Whomp Whomp Take 2

Darn this house and its water issues that cost lots of money. My roof is drippy. I need to get it replaced before it gets snowy. I suppose it's an ok thing that I procrastinated on putting more insulation in my attic after doing the foam insulation because I was able to discover the leak before it damaged my ceilings. I heard the water dripping against the foam, which I wouldn't have heard with other insulation (cellulose or fiberglass).

So my next project will be hiring someone to replace the plywood and shingles for my roof. I need to meet my neighbors who just moved into the other 1/2 of the duplex to see if they are having similar issues so we can get it done at the same time.  Half roofs can be done, but getting it all done would probably be better.

Then, I'll get to add more insulation to my attic like I've needed to for a while.

In other news, I got nail guns today. Another step in the direction of new baseboards!

New Leaf Compost

It's FALL! The leaves have fallen and it's getting cooler.

This past weekend the temperature was just right to spend some time outside cleaning up some of those fallen leaves. Most of my neighborhood raked or blew their leaves to the curb... or more likely bagged the leaves and put them at the street. The city's loud truck came through and sucked them up to hopefully turn them into mulch and compost on a much larger scale than I will.
My next door neighbor and I put our leaves in my compost bin, but that quickly filled, so I put together a new leaf-only compost bin. The leaves were slightly damp from the drizzly weather we've been having, but it's good to make sure that the pile is damp throughout. I used my chainlink fence as one side of the pile and had some plastic plant posts (whoa there alliteration) and chicken wire to make the other 3 sides. I secured 3 of the posts and left one side open to rake most of my leaves and neighbor's leaves into the pile. When it got too high to rake more into it. I secured the last side with one of the posts and used an old recycling bin to put the rest of the leaves over the top.
Here's what my bins look like after some more rain and gravity settling a few days.

Slow Bathroom Remodel: Pulling faucets

I have ordered a new showerhead and faucets for my bathtub... and thus, the slow bathroom remodel continues. In an effort to find out the current set-up of the faucet, I tried to remove the old handles. Since nothing is easy in my house, I couldn't just remove the cover and the screw. No, I had to get a Faucet Puller. This corkscrew like tool is helpful when the old handles are corroded to the water connection.

Not a torture device

despite its looks

It took a little maneuvering to get the puller situated correctly. I held the two "arms" in place so that they stayed behind the handle while I turned the screw part... and the handle just popped off. Earlier, I had tried pulling on the handle itself, but it was more likely to pull the whole pipe unit instead of only the handle. It was definitely worth the $10 I spent on it.

Now, I just wait until my new faucet comes and I have a free day to work on it.

and this sucker will be gone forever

Another Ceiling Fan

One day I'll be able to install a ceiling fan from start to finish without a ton of issues, but this time and last time were not the time...

I FINALLY got my spare room ceiling fan installed correctly. It's been functional for a while, but was not connected to the light switch. I had connected black and blue fan wires to the electrical box black live wire, and the white fan wire to the electrical box white wire. Well... turns out, in my house, the electrical box red live wire is the one that is connected to the switch, so the black and blue wires need to be connected to that instead. The electrical smoke detector needed to be connected to the black live wire, but I had to remove that anyway because it was too close to the fan. It took me many adjustments to get this fan up over the span of months, but I was determined to fix it today and Amanda was great enough to hang out with me (and hand me screws) so that I could do it.

I have a rule that I can't do electrical stuff without someone else around (ya know, that whole possibly electrocuting yourself safety thing). I'm just glad I had the motivation to fix it when I had someone over today.

FYI - fan manuals don't tell how to hook up the wires, but this website was helpful.

Little Fan for Little Room

The joys of living attached

I live in a side-by-side duplex, which makes my place an "attached" house/dwelling. For months the other 1/2 of the duplex has been unoccupied. The owners decided they would try to sell it and the renters moved out. I didn't notice much difference because normally I can only hear people in the other side going up and down the stairs.
I'm not sure if the house has been sold or not (pesky bad housing market), but for the past week or two, people have been renovating the home during the daytime. I only knew this because there was a bathtub in the front yard one evening, and more recently, I have seen the people wrapping up their days' work around the time I get home.

I was teleworking yesterday and all day they were making a racket. I was fairly certain it was the same racket I made 2 years prior... sure enough they were sanding the floors. Luckily for me, no one was living in that half when I was sanding floors since a large amount of my sanding was done while burning the midnight oil. (btw- I'm just using the expression. I know my house was a disaster, so I feel compelled to clarify that I did, in fact, have electricity).

I came home last night to a familiar potent scent that must have permeated through the fire wall. Oh joys!

This is a PSA to be careful when using sealant because if I was able to smell it strongly through cinder blocks, it's evident that it's extremely potent!

And I'm back... with ART!

I haven't blogged for the mere fact that I haven't actually done much work on the house. I have done more garden maintenance and started patching some holes/cracks in drywall, but nothing worth blogging about. And I've been out of town a lot attending weddings and helping out family. Besides, a single girl deserves a break from breaking nails sometimes!

One of my great friends gave me a book that had instructions about how to use CD jewel cases to make wall art. The short of it is you use the jewel cases as a frame to have cool textured art. The long of it is:

1. Find a picture you want to use (mine is from a trip I took to Scotland)
2. Use this program to divide the picture into the sizes you want. I did it differently and learned about this potentially better way afterward (see trials below)
3. Print the pdf doc from the program
4. Cut out pictures
5. Insert pictures into CD cases
6. Use velcro to attach cases to the wall

My Woes - I decided to pay for a custom-size poster of the picture to then cut up into the appropriate size for the CD cases. I got the poster from the online company and it was not, in fact, the size I ordered. I wasn't going to waste it though, so I made a smaller, non-rectangular piece of art.
If you think you may try this with some of your old CD jewel cases, here's a good resource.

A backhanded insult is a good thing. (Especially since I'm used to getting picked on)

People often ask the status of my house, especially when I don't blog for a while. Well this time, I haven't blogged mainly because I haven't done much on the house recently. I did finish painting the downstairs ceiling so that it's the same white as the kitchen ceiling (which isn't much of a blog post except the warning to take breaks for your neck). Otherwise I've been tending to the garden and traveling.

That said, when discussing future plans for my house, a new friend decided to pick on me a bit... kind of a "backhanded insult" if I may.
Friend: "Your house gets so much love from you..... think if I was your boyfriend, I'd be jealous of your house. All that love and care and attention."
My Response: "I wouldn't say that. It gets more abuse than I'd give a boyfriend. Unfortunately, for the house it often gets worse before it gets better... and based on how poorly it was treated before me, the house probably has a lot of emotional baggage"

Puts a new meaning to Domestic Violence.

UPDATE:
After reading the blog post, my friend continued the analogy: "It's a good sign....if you pour this much of you into investing in a valuable, but inanimate object, when you find the right guy (valuable and animate), it'll be that much more fun.
And you'll be used to the relationship....breaking down walls, replacing old things/habits, dealing with old baggage, and making things (the guy) look presentable for company"

haha... and it kept going, but you can get the idea.