A busy week, home repairs, and fabric

I basically spent the entire weekend on the road. I drove to my sister's house on Saturday (4 hours each way) and dropped off a truck load of stuff for storage, and then on Sunday I took Baby Girl to the Big City so we could get my car (where it's been sitting for about a month). Her car no longer wished to be a traveling garbage can and gave up the ghost, so she has now inherited mine.

And since my sewing machines are in Hans' apartment and I'm here and not there, I'm not getting any sewing done.



My family room has a typical drop ceiling with a tongue-in-groove tiled ceiling and fluorescent lighting. But it also has carpeting and a working fire place and in the winter it's really very cozy. Anyway, the plastic 'shade' that shields the fluorescent light had yellowed and cracked with age. Actually there are two of them. I found replacement panels at the local hardware store but they were too wide and would need to be cut down to size.

Guess who got to cut them?

Thank God the employee at the store warned me that it was a difficult task and that the panels can break very easily.

So I bought extra sharp utility (razor) blades, loaded one into my utility cutter, and with gloves and goggles (I'm too damned busy to pay any visits to the emergency room!), I carefully scored a line the length of the panel, and then placing the scored line 1/8th of an inch over the edge of my work bench I carefully bent the panel, snapping it off every few inches.

Here is the old panel up in the ceiling.

This is the panel, before I cut it, sitting on my work bench.

See how sharp the shards of plastic look? They're just like glass and I ended up with slivers all over the place.

Even more pieces.

Here's the finished product up in the ceiling. It bent and wobbled all over the place and I had to take one panel down because it didn't fit and chisel away at it until it was right.

This was one project that had me a little worried but it's done, and just in time too, as I had a realtor over this afternoon going over the place.

The finished product.

I've painted, papered, cleaned, and repaired and yet I was still nervous about what she might think I should do to my house. The harvest gold kitchen appliances? The old carpeting?

No.

The first thing she asked was if I planned on repainting the living room and hallway.

This is because I painted it (or I should say Hans painted it) what I thought, was a beautiful terra-cotta shade, with a slightly lighter shade on the ceiling, a couple of years ago (I also made the curtains).

What was I thinking?

I told her there was no way Hans would ever paint this room again and I was right because when I talked to him this evening (via skype because he is now in Zurich) and told him what the realtor asked, he said, "I will not paint that room again!"

She and I finally decided that if the color (which she mistakenly called pink) is a huge issue, I can always repaint it. Hans said to tell her if someone doesn't like it, then just knock $500.00 off of the bid.

It appears to me that he's being pretty free and easy with my money!!

I just love getting stuff in the mail and unfortunately after a few bourbons in the evening I tend to get quite a few things in the mail. There should be a law about alcohol consumption and credit card usage!

There really should.

I went to go for my run tonight and found this on my doorstep. I made myself run 4 miles before I allowed myself to open it.

Another delivery from J and O fabrics. I believe it's my third order and of course it won't be my last!

Fun, fun, summer fabric.

This will be a bag of some sort.

And of course my favorite; wine fabric.

See the wine corks, I love them!!! Actually I have a huge wine cork collection and at least one of them will be a part of the purse that I plan on making with this fabric.

I won't get to the Big City until the end of the week when I have to pick Hans up from his two week absence, and since I don't have access to my machines I'll get this stuff prewashed and ready for when I get there. I see that pattern review is having a purse contest (bad timing for me) and since I wouldn't be able to get anything done until the end of the week I'm not going to enter as it would just be too late.

Maybe next time.

Welcome to my life (dysfunctional as it is).

I've discovered that Tuesday is the day that I accomplish the most in my new duty as an idiot attempting to sell her house.

Monday is the day I drive home from the Big City and by the time I get myself settled in it's like why would I really want to start anything big?

Tuesday rolls around and I know I have to get down to business.

Then on Wednesday, I'm all worn out from Tuesday.

Thursday is the day I drive back to the Big City and I have to load the SUV up with all the stuff that I'm moving into Hans' apartment (ie: sewing machines, out of season clothing, bins of fabrics that will never be made into anything, and books I can't live without yet will never read again).

Actually, I believe I read once that Tuesday is also the most productive day in the workplace too.

Why do I remember these things?

Anyway, today I finished my bathroom by putting some wallpaper border around the window. I thought it would dress things up a bit and distract future buyers from noticing the harvest gold kitchen appliances and the living room shag carpet.

