Friday, July 29, 2022

What I'm Reading This Week #30

'Sup y'all!  It's Friday.  Not sure if that means anything anymore.  😆

Wednesday I was all set to caulk and be done in the bathroom but another ceiling inspection whilst on the throne said I'd better get to spackling and sanding again.  

(I believe I found our construction guy's training video.  tenor.com)

When the Mr agreed about the ceiling, I knew it was bad.  I'm just so happy that in addition to the gouges and scrapes we can't live with that painters tape is so strong that it rips everything off in one fell swoop right down to the paper.  

(dripping with sarcasm 😑)  

While waiting for that to dry, I decided no time like the present to start spackling our crown molding holes in the bedroom.  Then I got to see all of the fun stuff they left for me in there.  

"Oh, you weren't planning on using these walls again, right?  Good because I have given you free stab marks from my trowel like I'm auditioning for an unsub for the Criminal Minds reboot."  (How the hell can they have that show without Reid??)

"I bet you'd really like a channel of skim coat where the wall and ceiling meet so that it will be impossible to sand without screwing up one or both surfaces!  It's a bonus that without it being filled in that spiders and other insects can make a comfy nest for their offspring in it.  You're welcome!"

"Why yes, that is a ridge about 8" long and 1/2" higher than the rest of the ceiling that you'll have to sand it off and coat the room where you sleep with malignant dust and hope your vacuum job is good enough.  Glad you noticed!"

Now let's notice...




8 Signs You're Overdoing It With Fiber Supplements  (I always wondered about the medication part.  Good to note!)

Four Ways to Stop Imagining the Worst Will Happen  (I need to put these into practice.  Oh and also the worst (adjacent) stuff needs to stop happening so that I can have faith it won't and change my mindset.)

Sweaty Groin? Here Are 6 Tips to Keep You Dry Down There  (It's like the Amazon down there these dog days and I don't mean the store that has everything.)

The Best Way To Re-Use Tea Bags  (I haven't thought of some of these but I see a bowl of butterscotch blondie in my future!  I always use tea bags twice too.)

The Best Way To Touch Up Paint So You Don't Have To Repaint The Entire Wall  (Very good tips and I wish I knew them years ago.)

What Your Dreams About Deceased Loved Ones Could Mean, From Dream Experts  (Always great to see those who can't be physically by our sides.)

People Are Sharing The "Unusual" Cooking Hacks That Actually Make A Big Difference For Everything From Scrambled Eggs To Tomato Sauce  (Some excellent tips!  Definitely using a few especially #2 since all cakes from bakeries have been tanking lately.)

This Stray Dog "Invaded" A Wedding And Ended Up With a Whole New Life  (OMG, this is the sweetest.  Love the pics)

30 Hilariously Relatable Memes Shared On The 'Sarcasm Only' Instagram Account  (Some real gems in here and #6 is on order and I'm wearing it 24/7.)

I really have zero idea what we're doing this weekend.  I jinxed myself last week about the vacation weight because out of nowhere I had a three pound gain.  So the cortisol, lack of consistent exercise, almost zero pure water everyday and the Sunday with chicken fingers I wasn't going to stress about laughed in my face.  But the Mr lost like 7 lbs this month so go him!!  👏 🥳 📣

Anything planned for you this last July weekend?  Is it time to decorate for Fall yet?  *runs*


====================
Follow me on Bloglovin. Some posts may contain affiliate links that help keep this blog running at no cost to you.  See the Disclaimer page for more info.

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Hump Day Poll: Never EVER again

source


What favor/project/thing will you never EVER do again?

Whether it's loaning your truck to help people move because it got damaged last time to starting a 1000 piece puzzle when you can barely finish a Melissa and Doug wood puzzle to trying to nail a Pinterest cake.  It can be anything.

***

I will never EVER in a million years do dark paint.  Ever. In. My. Life.  

We are two weeks out and STILL do not have a complete bathroom.  Wanna know why?  

source

Because not only am I having to sand and re-sand and spackle and re-spackle to fix what the ceiling jerks screwed up/didn't do to completion but when the painters tape was pulled off, it took paint from both the ceiling and the wall with it in chunks.  Yesterday I declared the original project off especially after hearing about the receiving process of the flooring and that we currently have nowhere to put it.  He didn't put up a fight so I guess I'll steam clean the carpets to get out the chunks of ceiling matted into it and lay down the area rug I got over our crappy carpet and admit defeat before I start.  This "additional" project has broken me in a way I cannot even convey.  I'm going to use the bright lights from now on to hide everything I hate in the bathroom that is still wrong.  To quote Phil from Groundhog Day "I've reached the end of me Rita" and I have.

