And the nightmare situation w the mouse happened

Live one on the glue trap! Ugh. Hence the glue trap dilemma. Jaimee took it outside, pried it off with a plastic knife, and (despite my comment that this is not the Collesium), released it to the feral cats. Then when it tried to run back towards the house she blocked it and told it there were rules... Poor mouse.  Ugh. What would you do?

(And I also have snap traps and the electric ones, so I'm trying everything...)

I didn't mean to slack on the posting.

I did, however, mean to slack on the bathroom.  After a push to finish it before Christmas (fail), and then a couple projects where I thought I was doing quite well but realized I had installed things improperly (I am not good at moldings.  Just - not.), I needed a break.

So I altered my tack a bit, and decided to tackle some projects where the raw materials were in the house, I just hadn't done it.  Sort of a use it or lose it kind of deal.  Also a make things work a little better kind of deal.

I hung a shelf:

Twice, actually, after it fell down.  Turned out the anchors I selected just weren't big enough.  Oops. 

I put hardware on the pantry doors:

Ok, so I have to stretch to reach them.  Maybe this won't be the final location of said hardware.

I also:

  - cut and installed a shelf in one of my kitchen cabinets (with the side effect of making the glasses drawer much much easier to use!)
  - put shelf supports in the counter under the sink to hang the dishrack (so. very. exciting.)
  - hung the artwork my friends made for my birthday 2 (3?) years ago
  - made good progress on the shelves in the bathroom (they aren't done, but you can use them!)
  - installed a cat door in the basement for Jaimee's cat when he visits (let's not talk about the fact that he won't go through it yet)
  - and cleaned the basement.

But then it was time to ease back into the bigger projects.  I still didn't want to return to the bathroom, though.  So - have I mentioned that I hate my upstairs closets?  Well, I do.  Or did.  Or both, really.  I mean, I have huge closets, so I really shouldn't complain.  But a shelf and a bar just don't use the space efficiently.  Plus bifold doors just shouldn't exist.

And - here we are:

We (Jaimee put her muscles to good use too) took off the bifold doors, took down the shelf and the bar, and put up this thing of beauty.  The bar will get new life in R2's room.  Of course we had the usual reno issues; plaster crumbling in certain spots, drill-walking creating some not quite level hooks, cutting the long shelves too short because I was too focused on one side of the plans - but we overcame and this thing is solid.  There are still no doors, the other two closets and the upper storage areas still have the old doors, and the middle closet also desperately needs to be redone, and the inside walls really need painting - but this is SUCH a nice step!  No more trying to get my sweaters out of a falling apart wire system, no more dust collecting on the bottom items, and more usable space.  

Of course this came with a spring-cleaning type purge (also helped by watching Hoarders too much), and decluttering a bit has felt good too.

Currently I'm fighting a mouse infestation (those critters are BOLD.  They stroll on the counters!  They meander through the bottom shelf of the pantry!  They poop ON the snap trap bait!  I shall overcome.).  So that might have to dictate the next project, meaning that I might have to focus on sealing up the pantry/nook/kitchen before I can return to the bathroom.  TBD.  But work continues!

There may be a mouse in my house.

In the pantry to be precise. Oy.

New Fridge!

It wasn't an upgrade planned for this year, but when your fridge starts freezing the items in the fridge rather regularly, your roommate can get kind of sad about her fresh (now frozen) spinach.  And have you ever tried to fry a frozen egg?  It's weird, I can tell you.

The story of the fridge replacement is convoluted, however.  So, I ordered a new fridge through a friend with a great deal.  Three weeks after ordering, we discovered it was backordered.  Two weeks after that, I gave up and went with a different model.  Four days later, the delivery guy showed up - and we discovered it wouldn't fit through the door.  But wait - it would fit through the door, just not in the box (I mean, I did measure before ordering!).  I headed off to remove the door, and the guy stopped me and said he couldn't deliver it because I have four steps up to the front door, and he was only one guy.  (Mind, this is all through Spanglish.)  The office will call, he says.  Eventually I speak to the office, straighten out the confusion with the nice woman, discuss my steps, and reschedule delivery.  The following week an older guy calls me to tell me I'm his next stop, and ask if I have guys ready to move the fridge in because it's raining.  But don't you bring it inside, I ask?  No, he answers, we never bring things up stairs.  I am slightly confused here.  From the interactions with the original delivery guy, and the woman, would you not think that if they weren't going to bring it into the house they'd have MENTIONED it at this point?  Not pleased.  Mildly panicked, in fact.  Luckily a rapid Craigslist seach gets me guys that can come in an hour and a half.  I throw a tarp over the delivered fridge, and wait by the door with bated breath (what if someone steals my fridge???) until the guys show.  Two Russians appear, pull it out of the box, get it through the door (which I of course removed the day before), and into the house, where we discover another issue - it won't fit through the dining room doorway into the kitchen.  So.  They start removing fridge doors, while I remove doorway molding.  20 minutes later I have this:

And the old fridge in the dining room, and a great deal of cleanup to do.  Looks great, yes?  It feels so BIG!  The old fridge was rescued from the front yard by someone (thanks Max and Jaimee for removing it), the cardboard was finally picked up by the recycling guys, and my house looks much less trashy now ;)  Also, the spinach has been unfrozen all week!