Here's the finished product.

I had bought 4 rolls of this border at $10.00 a roll and it killed me to pay that much. I cut the border, lengthwise, down the middle for the window and by the time I was done with the bathroom I had literally used every square inch of 3 rolls. I took the 4th unused roll back to the store today for a refund.

I head back to the Big City tomorrow and as we all know, Valentine's Day is this weekend (you'd have to be deaf and blind to not know this). Anyway, Hans and I were just going to grill steaks and open a bottle of wine as I refuse to go out to a restaurant on this totally over-rated, let's make everyone feel like if you don't have someone in your life then you're a loser, holiday (Believe me, I've been a waitress for too many of these awful evenings and it rates right up there with Mother's Day), when we got invited to an interesting get together.

A couple we know are having some other couples over for dinner, and the men are going to cook. The host is going to provide the main course and the other men are to make something/anything to go along with the meal. Hans immediately offered to bring the bread as he plans on buying it from his favorite local baker.

I say that's cheating.

He says it's not.

And somehow I've been roped into making Sombrero spread (a cheese, salsa, and bean dip) to take along.

Have I ever mentioned before that Hans is the ultimate salesman?

Because he is!

The beginning, the middle, and when will it ever end?

I actually almost cried last night.

I was that frustrated.

First of all, please excuse the different hues of lavender in these pictures. The first two were taken during the day without a flash and the last one was done at night with a flash.

Once again, here is the before picture. I needed to paint the upper part of the wall and cover the obvious line that was still going to show.

The deep purple strip at the top of the wall is painter's tape so that I could protect the ceiling from the primer that I had to apply to the upper wall.

While this dried I took a quick run to the Salvation Army, and upon opening the back of the SUV, a table lamp that I've had for something like 20 years, fell out and smashed all over the pavement. The employee who came out to help me was so nice and immediately offered to throw it away for me. I have to tell you right now that every time I've shown up at The Salvation Army (and it's a lot of times believe me!) with a vehicle full of junk I've been greeted with nothing but kindness. Even in the most bitter weather the employees have brushed off my apologies for dragging them out into the cold to help me unload and I think that's so nice!

Here is the finished product. Not an exact match but it's going to have to do! Like an idiot I decided to start off with a 12 foot stretch of border. I did remember to 'book' the border after soaking it in water. Booking is a procedure where; after getting the paper wet, you fold the pre-pasted sides together for a few minutes before placing it on the wall. This allows the glue to expand and adhere.

Or so they say.

I then lined up 5 chairs along the wall and starting at one end I placed the paper on the wall and tried to walk my way down the room on the chairs. I was almost to the end when the paper at the beginning started to pull away and no amount of my leaping about stopped it. I ended up wearing a 12 foot wallpaper border boa and by the time I was able to sort things out the paper was starting to dry.

That's when I almost cried.

And then I got mad.

So in true Scarlett O'Hara fashion I vowed that as God was my witness I would not allow this wallpaper to defeat me!

Thank God I had not thrown out the sizing mixture that I made earlier. I had about a gallon of the junk and it says in the instructions that you can use it as wallpaper adhesive.

And by God that's what I did.

I cut the 12 foot strip down into more easily handled pieces, slapped the gelled gunk onto them and this time they stuck! I continued to cut and paste my way around the room until I was finally done. Of course I also had to make sure that each strip was the appropriate distance down from the ceiling because I didn't want to come around full circle and find that my paper was either way higher or lower than the first piece that was placed.

I ended up with as much paste on me as I did on the paper and I'm surprised I didn't wind up plastered against the wall ala Lucy and Ethel after their wallpapering fiasco.

This whole house selling thing has turned out to be quite a project and I don't want to do it again any time soon.

Even after all the work I've paid to have done, and that I've done myself, this place is less than perfect and it's really starting to bother me.

I just want it to be over.

NOW!

One small room...

...One big pain.

I'm still working on fixing my house for sale and it's beginning to feel very Groundhog Day(ish) around here.

Everyday it seems like I wake up to the same mess and/or a new nightmare.

Last week I suffered through a day long visit from the plumber and it wouldn't surprise me if I've provided a trip to Disney World for someone at that company.

I thought after painting 3 bedrooms (including the ceilings) that I was done with that fun little chore.

I'm not.