While that part had nothing to do with dark paint, allow me to explain the dark paint hatred.  Even a full week after painting if I have water on my finger from washing my hands and touch the wall, blue will end up on my finger.  I know it takes a month to fully cure and maybe any of you dark paint folk can reassure me that yes, that is only temporary (or laugh in my face and say "hope you don't have white towels!" (we do) ) but I will never in my life paint anything dark again.  

Bonus:  Because the painters tape pulled off paint and caulk around the tub, chair rail and all around the bathroom, I now have to re-caulk it all.  Not to mention I want to throat punch past us who thought it would be a good idea to fully spackle and paint over two plastic wall anchors in the bedroom because I'm sure we thought no one would see it and it would be future us's problem.  


Hello future.



source


What favor/project/thing will you never EVER do again?


====================
Follow me on Bloglovin. Some posts may contain affiliate links that help keep this blog running at no cost to you.  See the Disclaimer page for more info.

Friday, July 22, 2022

What I'm Reading This Week #29

Happy Friday to you all and I hope you haven't melted.  Kinda seems like the world is on fire literally now in addition to figuratively.  Grab a marshmallow and roast up!  

source


It's been another crappy week on the reno front.  Despite having covered all of any patches on the wall with the holy grail Kilz 123 primer, I had bubbles in four spots.  I peeled them back which took them anywhere from pencil eraser sized to quarter sized to street taco tortilla size.  After reapplying with USG joint compound and letting it dry for 18 hours, I sanded then reapplied two layers of primer and that seemed to do it for the bubble problem.  However.  Oh you knew that was coming.  I was sitting on the throne with the fan light on and glanced over and out of the corner of my eye, it was like I was seeing the bathroom ceiling for the first time.  There were ripples in the ceiling by the attic hatch.  I mean this would be a set for mice to catch a wave on.  We had both lights on for most of the bathroom work so the brighter lights filled in the valleys left.  Those are the lights the Mr uses.  I use the fan light because I don't like to be drop kicked with light first thing in the morning so I would see it.  It's nowhere near "good enough" so I had to grab the pole sander before I could put the final triumphant coat of paint on the walls.  Then all I saw were more holes and divets I needed to spackle before I could sand and let dry for 12 hours and hope for the best.  (This is from a 4 1/2 star contractor with 150 reviews on Home Advisor.  If these are your best and brightest...I am f**king terrified and weep for their future clients.) After seeing that and that my Friday that was bookmarked for rest is going to be anything but- I am mentally tapped.  No...beyond.  There is negative energy in my soul.  The Mr and I are not at our best with each other right now.  I remember when I started this month and thought "oh good, I have 5 weigh in's this month!" but that was before an impromptu ceiling smoothing project flew out of my face hole as a hypothetical to a renovation reality.  (Why do they not make that show anymore!?  We loved it!)   Now here we are with two weigh in's left and that hope from pre-holiday weekend has gone to "I just don't want to leave the month heavier than I started it."  (Especially since I finally got the vacation weight off the second week which was my true goal.)  I thank you all for cheering us on during the pre-reno before the reno.  It helps.

Now time to help yourself to:





Study explores the effects of eating dark chocolate on the brain  (Just remember it's 72% or higher, not Hershey's Special Dark.)

8 Things Sleep Experts Do in the Morning After a Poor Night's Sleep  (That's odd, licking a light socket isn't on here.  Sadly in today's world I have to say- don't be an idiot and try to lick a light socket.  It's called Gen X humor.)

There’s a Right and a Wrong Way To Wash Your Armpits, and It Can Make All the Difference in How Much You Stink  (I can vouch for this.  When I use this salve at night, I stink way less the next day.  I use natural deodorants (tried them all- none without aluminum work on my pits) so that stuff just helps dial down the stank especially in this hell soup of weather.)

How To Deal With an Overtalker or Escape From One  (Usually grabbing my butt and saying "damn burritos!  I've got to go home, I can't poop in public" does the trick.) 


How to Decode Laundry Symbols So You Can Care For Your Clothes Like a Pro  (It still takes up the same amount on the tag so why not just write it out instead of hieroglyphics?)

Why Is My Paint Bubbling and How Do I Fix It? (One guess why I'm reading this this hellish week)

Home Renovations Can Be Seriously Stressful—Here Are 5 Tips for Managing Anxiety  (Really?  I hadn't noticed.  *twitch*  We're putting #3 into action.)

