Friday, August 16, 2019
What I'm Reading This Week #33
Happy Friday everyone! I hope you're ready for the weekend and have something fun planned! It's been a week around here and our frustrations got the better of us. It's interesting that it happened given what we're doing this weekend but I'll get into that next week.
Thankfully, the boards we were crossing our fingers on seem to be working out and it signified the end of the most difficult parts of the refresh. (I don't even know what to call this. It's not really a full-blown reno, it's not really a RE-fresh because it's never been fresh to begin with.) The rest of everything that needs to be done are tedious things and decorating that the Mr doesn't need to be involved in and I think that's just in time.
But enough of this DIY clusterf**k I've created and get to...
If a Doctor Only Tells You to Lose Weight, Consider a Second Opinion (So infuriating. She'd potentially be gone if she hadn't gotten it!)
How to Let Go of Fear of Failure (Jump in!)
You Don't Have to Stop Running If You Get a Side Cramp! Try These Techniques Instead (I always called it "pulling a fat roll" and I call BS on the way they suggest getting rid of it.)
100 Home Repairs You Don’t Need to Call a Pro For (Some good tips and tricks in there!)
You Won't Be Able to Board a Plane Next Year if Your ID Doesn't Meet New Rules (Even if you don't think you'll need to fly, death or an emergency could change that and you'll be grounded for real if you don't renew! We're both renewing ours this week. Mine needs it but he is 2 years early. You also need a crap ton of identification now so check your local DMV before you go.)
4 Key Changes That Helped Reverse My Crippling Negative Body Image (Put 'em into practice!)
Doing These 5 Things Can Lower Your Alzheimer’s Risk by 60 Percent (Excellent info for those of us who are genetically predisposed.)
What It's Like To Grieve A Parent You Didn't Like (Not everyone has a great relationship with those who gave them life.)
Family Sues After Video Shows Nursing Home Workers Taunting Elderly Dementia Patient (I would be in jail if these b*tches did that to my grandma.)
The Week of Peak Disco (God I miss disco...SO. MUCH.)
Bill Murray Explains Why He Created a Secret 1-800 Number to Be Reached About Roles (I would do the exact same thing in his shoes. OG move right there.)
I can't believe this place is still for sale (This is my dream property, and a business to sustain the mortgage! I could see charging location fees for photographers to take perfect pics in the Fall. Sigh...I'd give anything move there.)
We have an outing that has been planned for months. It hit at a crappy time as far as getting things done downstairs but much needed for mental health and reconnecting in a way that doesn't involve rubber mallet raised over our heads at each other.
What do you have going on this weekend?
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Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Hump Day Poll: Slippery Slope
We did a little more work yesterday but it didn't go nearly as fast. It was tedious stuff like caulking and trying to get these last two friggin boards to cooperate and gluing, etc. Yesterday morning, Joel Freeman was doing an Instagram story about how he meant to get his workout done in the morning but his garage door broke. He thought it would take 20 minutes but you know how that goes and it took all day, then he had commitments but did it at 6pm. He said, "that's the LIIFT4 life baby, you can move things around and I've still got 4 days to lift this week so it's gonna be okay." That really struck me because I was feeling bad about no formal workouts this week despite feeling pretty beat up but I know some of that was due to not rolling and stuff too.
The Mr motioned like he wanted to get into the garage when I thought we were going down since it was 6pm and I said "no, we're working out. Two days is permissible, three days off is a slip." I know we deal with a slippery slope when we're in this situation. Sunday and Monday, yes, we did stuff that may have counted as calorie burners but yesterday we did not and it would've been very easy to group it together like it counted the same. It didn't and I'm so glad we worked out. I mean I was pretty immediately sore but I know how that goes if I go longer than 3 days (Saturday being our rest day) my body starts to get very rigid and goes back out of alignment. I was glad I insisted on a formal workout especially this week because we get one less day before a weigh-in this week.
For my regular exercisers, what constitutes a slip in your world?
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Tuesday, August 13, 2019
The Adventure Continues...
Oh, my Lord. Is it Friday? What year is it? Is there snow?
Oh yeah, it's only Tuesday and despite no "formal" workout yesterday again, the Mr's watch said he burned almost 900 calories. He went to orange hell and bought a 6' shelf that we could cut down to 5' then it was time to get down to business with the door frame. We used a combination square that people in YT videos used to make our 1/4" reveal on the door jamb.
After a buttload of shims due to a wonky wall situation that had nothing to do with us, we were finally able to get that friggin thing up.
