Well…there have been lots of weird things about this house that I have discovered as I work to get it cleaned up and liveable…but this morning, I found one of the weirdest things so far and all I can do is shake my head…as you know, I had to take the glass cover from the overhead light today to clean around it to get ready to paint…but, when I just looked at it, it had lentils in it…yep, lentils like the kind you make soup from or put in stews…and my question is: how the hell do you get lentils 8 feet in the air to have them land in the light fixture? I mean I’ve never thrown lentils around in the kitchens I’ve had over the years or any other food for that matter….but there they were…and the second question then comes: why the hell didn’t they ever clean the light fixture to get the dust, bugs, and lentils out of it? Just another instance of how little maintenance this place had before I bought it…and the remedial cleaning I’ve had to do to just get to the point that I can repair and paint….pretty damn weird…

Well…running about on time this morning but I thought I was running late when I woke up and smelled the coffee brewing but didn’t hear it….but it was only 6:08 so that will put me on the bike by 7 or so…need to get going a little early this morning since I need to get the entire kitchen washed to get ready to paint and that needs to be done by 10 with Man U playing…still want to watch them even with how crappy they are playing….I did get all the sanding done in the kitchen yesterday…or done to the point that I’m taking it…just have run out of patience with all of the dust and pain and want it done….I think I have enough white to do the ceiling but it is going to be close on the grey for the walls to do two coats of paint on them so I may have to get another gallon…and I need a hot glue gun to re-fix the power feed to the range hood to the wall and for other things around here and I wonder why I never bought one? Can get a nice two temp one with trigger feed for about 11 bucks at depot so I’ll get that this week so I can finish up the kitchen details…and I do need to get a new outlet to replace one that was filled with plaster when they did some repair and some new black cover plates to have them all match…I am getting tired of moving the damn stove out and back as I work behind it but that will be done this week…man, I have been waiting to say that…I did make a huge lasagna yesterday and it is good to have some easy leftovers to make as I work….not much to do today…just the bike ride and then cleanup in the kitchen…I do need to take the glass light fixture shade down to clean since they painted the ceiling with it up and it has paint all over it….detail work…more later….

Well…running really late today with not getting up til 6:33 and it’s almost time to get on the bike and I am just starting my first cup of coffee so I need to rush to get back on schedule….have a long day of work in the kitchen today that will start as soon as I get my miles in…it’s going to be dusty so I need to put up another air lock on the door into the dining room to try to control it…but, I don’t think it will be as bad as when I did the cabinets since I didn’t use nearly as much filler….and I’m going to try to vacuum as I go with the sander hooked up to my shop vac…it should take about 3 hours or so to get the sanding done and then another 2 to clean up so I can use the kitchen later to make lasagna…need to make something big since I have had three days of only one meal a day and I know that an egg salad sandwich and some chips is not enough to support the work I’ve been doing….and I need to get out to do the 5 inches of snow we got out here last night but that won’t be til later….I am going to have to take a rest day Sunday since my hands and right shoulder are in pain today from the sanding yesterday and it won’t get better without rest….not much to do today…just the dust eating and clean up and I am looking forward to the relief I’ll feel when I get done….and I think I am going to try my new mop on the kitchen floor today to get the dust up….more later….

Well…okay, I really think I need to stop whining about all the work I’m doing on this house…especially after bending Tom’s ear this morning for quite a while…after all, I have a house that belongs to me that many people would love to have and would also love to be doing the work that I keep complaining about….I do hurt like crazy but damn, I’m old and should hurt after sitting cross legged on the floor…okay, that brought up the song by Chicago called “25 or6 to four” that I like and that’s how my brain works…it always goes back to music…and I can’t get that out of my head since I thought of it…so, I’ll quit whining about working on my house and take the rest of the afternoon off after putting in over 4 hours today…tomorrow is going to be a huge dust day in the kitchen getting the rest of the filling sanded to get ready to paint everything..but I am going to attach my sander to my shop vac since that seems to keep the dust down…and I forgot that I do need to wedge a day in to wash every surface to make sure I get the dust off so the paint will stick….and I think that will be Saturday so I can start on painting the trim Monday…hope I have enough paint….more later…

