Well…not sure why but I started working on the rest of the kitchen stripping this morning and I am done at only 9:13…got the final 4 doors taken down and cleared out the food storage cabinets and now I’m ready to get sanding tomorrow morning after I wash the car and hit depot to get the two new drop cloths I need to cover the stove and make an airlock….I am a little surprised at how easy it was to get the old hardware screws out since they were in there for at least 40 years and were covered in so much paint you couldn’t tell where the screw heads were…but a hammer and my tough screw driver worked well to chip off the paint and clear the screw heads…I think it will take at least two weeks to do the cabinets since they are in such poor condition and are going to need lots of sanding and filling…and I think some of the doors may need to be replaced since they are so chipped and worn but I’ll think about that after I clean them up and paint them…not going to do anything until I get them done and re-hung and see how they look…can probably live with the wear since I don’t want to make this place perfect for the next owners…it will be enough just to have them cleaned and painted….but now, I’m taking the rest of the day off to just veg and enjoy the day….

Well…darn, that was cold…went out to get the paper and it’s only 6 degrees out there and I forgot to take some gloves so my hands are still cold a half hour later…even had to use the two key method to leave my car running at the party store to get the windows to defog…just got my gas bill and it’s the biggest one I’ve gotten out here so far at 92 bucks but it’s been really cold over the past month so I guess that’s not bad…and gas prices are up by almost 50% from last year so I can live with it…slept okay last night and feel okay this morning with being good for 13 days now and I really think I’m going to do the entire month of January with the good effects so far…the swelling in my right foot is down to almost normal and the big sagging under my chin is almost gone…my face looks quite a bit thinner and I may even get through the first winter with not gaining any weight…I normally gain about 12 pounds over the winter and it would be really nice to start the spring at the end of summer weight…I did get the kitchen almost torn apart yesterday and will finish that today…have 4 more doors to remove and the upper storage to empty and then I’ll be ready to start on the sanding and filling…I do need to get a couple more drop cloths to cover the stove and make an airlock to keep the dust in the kitchen since there is so much sanding to do…I think I may have figured out the squealing in the combustion blower on the furnace yesterday…just sprayed wd all over the back side of it trying to get to the back bearing and it seems to have helped but we’ll see when I start working down there in a couple of weeks…I did take the range hood down yesterday, too and am going to have to bite the bullet and spend a hundred bucks on a new one….but I planned on that but I think I’ll need to curtail the spending for a month or so…want to plan a vacation for the summer to get to see the area and try some new beaches…and put the bike on the back of the car and see some new trails…not much to do today…taking the day off the bike and  going to ease into the day…cripes it’s only 7:23….need to g out and read some news for topics….more later….one last thing…Tom, tried your chili yesterday and it was damn good…just the right amount of heat and it does have lots of meat in it…very yummy….

Well…have been working hard all morning to get the kitchen stripped so I can get started taking the doors off and filling and sanding….moved the shelf holding the coffee maker and microwave into the dining room along with all of the food and dishes and that filled two big totes…and I removed the ugly range hood and put that in the trash since it was so filthy that I wasn’t going to attempt to reuse it…but I just checked on a stainless steel one and the cheapest 30 inch is almost 80 bucks and it was only 55 last year…sure don’t want to spend that amount of money but I guess I’ll have to to complete the look I’m going for….and I decided to go with black hinges and pulls since they will go better with the colors I’m going to use…so that adds another hundred bucks or so to the total since I can’t use any of the ones I have downstairs…but I want it to look nice and bronze hinges and pulls just won’t go with grey….so tomorrow looks like door removal and then I’ll dive into sanding and filling Monday after I take the car out and wash it…need to get the salt off it to try to keep it from rusting more but I think that is hopeless….oh,well….

Well…just read a short article the announced that Justified is coming back as a limited series…which will mean one year of about 8 episodes but that is still cool…and it will be set in Detroit and based on another of Elmore Leonard’s short stories as the first series was…there wasn’t a lot of detail in the article but Timothy Olyphant is coming back as Raylan…who will have a 14 year old daughter to deal with…but no mention if Walton Goggins is going to come back as Boyd Crowder and I think the series would be less without him…I would expect it will take a couple of years until it’s complete and I hope I live to see it…would be cool…

Well…running a little late from the new normal for me with not getting out of bed til almost 6:30 so I won’t be getting on the bike til 7:30 or so…I have to remember I don’t have a schedule anymore and it doesn’t matter if I’m on the bike a few minutes later…but it is nice to get the ride out of the way early before I have the chance to think about it…slept okay last night and I was good for the 13th day but I almost had cocktails to watch the Ray Donovan movie last night…that was a habit for so long that it was almost easy to fall back into it…the movie was just meh and a little disappointing but it filled a night so I guess that’s okay…watched the last episode of the Expanse last night and it had a pretty good ending after 6 years so that was cool but I’ll miss the show….I did get a little work done yesterday but I’m only going to do a little today..going to take the big upper doors off the kitchen cabinets and get all the food, spices and dishes out of them and into totes so I can get started sanding the insides of them….want to get the upper parts of them done this week and then get on the lower ones next week with the ones over the stove the week after….I can’t wait til all the sanding is over and I can do one final dust clean up but that won’t come for a month or so in the kitchen with needing to do the door frames and baseboards before I can paint the walls…so it looks like mid Feb to have the work done in there or maybe even a little later….it is a pain that every surface in the entire house needs work but I do have to remember that I have the whole winter and summer to work on it and I don’t need to rush…working on the house will be my job for the year…but I am going to take a two week vacation in July and just go to the beach every day and get a good tan…and I may just go fishing this summer too, even if I can’t eat the fish…and the kayak is still in the back of my mind but I need to get one on sale and not spend more than 200 bucks….so, I need to get on the bike right now and get my day started…lots of soccer on and Man U plays at 12:30 so I want to be done with my work by then….more later…

