I Promised Pictures...

for your viewing pleasure...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

i'm a day late. the way i've been going, that's not too bad.

anyway, to friends and family near and far and REALLY far... all the best for a wonderful christmas and a very happy new year. i'll put some pictures up tomorrow. love & hugs to you all...

Happy 30th Anniversary Val & Marv!

i wish i'd thought of this before i left home, because i have your wedding picture on that computer... instead, i guess we'll settle for this...















or this...

what could emily possibly be doing?

seriously... she's done with school, she's home, she's got nothing but time on her hands... and yet, no blogging. the same stinkin' thing has been there every time i check... for like over a week now. SERIOUSLY. i've had enough of your excuses party girl!!

basic fires only...

so last night i finally made work of putting the new smoke detector in place... this is a smoke detector for basic fires, it says so on the box. as a matter of fact, it's SO basic, it says it twice.

i'm not sure what other kind there are, but i'm really just hoping that if i have a fire, it's "basic" otherwise i'm in trouble. does "basic" include kitchen accidents because i'm sure that's the most likely kind i'll have. i joke that i got a new one after re-doing all my electrical outlets & switches, but i'm confident my father taught me well... but just in case, do you think an electrical fire is considered basic? maybe i should go back to home depot and check the other kinds. how many smoke detectors will i have to have? what if i have a fancy fire? like if my evening gowns suddenly ignite? oh wait... but what if val & mom get their wish and my favorite sweater spontaneously combusts? so how many types of fires are there and how my smoke detectors do i actually need? one for electrical, one for candles tipping over, one for kitchen mishaps... and are all mishaps covered as one type of fire? for instance, i have set both an oven and a microwave on fire... oh geeze, i've had a stove top fire too, oh geeze... and a toaster fire... are all of these the same kind of fire, and if so, are they "basic" ?

this is very perplexing...

they have carbon monoxide detectors too? don't get me started...

thank you randi, ash & em...

... for making me feel less neglected. :-)

would it kill someone to leave a comment???

i'm just sayin...

long long day

well, i attempted to take a video but apparently you need a lot of light to do this. even though my condo looks plenty bright to me, on the video, it looks very very dark. i guess you'll have to take the virtual tour another day. i spent all day cleaning and trying to put things away. i almost hung pictures, but i'm not ready yet to put holes in the wall i guess. i did put one in though...
anyway, it's not perfect yet, but here's some pictures...

and as promised... before and after on my outlets... but i'll only make you look at one...

i'm a slacker too

just had to say that, in the spirit of fairness. though i am planning to post something later this evening, complete with before and after pictures of each and every one of the 10 outlets and 3 light switches that i've replaced. i know, you're on the edge of your seat.

Robin is a slacker blogger

i just wanted to point out that someone is worse than me. not a single post in the whole month of november. how am i supposed to avoid work when you're not blogging? seriously.

i did electricity!!

so today the painting continued. more painted over outlets and light switches... in addition to getting all of the primary color on today (so far) i changed out two light switches. i'm very proud of myself, and i'm also going to get a new smoke detector, just in case...

here's the new one in my entry...

when it's off, it glows. this is very exciting to me.

and i put a new dimmer switch in dining room. it has a light too... just to left of the button.

is it really only 6:30?

One wall down...

well, 2 but the 2nd one is so little, i'm not counting it. i never knew how exhausting painting can be... and the other times these walls were painted they went right over the outlets, so i had to take those covers off and one was so thoroughly painted, the face of the receptacle came off too. i can't believe how stupid people can be. after my crash course from dad, i'll be replacing not just the face plates, but the receptacles too. i wanted to do it today but with wise, strong advice, i've decided to wait until dad can show me how. :-)

Patience is not my virtue

SO... i'm waiting and waiting and waiting... and WAITING to get my home depot coupon... it's all of 10% but still... almost 3 weeks later, no coupon. i just went back to the website where i requested it from and someone posted a comment saying it took like 8 weeks. 8... EIGHT.

WEEKS

Viola!

So... i took down the old towel bar, spackled, sanded, painted, and hung up the new one... like 5 inches lower, in case you were doubting my spackling, sanding and painting skills...

Home Improvement, stupid wall anchors, spackle and Liz...