I won't even tell you how much caulk it will take to backfill the gaps, but I got started on that too. The solution I'd envisioned for the bottom of the wood planks wasn't going to work, and I mentally waved the white flag. The Mr suggested something, and we brainstormed, and it worked. Unfortunately, we still needed to go to orange hell with fluorescent lighting again.
This time it was to get baseboards which as you know is a finishing touch on a wall.
I wanted something straightforward, no scribing or stacking because it's a basement, it didn't need to be fancy. I painted all of the pieces we needed, and thankfully, it installed pretty quickly.
We're at the last two parts we've been dreading the most, but we called it a night because it was getting later and we were friggin' toast. I really hope today we can get a good portion of those who shall not be named done and I can work on the shelf, and we can hopefully get the shelf back up soon. It would be so nice to not do workouts from a tablet on a ladder.
Have our DIY adventures inspired you to take on your own or reinforced why you hire out?
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Monday, August 12, 2019
DIY Weekend Recap
Thursday and Friday, the Mr got quite a bit of the plank boards cut so I could frankenboard them together.
It was a pain in the butt because we had to wait for the glue to dry and only so many clamps available. We got 2/3 of them glued and nailed in and I could see the vision a little more clearly though I won't lie, something was still off to me.
Saturday, I needed a hot shower for my aching muscles and I wasn't going to get it because apparently, the Mr beat me to the shower that morning before his study sesh. We headed out to the home improvement store in another area of town because frankly, we were sick of Home Depot. We got some trim for the wood planks and casing for the door. I decided I was over crazy cuts and was fine doing a Craftsman-style frame which meant no miter cuts. I just want to be done. We loaded those in the car and went back in because I couldn't concentrate while having big, unruly 8' trim pieces in the cart and trying not to impale people with them. We found the foam board we needed, snapped it in half on the score and the Mr checked out while I looked at replacement shelves. He was taking quite a bit of time and when he came back in he had that look that after 27+ years together I recognize as "Houston, we have a problem.". He said he had to score further and driving will be interesting. I know this means stop looking at shelves because they won't fit. This was my view of him in the front seat.
So we got home and unloaded. Then we had to do a Home Depot run anyway because I needed caulk I forgot at the other place. We'll never escape that orange smocked hell. We got that and some screws we needed and headed home. I got some dark Old English to see if they could darken the beams we stained but decided to put some on the stud below where we installed the wood planks and it looked amazing. That was the touch that brought it all together for me. Then I slathered it on the beams and it gave the look I'd been going for. While I was doing that, the Mr was installing a 2x2 at the header. Fun fact: did you know when you buy a 2x4, you're actually buying a 1 1/2 x 3 1/2?! Are we the last people on Earth to know this?! So that meant our 2x2 was really a 1 1/2 by 1 1/2 and we'd need to shim it. *Twitch* While he took care of the header, I started priming the wall.
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| 'Bout friggin' time |
Then we did a little crafty maneuver to make the most of the boards we had while saving money.
Old English actually stains luan too and it looked quite beautiful without needing to get actual stain involved on pieces that would be in the background. The whole day was spent doing that and as I went to wash my hands, there was no hot water again. I asked the Mr what the deal was and the pilot wasn't lit. He checked a few times then I had him check with our neighbor to see if he had gas and he did (that sounded bad) so that meant it was just our place. The Mr spent a good hour looking up hot water heater videos and trying to find our receipt and warranty info.
The next morning, he scrubbed under the heater based on some suggestions to clear the air filter on the water heater. He called the manufacturer and the lady said there was a reset button (who knew!?!) and sure enough, it had tripped just like a GFCI plug. He pressed it in and we had hot water again! So an FYI if you have issues, make sure you check your reset button if it's 10-15 years old or newer. We got back to work and really did NOT want to buy another box of wood planks but it was a moral imperative. On the way back, we had no choice but to do all of our grocery shopping at once which sucked rocks.
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| (It's Sunday...no booze for you!) |
That took almost 3 hours by the time we made it everywhere. Then right back to it. The wall is done.
There are some seriously cringy parts but it's a basement and I didn't care enough to rip it down and start over! A big shelf will be covering most of it anyway so it doesn't matter. We really wanted to get the door frame in but it was not going to happen. We ran out of hours in the day and I'm finishing this up at 10:30pm. I am finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and hope to work on some more stuff today. A workout didn't happen and I'm not sweating it. We both still feel stiff and sore
so I don't feel like we didn't workout because we slacked or something. Far from it. There is SO much to do this week and I'd really like to get a good bit of it done by Thursday. Time will tell!
What did you do this weekend?
