Mmmmm Saturday

It started so well. I heard my roommate leave around 8.30 and laid there thinking about the day to come and the many things I was hoping to accomplish. Mmmm Saturday. I went downstairs and had to grind coffee for my morning pot- so I ground enough for the week- my special blend. Mmmm. I put the coffee on and fed the dogs. Then grabbed some stuff out of the fridge that was past it’s prime to take out to the chickens. Water the chickens. Note how the coop still doesn’t smell and how delightfully quiet it is without He-Len the rooster. I water the thirsty chickens and they are grateful for the mushy salad and strawberry tops. Who wouldn’t be?

The neighbor already has his music blaring and the bass cranked up. I can tell it’s going to be a loud day at the Homestead. I went down to the laundry room to change laundry and realized the rug is soaked, we’ve had some kind of overflow. Maybe it was that bin of oxy-soaking clothes I had in the sink. Darn. Well the rug needed to be cleaned anyway, no harm done. I threw in the wet rug, anything else that had been soaked by the water, and a few towels I used to soak up the mess. Great. 

I grabbed my coffee to go and headed out. There were a couple estate / garage sales in town and since a new dining room table is my current obsession and I figure estate sales may just turn up with a good table. Estate sales smell funny. Both of the estate sales I went into had that old person house smell. A smell like the house hasn’t been aired out in years. Ever maybe. I can’t even really identify the smell, but it is a smell that makes me want out. When I die, I hope whoever I leave behind has the good sense to air the house out before trying to sell my overpriced junk. Right. So I quickly perused, saw no table worth my time, and kept on going. Drove slowly by a couple garage sales, again, seeing nothing promising and made it home 45 minutes after I’d left. Brilliant. So much Saturday left!

As I ate a bowl of cereal, I worked on my list. Totally unrealistic, but hey, I have a whole weekend ahead of me, right? I start by watering the neglected houseplants. Remembering the laundry downstairs, I head down to find a wet floor- not a lingering damp from the earlier mess, but a freshly soaked wet floor. Uh oh. I investigate to find the laundry sink drain is not draining but rather leaking out at the drain trap at an alarming rate. Awesome.

I put all of my ambitious yard plans on hold and get down to business. Plumbing. Not my favorite kind of repair. Just last night I was visiting a friend at her apartment and the homeowners in the room were telling her to live up the Maintenance Man while she’s got one. So true. Nonetheless, the plumbing can’t be avoided and no one else is going to do it. I begin disassembling and find that part of the drain trap has simply corroded through. Great. If I’m going to be replacing the drain trap, I might as well finally install the new laundry room sink I bought awhile ago and then never got around to installing (something about plumbing projects never going smoothly or something). 

The fittings connecting the old nasty sink are old and corroded. I finally get the valves closed but can only loosen one of the fittings to get rid of the old faucet. I get out my big book of home repairs and read about copper pipe and fittings. And then I head for Aco where I peruse the plumbing aisle at some length and find a pipe cutter and then finally decide on the combination of fittings and hoses to make this new sink work… well maybe. 

Nope. Head back to Aco. Buy different fittings and different hoses to go with said fittings. The bass is blaring next door. I do not like my neighbors and I definitely do not appreciate the music. Back to the soggy basement floor. The water recirc line keeps dripping on me and on the floor. I am not going to clean it up until this whole thing is done. I get the faucet installed on the new sink, the water feeds all fitted and the new sink connected. Hurray. Almost done…

Nope. Drain pipe. Apparently the new sink doesn’t come with all the drain parts it needs, and the few parts it does come with do not fit into my existing pipes. Let’s go back to Aco shall we? Or maybe I should hit up Ace this time to save face. The cars are lined up in the driveway next door but I think it is too hot to really take them for a walk. Besides, you wouldn’t want to miss a minute of that awesome music.

So I went to Ace. Got the pieces I thought I needed. Got home. They didn’t work. I do not like retrofitting old plumbing!! Back to Aco, return the unneeded parts from my last round there. Pick up some more drain pieces- though I don’t think what I want actually exists. So I got several parts to try and am hoping to finally get this thing put together. And then I have a bunch of cleaning to do in that laundry room with the soggy floor. Sigh. 

I finally got the drain working- had to modify a part myself and I think the quality of that part (even before modification) leaves something to be desired. But it is in and connected and draining into the drain instead of the floor. So I turn on the water and it sprays all over. Guess I needed to put plumbers tape on those joints. So I did that. I am soggy all over. It all seems to be together and working. It looks great, the nasty old sink is heading out, and the new sink is bright, clean, and happy. Not what I had planned at all for my day, but such is life. And I have a new utility sink to show for it. Mmmm Saturday.

Sew Addicted

My friend Jodi over at Sew Fearless would be so proud (everyone else thinks I need to get my head checked).  I arrived on vacation and lo and behold, here’s what we found (one set in each bedroom).  The old roller shades that are older than I am have been retiring a few at a time. Clearly the ones in our cabin had retired… but this?? Really?? Not only was it ridiculous, but it didn’t allow for a whole lot of privacy for changing. Something had to be done.

