that is part of the character of those old houses…now, this one is not 150 years old or sitting on a hill in Provance but I can treat it as it is and take my mantra of letting the next owner make it perfect to it’s logical conclusion….is this a rationalization for not wanting to spend the time or money to make this place perfect? Yes, it is….but it also serves the purpose of quieting the guilt for running out of steam as I get older and as I stare at the huge missing pieces of the plaster skim coat in the big bedroom that I know will still be visible when I’m done with them….and I do need a way to accept how they come out no matter how good or bad…so, I’ll give that a try and see how it works….may change it tomorrow…who knows?
April 3rd
Well…man, I feel lousy this morning and I hurt even more than normal and that is getting pretty tiring….and I’m getting tired of my eyes being full of crap and blurry in the mornings and I think I’m edging toward changing up my allergy meds to try to fix that…or I may even have to see an eye doctor to see what is going on…it was a little nicer going out for the paper today but it’s supposed to start raining and snowing again after the 3 inches of snow we got out here yesterday…luckily it all melted overnight but it is still damn depressing that it is still snowing in April…and it’s not supposed to get warm,other than Tuesday, until next week but then it goes right back into the 40’s again and that will last until almost the end of April and that really, really sucks….I need to get started on the border for the garden here soon and get the veggies planted downstairs…or I may just wait til I can get them already started this year….and I need to get the seeds for the perennials I want to plant around the house and get them planted in the next couple of weeks so I’ll have flowers when it gets warmer…and I need to repair the fence and rake up the leaves since the yard waste pick up starts this week….so I really do need to get my butt in gear on the bedroom this week but I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done in there….the door alone is going to take 3 days or so…and I’m tired…not much to do today…I do need a day off but I may have to skip them starting next week…I guess I could do the plaster today but I really don’t feel like it right now…maybe after more coffee….more later…
I hate dust….
Well…I hate dust….and after eating it all morning, I hate it even more but it had to be done to make progress on the bedroom…had all of the plaster patches that were just slapped into place that needed smoothing but the sander wouldn’t dent them so I took my grinder with a 60 grit flap disc on it and that worked…but I had to run the box fan on high pointing out the window to be able to see anything in there and it looked like the house was on fire with how much dust was blowing out of the room….and I had to hit another 5 places where there were ugly patches so I was pretty white with dust by the time I was done….and then I had to sand all of the paint that was left on the walls to smooth it out for painting…still will be able to see some of it since I’m not going to to sand it all off…and it took me almost a half hour to clean up all that dust….and had to clean the filter on my shop vac 4 times as I cleaned to keep the suction working….did I mention I hate dust? But now I’m done for the day other than some light cleaning in a bit…I do need to take something for the pain in my hand that always comes after I use the sander, even though I used my left hand a lot today…just hurt too damn much….maybe more later…