11/20/20

When the fridge can’t cool lemons because it IS a lemon…

I consider myself a patient person. I don’t lose my temper on slow grocery checkers. I let Sadie linger over whatever it is she smells in a pile of leaves while we’re walking. I can listen to Will tell a Minecraft story at dinner without crying visibly.

I’m patient.

But in thinking about how I wanted to frame the LG story for this post, I realized that when it comes to appliances or technology, my tolerance for bullshit is pretty low.

  • Remember my brand new Bosch dishwasher that stopped working in less than two weeks in 2010? That’s here.
  • Or when my brand new GE fridge started to fail, also in 2010? That’s here.
  • Or the Lexmark printer that wouldn’t print in 2012? Just the memory of smashing that thing on the driveway still makes me smile.

The LG fridge we bought in October of 2014, to replace the dated and occasionally leaky side-by-side fridge that existed in the space when we bought this house in 2012, lasted less than a year before it inexplicably filled with frost. In the fridge section. -There was snow in the produce drawer. I called LG, they sent a service guy within a day or so to swap out some “chip” thing in the motherboard, and all was right with the world.

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11/18/20

Admire the new roof

My brother pointed out that I didn’t post a photo of the finished roof. And I had a moment, of who wants to see a photo of a roof? But after thinking about it a little more, I decided I should share photos of the roof because a new roof ranks up there with all the other annoying, not-fun-but-totally-necessary expenses that go with home ownership. Like chimney liners. Or cracked foundation repairs. When you get a new appliance, or you makeover a room, there’s a sense of joy that goes with the new toy or new space. A roof is boring. It’s not like we can go outside and play with it. So seriously… go ahead and admire my roof. I’ll come over and admire your new water heater.

roof1

roof2

 

10/31/20

Projects 2020 – Hall Bath

While it was annoying that this bathroom was dated, what bugged me the most about it, and what propelled it to the top of the project list (ahead of my much desired master bathroom renovation), was its inefficiency. It simply didn’t work the way I really wanted it to work for the day-to-day life of our family. Here was our list of gripes:

  • Counter/vanity was too short. Seriously – it came up to my mid thighs. With one teenager already taller than I am, and another on his way to being taller – this felt ridiculously short.
  • Lack of useful storage. The entire vanity is one open box with 3 doors and 1 drawer. Basically each kid had a spot under their sink for storage. There were no shelves. I bought the boys their own plastic bins to hold stuff like brushes, hair products, retainers, deodorant, floss, etc. I thought this would make it easier for them to keep their toiletries out of sight. Nope. The boxes, as well as their day-to-day stuff, just lived permanently on the counter. There was basically no way to clean this bathroom.
  • Sharing sucks. My boys are in for a rude awakening when they go to college and you don’t get a whole bathroom to yourself. In the meantime, I was sick of ongoing school morning hassles where one kid needs to brush his teeth, but the other has locked the door to take a shower, and I have fantasized for YEARS about the possibility of a door between the shower/toilet area and the vanity mirror area.
  • No fan. Honestly – I don’t know how that wallpaper is still attached to the walls.

bath3

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10/27/20

Projects 2020 – yes, I knit.

If there was ever a year that I needed to keep my hands busy so I would mindlessly eat anything not nailed down out of sheer boredom, 2020 is it. I watched countless hours of TV with Chris and the kids. And some by myself. Quick recap:

  • Stranger Things = approximately 20 hours of TV across 3 seasons
  • Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D = approximately 85 hours of TV across 6 seasons
  • Ozark = approximately 30 hours of TV across 3 seasons
  • Call My Agent = approximately 17 hours of TV across 3 seasons (I watched this in French, with French subtitles – can I count it as educational?)
  • Schitt’s Creek = approximately 27 hours of TV across 6 seasons. (This might be my new favorite show since Friends)

I have a few incomplete series that I started and stopped, but you get the idea. It was a shit ton of screen time. So… knitting.

Project #1: The “building block” squares (part 1)

There are 12 squares in this Michelle Hunter pattern, each teaches a different knitting skill. I don’t really remember when I started these squares, but around March I picked up the pace and decided I was going to finish. I got all 12 done, blocked, and as I lay them out, I decided I wanted my blanket to be bigger. So I decided I would knit another set of 12.

BB1

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