HEART FOR SALE: Woman Finds Gift She Made For Boyfriend A Decade Ago On Sale In Charity Shop (While this is really cool- I cringe at what I would've written to the Mr in those days.  Make sure you watch the video (with CC on if you don't want to listen to it) to see what her 16 year old self wrote!)

Sweet Stray Dog Convinces Strangers At The Mall To Play Fetch With Him  (Be right back- going to the mall.  This is seriously so cute!)

We are taking a break this weekend from all things house.  (Or at least tomorrow for sure.)  My brain, manners, well being and soul are fried since it's officially been 8 weeks for me having the lovely idea to "just clean off the cart in the office" that domino effected the whole summer.  Not that I would be out in this weather anyway but you get the drift.  If I don't take a true break soon, I'm gonna lose it more than I already have and that's saying something.  My motto for this weekend is "anywhere but here."

What do you have going on this weekend?

====================
Follow me on Bloglovin. Some posts may contain affiliate links that help keep this blog running at no cost to you.  See the Disclaimer page for more info.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Hump Day Poll: It's Only Been a Week

source

Fair warning:  My proofreader went to bed so this is probably riddled with typos.

That photo about sums up how I contemplate ending every day now but I don't have a clawfoot tub just an acrylic one full of navy dust powder, peeled paint, bits of subpar joint compound and despair.  Has it really only been a week since I updated you all on our contractor version of the movie The Day After?  

We are at the "good enough" stage.  The stage where you slap on the third coat of ceiling paint in the hall and despite seeing things you still want to fix you say eff it and declare it 'good enough.'  Where you are on your third paint color for the bathroom and still aren't crazy about it but you say it's 'good enough for now until I repaint it in three years after the trauma has worn off.'  (The color is called Singing the Blues...accurate.)  Actually, this paragraph would imply we're done with the bathroom.  We are not.  

(Clark Griswold voice)  Ya see kids, the Mr came down after I applied a coat of the new paint and informed me there was a bubble by the towel bar about the size of a quarter.  I hopped online and saw what could be causing this and it ranged from humidity, your wall sucks, water leak (not where this is), you used a crappy product and the like.  Solutions ranged from tear the wall down and rebuild it to sand it, patch it, prime it, and repaint it making sure to wait a bazillion hours in between each step.  Since rebuilding a wall wasn't in the wheelhouse, I went the other way.  When I went up to do it, said bubble was nowhere to be found.  Now I know from stuff I read that it's never really gone and if you don't address it, you will be dealing with it again in the future.  I ignored that.  The paint had dried longer than the required time before I put on the second coat and sure enough, the damn bubble reappeared.  After I peeled the bubble back to reveal the spackle by a brand who ironically rhymes with CRAP, I saw two extra bubbles for company.  Did I mention one formed on the wall across from it too? I was two seconds from whipping a putty knife into the wall ninja star style.  (Did I also mention this is our only bathroom in the house?)

We have a fan running in there 24/7 and there is NO WAY it is humidity related so we assumed crappy products and the Mr got a different brand after I peeled back as much as I could and re-patched.  (Not gonna lie, this stuff looks worse because there's a crack in the middle of one of the patches and this takes 24 hours to dry between coats.)  I will be done with the bathroom in August at this rate.  I feel like the Terminator skeleton rising back out of every obstacle this crap box is throwing at me.  

source

But I'll tell you this.  If this stupid issue isn't resolved, I'm shiplapping the rest of the wall to match the bottom, changing my name to Joanna and I'm DONE.

source



Anything you'd like to change in your bathroom or is my experience pushing that off another year?

====================
Follow me on Bloglovin. Some posts may contain affiliate links that help keep this blog running at no cost to you.  See the Disclaimer page for more info.

Monday, July 18, 2022

Settle in- It's a Long Weekend Recap

Happy Monday ya sassy freaks!  (Me included)  I hope you all had an awesome weekend and it wasn't too dripping hot in your neck of the woods!  Pretty much what I told you we had on tap for the weekend was what ended up happening.  Spackle, sand, paint, repeat.

