What to do?

So, I've worked a ton on these 2 bedrooms since March (ok, it was more on and off, but still a lot of work). Now, I'm not sure how to finish off the rooms - what kind of curtains/blinds/and closet doors or fabric screens?
What do you think?  I think I've settled on fabric panels for the closet doors, but what kind?  print or solid?  white or colored?  should I match the curtains or contrast?

Hmmm... 

Ceiling fan

After the 103 day last week, my bedroom was quite warm (southwest exposure) and the air conditioner just couldn't cool it enough.  I decided a ceiling fan was in order. I've been looking for some time and haven't found just what I wanted, but finally found it... bought it... and got an in-the-wall transmitter that controls the fan and light so I don't have to use the chains or add additional switch and wiring in the wall and ceiling.  Sounds great, right?  I start my project very excited on Saturday morning.  By Saturday night, I was finally complete.  With some over the phone help and email pictures to my dad, I was able to get it done.


What I've learned in working with an older home, especially with this project, is that no matter what you think a project is, it will ALWAYS be more difficult, and take longer than you would ever expect.


I start by taking down the light fixture.  Hoping to find at least an electrical box secured to a joist, but I found this:

Well, how exactly am I supposed to attach a ceiling fan to that, or even work with that wiring?  I take a closer inspection, and come to this:

There is old wire, and new wire. The light was attached to both.  I continue to dig around, cutting away plaster - which by the way is very dirty and has a very distinct smell...one that is very familiar to me these days.

I wanted to see what wiring there was in the wall switch.. again, an old wire and a new wire, but this time the new wire was blue.  Hmm, what to do?  Keep going! The power is turned off and I can't possibly get shocked!  I continue to dig out the ceiling to see what I'm working with:

Ok, the wire is drilled straight through whatever joist or support that is, and there was no electrical box.  Back to Menard's to get a "pancake style" (thin) electrical box to secure directly into that wood. After some more cutting away plaster and lathe to make it fit (and making an even bigger mess) here it is secured in place:

I quickly realize through a test fit before I get too far that the canopy for the fan won't be able to secure to the bracket for the fan because it is below ceiling level, and I kind of made a mess with all that cutting I had to do.  Hmm, what would be a good resolution? After some quick reference to This Old House website (I've become very fond of this and the magazine) I determined a ceiling medallion would do the trick.  Back to Menards.. Nope, I didn't like those, so off to Lowe's. After that trip and a quick dinner, I put the medallion up:

Yay! It solved two problems for me at the same time.  That white box up there is the transmitter that will allow me to control the fan and light, which I installed the switch into the wall:

The switch will give me 3 speeds on the fan, and allow me to dim the lights. Just a little minor patch job to repair the damage from removing the electrical box.  I will get to that in due time.  I put up the fan motor, then the blades, then the lights.  All would appear good to go...time to flip the power back on.

But first:  Dear Lord Baby Jesus, please keep this fan where it is and don't let it come crashing down on me. As I flip on the electricity, let it flow smoothly and safely as it is supposed to do.  Amen. (PS, I can sleep on the couch tonight if you need me to.)

With that complete, off to the basement to turn the electricity back on.  Let there be light!

Woo hoo! There's light. But wait, it doesn't dim, and the fan doesn't work either. Well now what?  After another conversation with dad to try to problem solve, I start taking the light down, then the fan. I check the wiring, then ta-da! The transmitter for the switch wasn't set to the same code as the actual switch in the wall (kind of like a garage door opener needs to be programmed correctly. I put the pieces back together and turn the power on again. Woop, there it is!

The dimmer switch works for the light, and the multi-speed fan switch works too! May this stay in place for millenia (or at least until I sell the house) and give me cooling in the summer, and warmth in the winter. Amen, thank you baby Jesus. 

**Please note, no animals were injured during the duration of this project. This content has been edited to remove the large amounts of vulgarity that took place during this project.

