Daily Chores (FAIL)

My experiment in daily chores failed - miserably. Some of the things on my list NEVER got done. I never cleaned the sink, I never cleaned the bathtub or bathroom sink. I never mopped or washed clothes (do towels count?). I guess this plan just doesn't work for me. New plan: this month I will attempt to do the same tasks, but on the weekends. I know the theory is to do a little every day, but I just can't do that. And then on Sat/Sun when I do have a little time, I only think about the 1 "little" think I'm supposed to do. I'm not saying this will work either, but it's worth a try. During the week I will try to mitgate the clutter problem by putting things away (where is away though?) and maybe keeping up with the dishes. When we eventually get a dishwasher installed, I might just do a little dance of excitement in the kitchen during the first load of dishes.

Things I did to this week:
I did finish the installation of the new porch light. It was only about 90 minutes more of work, and probably 20 min of fruitless wrangling before I caved in and got the ladder from the garage to make the final connection of the mounting plate to the ceiling bracket. 17" pendant lights are kind of heavy and my one arm can not hold it above chest height for very long.

I cleaned off one bookshelf in the living room. The two bookshelves flanking the fireplace have been a dumping ground of papers and magazines and action figures and cabinet hardware for the last two years. I took every off, organized some magazines in cardboard holders. I figured if I waited until I got around to covering the magazine holders in nice paper or fabric it would never get done. They don't look bad the way the are, although the big dissapointment is the depth of the shelves doesn't allow me to put the magazines behind the doors - so they're on the top shelf right now. I plan on having the other side done before christmas and maybe I'll even get the doors back on! Lars, I expect you to be impressed when you see them 'cause your dissapointment was a motivating factor.

I went to Miller's Hardware and spent 22 cents to buy a screw. Somehow I lost one when I was mounting the drapes in the dining room so for over a year three windows have had drapery panels, one was blank. Except for the sad brackets (one with only 1 screw).

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Garlic planting

This spring when we were shopping for annual vegetable seeds I grabbed a head of garlic that was by the register. I thought I'd give it a go. Apparently around here garlic really needs to be planted in the fall (like right now) to get a head start on the growing season. That head of garlic I grabbed in the spring was planted, but wasn't doing very well when it was accidentally tilled this summer. After my experiment with this Sunset vegetable garden plan (it looked like a good idea) we're going back to raised beds in the garden. In fact they are the same raised beds I built 4 years ago. I went back to the old house and disasembled them this summer. They look so big in this backyard. I'll probably need to make new ones in a few years as these are already starting to rot out (they were made from 20+ year-old fence panels). This year we're also going to start the garlic in the fall. I don't know the exact varieties. The bulbs are purple, there are two different kinds, and they are a hardneck variety. That means we'll get the garlic scapes in the spring and I can make more of that pesto. Remember, I'm still excited that anything will grow for me.

UPDATE: I started this post a month ago, planning on getting some pictures when I planted the garlic. Well it's in, no pictures, and I still haven't found mulch for the bed which means they've probably already frozen and died. We've had several severe freezes and a few light snows. It might snow more this weekend too.

I started installing the new porch light but now it's been 2 weeks and I'm not done yet. Of course that means we've gone 2 weeks with NO porch light - and i'm one of those people who leave them on all night. For me, dark houses make an unfriendly neighborhood and that can lead to an unsafe neighborhood. I guess it's time to stop procrastinating and take that trip through the knee wall in the attic (I have to install a new junction box in the porch ceiling). I took some pictures of the porch project so maybe I'll finish and get those up this weekend.

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We Have Laundry

It took a while – over a year – but we can now do laundry in the house. I wanted everything to be in place before I bought a washer and dryer. Electrical, plumbing and venting all needed to be altered to install a working and safe laundry area. Hiring a plumber to re-do the drains was the biggest expense. It actually cost more than the washer and dryer, but after two days we have a new stand pipe with a p-trap to replace the old drum trap and a new drain extension off an existing 4” vertical drain for the upstairs bathroom. It was all the little expenses that added up to be not so little that surprised me though. $30 of stuff to vent the dryer, $50 to wire the dryer outlet, another $30 to wire the washer outlet plus new water shutoffs, and no-burst washer hoses and it was about $200 just to connect everything.

I decided to vent the dryer through a window – temporarily. The pane was already broken and it’s right above the dryer. Eventually I want to vent through the foundation wall and maybe replace the windows above the dryer since only one has hinges and can open. ( I could add hinges to the other one maybe, but 30” in-swinging casement windows in the basement seem like a hazard since they are all open at about face level – 5’.)

To install the new outlets – one for the washer and one for the dryer – I decided to run the wires through the ceiling instead of running 30’ of conduit and competing with the water supply lines for space. This meant that I had to drill a hole through each joist and pull the 12 and 10 gauge wire across the room 1 foot above my head. It took a little effort and a little help and with the additional help of the reciprocating saw we got the wires down the wall and to the new outlet locations. The lathe and plaster were already pretty damaged on that wall anyway so I’m okay with the mess I made of it. Someday I’ll take out that section and put up some nice smooth drywall. Someday…after the electrical in the rest of the house is replaced, after the water supply lines are replaced…you know, someday.

But for now I can wash the sheets, and blankets, and jeans, and t-shirts and delicates without trudging down the street and procrastinating for 6+ weeks. I’ll probably still procrastinate but at least when I get desperate I can do a load of socks and underwear.

No, No, Nanette opens tomorrow and we’ll run for 5 weekends but after that I’m taking a break - I think. I want to , but I want to do a lot of things. If I decide to stay at home for a while, I want to start getting seeds for the side of the house and the vegetable garden, pick out a rose and scrape/repaint a trellis to grow it on. I want to start work on a patio for the back yard and start the fence. Before you know it the snow will be gone and it will be spring and we can start taking real walks with Yoshi and spending time outside. Yup, I’m done with winter.

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