Good Lord, where do I even start so I can make you feel better about your life?  😆

I'll start with this PSA:  The following is not to throw someone under the bus but more to let parents of adult children know this crap isn't cool and will likely not be tolerated.  (And if they are tolerating it, that's actually worse.)  If you see any of yourself in what was done to me, don't start to question why you might hear from your kids less and less as we learn to set boundaries for our mental health.  We'll start with Thursday which was the worst day so far.  Like the day therapists and bail bondsmen should be on standby.  We were not at our best (especially me given I've basically been working myself to the bone upstairs for 7 weeks) and tension was high by the evening.  Then, as if on cue, my mom calls and gives a vague message to call her because she found something out I should know which is code for it's my dad's side and someone is sick, in hospital or dead. Instead of blowing her off because I couldn't mentally deal with that in that moment and we had so much to try to get done, I emailed her a little later and said it is not a good day in our household, emotions are high so I would not be pleasant on the phone right now.  I didn't trust that my anger and frustration of the day wouldn't accidentally be projected onto her because I know one situation potentially hanging out there that my answer was going to be no and the chances of receiving lip back were high.  I asked her to please email whatever it is so I can focus on it when I'm able to and I hope she understands.  (Even ran it by my bestie to make sure there was no detectable tone first so that I could get back to the tasks at hand.)  She writes back and does she even ASK me what's going on and are we okay?  Nope.  She gives me one of her friggin' mom guilt trips saying there was something else she wanted to talk to me about too but she "guesses it'll have to wait because she didn't really want to tell me that on email. " 

source
Then she told me there was a health issue with my dad.  (That was not the 'other thing' she didn't want to tell me in email.)  Okay, well neither he, his wife, his mom or ANYONE in his family thought I should be notified when this happened almost two weeks ago just like it has been for 40 years.  What reaction are you expecting from me?  When I've asked him about crap like that I felt I should've been told about in the past, he shrugs his shoulders and that's the end of it.  He doesn't care if I know, I'm not part of that family and you reminding me of it every time I'm left out of the loop does me zero favors mentally.  So for all of you mothers out there, please don't do that bullcrap.  Don't push your agenda or what you think should be done without thinking about how it might affect your kids regardless of their age.  I eventually called her and didn't care what attitude happened to fall out of my pie hole since she was so passive aggressive and unempathetic in her response to me.  In order for me to do that, I had to breathe through an anxiety attack and when I get incredibly anxious about a potential confrontation, my body reacts by shaking and making my teeth chatter.  So I'm sitting there shaking like I'd just been in a near miss car accident with a semi because obviously whatever she 'didn't want to tell me' on email had to be way worse than the news she told me about dad which was bad enough, right?  I finally call with my best fake it til I make it smile on my face to start the conversation pleasant.  I asked what important thing she needed to tell me that she couldn't on email since it sounded dire...then it was "oh I just wanted to talk since it's been a while" and it was literally nothing.  It was just her way to get me to call her.  Moms...don't do that or else you're just going to reinforce that you may be crying wolf and then your kids will assume you're always lying or manipulating them to get what you want.  I will not make that mistake again when I am in the mental place I was before giving in to that BS.  Needless to say that was the cherry on the sh*t sundae that was Thursday to end my day.

source

(Lest anyone thinks I'm a monster, I prayed for my dad, wish him well and hope this scare is something that makes him put his health at the forefront as he's ignored it for a good 15+ years.  If you have a better relationship than that with your parents, consider yourself lucky and don't judge those of us who have to mentally protect ourselves from further damage.)

Movin' on to Friday.  

I had to fix a couple spots in the bathroom for the umpteenth time *ahem* and build up a few layers of skim coat to get the crap show that was the area under our crown molding even with the rest of the wall  to be ready to paint.  The Mr had to take the baseboards off in the office and here's a "funny" story.  So you know how we replaced the baseboards with higher ones like a month ago to hide the damage on the wall where the cord wrangler ripped off top layers of drywall down to the paper?  Well, when the Mr took the baseboards off, the caulk on top did the exact same thing to the area ABOVE the new baseboards.

source

Then I went to grab something out of my armoire and the doors were scraping.  So did those bastards when they took our moving men sliders out shove it out of square???  I let out a scream that I'm pretty sure was heard in other galaxies and I had to repress my urge to day drink while the Mr was at the office.  I let him know of this and he asked for details but my rage was so strong I denied said request and moved on to the next task which was skim coating the baseboard area to get it ready.   Then I sanded so that any joint compound that may have been not thoroughly dry on the thicker areas could dry overnight.  The Mr taped stuff so that we could get ready for the big adventure on Saturday.

Source

(At least later the Mr found there was a furniture slider under one of the parts of the armoire so that's why it was out of square.  So I guess that noise I let out will just be an incident report on an alien planet.)

The Mr started doing edge work in the office and when he put the paint on what we know we painted the downstairs and hallway, it was darker- like way darker.