I called my sister who was coming up the next day and requested she pick up my sewing machine. I picked up a cheap sheet at Walmart and sewed a couple of simple white curtains that actually provided some privacy and got rid of the janky clothes-pinned pillowcases thing. So yes, there I was, on vacation, sewing curtains for my cabin. Someone had to do it.

It also allowed my niece Lucy and I to spend some quality time together. I gave her the drawstring bag the sheets came in, and she stitched her name into it while I sewed the curtains. We are the sorts of people who need projects—even on vacation. 
“Hi. I’m Reenie. I sewed curtains on vacation.”
“Hi Reenie.”

Vacation

As usual, I was in desperate need of a good vacation. And it was certainly a good vacation. My week at Long Lake with my extended family is always a highlight for me, and this year was no exception. I sure love that crowd! And it is a great time to unwind, be myself, sleep, play games, and enjoy the company and the gorgeous weather. I am blessed.

Still learning...

I know I've been pretty quiet here lately. Too much going on, inside and outside of my head. 

Things I'm learning lately: 

Change: Even for changes that are great, change exhausts me. My last job change, I had given myself all kinds of room and warnings. I wrote notes to myself "Make time to recover from change." This time, it was such a relief to be leaving my other job and be going back to working with my dad-- a job I had loved for many years- and somehow I forgot to prep myself for the exhaustion of change. And I'm still in that 6-weeks-of-transition period where change totally and completely exhausts me and I am still trying to find my bearings. It will happen- but for now, I'm exhausted. 

Relief: I am learning about relief. Intense relief. It is amazing to be sleeping well again. To be breathing more deeply again. To begin the journey from unwinding from a very high stress job for the last 2 years. I miss the people but I don't miss the job. I am still relieved to wake up every morning and not be going there. I'm relieved to not experience nearly tear-inducing dread every Sunday evening when I realize my weekend is ending. I'm a long way off from recovered, but I am relieved and I am beginning to decompress.  

Thankfulness: It is most certainly a season of thankfulness. Not because everything in my life is peachy, but because God continues to draw me to Himself in big and small ways. He makes a way for me when I don't see one. He keeps the details straight even when I feel like they are out of control. And He continues to bless me with great people to walk the journey with. 

Boundaries: I still need them. I need to stand up for myself. To protect myself. To set healthy boundaries for myself and for others. People can't use me if I don't let them. Even when there are long standing patterns of unhealthy relationships and being used, I can set new boundaries today. And I need to.  

Reality: I need to continue to live in reality. Not a happy dream world where I have time and energy for everything, but the reality of the world I live in. A limited world. I have limited time, limited energy, limited resources. And while I want to try to be all things for all people more often than I care to admit, I have to live in reality. To set those boundaries. To acknowledge my limits and be content with them. 

2 Corinthians 2:9-10: But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Dining Room Dreams

So… I’m on a chair mission… to replace the chairs in my dining room… I want an assortment of chairs and then want to paint and distress them all to match. The dining room set I was generously given by my aunt has served me well. But the chairs are a little too formal for me, kind of imposing. And they need to be re-upolstered. And there are some screws coming up through the seat cushions- so they also need to be re-cushed. And all of that feels like a lot of work for chairs I’m not wild about.  So I’m coming up with other solutions (while still not able to actually go out and buy a new dining room set).

 

So far I got two old chairs that are incredibly sturdy when my old neighbor moved out ($5 each). They definitely need repainting but they are sturdy, comfortable, and I love the chair backs.

Then I found a few more at a recent estate sale ($5 each) but they need some re-gluing on the back to be a bit sturdier, though comfortable and in good shape overall. What’s a little glue for a $5 chair, right? 

I was still short a couple chairs to complete the “set” though. And then I saw a few more at the goodwill nearby that are a beautiful old shape but $15 each.. still on the fence about those ones. Suddenly $15 a chair seems too steep, although I kind of love them. They will also need the cushions re-upholstered and painting, though they are incredibly sturdy- no creaking or shaking at all. Hmmmm.

And then… that fateful day earlier this week… after thinking about those $15 *pricey* chairs for over a week…. and I went back to the goodwill store to scope it out. See if they were still even there. And… it was half off furniture day. The chairs were still there. I bought all 4 of them for 7.50 each. Perfect!!

Now I just have to pick paint colors and fabric for the cushions.

Then I want to paint and distress the table. Or make a new table, yeah, I really want a new table… I’m currently drooling here: http://ana-white.com/2012/05/plans/turned-leg-farmhouse-table.

Here’s my dining room pinterest collection so far.. http://pinterest.com/favoriteaunt/dining-room-ideas/ 

Mmmmm… project dreaming…

RC Cars or Grow up much?

My neighbor spends his days watering the grass, grilling, drinking, and driving remote control cars. Not with his kid. Never with his kid. In fact, the kid is yelled at if he even comes near the cars. Nope, he goes out there for hours a day (typically starts the day with a good RC car walk around 7.30 am and there’s nearly always an evening walk as well).  He doesn’t like to walk them in the hot of midday though, instead he just lines them up, ready to go once it cools off.