If I had a Hammer...

Here's a photo of that cute hammer Christmas ornament that I mentioned in the last post:

Isn't it charming?  It's my new favorite.  I don't believe that I'll actually take it to a Habitat build, though.  (Someone might steal it.)  :::grin:::

TGIF!

Yes, it's Friday!  And we are having picture perfect weather here in Dallas.  Considering several of "my people" in Minnesota had snow this week, I am grateful for our warm, sunny days.

If I had my way, these are the things that I would like to do in my backyard this weekend:

1)  Complete the culvert project.  Remember this?  http://my1929tudor.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-could-be-happening-here.html

2)  Get a truck load of crushed granite, and spread it out over the muddy areas.  Super excited about this idea that is a result of a home tour I went on last weekend.

3)  Build the raised bed for my 20 asparagus crowns that arrived 2 weeks ago and are patiently waiting in cardboard box in my fridge for their new home...

4)  Feed my vegetable seedlings, and weed my raspberries.  (Somehow the only bed that really needs weeding...)

5)  Scrub down to clean, and then seal the wooden planks on my new back steps.

6)  Tackle moving the dirt around under my new backsteps; affix the final few planks, and begin prepping the area for planting.

Alas.... I was ultra graceful on a dog walk Monday evening and tumbled down a curb, and badly sprained my ankle!  It's positively huge and it's talking to me.  So, I'm currently paired with a pair of crutches.  I'd say its a good bet that my wish list will remain untouched.  Waaah.

For your viewing pleasure, here's a favorite photo of mine:

Tie-dyed shirts I dyed for my group of friends
 at Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity (2009)

My Way of Lounging, Apparently

Ironically, one of the 2 tasks that I purposely removed from my weekend to-do list is the one large task that I tackled on Saturday:  Refinishing my front door. 

While in a yoga pose on my livingroom floor a couple of weeks ago I was appalled to realize that I could very nearly look out into the street under my front door.  Um, yeah, that needs some attention.

In an effort to avoid TX/OU traffic, Red and I had gone to a late movie Friday night ("The Town" with Ben Affleck:  2 thumbs up.)  Which lead to very low motivation Saturday morning.  Slept in... had coffee... went to breakfast... languished in the morning sun on my porch... ahhhhhh.  I thought I did "nothing" quite well.  When I finally dragged myself into a sitting position on the porch, searching for motivation, Red teased me that I really am unable to do nothing.  "Huh?  I thought I was doing nothing really well!"  I mean, I'll bet that was at least 20 minutes of lounging.

I knew that Sunday would be mostly blown in the getting-things-done department, because I had volunteered to help staff the Habitat for Humanity booth at the Texas State Fair.  The shift was 10-3, but realistically I knew that would become 9 - 4 at least. 

I looked at my scribbled to-do list... looking for the task with the least resistance that I could do, so that I could at least cross off one item by days end.  Ah, replace the screws holding in the door knob plate.  I learned recently that to make it more difficult to have your front door kicked in that you should replace the screws with 3" or longer screws.  Easy.  I already had the screws.  I ambled out to the shed.  Red settled in on the couch, aptly providing the needed moral support and troubleshooting.  I'm good with that.  I need moral support...  Don't you agree?  Tasks are easier to tackle with companionship?  It's true for me.

The screw replacement was pretty easy.  I did one plate on each of my three front doors.  (Yes, I really have three.)  I need to get more screws, because there are 2 plates per door and I only had enough screws to do one on each.  But, better than nothing.

My motivation was returning.  I decided to install the new interior weather strip on the bottom of my front door.  That was accomplished fairly easily.  I will not elaborate about the dusty fluff that fell out from behind the old one when it came off.  Eeew.  (Next time, as we say, I'll know that it is MY dirt.)  Since I was right there, I wiped down the door frame in anticipation of affixing new weather stripping.  Much less nasty.  I'm sitting there on the floor, in the open door frame, and looked at the sun hitting my front door.  My poor door.  It really needed some love.  It takes full sun... and gets beat with splashing rain, dutifully holding my stained glass panel.  I ran my hands over it.  Looked at Red.  "I wonder if I should tackle this project today?"  A non-committal response.  Hmmm. 