We thought maybe it was because it was old paint but only by two years and it was stored in the basement not in the garage so it shouldn't have been ruined or anything.  We were freaking out because we were sure it would make the entire hallway/landing look like a cave.  As we were freaking about now having to get new paint for the hallway the Mr suggested I slap some on the one wall in the hallway we knew we'd painted after the kitchen reno.  Sure enough, it matched.  Then I remembered I'd painted the rooms Moonlight (or Maneskin if you're Danish.  I painted the bedrooms my favorite band before they even existed!)  and not Driftwood.  So one crisis averted after much flop sweating but not for long.

Whilst waiting for joint compound to dry on one side of the bathroom, I decided I would paint a swatch on the wall that was actually paint ready.  See, we bought this paint in March 2020 just before lockdown.  I wanted a navy blue but the Mr (who is color blind) wanted a different color of blue.  It looked pretty and I thought it was something that might push me out of my comfort zone so I agreed and then two years of pandemic depression on top of regular depression set in so it never saw the light of day.  Until Saturday.  It had to be mixed for about 8 minutes and I rolled the first coat on and immediately panicked.  

(Note I've bitten my nails past the quick.  Everything I try to do hurts because of it)



I know it takes a few coats so I tried not to freak while I got to painting the office which was another nightmare.  After the buffoons left Tuesday, we opened the windows for 30 minutes and then got to wiping down all surfaces including the walls with Clorox wipes.  The solution they used to weaken the ceiling stippling dripped everywhere down the walls.  (So if you decide to have ceiling work like that done, be prepared to repaint every room they did it in!)  We thought we got most of it and it wasn't visible anymore...until I put the first coat of paint on.




It looked like the Amityville house inside where blood had dripped down the walls.  It was horrifying and at this point I was just praying subsequent coats of paint were going to cover it and seal in whatever unapproved Prop 65 chemical was now coating our entire second floor.  Then it was back to the bathroom where I put on two more coats on the swatch and while it eventually kind of looked like the sample, I hated it.  I wanted to love it because it is a really pretty color but the satin finish just made a lightly textured wall from a smooth roller look heavily textured due to the dark color.  (Remember we just paid to have parts of that room de-textured so texture is not something we want.)  Something about the hue just did not sit right with me and if I might've been able to sand the wall perfectly smooth to get it to look better, I think it has to be eggshell in there for any dark color or we have to go back to light colors.  But the Mr reminded me of two spots where the drywall got super effed up almost 20 years ago but are usually covered by towels.  This would be the time to fix them properly since we now have a lot more knowledge than we did back then so I got to spackling...again.

It was very humid and the paint was taking forever to dry so it was a lot of hurry up and wait.  I always forget how much manual labor painting is and how much pressure you have to apply since you can't overload the roller.  By the end of the second coat in there, my body was waving the white flag.  We were both hobbling messes and famished.  I wish I'd remembered to wear my Polar watch but I know I burned well over 1000 calories given what I'd burned doing much less in the previous week.  

Then Sunday came and by 8:30am a nice thunderstorm came in.  I was sleeping on the couch for the 7th day (I can't take fumes of any kind) so it was nice to just listen to the storm for a little bit before the storm of paint that awaited me kicked in for the day.  I had to use my acupressure pillow if my legs were going to have any kind of mobility so I just moved it all up and down my legs for 10 minutes at a time in the worst parts then I just waited for the man to stir to signal another day in the trenches.  Turns out he didn't get to sleep until around 3am and he got up about 10:30am.  We ate an early lunch and yes, we had Raising Cane's because I could barely stand much less prepare anything and I knew we were going to burn it off so I wasn't going to be too hard on myself for it.  The Mr picked up the new bathroom paint and while we both like it (though it is VERY dark but will be broken up with art) it is very evident that the insane amount of humidity we're having with rain all weekend that the paint will be dry next Tuesday.  I'm talking compound is coming out in small chunks after putting the second coat on.  I thought the end of my "fun" for Sunday was me getting to paint repair all the painters tape ripped off and didn't protect but nope.  I won't go any further but if y'all heard a second noise that could be heard, I'm responsible after someone tried to help in the bathroom again.  So I've declared myself done for the day and keeping my distance as I try to regulate my blood pressure.  At this rate I will be on the couch for another week.  I'll tell you this much, I don't care if it's not done next weekend- I'm not doing a SINGLE THING having to do with this sh*t next weekend.  I'm mentally done in every possible way with absolutely horrible physical symptoms and something has to give.

Please tell me your weekend was better.  I need to know other people aren't in paint and spackle purgatory. 

====================
Follow me on Bloglovin. Some posts may contain affiliate links that help keep this blog running at no cost to you.  See the Disclaimer page for more info.