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Friday, August 9, 2019
What I'm Reading This Week #32
Good Friday to you all! I hope the week has treated you well. Yesterday on a middle of the night pee break, I could barely walk. I knew leg day kicked my butt, but I think I pulled my back doing deadlifts. I was so careful and didn't lift as heavy as I wanted. It took about two hours to get the motivation to get out of bed after the heating pad turned off, and I had plans for the day downstairs. A slow mosey down the stairs told me it was going to be a painful time of it, so I ate breakfast and iced my back to try to get things to calm down. The Mr was rarin' to go and I was in a hissy with pain, so it didn't make for a great combo. He got to measuring and cutting some wood wall planks. Oh yeah, we didn't get enough either, so we need to go back to the store and get another box or two...only $100 a pop, ya know.
I franken-boarded a few and glued them with clamps until they dried. We were able to install two and a half, which was nice to feel like the next step was underway. I did sand down most of the wall so it'd be ready for primer but need to go over it with the auto light first. Then the Mr got called onto a conference call, and that was that. We did get our delivery of our Pegasus Worx Table, and I am so glad we bought that thing! Much bigger surface area than the one we have and those big ol' clamps are going to come in handy!
That's about it on our project progress, now let's get to...
Doctors Really Wish You'd Stop Listening To These Ridiculous Pieces Of Health Advice
(Well, I wish doctors would listen period so nyaaaaaah!)
17 Ways Sitting Too Much Is Ruining Your Body (Looks down...yep.)
30 foods that fight inflammation (Calm things down)
Household Chemicals Causing Obesity (Wish I could blame it on this. My household chemicals have all been replaced and a good reason for everyone to consider natural brands.)
New Alzheimer's Test Could Detect Signs of Disease Decades Before Symptoms Show (Given there is no cure and no effective treatment to significantly extend cognitive awareness, I don't think I'd want to know. I know my quality of life would go down constantly worrying if walking into the kitchen and forgetting why I was there was normal or a sign of the big one.)
You Can’t Solve Other People’s Problems: How to Stop Trying to Change Others (I've always been guilty of this especially when I give advice when asked, they don't follow it and come back and say "I should've listened to you." In the past year or two, I've resorted to saying to myself, "not my circus, not my monkeys" and deal with my own problems unless specifically asked.)
How to give a eulogy that truly celebrates the person you’re honoring (I've given two for my grandparents, People always say "I don't know how you did that" but it's easy when you're talking about people who were special to you and sharing memories.)
The Return of the Handwritten Letter (Write a letter or card this weekend and start someone's week off on a happy note next week. In these times of tragedy, something as simple as a handwritten note can restore faith in humanity.)
You Probably Forgot All About These '90s Cars (Take a drive down memory lane.)
Hiker stalked by a cougar says Metallica song helped her escape (I'd run too. HA! Here's the follow-up.)
You know where we'll likely be this weekend. It really sucks though because this is the first weekend that is supposed to have light wind and low temps for summer standards and we haven't gone to a lake we always paddle in once a year. Matter of fact, we haven't paddled at all. Looks like it might not happen this year. 😞
Tell me you have some tomfoolery in your weekend plans so I can live vicariously through you!
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Thursday, August 8, 2019
Roller coaster of a week
Happy Thursday, everyone! We started things off Sunday by getting to the task of foaming a tricky area. There have always been issues with this spot and since we were going to be sealing it up, now was the time to tackle it. You can see the crappy job the builders did.
We wanted to use foam that was a bit of an upgrade, so we got the Great Stuff Pro.
It's unfortunately not as easy as it sounded because the place that needed to be foamed was 3' back. I seriously didn't know how we were going to get back there. Thankfully, I found this gun that was the perfect length.
It was a little costly for one job but cheaper than hiring out for it, and I think we'll be able to use it for the garage when we decide to rip that apart. The Mr got to it and bless his heart, it looks like, well, here ya go.
He has quite the decorative flair, doesn't he? 😆😆😆
It came in handy to get in some spots that wouldn't have been reachable otherwise. I tried my hand at it too, and he said it wasn't fair I was so much better at it.
It gets the job done. LOL
He also cut some stud pieces and drilled them into where they needed to go, which should've been the easiest part, but it was a pain in the butt. We also started work on the wood wall plank sample piece we bought. I wasn't sure if it was going to be worth the effort or if the end result was going to be what I envisioned. I held it up for the Mr to give his opinion and he thought it was going to look nice and be worth the effort to not only cut but franken-board together. So I guess we'll bust into the boxes this weekend.