It's very exciting.  However, I can no longer reach the microwave (which lives on top of the fridge), so it's turned to the side so that I can reach it by standing on the step.  This makes it look not lovely, however, since you're looking at the back of the microwave half the time...  Suggestions to remedy this would be gratefully accepted.

Painted!

Well, the ceiling and walls are painted, the mirror is hung (isn't it awesome?  It totally looks like the Magic Mirror from Snow White), the real door is hung, and the permanent towel bar is up.  Note - diamond tip drill bits are totally worth it.  That carbide bit was useless.  Next steps - buying and hanging a toilet paper holder, hanging the over the mirror light, and starting the door trim.

Ok, not quite ready.

Well, finally ready to prime and paint turned into not quite. I started priming-and when the primer dried I noticed there were several spots where the drywall screws were noticeable.  As in visible bumps. Sad face. So I'll try to fix those spots then finish the priming and paint!

Finally ready to prime and paint!

I'm thinking a grey from the blue family-any thoughts?

Progress continues - slowly.

So, there hasn't really been a lot to share, but that doesn't mean that work isn't progressing.  It just means that it's unexciting work.  I finished up some drywall gaps, got the cabinets hung in the wall, and am now trying to finish up the drywall taping so that there can be priming and painting.

A few lessons learned - know where your electrical lines are before you take a sawzall to the drywall.  When putting the finished side of the cabinet on the floor to cut, put something under it so it doesn't scratch.  Tape that seam anyway, because you'll probably see it even if you think you won't.

Progress continues.  Pics to come when it's obvious progress!

I took a shower...in my new bathroom!

I know, showers are not usually noteworthy.  But this was the first one in the downstairs bathroom since late June!  How was is possible?  Well, yesterday was a banner day in the bathroom world:

• Not only did the plumber fix the issues that stopped me on Tues (for free), he also discovered that they had installed check valves (I think that's the right word).  These are little valves in the shower body used to stop water just to the shower - I didn't know they were there and would definitely have had to call them to figure out why I had no water pressure!
• I took a trip to the tile store at lunch, where the tile guy let me return the edge pieces I wasn't going to use even though it's way past their return period, told me I didn't need to seal the grout, and also told me that if I had gotten most of my walls flat I was actually doing a really good job.  Apparently tiles this big warp slightly, and many professionals have a really rough time trying to make them look flat.  Take that, bump in wall!
• I. Finished. The. Tiling.

And...then this morning I discovered that in making the shower head tall enough for tall people (you're welcome, Max ;) ), I had in effect made it too tall for me to reach without standing on the tub edge.  Know what happens when you are careless on a tub edge with wet feet?  You fall in the tub and whack the bejesus out of your elbow.  

I would like to chalk that up to a renovation injury, since it was done in getting the hang of the new stuff, but I am informed it's really an old lady injury, and I should be grateful I don't need Life Alert.  Jeesh.

Shower was really nice, though.

The Almost house

I know, you've been wondering if I've been working at all.  I have, actually.  Tiling takes rather a lot of time.  I think the above title describes my house.  Things are always almost done.  Rarely ACTUALLY completed.  

Case in point:

Looks nice, right?  Tiled wall, grout, fixtures...  But look very closely, and you will see there's a pipe sticking out, not a tub spout.  How come?  Because the plumbers installed a pipe that's much too long.  Know what?  No tub spout, no shower, because there's no diverter.  You also can't see that there's a screw sticking out of the faucet - since the shower body was installed slightly crooked and I can't get the last screw in.  I. Was. Going. To. Shower. There. This. Morning.  Fell at the last fence.  Plumbers are coming to fix it tomorrow.

You might think if I was going to shower that I had finished the tile.  My, you are funny funny people.

Nope.  See the screws in the upper right?  That means the board isn't covered in tile.  How come?  Because I was 2. Tiles. Short.  And when I went to the tile store on Sat to get another box, they had closed early for the holiday weekend.  Dammit home improvement store!  Labor Day is when I LABOR!  (So how was I going to use that shower?  I was going to tape plastic over that wall.  Enough is enough.  I know Dad, not the best idea, but I would have made it work.)

But not everything in the house is frustrating.  Have I mentioned my amazing pantry in the nook?

Or that I hung shelves for the plants?

So.  Onward and upward.  Perhaps Friday morning I'll be able to shower in the downstairs bathroom...