Well…up early today and feel a little worn out…probably from only eating one meal yesterday since I worked on the kitchen until after one and that is too late to make lunch….so I just had an orange and called it good…and that pattern is going to happen again today since I need to finish up the sanding and filling on the trim…not looking forward to moving the stove out and discovering what is under it and cleaning that up before I work on the baseboard behind it…..and my right heel has developed it’s first cracks of the winter and that is going to make it pretty painful to stand on it all morning but it has to be done…I did get quite a bit of work done on the kitchen yesterday and I am edging toward just ending the work after today since I could keep working on it forever if I don’t….and this place is 82 years old and will never be perfect without spending thousands and thousands of dollars that I am just not going to spend…and I am not going to do that much work….since I started, my goal was to just make this place liveable and clean and I can accomplish that without making it perfect….and I can always come back to do the detail work after I get the major stuff done….not sure why I feel depressed this morning but I think it just one of those cycles that happens every couple of months and part of it is all of the work I’ve done on the kitchen and I feel like I’m no closer to finishing it than I was a month ago….I mean two months to do just one room? And I’m still a good two weeks away from painting the walls and ceiling but that will go pretty fast once I get to that point…and I still need to buy a range hood and hang it but that has to wait until the painting is done….so, you can see how this could contribute to being a little depressed…I think anyone would be….not much to do today…just the normal routine but I am not going to stop on the kitchen until I’m done with the prep in there…so it looks like a 5 hour day today and will probably use up the new tub of patching material before I’m done….man, I’m tired…more later….

Well…damn, even though I’ve lived in Michigan my entire life and endured 60+ winters here, every year about this time I get tired of being cold…and going out to do the grocery run today and walking back to the car that really hit home…especially since Meijers is only about 2 miles from here and my car doesn’t even hit normal temperature or produce much heat by then….and with it being only 18 degrees out there, the car cools right back down during the 10 minutes I was in the store and then it was cold again on the way to Aldi’s…and that cycle repeated on the way back here so I might just as well have had no heat at all in the car…and my hands were damn frozen by the time I parked the car in the garage and got the groceries inside…they are still cold after being back here a half hour…and having some coffee…oh, well…and looking at the weather out 10 days, it is not going to change much at all with lows still in the teens to twenties…this is the grit my teeth part of the winter here in Michigan…where you just have to take it day by day…and keep looking forward to the spring I know is coming…sometime…and knowing I survived another winter…and in Michigan, that’s not an easy feat….more later…

Well…that was okay…didn’t wake up til 5:30 and was able to roll over for 45 more minutes and still be on time to get to this and on the bike before I head out for the grocery run today…and it’s going to be another week of about 30 bucks for groceries and that is cool…might even be less than that since I got 17 pounds of protein last week and the ingredients for lasagna that I’m going to make tomorrow…can’t remember when I had a grocery list that has less than 15 items on it for two stores….might have to thaw my garage door lock again with the rain we had yesterday and how cold it is now…will probably drag the wd with me when I go out since that worked to thaw it last time…with the rain yesterday, I think the trails may be almost melted and I may suit up and take a look at them the next time it gets to be over 40…and that will be early next week…I did get some work done yesterday and need to get the rest of the trim prepped so I can get it sanded by the end of the week but that may take me two days and I won’t get to painting til next week and then I need to do some prep work on the walls and I may do that before I sand the trim so I only have one cleanup day before I start to paint…and I probably should do the second door frame that I was going to leave til later so the entire kitchen will be done in a week or so….I wonder if I will have earned another week off after that? I know that my right hand and elbow will need the rest after I’m done since it is already hurts like crazy after just one part of the trim and the door frame from yesterday….not much to do today…just the grocery run and the rest of the baseboards and then on to the door frame tomorrow….should be able to sand Friday…I hope….and then do the cleanup…crap…forgot about prepping the walls and ceiling and that will take a full day so I probably won’t get to sanding til Monday…but I should still be able to paint next week…but I need to buy another gallon of gray paint since I don’t think I have enough to two-coat the walls with what I have…but that will be okay since I’ll need some touch up paint to maintain everything in the kitchen as I chip them…more later….