Tuesday, a friend of mine came to visit and have lunch. She's one of my favorite people in the world, and we only get to visit a few times a year. She's pregnant, and I'd scoured about 20 different post-partum blog posts to see what the consensus was about what mama needs after giving birth for herself. Everyone thinks of the baby, and no one really thinks about the mom. She had a birth/breastfeeding gown on her registry, so I got that. She's a nurse, and another L&D nurse said, "you know how we're not allowed to throw away gowns even when they're soaked in crap and blood, into the laundry they go. You don't want your baby touching that. Bring two or three that you can throw away. It might seem like a waste for $60 for three, but they'll charge you $150 for them otherwise in the hospital. Stool softener, obviously. A BPA free water bottle that fits in her cup holder and has times on the side to remember to drink and refill. I also got stuff like steel-cut oatmeal cups/KIND bars, lip balm, a mommy designed ergonomic peri bottle to irrigate when she goes to the bathroom to soothe her sore vag. I got heavy overnight pads since everyone says the ones from the hospital are a joke, some extra stretchy pregnancy undies so if she ruins a few pair they aren't her own. Some washable bamboo nipple pads because she has two stressful jobs, and no one wants an oopsie from the boob milk department. I also offered to make her some mama meals after she gives birth like I did for a friend, which went over very well. I know I got a few other things I can't remember, but that was the majority of it. Needless to say, she was thrilled with it all because she doesn't have anything for a hospital bag and now she said she does. She said I was the most thoughtful person in the world and couldn't stop hugging me. I've gotta tell you, I really needed that. It's been a rough week dealing with a jerk family member and feeling like I'm worthless. When someone makes you feel that special for doing something that you didn't think twice about, it makes you feel a little better about yourself. It was a lovely 4-hour visit and just the boost to my mood I needed.
Unfortunately, that happiness didn't last long. My friend who is going through all of the turmoil is in town and was supposed to visit for our birthdays and a break from all of the madness. I got a message the morning of, that one of the people in poor health was dying and everyone was coming in to say their goodbyes so no visit. She was here for her mom's chemo but ended up being here for her mom for moral support for her dad/grandpa. Plus her fiance is out of the country, so she doesn't have him to lean on. I assume by the time this publishes, he'll be gone and we'll have a funeral in our future. I've been waiting for 2 months to hug her and hopefully get her alone to give her something. Obviously, this can't be helped, but I think we both needed it.
I didn't have it in me to sit around and get pulled into a depression over it. I went into the garage before it got too swamp ass hot outside and measured and cut the drywall patches we needed for an area downstairs. Then I got to screwing them in which was a delight. Not.
There were two spots neither of us was looking forward to doing, and I wanted to get the easy ones done first and then see how the other two went. They were fine, just had to cut out a middle piece and it was much less hard than I anticipated. There is still a spot we have no clue how we're going to deal with it, but we'll have to save that part for last. Now we're ready to get the hardest part of the wood planks, and the Mr mentioned wanting to do those today because he'll be teleworking and can keep an eye on things as he cuts. I wanted to make it ready for him to do so we could knock out a majority of it. I also got what I hope is the last layer of skim coat on the wall.
I hope to sand it and be ready for primer tomorrow if there are no dings I need to fill. I've gotta say I was pretty proud of myself, so if nothing else, this project has been a way to build confidence for both of us.
The Mr worked out early since he thought our friend was coming over and I was going to work out during the day. I felt bad because he got up really early to work out and he couldn't do the studying he needed to do for his test. I was too hungry from project work to wait to eat lunch even though I didn't eat until 3pm so I figured when he got home, he could study while I worked out... Insanity 30 Max Out Cardio and LIIFT4 leg day. Yay. (I pretended I was Gwen Stefani for about 15 minutes as well afterward for an 1100 calorie burn!)
So it's been a productive, depressing, happy, sad then productive again week.
How has your week been?
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Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Hump Day Poll
The following is an actual exchange last Friday night.
INTERIOR: NIGHT. The Mrs. is on the couch on her laptop and the Mr is on the loveseat to her right on his laptop with his back to her.
Me: I bought Epsom salt gel because I was too lazy to go down under the stairs and dig it out of the luggage.
The Mr.: *side eye and perceived slightly disgusted laugh* You know I would've gotten that for you if you asked me.
Me: I shouldn't have told you that, I felt you lose some respect for me.
What's the funniest thing someone has said to you lately?