Okay... it's out of order, but i have a Liz story... i took this picture...

while driving...

while talking to Liz.

i told her i was taking the picture and i got this "what? are you crazy aunt sher? stop that! you can't take a picture, drive with your hands!" (i'd told her i was steering with my knee). so i of course do what Liz says, but she's mad and continues to berate me... and finally she says "Aunt Sher, if you wreck it will upset Grandma, and if you upset Grandma, i am going to be SO mad at you..."

and while i was a bit disconcerted that not upsetting grandma was liz's #1 priority, i can also appreciate it... i try really hard not to upset my mom.

so we talk for a little while longer, then liz has to hang up and as we're exchanging i love yous and just before i pull the phone away from my ear, i hear "and REMEMBER... TWO hands on the wheel!"

gotta love Liz.

so onto home improvement... i had big plans for yesterday... BIG. the salvation army messed me up completely. they said they'd be here between 8 and noon... come to find out, even though i'd confirmed it twice, trevor told me there was no way anyone told me between 8 and noon. trevor, you callin' ME a liar??? so the yahoos don't show up until about 2... they had difficulty identifying my address... i wish i had a picture of the 3 foot tall numerals on the building... or the large kiosk on the corner of the road with the big 5500 at the top... so anyway, einstein and einsteiner finally figure it out, they pick up my stuff and i head off to home depot. i get around the corner, and i forgot my paint info. so i go back, run upstairs, get my paint numbers and off i go again.

more einsteins at home depot... they can't match my paint. i only have numbers. the women asked what they looked like, i told her the one was sort of greenish, she thought she might be able to mix up something for me. i told her thanks, but maybe i should go to benjamin moore. she was very helpful then too, assuring me that there was one in virginia.

SO... i get towel bars, a new tp holder to replace THIS gem... drop cloths, those rolly things for paint and the pan thing the rolly things go with and i'm off to benjamin moore. who knew how many shades and tints and hues and stuff??? seriously... it took FOREVER...

by the time i got home yesterday, i was stressed, tired and in no mood to do anything but sit on the couch. MY plan... my plan was to return home around noon with a whole day to tackle my projects... yeah. thanks salvation army. today i got a better start... after church and lunch with some friends, i tackled the bathroom. task 1: remove horrifying old towel bars. easy enough right? NO.






NO NO NO

wall anchors... unbelievable. i always use this one favorite kind of mine... it's metal.
you pound it into the wall, the arms spread out when you put a screw in. later, when you take the screw out, you can pull the anchor out because the arms will kinda come back together. it's a bigger hole, but nothing a little spackle can't handle...

well... the heinous towel bars were secured with plastic wall anchors. i have never worked so hard at getting something out of a wall... when i took the 2nd one down, after wrestling with a screwdriver, an exacto knife, a hammer and vise grips, for well over half an hour... on the second one, i left the screws in the anchors and tore the whole stinking thing out of the wall. a slightly bigger hole than one would like, but again, nothing spackle can't handle...

which brings me to spackle. who knew it took so long to dry? have you ever tried to sand spackle that wasn't? i have. just now. the directions say "let dry". i thought i did. apparently spackle doesn't work on sheri's time line.

















I'll leave you with a couple picutres of my mess...

it's been a long week...

in case you're wondering, no, i didn't ride my bike into a tree... it just feels that way.

i don't have much to say except that i'm mad at emily because she hasn't blogged in FOREVER. so i figured i'd better put something up so as not to be a hypocrite.

so tomorrow i think i'm actually going to go buy some paint... and some tape and some drop cloths... i HATE painting, but i'm too dutch (and poor) to hire someone, so there it is. i am ready to get the rest of my stuff unpacked, vacuum the carpet... maybe have some company... we shall see.

anyway, that's my life... one big nonstop thrill ride... i'll be spending the weekend watching paint dry.

(and you thought it was just an expression... )

Happy Birthday Krissy & Erin!

hope you guys had happy birthdays!

Tour de Mess

Took this quick video with the webcam... the place is still a disaster, though i'm getting there, bit by bit... i get so overwhelmed, i just sit on the couch.

i did my first dishwasher load today... as well as my first laundry. the dryer is a bit of a disappointment. it's taking FOREVER. i put in a load for 75 minutes and it's still not dry. good thing i'm not paying my electric bill, i'd have a meltdown.

anyway... nothing too exciting going on here, just thought i'd post this video.

the bathroom adventure

today i was VERY handy... i used my Lowe's gift card to get a brand spankin' new shower head and a new shower curtain rod. my life is a thrill ride folks, not for the timid!


and now, i'll try my hand at putting pictures in my blog... i took a few with my phone (haven't gotten my camera back from my friend yet). the new shower head is brushed nickel, has two thingees (sorry about getting so technical) with a toggle to switch in between the mounted thingy and the handheld thingy.

now i also got a new shower curtain rod... the kind that is curved outward so you don't bump your elbows on the actual curtain (i bruise easily).

here's a "detail" in case you're not getting the whole feel of it. it is also brushed nickel, BUT (you may want to have a seat) my curtain rings are chrome. when you catch your breath, you might see, like i did, that the contrast is kind of nice...

