Cool Ideas

House Painting

Time Line -

Before:






Friday, April 22: Scraped and power washed entire house

Saturday, April 23: Painted my house behind the fence - so I could practice before I went in full view of my neighbors to...

Sunday, April 24 (Easter Sunday): Pained my house in front of my house and in front of the prying eyes of my neighbors


Sunday, May 1: Painted the trim (I guess that's what it's called. I painted all the non-white stuff.) Touched up everything else.

After:







Professional Quote from Painting Company: $1300
Cost of Doing It Myself: $300
Neck Pain, Back Pain, Sunburn: Priceless

House Owning

Carlos is in the process of buying his first house. He has found a house and has gone through inspections. He should have ownership by the end of August.

Carlos, Jason and Julie were over last night. I have been having issues with my toilet. (The back water tank overflows at times; all the parts in the tank need to be replaced.) The toilet overflowed twice while everyone was over. Very frustrating.

Recently, my cable box went out and had to be replaced. The cable guy unhooked all my extra (read: non-Cox Cable) items - including my Wii. Since then, I hadn't figured out how to use my Wii, including watching instant Netflix movies on my TV via the Wii and my wireless router. (Getting all those items to work initially was a four hour process.)

So last night, I was warning Carlos about the perils of home ownership. Tonight, I called him and told him the good things: It took me about 90 minutes, including many breaks to calm my frustration and three trips to Home Depot to purchase the correct tools, but I fixed my toilet. With that done, I tackled my Wii - and fixed that too!

I told Carlos that one of the best things about home ownership is the sense of satisfaction of completing house projects that you didn't think you have the skills to accomplish.

Now I'm maybe ready to rip out and replace my bathroom sink. Stay tuned.

Hobbies

Carlos and I are still cultivating our love of cooking. Last night, we made:
Shaved Raw Asparagus with Parmesan Dressing (very good!)
Mushroom Meatloaf (bland - but I have a solution for next time)
Garlic Mashed Potatoes (ditto)

We are hosting our Monthly Family dinner next Sunday (May 2) so are trying to perfect the menu. I think we'll serve all of the above, working on the seasoning. Carlos is going to come up with a nice dessert that mixes well with the other dishes.


I have picked up two new hobbies recently.

New Hobby #1 - Genealogy. During our Katrina evacuation, I bought a family tree program, but never took it out of the box. I finally did earlier this month. My dad's mom (who had 8 brothers and who died at 98 in 2003) kept great family records. I added all her research into my program.

Then I started with my mom's dad, who died in 2004. I was able to trace back to my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather (Christophe Mequet) who was born in 1700 in France. My method: Using the relatives I already knew, I searched the internet for other people who have published family trees with my relatives included. I found my great grandfather (Hector Mequet) in this family tree.

My next goals:
1) Find out if any of my relatives fought in the Civil War.
2) Prove or disprove the long-standing family legend that my grandfather's grandparents were first cousins.
3) Prove or disprove the long-standing family legend that, along those same family lines, that we have black relatives.
4) Find pictures of as many relatives as possible.


New Hobby #2 - Gardening

I have had "Start a garden" on my To Do list for many years. This past weekend, motivated by my brother-in-law Jeff who planted a tomato garden when I was in Atlanta recently visiting, I finally got around to it. Here are pictures on Day 0 - before anything was started, and Day 1 - minutes after everything was planted.




The garden consists of:
Cucumbers
Green Bell Peppers
Red Bell Peppers
Yellow Bell Peppers
Orange Bell Peppers

According to the packaging, I'll have food in 75 days. I'll post updated pictures soon.

Kitchen Painting

Carlos and I (okay mostly the "I" part) spent last weekend painting my kitchen.

Here are three before (the top half) and after (the bottom half) pictures.

Go to my Flickr page for all the pictures.

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Now that I have updated my kitchen, I have renewed interest in cooking. Stay tuned for more adventures in cooking.

The Week In Food

From an idea at my friends Steve and Sheree's blog - otherwise known as He Said / She Said NOLA.

Disclaimer: I am in no way mocking them. This is merely a compare and contrast of the way he and his wife eat to how Carlos and I eat. Carlos wanted me to stress that.

Saturday Dinner: I had a bag of popcorn and a bowl of Cookie Crisp cereal. When Carlos came over, we each had a big ole slice of Julie’s cake.