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Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Home Gym Mood Board
I kind of want to barf even writing that title, it's so..."bloggy." When I envisioned what I wanted the new workout space to look like, I didn't even have this mood board. I actually made it about a week after I'd decided on everything and because some other DIY blogger said I should because it would help me envision things. I thought she was full of poo but honestly, it did help me for some weird reason. I suppose it's like when people made vision boards like 10-15 years ago to help them on their weight loss journey or after reading The Secret. (Funnily enough, when we were cleaning the basement, we ran across old vision boards from like 2005 and we only did one thing on them. Womp womp.) With this "mood board" just seeing all of the things in one place really made me feel like it was a cohesive plan. In my head, I knew what I wanted it to look like but seeing all of the potential pieces, colors and things we're buying confirmed that yes, these will all look good together. (At least to me.)
The basement is unfinished, had a stud wall up against the under the stairs area, a rough-in for a bathroom and has always felt like Fight Club or a frat house. It got the job done but wasn't a very inspiring space to be and when our 10 year anniversary of consistent workouts popped up this year, I felt like we deserved to finally have an inspiring space to continue to better our health.
We currently have a 4x6' set of tiles we workout on over a concrete floor which I think initially caused my Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome when I wasn't using them. We'll be using a thicker bamboo flooring tile across the whole floor in the workout half of the basement. We'll order some extra so when some tiles need to be replaced, we'll have them on hand.
We ordered some samples of some styrofoam ceiling tiles in three different patterns to see how they'd look for our application. It really is just like a styrofoam plate which is so crazy but if you order it through the company, they will paint them for you for a fee if you want. Some of the results we've seen people post from their projects are stunning and they can even be glued to cover up popcorn ceilings so no scraping involved!
I'm redoing a cabinet we already have down there and I relined the shelves with marble contact paper. It actually looks amazing and I can't wait to paint the rest of it with chalk paint but that won't be until the end since we're still using it to house homeless items right now.
The acacia planks were purchased at a local home flooring store and have frankly, been the scariest part of this whole thing. It's going to be tricky to get it where we want it because there's a wood backing on these and we don't trust doing a rip cut on them with any accuracy. Of course, after we bought 2 cases of those, I found basically the same thing but with mesh netting on the back which would be much easier. If the wood piece doesn't work out, we're taking the unopened cases back and getting the ones with netting and hoping cross cuts are easier.
The lighting down there is sad and while we've thought of canned lighting, it wasn't logistically possible. Before, we had old C9 strings of Christmas lights up with random ones taken out so as not to blind us when we were doing workouts from the TV. It gave a definite eau de frat look to the place taped to the joists with masking tape and draped strategically. We thought we'd at least upgrade the look a little bit with vintage-looking outdoor string lights that we'll actually take the time to properly secure and place in the spots that will give us the best light without being in our way like before. (How we never shattered a bulb on weights hitting them is beyond me!)
One of the paths to a more zen appeal will involve the color dots and the lotus flower stencil. You can customize the size and I think it'll look awesome against the white wall giving some art without being in the way when we need to do wall squats or push-ups.
I can't wait to get a horizontal dumbbell rack. We used to have an A-frame which was fine but we kept pinching our fingers trying to get them out for supersets and ended up using an old weight bench to store them on. We got rid of the old rack and bench and this will keep things accessible to us in a hurry when Joel's doing his countdown to go into the next set as I'm calling him a "flaming d*ck bag." (True.)
It helps me to look back at this on the days I feel like I just want to give up on the space. I can look and see that when all is said and done, it will be a beautiful, relaxing space for us to kick arse well into middle age and beyond!
Do mood boards help you visualize a space, goal or room reno?
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Friday, August 2, 2019
What I'm Reading This Week #31
But enough of that, let's hack into...
Signs Intermittent Fasting Isn’t Doing Your Body Any Good (For anyone going that route)
What Lifting Weights Does to the Harmful Fat Around Your Heart (Holy crap!)
Hydrotherapy: How Water Can Help You Recover from Workouts (From 😊 to 😵)
If You Set a Boundary, Expect to Deal with Anger (Your boundaries are about you, not them.)
The 28 Best and Worst Foods at Trader Joe's (Then they'll discontinue them so it won't matter.)
What Happens to Your Body After Losing 10 Pounds (ROFL...they're still trying to fly the ol' "lose 10 lbs and go down a jean's size thing, eh? PUHLEEZ!)
Big Show Says John Cena Motivated Him to Get Six-Pack Abs (Aww, kind of sweet!)
How to Make a Very Long Straight Cut with a Hand Saw (We're not going to, but I love her videos)
Easy Way to Install Door Trim (This looks doable.)
