Short term... I have a 28 year old car that doesn't run well, probably because a lot of the rubber lines (vacuum and other gaskets) are old and hard and leak air. New ones came in the mail a few days ago so it's time to go replace them. Yesterday I removed half of the things that need to come off, after work today I'd like to do the rest of the disassembly and then start putting it back together tomorrow.

Medium term: Having to replace HVAC system #1 at home took a huge bite out of our budget so to make up for it I'll have to replace our fence instead of hiring it out. At least it's not hot out. Yesterday I priced composite and it was a huge sticker shock - 5x more for the material than pressure treated wood! Maybe when the fence that's yet to be built needs to be replaced something better will not be way beyond affordable.

I also need to replace the transmission in our Volvo. Whee....

Long term:
Bathroom / master bedroom / closet / 1/2 bath rebuild!!! :D

Schicksal, in the spring the composite fences arrive at Costco, and I understand they are a big savings compared to other stores. And, they are maintenance free, so no staining, replacing etc.

My fence is chainlink schoolyard stuff that was there when I arrived. It's good enough for me, LOL. I did add a very nice wooden gate and fence at the house end of my driveway when I first moved in. The driveway was open to the street and if I wanted to put my patio table in the backyard, the best place was at the end just past the edge of the house but then everyone could see us from the road. I was not cool with that. So now we have a nice closed in yard, and when we eat out there or sit on the porch swing, which is quite often in the spring, summer and fall, then no one can see us. Other than the neighbours of course. There's a gate I can drive my van most of the way through and there are 6x6 posts with a pergola across the top for support and aesthetics. There's a basketball hoop there too. For some, that ruins the aesthetics, but not for me. I do need to replace it though and I'll make it higher this time, as the boys are older now.

I don't watch football at all. I don't understand it and don't care if I do. I do watch hockey, and understand that well. Both my boys play hockey and I will watch on tv too. My favourite is when Team Canada wallops Team USA. :)

I'm changing my game this year by running the Detroit International Half Marathon. It'll be my first half. I say that like there will be more than one. LOL.

I'm working today, so I'd better get moving and get stuff done around here before I have to leave. I've been missing my remote control for the cable box for about a week now. I've not looked terribly hard for it, but I've scoured the living room. I do need to find that one of these days.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Ok. Running off to work.

Short term: Clean every single thing out of the kitchen. Hang 3 cabinets. Drywall repair fellow is coming Tuesday. I see paint in my future!

I've just finished posting 6 kitchen cabinets on Freecycle. Imagine the space I'll have with just those gone!

Longer term: Finish cleaning out the front yard and back porch. Make things liveable.

Then put things back in the kitchen cabinets where they belong.

Maybe hang a picture or two to get them off the floor!

Off to work!
(Thanks T_G!)

Wish I could wait until spring for a Costco sale, but it will already be hot by then. Now is the perfect time for doing outside things like building a fence so I'll start on that soon.

Ours really is the worst fence ever. I'll post a picture tomorrow. Wish the old chain link one was still here instead of this piece of junk.

Since the SeaSqwaks are in the Superbowl, yet again..12th Man Nation is everywhere. Blue Friday's, Seahawk gear on daily. Well not at my house...but
Just about everywhere you go. My husband is a die hard Steelers fan. :) once his guys were out of the running..on went his Mariners Gear. :) we're ready for Baseball season. :)

Game on here means, getting firm measurements for the kitchen and figure out how to remove walls/recess fridge into where the current pantry and coat closet are.

Plan layout, look at flooring, figure out where to stop the flooring.

Thanks, Texas, I was working all of Friday evening and Saturday morning...again.

One thing I've always wanted to learn is some sort of metalworking. Maybe blacksmithing or casting. I knew a guy back home who casted bronze and he built a house and used the the most amazing architectural castings throughout, brackets for beams, door hardware, etc. I would love to learn how to do that. I also would love to get a small anvil and try forming little things in metal, hinges, latches, handles, things like that. Sigh...so much to do, so little time.

Sheesh, I can't believe nobody knows this is Super Bowl week. Oh, wait, none of you live 15 miles from Seattle. I've loved football since I was a kid. I'm going to enjoy this ride as long as it lasts.

I'm a HUGE Seahawks fan! It was super easy to get to games since I lived in Lower Queen Anne too. Last year at the party I was the *only* person going for the Seahawks. Somehow every other person wanted the Broncos to win. I had loads of fun. This year I'm not sure who the others will cheer for. Probably New England.

At Super Bowl parties I limit it to one beer. One bomber, that is. This year's microbrew is already picked out :)

As promised, here is the world's worst fence (gate). The section at the back side of the back yard is leaning and looking generally terrible too.

Wow, that is a bad fence.

