I'm not much of a procrastinator. Okay - maybe I am, but usually when I have projects to do around the house I just get to it and get em done. Cause I hate things sitting around.
I started my day (okay, it was in the afternoon - I had to travel!) with the blind in my bedroom. I have a hard time sleeping if it's too bright. Basically I like my room to be like a cave. I've always thought that if it's too bright I don't sleep deeply enough. So I like to live like a mole at night.
Oh geez - did I just refer to myself as a rodent?
In order to achieve the dark that I needed I bought a roller blind and really - it totally works. But it's one of those spring loaded blinds. And it is a GIANT pain in the butt because it refuses to roll up all the way. And during the day I like it to be bright and warm looking. I'm basically a contradiction in terms.
And not a rodent. ick.
In April - maybe it was May, but it's been so long I don't remember - I bought a roller blind that's similar to the one in my living room (which I love). It has a cord and doesn't rely on a spring to roll up.
I suppose the reason I've been putting this off for so long is that the store where I bought the blind doesn't cut the blinds for you - you have to do it yourself. And for whatever reason I'm completely terrified that I will mess it up and cut it wrong and have to spend ANOTHER $40 for a new blind and pray I don't get it wrong again.
So I've been walking by it every day for six months.
I'm so sick and tired of the old blind and looking at the new blind leaned up against the wall in my bedroom I can hardly stand it. For the last six months.
So - I got out a couple of measuring tools (tape measure and this handy dandy little measure from my sewing kit), scissors, a hack saw, a drill, and a screwdriver and got to work.
It took about an hour - I blame my hacksaw - that thing needs a new blade really badly. It's clearly not me. It took forever to saw through the metal roll at the top of the blind. And I was glad to find a pair of those plasticy hole thingys - wall mounts maybe? - because the one side of existing holes were quite loose. And now - it's all said and done and I'm quite satisfied with myself! The edge of the blind that I cut is not TOTALLY perfect, but it looks pretty straight and it's a little ragged, but that's kind of what you get for a DIY job. And I forgot how big that window actually is!
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| The old blind - for whatever reason my flash wouldn't go - so it's kinda dark |
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| The new one is up! |
After that I moved on to my cutlery drawer. The weekend of my Mom's birthday, we were out shopping and I found this awesome drawer knife block. I hate clutter on my counter - even having my KitchenAid mixer up there in between projects makes me crazy. So I thought the knife block in the drawer would be perfect for me.
The problem is, the width of the cutlery tray plus the width of the knife block does not equal the width of the drawer. And all the other drawers are the same size so I couldn't even switch my cutlery to another drawer. I looked and looked for a cutlery tray that was the size I needed and I couldn't find anything I liked. I literally hated everything. So the only option I HAD was to CUT the cutlery tray I already had.
My Mom's birthday was in February.
Yes. I know! That was 9 months ago. And that knife block has been sitting on my counter the whole time. Don't judge me.
Had only I known I needed a new hacksaw blade.
I might be the only girl in the world who's grocery list looks like this:
Milk
Eggs
Flour
Sugar
Hacksaw Blade
Tuna
Seriously.
I didn't need to pull out my measuring tools cause they were handily already out in the middle of my living room floor.
Man, I wish I had a garage.
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| The cutlery drawer before |
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| And now with the knife block! |
And that one went really well too! Plus it gave me an excuse to wash the tray - so two birds with one stone and all that.
While I was waiting for the cutlery tray to dry a little more, I changed out the weatherstripping on my back door. The door has leaked during rain ever since I moved in - and I've tried everything else - so I changed out the weatherstripping. It may make a big difference - but I think I may also change out the sweep - again.
And you know what's funny - after I moved in, I complained to my warranty office about the leaking doors. And I suggested perhaps it was the weatherstripping. The claims inspector told me that in order to change out the weatherstripping, they had to remove the entire door and frame from the house! Can you imagine. So, of course, I said no way and then earlier this spring I was doing some research and found out how to change out the weatherstripping myself. I also contacted the manufacturer of the doors and windows that are in my house and asked the girl at reception who proceeded to explain that it was very easy to do and that I should have no problem.
She was right. Once I figured out how to pull out the old weatherstripping - it was a CINCH to put in the new stuff. Gawsh I'm smart.
Then I put my cutlery drawer back together, changed my clothes and headed out to "vacuum" up some leaves. It was an absolutely beautiful "can't miss this day" kind of a fall afternoon. Cleaning up leaves is kind of a never-ending battle because there are great big trees on my avenue and across the street from me is a big park and no-one cleans up those leaves, so just when I think it's going to be all good - the wind blows all the leaves across the street into my yard.
So the question becomes - how much effort to I actually put in?
The answer is once per week until the snow comes.
And after I finished in the yard and felt super good about myself, I came in, showered, and made Creamy Shrimp Soup - which you can read about in a separate post.
It was actually a lovely day.... Except for the drive which felt like it took 27,000 hours.
This is the Cane Girl - signing off.
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