and last but certainly NOT most least... as i slaughter the english language... i got my linen closet organized....

i know i know... how much excitement can one truly stand in a single day? i'm not sure, but as you can see, i'm clearly testing the limits of human tolerance.

who needs THIS MUCH STUFF?????

seriously... where'd i get all this crap?

and there's more. i thought i was done, except for a few randoms in the basement of a friend's store... oh no. there's like 20 boxes down there. seriously.

i am planning to donate almost all of it. if i didn't need it for 2 years, i can probably live without it now... if you need a microwave, cordless phone set, rugs, a wine chiller (i don't even drink wine!) or a whole slew of paperback books, just let me know.

i'm sorry i have not yet posted any pictures. every time i thought of downloading some from mom's camera, it entailed moving and every time, i was having none of that. my camera is still with a friend.

so... last night was my first night alone in the new place. there's noises... nothing i won't stop hearing soon, but there's noises. there's also sunshine... not in the middle of the night, but awfully early in the morning... i never noticed there was nothing on the bedroom window. Norma (previous owner) was kind enough to leave blinds and curtains in the living room and dining room, but not the bedroom... AND... the wall on one side of the window sticks into the room a good 4 inches more than the wall on the other side. i'm entertaining suggestions on how to handle this, there will be a prize for the person with the best solution (a microwave, cordless phone set, rugs, a wine chiller or a whole slew of paperback books....)

i am SO ready for a footrub

i might have to break down and go see miriam, the bomb diggity of pedicurists. it's $40 and worth every cent... an hour and a half of pure bliss...

i have my computer up and running, and am leaching off a neighbor's internet (woohoo!). i was going to post some pictures, but my camera is with some friends. i guess i could get some off mom's camera but it's like 10 feet away and i'm not moving!

so moving day was an adventure. thankfully i was up at 5 because the movers showed up at 8:30, 90 minutes early. it didn't really matter too much, i was ready to go, but i was glad they weren't any earlier. mom & dad showed up shortly after that and we moved the most well-wrapped cabinet every seen (thanks steve!) from the pickup to the moving van.

after about 3 hours they had pretty much everything on the truck. at 5:30 am when i went outside to take some trash out, it was raining. i prayed and prayed and prayed that God would stop it until we got the truck loaded, and sure enough, He answered. And to make a point, it started raining immediately after the last thing went on the truck. the doors weren't even closed yet.

so, we came to the new building, it rained cats & dogs the whole rest of the day. thankfully my building has a loading dock so all was well with the move-in. the movers were already impressed with steve's work on the bookcase when they loaded it, when we unloaded and unwrapped, they were like "WOW!" they were really great guys and worked very hard for me. i was shocked it took about 7 hours... i was thinking 3, maybe 3.5.

we all worked hard doing different things yesterday. dad was doing electrical, mom & i switched back and forth between lovely assistants and unpacking other stuff. today we took it a little easier. went to church this morning, then met my friend kristin for lunch, then came back for naps, then mom & i went back to work. we let dad have the day off b/c he worked so hard yesterday... and was wiped out and sore from wrestling with outlets and lights underneath the cabinets in the kitchen until about 11 last night.

so, that's the report for today. i'll have some pictures tomorrow maybe... and since i have internet, maybe even a video tour... though it's still a big mess. dad wants to know why mom didn't teach me any better than this. he's so funny!

love to all...

Kung Pow Chicken

i don't know about you, but when i order something and i'm really excited and hungry, nothing is more disappointing than it not tasting like you expected. that's today's lunchtime experience. blah! it takes like salty rice. that's the whole story in my little styrofoam thingy. nothing else.

i could use a hug.

well... tomorrow is moving day. it's going to be fun! (i keep trying to convince myself anyway). i have most of my house packed up, but there's still a lot of work. it's going to be an exciting friday night. laundry, packing... and it's the stuff that won't fit neatly into a box. i hate that stuff. i like boxes with no air in them... like boxes full of books... when you get to the top, if there's space left, you find a thin book, or if there's no thin books, you take out the one and put in a bigger book so you don't need the thin one... or you take out the one and use two thinner ones... NO AIR... and the box closes neatly and once again, you've accomplished a brilliant job of packing up.

my final boxes... there's air everywhere. it's infuriating.

happy friday everyone! think of me while you're NOT moving tomorrow.

Day 1 of home ownership

I can't really think of much to say. Yesterday i signed my life away... then i cut my finger and bled on my new condo. thankfully not on the carpet. Then i went to home depot to look at all the things i can no longer afford. Then i took a nap.