Finishing Touches

Sorry for the glare. Here's one of the kitchen finishing touches. I love this poster! It's a faux vintage poster for a California winery. They have an entire series of vintage-style posters.

Lego Madness

This is what my living room floor has looked like for days now. The kids are being quite creative, we've seen Mad Scientist's Lairs, lidded boxes, jewelry boxes and various towers. Still, I'm done stepping on LEGOs. Must.Clean.Up.Floor.

Water Heater Mayhem

So, there we were congratulating ourselves on a tiling project well done when Sweetie calls out to me "There's a water emergency!".

Our 20+ year old water heater had given up. It was leaking and not in a way that could be repaired. Luckily, Sweetie can fix anything, so I knew we'd be ok.

We had to empty the old one, which was a pain because it was so old it had all sorts of crud in it, which blocked up the water exit valve thingy. Yes, I have no clue what I'm talking about. We ended up having to use a creative solution--a cat litter tray with a hole drilled in it to attach the garden hose, which we led outside. Here are some pictures for fun.

Old water heater


Clever draining invention


Crud from draining (ick)


Plumbing Cemetary


New water heater

Kitchen Progress: Backsplash is Tiled!

Yes, it's done. The kitchen backsplash is tiled. Project started on Friday and finished on Saturday. Really, I'm just so pleased! And it was so easy, really.

All I had to do was send an email to a local tiling company. They had time because a big job had cancelled, so they fit me in right away. A reasonable fee, quick & professional work, and happy us.

Isn't it great?

Family clean-up

Last night, my sweetie went out for a beer with a friend. So it was just us girls back at the homestead. I got an itch to clean up the basement. We still had the Christmas bins (red & green lidded bins we use for lights, ornaments, tree skirt and stockings) and various other boxes, bins and bits of junk.

I took the Christmas bins to the garage. We keep them in the garage attic, but I can't get them up there by myself. They're at the foot of the stairs though, so they are ready to go up.

I broke down the boxes that had accumulated and took them out to recycling.

I ran three loads of laundry, folding and putting everything away as soon as the dryer stopped.

And, here's the big one. The little one, only 5, decided to wash the basement stairs. Now I do vacuum them several times a week when the dust and cat hair accumulates, but man did they need a wash. On her own, she found a container, added soapy water and using a sponge, washed all the stairs. Now they sparkle! What a kid!

Yes, I'm still going on about the Roomba!

I'm doing the living room-dining room this morning. Took about 10 minutes total to prep the room--I put chairs up on the table, picked up all the detritus from the kids' origami and Bella Sara projects, and dug all the crapola out from under the couch. Had to unplug the phone and stash it on the dining room table (we keep the upstairs phone on the floor near our big comfy armchair. It's not ideal, but in a 1940 house, you're limited by few outlets.)

I'll let it run 'til the battery dies. Here's an action shot for you!

Roomba again

Yesterday, I Roomba'd our bedroom; today, I'm doing the kids' room. It takes just a few minutes to pick up the floor--I move their under-bed storage boxes, costume bin, book baskets, etc. up off the floor so Roomba can work unimpeded.

Then, I turn it on and shut the door. When it beeps, I check it and empty the bin as necessary.

Easy!

Going to IKEA

We're heading down the highway to brave the weekend hordes at IKEA. Both kids have dressers from there, and one of them is having problems with the drawer runners. We're hoping to get replacement parts for it. We'll see what we can do.

I love IKEA. Sure, the stuff isn't the highest quality (for all their testing) but I love the ideas, the design sensibility, the layout of the store (meatballs, just when you need them!) and the lingonberry drink in the restaurant.

There are a couple of kitchen items I need, so those will go on the list.