Friday, July 15, 2022

Why I'm Twitching...err...What I'm Reading This Week #28

Y'all, it has been a week and it's not over by a longshot.  The house is a mess, we're covered in paint and cortisol and I can tell you I am glad to have contractors out of the house.  I am not built to have the loudness, tromping up and down the stairs in lead boots, having the one lazy dude spend more time taking smoke breaks than actually working and screaming in languages I can't remember anymore.  The dude is on the same floor as you- why are you screaming!?!?  (I remember enough from high school to know gorda at which point I have a few curse words and insults I could pull out to let them know I understood them.)   The most communication there was was "hello in the basement!" when they needed us.  Several times it sounded like someone falling down the stairs which wouldn't have been out of the question because they were working on the ceiling above them in the hallway on the stairs.  If you saw Wednesday's post, you saw a very small snippet of the damage and mess they left behind which we now have to fix.  I have never spackled, sanded and cursed so much in my life and I swear it feels like there is no end in sight.  The bathroom where we had up the crown molding is an utter disaster and when we tried to dry fit a piece of it back up because the leveling was going so bad, it just showed us how out of square the ceiling is.  So the stippled/stomped/crow feet ceiling pattern was actually doing us a favor in that room.

(Source)


The Mr said when we were not even an hour into our adventures in plaster land that while he knows we don't have a safety net and the responsibility falls solely on us for the projects to come, we'll be on our own schedule.  No waiting around for 45-60 minutes when they're late.  No listening to all of the crap we had to listen to and be frustrated when the lazy guy decides he wants to go stare into the abyss instead of doing the work he was paid to do.  It's just going to be us saying "okay, I think we can get two more rows done.  We've got this!" or "What idiot suggested this?  I'm opening the wine from Christmas."  I know there is something to be said for having stuff done for you by those who do it all the time but there is an equal argument for doing it yourself if you're able bodied and willing to learn.  We're thinking we probably only have about 10-15 years of  'able bodied' left and I suppose I'm always willing to learn.

I will tell you one thing, if I have to move another effing mattress, I'mma lose it!  Between having the three mattresses and dealing with moving them up and down stairs and then moving mattresses in between rooms several times- I'm OVER it!  More so because foam mattresses don't have handles on them like coil and hybrid mattresses do!  So if you have a foam mattress, get yourself a pair of these babies like I wish I would've remembered after the 5th mattress move.  (They're good for way more than mattress moving though!)

Now let's move into...



8 Ways to Make an Exercise Harder Without Buying Heavier Dumbbells (No need to have a whole gym in your home gym!  I've always wanted a pair of these though like they use in Fitness Blender.)


Yes, Caffeine Can Seriously Impact Your Gut Health—Here’s How  (And not how you might think so drink away if it doesn't give you other side effects!)

Why Do I Wake Up Tired? - Causes and Fixes for Poor Sleep  (I have found notes from middle and high school talking about how tired I am.  This is apparently a lifelong problem for me. 😕)

I’m Mean to Myself All Day — Here’s How Mental Health Pros Say I Can Fix That  (I'm right there with ya lady.  I have made myself cry with the things I say to myself.)

Deleting files isn’t enough. Here’s how to properly erase hard drives.  (Y'all need to know this if you don't already!)

How to force Google to automatically delete the information it saves about what you do online  (Just takes a second to keep big brother from knowing more about you than it already does.)


There Was A Method To The Madness In David Bowie's Labyrinth Costume  (Yeah, to make pre-pubescents go "what's that feeling going on down there?")


Nothing but more patching, sanding, painting, looking it over and likely finding something we've missed and have to rinse and repeat.  I can't believe this isn't even part of the original project that got us started.  Needless to say all of that has been our exercise for the week and we both still feel like we've been Dinky'd from Vacation on the bumper.  At this point given the obstacles and crap we're dealing with, I'm about ready to say screw it on my original plan and be done.  If I am getting this frustrated now over paint and having to respackle the same effing spot 20x, it's not going to bode well for what I wanted to do in there anyway.  I can just use the panels I already got in a different way and call it a day.

What's shakin' on your end for this weekend?

====================
Follow me on Bloglovin. Some posts may contain affiliate links that help keep this blog running at no cost to you.  See the Disclaimer page for more info.

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

A Rant Where A Hump Day Poll Should Be

Not that my Hump Day Polls are that thrilling anyway but still.  So the dudes finished up smoothing the ceilings yesterday afternoon!  That's not all they did.

Oh, would you like some glooperty gloop on your door?


How about a two-fer on your banister?


Oh, let me put that bathroom light back up for you!