Woman outraged by sign 'greeting' people in the community (Is it the smartest sign ever? No. It's like part of me wants to laugh, but then the fraction of me that is trying to get beat down by oversensitive, PCers that can't take a joke or has to pick everything apart thinks I should clutch my pearls in outrage. Just shake your head and move on like normal people and stop looking for reasons to be "outraged.")
How fireflies glow – and what signals they’re sending (Pretty cool! Isn't it funny how any other bug you're like "get away!!" but you see a lightning bug and immediately put your finger out for it to perch on?)
I don't know that we have specific plans, but they're ones that will likely strike fear in both of us as we realize we're getting to the parts of the remodel we've dreaded the most. Too late to hire out? Nope. I'm sure that people couldn't do what I have in mind to my satisfaction.
Me and my big ideas. 😳
What do YOU have planned this weekend?
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Thursday, August 1, 2019
Welcome August!
Tuesday night, the Mr was at a dinner and I took it upon myself to do the second coat of mudding on the seams after I sanded.
I used a few different techniques I saw on YouTube. I used the 6" knife to do a slap a big glob on the seam going sideways, then horizontal, which everyone says is wrong but I saw quite a few people do it. Then I used the 10" knife to smooth off the excess, feather the edges and keep the hump toward the seam where I was trying to cover the mesh.
Yesterday, it was time to sand and assess.
My assessment was I needed to sand the edges, ridges and slap some more mud on the mesh parts that are being a-holes. I patched those places and any dips that needed filled.
It was quite a dusty undertaking.
Needless to say, even after sweeping up most of that dust, I was having a hard time working out. It was coating my throat and going into my lungs. If wearing the dust mask without my face melting off during our workout was an option, I would've gone for it. Shaun T Dig Deep and LIIFT4 Leg Day. Jerks.
I'm really hoping that I can sand today and see that I only need a final thinned out finishing coat. So we can paint in the next day or two. Then we get to move on to a door trim issue and figure out how the heck we're going to rig that so it doesn't look like a hot mess.
Always something new on the horizon!
Do you have anything on the horizon for the month of August?
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Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Hump Day Poll
Let's talk spirit animals!
Before. I used to think maybe I was a dolphin or an otter or some animal that I thought was cute. It wasn't until after I visited Yellowstone National Park and read this article that I realized what mine was...
A bison.
In the article, it says "After their babies are born, they’ll stand their ground, snort, and charge to keep them safe." While I may not have children, I am this way with the people closest to me especially when I see them being disrespected, taken advantage of and/or in physical or emotional danger. The Mr knows if the potential for a physical altercation was there, I was beside him, not because I didn't think he could handle himself but to show the other person, you have to go through me to get to him. Like he always said, "it's not me you should be worried about, it's my wife!" 😆 The same applies if I feel he's being disrespected and I have ZERO problem calling someone out, if necessary, to set them straight.
I tried to do the same thing with Grandma and be her health advocate as much as I could until I was outvoted. It was the last thing I whispered to her before telling her it was okay to go. "I tried, Grandma. Please forgive all of us. I love you."
Now my poll question is, what is your true spirit animal, not just an animal you think is cute?
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Tuesday, July 30, 2019
A Meshy Situation
We had this corner piece we had to contend with, so the Mr worked on that by putting up a corner doohicky, which I believe is the technical term in the biz.
I worked on taping the seams, so I got those meshed up. Some will tell you to put the mud down first others, mesh first then mud.
The mesh is self-adhesive, and that seemed like a waste of mud to do it first, so I put it on afterward. We both did the first pass on the screw holes too and now to wait for 18 hours.
In the meantime, we got down to business with our workout with our bitchin' new temporary entertainment center.
We did Turbo Fire HIIT 25 and LIIFT 4 Chest and Tri's. I couldn't take another step sesh with Shaun T given how broken my legs were. Today, we'll do pass #2 on the wall at some point.
What tutorials have you looked up that gave you conflicting information?
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Monday, July 29, 2019
Build the Wall Weekend Recap
Howdy do, all? I hope you had a lovely weekend full of fun! I told the Mr Sunday evening that I felt like a hitchhiker who finally got picked up, realized once the car hit 55mph that the "good samaritan" was a killer and rolled out of the car at top speed.
Friday night we did a good bulk of our grocery shopping. In between runs, I asked the Mr if he wanted to rent a truck from Home Depot to get the drywall and we just squeaked in under the deadline. We told them we wouldn't even need it for 30 minutes but I think he thought he was joking. While he was renting that, I took a big cart to the drywall area. I tried to get it myself but they pack those bastards two slabs at a time! 48 lbs per sheet and unwieldy do not mesh well. So the Mr rounded the corner and I flagged him like Goldblum running from a T Rex
Why do they not have wheel locks on those carts??