Well…with fighting all the dust since I started on the kitchen, I figured there must be a better way to deal with it than just letting it blow all over the house…and with starting on the cabinets and doors and all of the filling and sanding that they are going to need, I decided to build a little 9×12 work room in the basement out of drop cloths to try to contain at least some of it…luckily, I had enough them of them to do the two sides and cover the floor to protect against paint drips…I’m pretty careful when I paint but there is always at least once that I’ll drip some paint and this way I don’t have to clean it up as I go…and there is enough room to put all 4 or my sawhorses in there and still have room to move around…and I have two 100 watt LED lights in there so I’ll be able to see really well when I work…and I even have a small window in my glass blocks that I can open to get some ventilation…man, I love having a basement that I can use…so, that’s enough work for the day…need to get photos of the kitchen tomorrow before I start tearing the doors off…oh, I did plug the new light socket into the outlet over the sink and I’m not sure if I’ll keep it there or not but it is nice to have light over the sink….oh, and while I was downstairs, the combustion blower on the furnace started to whine again so I whacked it hard on the side of the furnace and it stopped…I guess sometimes you need to use brute force to fix things….

Well…as I watched the new house going up across the street, I couldn’t figure out what kind of house it was going to be…it was way too small for a one story and I had no clue where the garage was going to be…but, this morning, they started to put the second story on and that made much more sense…and some of the other new ones around here have detached 2 stall garages but this lot has a curb cut for a garage that fronts on Merrill so I’m not sure how that is going to work…but I am relieved that it is not going to be a tiny house that would sell for less than mine is worth…and that makes the eighth new house that I can see from my yard and that is a welcome restoration of this neighborhood…

Well…I can’t remember when I had a more relaxing time running errands in the morning…the roads were clear and very little traffic and when I got to depot to get the first batch of grey paint there was no one waiting so it only took about 5 minutes to get the paint mixed and I was able to wander around and get an outlet to try to put a light over the sink…it’s just a plug in with a pull chain but I thought I’d try it and see if I need the light….then I stopped at Aldi’s to get 10 more pounds of chicken leg quarters and I was the first in line at the checkout so it only took me about a minute to get out of there…then a run across Sherman to HF to get sandpaper and a short handled brush to paint the inside of the cupboards…and the sandpaper was only 2.47 for 7 sheets while it was 7 bucks for 4 sheets at depot and that was just a little ridiculous…and I got some new style pads for my detail sander that I wanted to try…so, all in all, a good day so far and I was back here by 9:30….now I need to get a couple more leg quarters in a marinade for later and put the rest of them in the freezer…I think I have just about enough room with giving Tom some ham soup yesterday…oh, Tom…the Ray Donovan movie is out on Plex…going to watch it tonight…

Well…darn…another 4am morning this morning but I was able to get back to sleep until a little after 6 so that is a win…but, I wonder why I don’t feel like I slept at all? I have been good for 11 days now and you would think that would be enough to feel better but I just feel worn out…again…had a nice day yesterday with Tom bringing out his new puppy and I couldn’t help but laugh at all the energy Lucy has…damn, I would love to harness some of that…think she is going to be a good dog and a lot of fun…didn’t get much done yesterday but clean but the house needed that and I have plenty of time to get to the kitchen cupboards….I had a brainstorm last night on the colors for the doors and it may work and it may not but I’m going to try it and see….will probably start taking the doors off today so I can get started on sanding and filling them or I may just prep my workspace downstairs and call it good til Monday and take the weekend off…I am going to go out and get the first gallon of grey paint for the insides of the cupboards and some more sandpaper for my sanders since there is going to be tons of sanding on both the doors and the inside and outside of the cabinets….just realized I have about a grand going out in Feb for my property taxes and house insurance so I won’t be gaining any cash in the bank next month and that kinda sucks but it is part of life…I am going to stop at Aldi’s this morning and see if I can get another 10 pounds of chicken leg quarters for 4.90…and that will give me protein for the next month or so…the marinade I use for the last chicken really made it taste good and I am going to look for a few different ones to add to my recipes to expand my taste and that may be the task for the weekend….more later…oh, found out this week that there is a Ray Donovan movie coming out today on Showtime and I am going to try to find a channel to watch it on…

Well…the plans that I had for this morning changed and I decided to not go out and get the grey paint I need for the insides of the cupboards…took a look around and decided that the place needed cleaning more that it needed paint so I did laundry and cleaned up instead..I can’t believe how far the dust traveled from doing the kitchen windows….it’s all the way into the living room and I am debating cleaning it up when I know I’m just going to spread more when I get to sanding the cabinets in the kitchen…will probably wait until I sand the first cabinets…I am setting up a work space downstairs to sand and paint the cabinet doors but I need to get out and get some more sandpaper at HF tomorrow….looked at depot yesterday but they only have 3M and it costs almost 7 bucks for 4 sheets and I’m not going to pay that much…and I need more diamond shaped sheets for my detail sander and HF is the cheapest for those, too…so today is going to be a down day and I’ll get back to work tomorrow….more later….