I don't watch football. I don't understand it, I don't want to understand it, I don't care about it etc. My older son, who just turned 13, really likes watching football and used to bug me constantly about who was my favourite team. I'd say, I don't watch football. Him: Yeah, but who's your favourite team? Me: I don't care. Him: But who? Me: Seattle. Him: SEATTLE? Why? Me: Because they're the closest to Vancouver Island. Him: But they suck. Me: Yeah, I don't care. LOL Then last year he asked me again. Seattle I say, but they suck. Uh, Mom, they're doing really well this year, they're probably going to the SuperBowl. Me: Oh, good for them.

I watch the half time show occasionally. And I watch the best commercial clips online the next day.

Here is what I am doing right now..not on my list, but the sun is out, the wind is not, oh my it is January 25!
Yep in my lounge chair on my deck with bare feet. :)
Up ahead, that's my silly dog that loves to drink rain water out of that burned out stump.

Terri.....who is 2 hrs North of Seattle.....and doesn't really care about football either.

It looks warmer there then it does here. I'm just sitting here eating Reese's, thinking about getting up and watching Breaking Bad.

The fence was built with drywall screws that are now rusting out. It is easily the worst one I've seen built. Also, the pickets were installed upside down and overlapping each other to make it extra hard to use a string trimmer.

Sorry, too busy deflating footballs to post any updates. More after next Sunday. Best, oldbat2be

Nice, shicksal. The Reese's, I mean. The fence, not so much. I, too, am eating Reese's and drinking wine. Nummy.

BTW.
What's football? LOL

I know about football, coming from the midwest. Was even a cheerleader in college. I cannot think of many things I care less about.

Oldbat2be! OMG. Shame, shame. LOL!

Oh and Shick, I've seen fences that are a lot worse..............................
PNW Rednecks :)

Hey Terri, us PNW rednecks know how to build fences. We call them 12-gauges :)

schicksal - I keep forgetting you used to live in Seattle. We moved out in January 1998 after 10 years on First Hill, just up from downtown. I did keep my timber career going until 1995. I knew every person within a two-hour drive doing my line of work and I was the only one remaining who lived in Seattle.

Ok. In MD, the snow didn't happen. Duhhhhh... again.

So last night I was drinking wine watching Kitchen Crashers. It seems TPTB have spruced up Allison Victoria. Her roots are .. done a bit better. (When did roots become something one didn't hide?) Her eyebrows have been plucked into ^..^ points, but they forgot to pluck up the area right between the eyebrows. Makes her look like she's secretly thinking evil thoughts.

I know I'm not supposed to watch HGTV, you guys have told me often enough. But I like the before and afters.

But I miss Designed to Sell. What happened to that? Fixer Upper isn't bad. I think they're kind of sweet. But the hours and hours and repeats and repeats (and repeats) of some kind of House Hunters on 2 channels? I'm about to put a corkscrew fork in my eye.

I'm actually cleaning up my kitchen. Since I had to take everything out of the drawers to put the new faces on, it was time to sort and throw out. I like things with like things, so that organization is happening.

I've got 9 cabinets (incl. 3 space-hogging base cabinets) up on Freecycle. All kinds of junk I've been moving around. I had forgotten my kitchen and dining area is huge. At least for me, 1 person!

I feel like I'm accomplishing quite a bit! :)
Hope your day is great.

I don't have cable so can't see all these shows, but Mike Holmes is on Netflix and I've enjoyed watching those. I know it's all for show but he does a good job of explaining a house as a system and why bad things happen to houses.

Sorry you missed the snow. We've had all of 1/4 inch so far this winter. It's been 60 for three days straight here. Our Camilla's are starting to bloom.

I've been hard at work on the kitchen plan. It's amazing how much mental energy it consumes. I go to the sink to rinse a glass and two minutes later realize I'm still sanding there scrutinizing everything around me, trying to picture what goes where and why and calculating distances and motions and activities.

Football- it is honestly so refreshing to see others as disinterested in the game as I am. I live in the Texas panhandle, essentially the birthplace of all the movies and TV shows based around "Friday Night Lights". You may think those shows/movies are exaggerations, but they aren't. NOTHING matters more around here than the local, (oftentimes Podunk) high school football team/s. It is nice to interact with others who are equally unobsesssed with the game.

Schick- I'm not gonna lie, that fence is dreadful!!! Drywall screws?!?! Really?!?! What genius came up with that idea??

Remind me again what area of the country you are in? I keep hearing you say this is the best time for outside/attic work and I keep thinking you must be in the desert if it is that unbearable the rest of the year but your outside pics show green!! I'm confused! ;)

CEF- don't worry, HGTV has been a guilty pleasure of ours since we got married. Like Doug, we don't have cable so we don't normally watch, but anytime we have stayed in a hotel or a hospital, we have had the channel on HGtv 24/7.