Before I really realize what's happening, I'm to the shop and back with fine grit sandpaper, my power sander, an extension cord... and things are happening.  I take my time, working in the morning sun, and hand sand the small grooves around the panels.  I power sand the panels.  I see that whomever provided a modicum of care to this door before me slopped varnish all over the brass door handle.  (Strikingly similar to door hardware that is totally painted over inside the house...)   I start working on that with steel wool.  "Oh MY -- babe, what color do you think this handle is supposed to be?  Because look at what's happening!" Ewww!  Years and years of ... what?  Red offers to take off the deadbolt and handle so that I can sand around them.  Nah.  Well, yeah, I guess so, thanks.  Just the top one.  Later on, "hey babe, can you take the second one off too?"  Then, giving in to the project, Red gets the Dremel out, and starts buffing the door handle.  WOW.  Shiny, beautiful brass! 

It was a great day.  The weather was sunny and beautiful -- no problem having my front door and screen doors open for hours --  I got to putter with a satisfying project with my guy hanging out with me.  The door is looking amazing!  I still need to apply the sealant; the stain needed to dry for 8 hours before it was sealed.  (That seemed like longer than necessary to me, but since it is my front door, I want to do it right.)  And at this point there's no rain in the forecast, so the door should be okay until I have at least 4 hours of daylight for my door to be open again.  I'll post a photo when I get the sealant on.

As for the other items on the list, I did get 2 of my 7 vents permanently attached.  They've been propped up because there isn't really anything to screw the screws into to hold them up.  It took a fair amount of rigging with small blocks of wood, but 2 down 5 to go.  I did the two that were the most annoying... more satisfaction, you know.

TX/OU Weekend

This weekend is the Red River shoot out here in Big D.  The Cottonbowl stadium seats 92,100 people.  Yes, ninety-two THOUSAND.  And it's always over full.  But if you are not attending the football game, then as a local, your game for the weekend becomes traffic-avoidance.  I have a hefty do-at-home list for this weekend to help me avoid all those folks who don't know their way around old East Dallas.  I won't accomplish all of them, but nothing gets done without a list.  Accordingly:

(1)  Patch drywall around kitchen remodel trim.
(2)  Enlarge opening for telephone jack in kitchen.
(3)  Harvest basil and make/freeze pesto (YUM!)
(4)  Once and for all, attach HVAC vents along baseboards. 
(5)  Plant fall garden.
(6)  Bundle kindling.
(7)  Replace screws in door jamb with longer ones
(8)  Replace weather stripping around front and back doors.

I have all of the necessary items for all of these (except seeds) so I shouldn't have to encounter any humanity on the roads to get them done.  So no excuses, right?  Hole up in the house and tackle the list!

Sunday morning from 10-3 I do have to be out; I am staffing the Habitat for Humanity booth at the State Fair.  My rationale is that the majority of people from the game the day before will still be in bed when my shift begins, and they will still be at home when I skedaddle out at 3.  Time will tell if I am right!

And I thought I was so clever!

So the how-to-camouflage-my-TV dilemma continues. I somewhat shamefully admit that one of my first purchases after I moved in was an enormous television set. Red did a beautiful job hanging it on the wall for me, and I do love it. However, the black beauty is very stark on my (still) white wall. And it is rather an attention getter in my livingroom, which I admit is unfortunate. And so, I've been crafting up clever ways (nearly weekly) to soften it. Friends and neighbors have contributed many ideas, and good ol' HGTV fills my head with dreamy DIY options.

Among the discussions:
Big movie theatre drapes (dust collectors - discard)

Those sliding ceiling/wall panels from IKEA (side view of the TV still visible - discard.)

Build a faux entertainment center (complicated, and visually too heavy - discard.)

Build a wall bookcase on the whole wall, and surround the TV (meh - discard)

Relocate the TV (what?!  No!  LOL - discard.)

Which brings us to last week's idea which is still viable. And made even more viable now that I have seen it done elsewhere!   This is a bulletin board at the Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity's Restore:

Being the tree-hugger that I am, of course I love it.  I figure a back panel for the wall... (color?) and then slice up some logs, get some wood glue, and....?  Yes?  No?  And, I could creatively stack them to make them a little more 3D and give me a sneaky way to hide the cords.  I'm diggin' it.  And doesn't it seem green and economical?

One of my neighbors told me about a huge tree that has been cut down not far from here -- as in much-too- large-to-put-your-arms-around kind of large -- and said wouldn't THAT be cool, to have really large diameter slices??  Definitely.  But who would I hire to slice them for me?  The pieces of trunk would be ridiculously heavy (ahem, speaking from previous experience) nor do I have a saw blade anywhere near large enough to cleanly slice through anything like that.  It would be uber cool, but I suspect the economical portion of it would rapidly fade.