"It'll wash out with a wet rag" x30


and the pièce de résistance:



Oh, you mean you didn't want your two year old smoothed ceiling from the first floor completely ruined in 12 spots??  We were told they would fix it, prime it and paint it to match.  They were cleaning up and hadn't fixed the spot when the Mr told the one guy doing all of the work that he was told that would be fixed since they damaged it.  He said he'd fix it but no one told him.  The Mr just wanted him out at that point because it would be 20 minutes for the quick dry compound to dry, then 20 minutes for the primer and 20 minutes for paint.  He told him just patch it and go.  So now we have to paint the friggin' ceiling that we had no intention of painting and hope it matches.  (Even though you use the exact same paint, sometimes the sheen won't match and you have to repaint the whole thing.  Hoping to God that isn't us because I will lose it.)

That isn't even all of it.  I had to stop taking pictures or I was going to need bail money.

The rage we're both feeling right now at the three or four extra things we now have to do from the damage they caused is overwhelming and exhausting.  But if you've been here for any amount of time, you know this is to be expected because we are after all, us.

What's the last project that didn't go as planned for you?


====================
Follow me on Bloglovin. Some posts may contain affiliate links that help keep this blog running at no cost to you.  See the Disclaimer page for more info.

Monday, July 11, 2022

Exorcising the Demons Weekend Recap

Well, it's Monday...again.  

(source)



We had a buttload of crap to get done for the impromptu 2nd floor ceiling scraping we've got going on today.  One of those things was what we referred to as exorcising the demon of one of the projects our former so called cheating ass friend did in our house.  This is the second to last project he worked on that we are getting rid of and if we'd had a little more confidence in ourselves in years past, we would've done a better job as you can see below:


(Maddening!!)

Just because someone does construction for a living doesn't mean they're any good at it.  We were those people who always paid friends for their time despite their protests.  We paid him a LOT more money than we should have especially for the quality (or lack thereof) we got in return.  So we were more than happy to get going on ripping that stuff down.  The Mr got the party started ripping down the crown molding with his trim puller:




I got the rest of the room except the wall the Mr originally started on.


Then it was time to go around the room and pull out the leftover brad nails.


I have to say, getting one more reminder of that throbbing jackhole out of the house feels quite good and our own little F U to him.  It's the only form of closure we can get out of that situation and it feels quite good.  We take our wins where we can. 

We both decided to pull down the crown molding in the bathroom (that we did) because we wanted a consistent ceiling texture if we decided to take the molding down permanently.


As you can see, lots of painting to scrape and sand before we can paint the walls again.  

I will not be sad to see this damn texture go bye bye today!


Funnily enough, I remember when said former friend saw the bathroom after we remodeled it.  He helped us with our bathroom literally a month or so after he met us wanting to "help" us.  So we had basically undone everything he did and we expected him to harshly criticize everything we did.  When he came down, he was like "I guess you guys don't need me anymore" in a very kick pebble kind of tone.  By that time, we were done with him anyway because his behavior was out of control so we didn't see each other much so it was actually kind of liberating for us to show him we could do it on our own didn't 'need him anymore.'  

Anyway.

Well, I did have everything out of the closet.




But it all had to go back in so we could move the bed to the office.  They are doing the main bedroom and the bathroom today and they'll do the hall and office either tomorrow or Wednesday so then we'll have to hightail it tonight and move everything out of there into the main bedroom.  If nothing else, it was a kick in the butt to not procrastinate on the stuff I was procrastinating on.  Unfortunately I can't go through everything as thoroughly as I wanted to with the stuff that's left (which isn't much) but it all just needs to be out of the way and in the closet.  

Oh and the scope creep of the project is growing by the day.  Let's just say almost no inch of the house upstairs, downstairs or on the stairs will be untouched at some point hopefully by the end of the year.  

Sunday morning we lazed around a bit because we knew we had a bit of a day ahead of us.  I made a big brunch and we got to it.  Well, first we put together our list of crap we need to get for painting the ceilings this week.  I've never researched roller frames, roller lengths and roller naps so much in my friggin' life.  I've already got a compromised neck/back right now and the pros say use an 18" roller but the frames made for those seem to be pure crap if you read past the reviews that fail to mention them continuously falling off the frame.  Then it was time to dismantle the bed and basically move everything into the closet and office since they'll be doing the main bedroom and bathroom today.  (Which we'll have to move back into the main bedroom tonight and then dismantle everything else in the office and move it into the main bedroom so they can do that and the hallway either tomorrow or Wednesday.)  I told the Mr to take the office bed and I would sleep in the basement with various critters I hope didn't crawl into my face as I slept on our old camping airbed.  The last time we used that mofo was during a derecho about a decade ago and I almost threw it out two weeks before that so I feel like it's saved our butts on more than one occasion.  