We even joke that its a good thing we don't have cable b/c every time we watch those shows, we get inspired to DIY something!! If we actually had cable service, I'm certain our list would grow exponentially.

Doug- I can totally relate to the mental imagery comment. There are only 3 rooms in my house that I can walk in to and NOTenvision my future plans/changes/remodels. They are the 2 kids bedrooms and the front/main bathroom.

I walk in my bathroom, I invariably start envisioning the future and plan for it, my bedroom, the same. My LR, DR and kitchen all still need finishing details and/or cabinetry to make it work.

My pantry, still needs shelving, counters and flooring. My mudroom/laundry room still needs the lockers and command center.

The basement (900 sq ft) still needs to be framed up for 2 bedrooms plus a common area and the bathroom needs to be finished.

As for me, our 1300 sq ft addition is, apparently a side job for the drywall crew so we are getting squeezed in around the "main jobs".

They were here for a few hours Saturday, several hours Sunday, none yesterday and they showed up today around 5ish and worked until 10 or so.

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That is the living room area, they still need to finish hanging the rock in there and then the entire area needs taping and mudding. I'm glad we hired a crew to do it but at the same time I'm annoyed and almost ready to pick up a knife and some mud and just finish it myself.

More than anything though, I'm ready to move away from the perpetual reno I've been living in for a year and a half. (Don't worry CEF, I KNOW you got me beat by a long shot in that area!!)

Neither related to home improvement but....

This week's plan: As a Seattleite, I plan to watch the Superbowl (go Hawks!) while in India for work in my hotel room at 6:30am Chennai time completely jet lagged. Going to try and remote desktop into work computer to watch game. I'm not holding my breath. Can't stream it overseas even as a Comcast customer (that would be too helpful of Comcast). Was in Thailand last year for Superbowl (at last that was vacation) so got screwed out of that party. Ate great Thai food though.

This year's plan: Pay off big fat student loans, at least partially.

@ Texas_Gem - I'm a displaced northerner living in the southeast. Humidity makes the outdoors uninhabitable from about May-September. The winter is ok, but turn everything about the place into the foothills of the Cascades for the rest of the year (terrain included) and I'm a happy camper.

There's no telling who made the fence. It's non-standard enough so that it might have been a DIY job? I've never seen another like it. This is typical construction quality for parts of the addition that I am rebuilding, to give an idea. I also found earthquake/hurricane straps that were not attached to anything. City inspected, and approved!

That's a lot of drywall work - I'd have outsourced it too. Especially anything involving putting the stuff on the ceiling in large pieces. It's too heavy for one person to go at alone.

My plans are to figure out how to remove a broken bolt on the car. This is the one thing keeping me from moving forward - an inch and a half worth of steel stuck in a larger piece of aluminum. I've tried all the normal tricks with no luck. I really can't wait to sell this car once it's back together and I take care of a couple more things. It's above and beyond the least friendly thing I've ever worked on.

schicksal - re drywall. I bought a lift. If one can lift a piece of drywall thigh-high onto the lift, it does the rest, and I even used 5/8 fire rated on the bedroom ceilings. This was the first time I've ever done whole rooms in drywall, and it turned out to be quite easy, lifting-wise. The hardest part by far was getting everything up the stairs. That I would have hired out if I could. Thankfully, it's done now.

We bought a drywall lift last year when we started on the kitchen reno and frankly, at this point, I'm ready to kick the drywall crew out and finish it my da*m self!!! The crew showed up today and worked for an hour and a half and got one wall hung and then left. They "claim" that they will be back in the morning to finish but I have my doubt's. The only times they have been here has been after 5 and for a few hours on the weekend.

Geez, I'm beginning to understand why others on this board who hire out are so stressed. Since I've always done DIY, I always pictured hiring others to be MUCH less stressful. In the past, if I was stressed or annoyed, I only had myself to blame which therefore meant, I could ACTIVELY do something about it!!

I'm sick and tired of waiting on others to finish the job they were hired to do so that we can move forward!!

OK, rant (mostly) over. IF they can finish getting the rock hung, the finishing crew should be here Friday to start finishing the drywall.

We are expected to get another snowstorm this weekend and I hope it doesn't derail things.

Uh oh, did I scare everyone away with my rant the other day?

The crew still isn't finished but it is close enough to really get a feel for the rooms.

View when you first enter the front door.
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Safe room
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Bedroom
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Bathroom

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Walk in closet
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Other view of living room
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View towards kitchen from living room
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Utility room
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Kitchen
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Its pretty exciting to get the first real view of the space.

Texax - your progress is so fast I have been picturing finished interior shots, like:

Just saying, why the delay...? (Drywall is so satisfying, no?)

Sounds to me your crew is working two jobs...and your's is not the priority! It's typical; they have all the easy stuff done and now they disappear.