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Woke up, fell out of bed, comb+head, found my way downstairs and drank a Coke, etc., etc. Opened my garage door and there, between the door and the grill of my truck (parked in the driveway) was a dead bird. A sign, no doubt, an omen of things to come, namely: There was a cop [...]

Painting preparation, the great American pastime. Because the cat urine stench alone wasn’t enough to peel paint off the walls. Filling holes. It’s a metal thing nailed into the drywall that kept the tiles in. Hadn’t realized my baseboards were this ugly. The dropping of cloth is complete. Lacks drama. Not edgy enough. It’s 7:12 [...]

Kind of hit a setback in the blogging department when my laptop’s video card went south on Friday night and stayed there. Laptop is currently north of here, at a shop, getting fixed. Supposedly. It might be fixed under recall — I’m pressing my thumbs in hopeful anticipation. Here’s another thought on the kitchen. It’s [...]

Smells like… victory. Seriously. First coat. The finished wood doesn’t actually look as dark as this. Now I just gotta wait another 72 hours for it to cure. Depending on the lighting, I either really like the natural wood (no stain) look or have continued misgivings about it. Natural light: looks great. Artificial: misgivings. It’s unfair [...]

It was the wackiest thing in the house, bar-none, and now it’s just a Kilz-swipe away from complete extinction. In a sense, I feel bad about destroying such a one-of-a-kind design element. In another sense, not so much. Before vs. after: The cool thing is that if I reversed the order of the photos, it’d [...]

Woke up late. Went to the Home Despot twice (twice!) to buy hoses for my new used dryer only to find out I got a gas leak in that system somewhere (should I shut the gas off? no, I’m sure it’s harmless). Don’t imagine that’s all that interesting. But filling nail holes with putty? Spellbinding. [...]

It’s pretty easy. Tools needed: Scraper/Putty Knife (3-inch or so). Small Wonder Bar/Pry Bar (6-inch or so). Hammer (normal variety). Step 1: Jam the scraper between the shoe moulding and the baseboard and wiggle it loose. If you’re lucky, the shoe moulding will come off completely. 2. If you’re less lucky (this is usually the [...]

The good news is that I’m now completely done sanding my floors I still have a lot more sanding to do. In the meantime, here are ten infuriating things about the edge sanding experience: I don’t think that thing has more than a square inch of actual sandaper-meets-floor surface on it. The pig tail cord [...]

I’m done with the drum sander. Could take it back this afternoon, but I paid for it through tomorrow morning at 10:46, so doggone it, I’m keeping it until tomorrow morning at 10:46. Plus I’m lazy and my back is sore. I think it’s more sore from manhandling the washing machine by myself than from [...]

Nice guy, actually. I think I probably overpaid for the washer by $45, but there just aren’t many used washers available on the Pittsburgh Craigslist right now. I should probably have waited for the semester to be over, but I haven’t been able to locate a laundromat that isn’t in a scary ghost town part [...]