Before we knew it, it was almost 5pm which is the same freakin' thing that happened to us Saturday!!  We rounded out the week with an MBFA Leg workout (because going up and down the stairs 80x didn't count) and our Sunday night ritual of Chateau DIY and cocoa to ease into the calm before the storm.  I need to make sure I get in a good pee before they get here and go easy on the liquids because the bathroom won't be available for a minimum of 4-6 hours.  I don't want to be looking at the A/C exhaust drain with lust in my eyes.

So wish us luck that this dude is a good one and that opening my big pie hole doesn't end up in more headaches!

How was your weekend?  Anything fun, productive or relaxing your way?  Let me live vicariously through you!

====================
Follow me on Bloglovin. Some posts may contain affiliate links that help keep this blog running at no cost to you.  See the Disclaimer page for more info.

Friday, July 8, 2022

What I'm Reading This Week #27

As on cue- the "short" week feels twice as long.  It's Friday and that can mean only one thing!! 

(source)

I'm seriously considering following that woman's lead because between wondering if we should have the ceilings scraped on the second floor to match the first floor and below being Tuesday's reality, I need some liquid escape.


I want to say that mattress three is all I dreamed it would be but it's not.  More squishy than the first?  Yes but not by much as interpreted by my hips.  I moved the duvet insert I got the week before under the mattress protector to see if that would help a little.  I can't go back to having four friggin' toppers on the mattress or I will have to pole vault onto the damn bed every night.

(source)

It can't be a hybrid again because with Mt. Midoriyama as the bedframe now, there is too much sway when we move from anything with even a few springs which brings tear trickle to my cheek.  (But obviously with four toppers on it, it wasn't comfortable either!)  I'll figure something out.   


Now let's figure out:




How To Wash Strawberries: The 3 Simple Methods You Should Try  (If I do #3 I will end up never eating strawberries again so I'll stick with my fruit wash and rinse method.)


The Windshield Wiper Exercise Takes Your Ab Workouts to the Next Level  (I LOVE this exercise though I have to modify it to 90 degree knees when I do it.  I can't wait to try it straight legged the whole way through!)

Is Allulose a Healthy Sweetener?  (We've got a bag of this stuff to make muffins and for tea if I know I'm going to be having a meal where there might be a blood sugar spike.)

6 Healthy Foods That Boost Metabolism  (Annnd what if you already eat these and you still have a sloth for metabolism Mr Scientific Smarty Pants?)

18 IKEA Desk Hacks That Are Seriously Good  (Mr- these are the ones I was looking at in case we were able to trim down that friggin field sized desk in the office.)

How to spot hidden surveillance cameras in your Airbnb, VRBO, or vacation rentals  (I know I've posted about this before but it bears repeating- ALWAYS check!!  I also immediately unplug ALL Echo's/Alexa etc and anything with a microphone that they want you to think is a 'convenience.'  Also make sure you log out of your streaming service accounts if you log in while you're there.)


50 Obsolete Things To Show Just How Much The World Has Changed  (If you think I'm getting rid of my CD's when they reissue crappy remasters and streaming basically sucks, I'll be over here with my 400 count CD holder that I just got organized!)


I have no clue what we're doing this weekend other than me cooking. 

EDIT:  Welp, we actually DO have a clue what we're doing this weekend...moving all of the stuff I just moved under the bed back into the closet because guess what dipshit was all "how do we cover textured ceilings?  How much is it to smooth them like the first floor when we did the kitchen remodel?"  24 hours later (and after having the first drywall place we called tell us "we would be chasing them.  They have plenty of work"), Rico from the second highest rated place was giving us an in person quote since he was in the area and asking when he could start.  We got him down $350 because he came in higher than the first floor by quite a bit.  We're still paying $400 more than we paid for the first floor which I'm not too jazzed about and this was NOT an expense I was planning on.  But if we're replacing the floors upstairs, this is literally our only shot to get it done.  If we ever wanted to sell, eagle eye people might try to lowball given the two different textures.  (Though not likely in a market like we have now but you know that isn't lasting forever.)  So yeah...the big schmuck over here swirled a "what if" and curiosity has turned into Chateau Pucker Butt.  

Any tomfoolery planned for your weekend?

====================
Follow me on Bloglovin. Some posts may contain affiliate links that help keep this blog running at no cost to you.  See the Disclaimer page for more info.