We managed to get them loaded on, bought, then loaded into the truck, unloaded into the garage and returned the truck...in 19 minutes.
Of course, we forgot shims so we had to go back but still.
I don't know what it was but the workouts last week did my legs in BIG TIME. Friday night I had the Mr massage my calves but everything was too deep-rooted to get. I woke up the next morning around 5:45am and my legs felt like a mess. I grabbed my shiatsu massager and moved it incrementally starting on my hamstrings to the ankles and up the other leg for an HOUR. I still had to use The Stick to loosen a few stubborn knots. I knew we had a lot of walking ahead of us and 4 hours on the asphalt in the sun was not my friend. But at least we got a corn dog and elephant ear for our trouble. We got some planks we needed for the basement then got back to the house collapsed for an almost 3-hour nap! I woke up and my legs were seized up. I waited for a break when I could swing the legs off of the couch and used the Pure Wave to jackhammer and loosen things a bit so I could even stand. Yeesh. I had grand plans of getting downstairs and getting started on the drywall the second half of the day but that wasn't gonna happen to the extent I thought it would.
We finally went down and got measurements of the first piece to line up to the middle of the stud like I researched. Then, of course, realized that the friggin' junction box was going to be in a potentially tricky spot. I was super nervous about cutting the outline despite measuring and re-measuring how far up to come, how far in to go and the dimensions of the box. I got it almost completely perfect but then the Mr remembered we can't have the drywall touching the floor due to potential mold. We consulted the Google Handyman and verified this and saw that most will just put scrap pieces of drywall underneath as the guide for screwing it in. We did that and cut a little bit down into the junction cut out and will use that piece to fill in the gap that would be on top now. I am so happy with the results because after having replaced all of the faceplates on the light switches and outlets in this house, I can say I did a MUCH better job than the "professionals!"
Once we got everything to our liking, we decided it was a good stopping place because it was too late to start pounding like maniacs. (That's what she said.) We then pondered how we were going to make rip cuts on these planks because they have a trick to them. The thought of using a table saw terrifies me and he didn't grow up with a handyman dad so we're both not super comfortable with that stuff. I grew up around it but dad bolted before I was old enough to be comfortable using power tools. After checking out the tools in our future, we wound down by playing some old school Crash Bandicoot.
Sunday was a new day and we both felt pretty broken. We had to wake up a bit so got sucked into two episodes of Say Yes to the Dress. I couldn't help but feel sad because in all of the years I've watched this show, I never heard them talk about "cancellation dresses" and they brought it up in both episodes. Under any other circumstances, I wouldn't have likely noticed but now I know what someone feels like having to cancel their dream wedding. Friday I got the invite for my friend's bridal shower that came with a note telling people about the cancellation. It was honestly the saddest invite I've ever received and I burst into tears when I opened it.
We turned it off before another episode started and got downstairs. We screwed in the piece we cut the night before and were happy to have our starting piece in place.
Then it was time to work on the other piece and we had a light switch junction box to contend with. We measured just as careful as the night before and got pretty close. There was a gap on the bottom of the board because as you will find when you do something like a wall, your house ain't square, yo. I feel like I became the planing queen, shearing off edges and ends so drywall dust went EVERYWHERE. It was literally and figuratively irritating. We got that done so the bottom part was ready to go.
We then moved on to what should've been the easy ones with no junction boxes to worry about. It wasn't, of course. We worked together to get everything where it needed to go.
It was nice to get the next section up. The Mr went out to cut the last piece while I put together a little time capsule to put inside the wall. Just some prices of stuff, whose popular and asking them why they're tearing our wall down!
When we finally got the last piece all cut and shaved down, we finally had a wall!
We had some smaller sections to work on over the door, to the right of it and to cap off the end on the left. When we were done, there was no time to relax, we still had one more grocery store to go. It was so painful for both of us. When we got back, I got to making dinner and he cut my produce for the week. Then I finished up this post while he's passed out on the couch. It's so good to have this part done but each part we have to do has its own cringe-worthy challenges for us novices. But we're getting there! It's nice to know when presented with challenges that my paternal genes kick in on the engineering front. I'm proud of us for getting it done up to this point. Now on to the next part which is mudding and taping and sanding.
Oy.
How was your weekend?
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Friday, July 26, 2019
What I'm Reading This Week #30
But enough of that stuff, let's jump into...
How Much Added Sugar Should You Limit Yourself to a Day? (One of the best guidelines I've seen.)