Sunday Dinner: Pat - from work - gave me three bell peppers (one each red, green and yellow) from her garden. I cooked some meat sauce, onions, the bell peppers, lots of different seasonings, mushrooms and green onions – and ate it over pasta. Later in the evening, I had five pieces of cheesecake.

Monday Dinner: We had our Monthly Family Dinner at my parent’s house tonight. My mom made a salad – mimicking Carlos’s salad from last Wednesday’s Cooking Challenge, Shrimp Creole, and Jello for dessert.

Tuesday Dinner: In this order – three pieces of cheese cake (finishing off the cake, started with the 5 pieces on Sunday), a small piece of salmon (baked with some lemon juice on top), lima beans, and garlic bread.

Wednesday Dinner: Before Carlos came over, I had a plate of leftover Pasta and Meat Sauce (from Sunday’s dinner). Carlos arrived hungry so we split a Tony’s Frozen Pizza – the bottom rung of frozen pizza.

Thursday Dinner: I cooked up some Stove Top Stuffing, adding cut up sausage. It’s one of my favorite quick meals. (Carlos is off at his parent’s house tonight.)

Friday Dinner: I had four Coors Lights and a bowl of Cookie Crisp cereal.


Damn, I eat like shit. It never bothered me until a full week’s worth of dinners was laid out in front of me.

I think I would be much more motivated to eat better – and to cook more elaborate meals – if I weren’t cooking for just one. Carlos comes over the majority of the nights, but usually after dinner.

I’ll revisit this subject in a couple of months. We’ll see what I can change in the meantime.

Uh, Bon Appétit?

Fun with Remodeling

I have lived in my current house since 2000. I was renting it from my sister and her girlfriend until they decided to sell it to me in 2006.


The house is only 750 square feet so upkeep is easy, but I have wanted to do remodeling work on it for awhile. I made a game out of the process. (I can hear Carlos now: "Of course you did.") I wrote down the names of all the areas of my house, including the outside, on small pieces of paper and placed them in a bowl. Picking a random area, I would work on that area until totally done and then move on to the next.


The first area I picked was the bathroom. Jason, Carlos and I stripped the old wallpaper and painted it. We also picked out new linens from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Months later, after my plumbing problems, I got stalled on the tile work and updating the sink.


I couldn't find anyone to do the work so I was stuck - and frustrated. To make me feel better, I bought myself a gift – a CD rack.


I pulled out all the shelves in my office holding the CD's, ready to move them to the new rack.

Then I thought that since most of the furniture was pulled out of the room, I should just pull out all the rest and rearrange the room.

Then I thought that since all the furniture was pulled out of the room, this would be a good time to paint the walls.

Then I thought that since it’s rarely used I should throw away the twin bed in my office.

Then I thought that since I now had so much extra space I should get an overstuffed chair and a new larger desk.

Then I thought that as long as I was painting the walls, I should get new carpet for the office. The person at Home Depot told me that the $199 installation charge was for any amount of carpet. Instead of paying that again when I replace my bedroom carpet, as I was planning on doing this summer, I thought that I should have that carpet replaced also.

Then I thought since I am getting new carpet in the bedroom, I thought that I really should repaint those walls too. (I am thinking a light yellow. I'm going this weekend to pick out a color. I hope to have the bedroom painted by the end of this weekend. It's a three-day weekend because Monday is Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday and so we're off work.)

And all that started because I bought a CD rack.

Once all this is completed, I’ll post before and after pictures.

Plumbing Wars - Part II

Here’s a follow up to the below post.

I asked my sister Christine for recommendations of plumbers she has used in the past. She gave me three, including Jesus Is Lord Plumbing.

I really wanted to call them. I figured religious people have to be honest, right? But I called plumbers on January 15 – the holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday so they were closed.

The plumber I did call came this morning. (I’ve been turning off the water at the source since Sunday afternoon. It’s really a pain in the ass to go out to my front lawn in boxers, a t-shirt and a robe at 6:00 in the morning to turn a valve.)

He had to knock part of the tile surrounding the bathtub to get to the leak. See the picture.

I did watch him as he worked to see if I could have done what he was doing. After he started blowtorching the pipes, I realized that I had made the right decision in calling a professional.

Here’s the email exchange my sister and I had today about this.