Yesterday I decided to get to work on the bathroom by replacing the wall paper border that I put up about 6 years ago. Unlike the previous owners, I did use sizing (it's a preventative step that you should use with wallpaper, in that if you feel like making a change, you can peel it right off).

I didn't realize that when I painted and papered 6 years ago, I didn't paint all the way to the ceiling. But I didn't. Probably because I didn't want to tape off the ceiling. Anyway after I peeled off the border and saw what I did I thought, "Big deal." Yeah, big deal all right, because my new border is about 3 inches narrower than the old and now the unpainted area will show!!!

Damn it!!!!

The good thing is that I saved a Cool-Whip tub of the paint that I used all those years ago. It's a lavender shade and I mixed it with glaze.

The bad thing is that there is a definite line where the old paint is and where the new paint will begin.

The good news is that I think after I paint the blank strip, I can drop the border down a few inches thus sandwiching the tell tale 'line' underneath the border.

Also, once again it would appear that the previous owners didn't prime the walls in some areas of this bathroom. So now I have to do some priming too.

Here's the lavender paint and you can see the 'line' that I some how created while painting.

Actually I think I painted the room with the original border in place and then later on replaced it with mine.

A view over the other door.

So today, in between waiting for paint to dry and attempting to apply 9 foot sections of wall paper border by myself (and without a 9 foot arm span this is just not fun!) I will continue to make little sorties to the Salvation Army where everyone groans as soon as they see me pull into the parking lot.

I pray that tomorrow I will have some good 'after' pictures to show you.

Of the bathroom. Not me.

What a shame, because usually after spending an entire day in the potty, one should come out looking beautiful.

I think I'm going to look crazy and frazzled!

Isn't that sad?

I'm doing my part...

...for the economy.

Just ask the handy man who replaced two of my outside doors and a porch railing.

Or the electrician who installed a new ceiling fan, overhead kitchen light, and an outdoor lamp.

And don't forget the plumber who was at my house ALL DAY LONG TODAY!

I've lived here going on twelve years and my bathtub decides it needs to start leaking now.

Mr. Plumber showed up first thing this morning (after I got dressed but before I could go to the store because I just ran out of toilet paper!) and promptly buried his van in my driveway. When he finally shoveled himself free he came in and immediately disemboweled my tub. I could hear the God awful sawing and hammering and when he went downstairs I took a peek and could see my family room hallway through the tub access. This means he had to remove, impossible to replace neatly, tongue in groove ceiling tiles!

I know they're impossible to replace properly because I've tried it on two different occasions. Both times when Chlorox, my timid kitty, in an attempt to hide from the boogey man, hid in the ceiling and astonished herself as well as me by falling through to the floor below. If you cut off some of the tongues and some of the grooves, force the tiles together, and then nail them to the wooden support strips, you can get them back up.

It just isn't pretty.

And remember I'm trying to sell this place.

It's bad enough that I have a harvest gold stove and refrigerator.

The overflow cover used to be here (the top hole). The drain is the lower hole and it was replaced too.

This is the access from inside a closet floor in my upstairs.

This is the ceiling in my family room. I get to try to replace the tiles tomorrow.

It's not like I have anything else to do.

Still, in my one woman attempt to keep the economy going, I went to my sewing machine dealer and bought these two feet. One is for sewing on buttons. Normally I just lower a 'footless' presser foot and try to trap the button in place while zig-zagging. It's a bit nerve wracking and I'm always afraid the button's going to wildly zing into my face.

The other is a Teflon foot. If I ever want to sew leather I'm going to need it and I have a huge hideous leather coat that I bought for about $6.00 at a thrift shop, and it's screaming to be made into a purse.

I haven't bought a dress pattern in a long time but I had to have this. Trena from the Slapdash Sewist made one of the cutest dresses I've ever seen from this. Then I realized that my mother made the same dress for my niece and it was beautiful!

However, I want to make this out of the silk that I bought in Paris last year so I will have to make a muslin for sure! Since my silk is so lightweight I'll really need to stabilize the top and I don't know if the skirt will drape properly either. I guess I'll have to think about what to line it with.

And last but not least is, what size to cut out! My measurements are a perfect size 12 but we all know if I cut out a 12 I'll end up swimming in it.

Tomorrow it's back to packing and cleaning and I hope to have a bath or shower as I haven't had one going on two days now!!!

Be glad you're not here.