Are vitamins a waste of money? A new study says yes (To their "bottom line"...blow it out your butt. Some of us eat VERY healthy and are still deficient because it would take an insane amount of certain foods to bump up specific nutrients, I've tried. Track your nutrients, see what you're consistently deficient in and supplement accordingly as long as they don't interfere with any meds you could be on.)
Skin Repair Reduces ‘Inflamm-Aging’ Factors Linked to Chronic Disease (Make a point to take care of the largest organ you've got!)
The 9 Best-Kept Aldi Secrets You Didn’t Know About (Spilling the tea)
New breast cancer drug found to boost survival rates by 30% (Pass it along if you know anyone going through it.)
New Research Finds A Big Link Between Physical Exercise & Alzheimer's (It's a little unnerving to know what we're doing isn't enough.)
How to Stop Catastrophizing: An Expert’s Guide (VERY good tips)
4 Steps For Clearing Your Head & Staying Calm During An Argument (A good outline to try to memorize. Sometimes you need to take a step back. (But also, sometimes people know better and don't care to do better so....) )
Flight attendant union calls cramped airplane seats 'torture' (Yes they are and I have a $2000 doctor bill to prove it and am now leery about flying. So what's going to be done about it?)
You Can’t Solve Other People’s Problems: How to Stop Trying to Change Others (Stop cutting so close to the bone, will ya?)
Life is Fragile: Say “I Love You” a Lot (I make sure to do this too. The last thing the Mr will ever hear me say when we part ways for work or a grocery run is "I love you.")
It's grocery weekend.
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wait for it
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There's a carnival going on this weekend so the Mr and I are going to get our annual fill of carnival eats. We do it once a year without guilt and I'll be rubbing my Buddha belly when we're done. After that, we'll need to make sure we get into the basement to make some progress of some sort.
What are y'all getting into this weekend? What's your favorite festival food?
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Thursday, July 25, 2019
Tools of the Trade
You should really play this in the background as you read. I'll wait.
I've been a destructive little minx this week. We have some grand plans for the spaces between our joists on the wall because, frankly, they ugly. But there was one part of the drywall that was bowing out and wasn't installed flush because, as we later found out, there was a nail in there that sticks out just far enough to be a nuisance. I thought a long screw through the drywall might attach to something behind it but nothing was long enough. Then I thought I'd "tap" it in with a rubber mallet and just before, I thought, "this is going to go really well or really bad."
It went really bad.
I couldn't stop laughing. It's like that laugh that is borderline "of course that happened/FML" or calling the dudes with the white jackets. It was in a delicate area, as far as there being physical obstacles, because that's how we do. We have a capped gas line from the kitchen hanging as well as a live electric wire for the outlet for the scale.
There were box cutters, mallets, and hammers
... and it left quite the mess.
I worked up a sweat finally getting it done and underestimated just how much drywall dust I was sucking in because that's all I could smell the rest of the day, hacked up during my workout and had crusted in my eyes the following morning. When Hurricane Anele finally blew through, I had what I was looking for.
I took out the old insulation and grabbed my hammer and chisel and got to work on removing the construction adhesive around the edges so I'd have a clear path of wiggling in my new piece. I replaced the insulation with some extra we have from putting it up in the garage.
I measured three times to hopefully cut it as precisely as possible. Unfortunately, as we know, nothing is ever square from top to bottom or side to side.
I made my marks with my measuring tape and used my drywall square to make a line from mark to wonky mark. I used the box cutter along the square and prayed to the DIY guardian angels to let the line snap cleanly in both directions. Thankfully, it did and I was pretty proud with the final result.
I prayed that I would be able to just slide it in with no issues but I knew that would be a Christmas in July miracle.
I thought it was just the live line that is stapled to the joist that was the problem and I couldn't get the leverage I needed. I turned off the breaker to the outlet and got some needle nose pliers to try to wiggle the staple out but it wasn't budging no matter how much leverage I got. I noticed it was zip-tied to the metal part a foot down the joist so I snipped the tie hoping it would give me enough slack to be able to pull the line out. It did but the drywall was still a little too wide and tall by about 1/2" which made no sense given the measurements to the closest ends.
I used the drywall saw the Mr picked up yesterday along with the 2x2 drywall patch to hopefully be able to shave off enough. It took two tries but it finally fit!
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I've gotta say, I'm pretty proud of myself. I know it looked like a small job but it wasn't and there was a lot more to it than there should've been but those lines caused some headaches. It's a small thing in the scheme of everything but it means we can start the next phase of the project which is both exciting and a little scary.
How have you made yourself proud lately?
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