CHRISTINE: Hope your pipes are no longer leaky…
ME: I now have a big hole in my bathtub wall. They had to knock out the tile to get to the pipes.
ME TO PLUMBER: “So, are you going to replace those tiles?”
PLUMBER: “Oh, no. We don’t do that.”
CHRISTINE: You have got to be kidding. That is so mf’d up!! There must be another way. At least you don’t have a leak. I guess that’s the bright spot.
ME: That was the first thing I asked – if there was another way. Apparently, the leak was very far back and they had to replace pipes that could only be gotten to through the wall. I could have gone the way that I do whenever I buy a car – feeling like a sucker. But I just made my peace with it early on and trusted them.
CHRISTINE: I spend a lot of my life feeling like a sucker, too. They say we inherit the earth, but I’m not so sure that “they” are right! Glad you made peace. In a way, it’s a good feeling to know you now have new pipes. You could live in that house another 100 years before you have to do that again.


My sister, 13 months younger than I am, has always acted like an older sister and looks out for me. Thank you, Christine!

Plumbing Wars

Timeline -

About Six Months Ago: A small drip from my bathtub faucet begins.


About Three Months Ago: The small drip becomes a larger drip. I make a mental note to call a plumber.


About Two Months Ago: The larger drip becomes an even larger drip. I write myself a note to ask my cousin’s husband, a plumber, to come by and fix my problem.


About One Month Ago: Having lost the original note and procrastinated enough, I write myself a larger note. The larger drip is now a small flow.


One Week Ago: I see my cousin’s husband at a wedding, and ask him if he would look at my bathtub faucet. He says to call him next week.


Thursday, January 11, 2007: I decide to tackle the problem myself instead of calling a professional. I Google “bathtub faucet leak” and come up with some good websites.


Saturday, January 13, 2007
11:00 am – I go to Home Depot with my printed out instructions and look for tools. I buy $35.00 worth of tools.

Noon – I can’t complete Step One of the “easy to follow” instructions that I had printed out because I have no idea where the water shut off valve for the house is. After turning every potential knob in the house, I call my sister, the former owner of my house.

12:10 pm – Christine tells me that the water shut off valve is under a grate in the front lawn. She says that she has a special tool that will turn the valve off.

12:15 pm – I drive the half block to my sister’s house to pick up the tool. She tells me that the valve is very hard to turn.

12:20 pm – I discover she is right.

12:22 pm – I give up and take a break to smoke a cigarette.

12:25 pm – I think that loosening the valve will help. I don’t have anything that will potentially work except maybe vinegar. After putting on some gloves and pouring vinegar on the valve, I try again.

12:26 pm – The valve turns! The water is now shut off.

12:58 pm – After struggling with Step Two, I realize that all I have to do is turn the bathtub knobs for them to come off. I put the $35.00 worth of tools aside, unused.

1:27 pm – Figuring out that I need more tools for Step Three that I don’t have, Carlos and I go to the local hardware store.

1:40 pm – I put the $28.02 receipt in my pocket as we head back to my house.

1:47 pm – I realize that I didn’t buy one tool that I need to tackle Step Three. I decide that Step Three can be skipped, hoping that the problem can be fixed by changing out the O-rings – Step Two.

1:54 pm – Carlos gets into bed to take a nap, having watched me curse at the bathtub problem for long enough.

2:03 pm – I return to the local hardware store with a sample of the O-rings I need, buying four new ones.

2:10 pm – The O rings don’t seem to fit correctly so I force them in, breaking one of them. Since I need two for the hot water faucet and two for the cold, I don’t have any extras. I use one of the old O-rings. I reassemble the faucets.

2:28 pm – I turn the water to the house back on, hoping I have fixed the leak. Carlos monitors the bathtub.

2:29 pm – Carlos’s face reveals all: The leak is worse than before I started this project. I close the bathroom door so I don’t get more aggravated about the now heavily flowing water and call my cousin. She says that her husband is off fishing, but will call me in an hour.

11:00 pm – My cousin’s husband never calls. I go to sleep.


Sunday, January 14, 2007
12:30 pm – I go back to Home Depot, returning the $35.00 worth of unused tools. I buy an entire pack of O-rings.

1:15 pm – I undo all that I did yesterday.

1:30 pm – The instructions say that I need plumber’s grease. I didn’t see that at Home Depot so decide to use either olive oil or Pam. Testing both, Pam seems to work the best at lubricating the O-rings.

2:00 pm – I reassemble everything and hope for the best. I turn the water to the house back on.

2:02 pm – The water is flowing as much as earlier this morning, if not more. I call my sister to ask her which plumber she uses. I write myself a note to call the plumber in the morning.

2:03 pm – I cross off my personal To Do list the following: install new gutters, patch roof, paint house, and fix leak in front of house. Next time, I’ll call a professional first!