Meatless Monday

So...there's this movement sweeping the country called Meatless Monday. Click here for their website. The basis is to help everyone improve our health by cutting out meat one day per week. It's been highly recommended by nutritionists..even hospitals are signing up to follow it!
So, I signed the pledge a while back and watched some recipes.  After my 18 miles of bike riding this weekend (more on that another time) I have the urge to eat a bit better.  Isn't that weird...exercise makes you want to eat better? Anyway, I've made it through my first Meatless Monday!  Here's what I had for dinner tonight:

It's a grilled portabella mushroom "burger." I ate it on a toasted whole wheat bun, with a roasted red pepper, cilantro mayo (fresh cilantro from my herb garden) and chevre goat cheese (it's so creamy and yummy).  I served all of this with grilled sweet potato fries...it was too hot to heat up the oven, so I made them on the grill.

My first Monday was successful. I just love meat too much to give it up all the time (although I was a vegetarian for 3 weeks in college) but I may be able to do this once per week.

What say you, do you want to try out Meatless Monday?

Post

I haven't blogged in a while. I have lots to post..mostly the work on the house, but I don't feel like that right now. So, this is my post... for the 2 or 3 people that read this.  :)  Thanks for reading.

Scrub a dub dub!

Ok, so it's been a while. I've been contemplating what to do on the house. Spring is in the air, and I want to do something!  Next weekend is "Project Make the Closets Useful" with my sister, brother-in-law, and kids.  More to come on that next week.

For this weekend, more like today, I contemplated re-grouting the bathroom shower or trying to do something with the dirty grout on the bathroom floor.  Well, it was getting late in the day to start trying to re-grout the shower because I do want to take a shower tomorrow. So, I opted for the floor.

I bought some grout cleaner and a brush. Now, I've scrubbed that floor before with Mr. Clean, but it just didn't work. I needed something more intense. So, I started... on a test patch, which is supposed to be in a hidden area, but I opted for the dirtiest part, right in the middle!  Heck, if it doesn't work, I will end up ripping out the grout and putting new in - and sealing it! (I'm guessing whoever did it last didn't seal it.) But then again, I'm noticing many of the improvements previous owners have done have been less than stellar craftsmanship.

Here's a before picture:

Now, there are a lot of many different shade of the grout on this floor, ranging from a cream color to a gray, to this nasty stuff.  Some spots are dirtier than others.  So, I mixed the solution, and started scrubbing away.  I let it sit for 5 minutes, then cleaned it off.  Here's how it looked:

Some improvement, but as I thought, I'd need another shot at it. I did it again, and this time left it work its magic longer.  Here's after the 2nd try:

Better, but not the result I'm looking for. I guess I could do a few more tries?

I think my options at this point are: leave it like this, scrub a few more times, buy a stronger acidic cleaner, or re-grout.  Each has it's pros and cons.

What do you think?  Any other suggestions?

This brings me joy

This brings me joy!

Reflections

"...We may ask ourselves if we've shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order. We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame - but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others... The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives - to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents..." - President Barack Obama, January 12, 2011.

2010 Goals - A year in review

It's time for my annual review of the year to determine what went well, what didn't, and what I want to change for the following year.  Here are the goals I set for myself, and the end of year update:

• Be happy with what I have
• Yes, I've been happy with what I have.. I guess.  That's not always easy.  If I was happy living in an apartment and throwing money away, I wouldn't have bought my house.  So I guess it's ok to sometimes be unhappy with what you have. Being unhappy with something leads to progress.
• Eat better
• Ok, this had mixed results. There was a part of the year I was doing really well. But I just couldn't pull it through the whole year. It's hard to always eat well. This morning, I decided to look back on my bank statements, and determine how often I ate at McDonald's (my favorite fast food place). The only way to track this was via my debit card, so my results were mixed, because for part of the year I was using only cash, so I would say a large number of transactions are not recordable. So... I'm so embarrassed and disgusted by this quite actually.  Just at McDonald's, and just when I used my debit card, I was there 97 times!  If I ate 3 meals a day, that's nearly 9% of my meals this year at McDonald's.  Now, if I figure that I went another 75 times at least, paying cash, that means 16% of my meals were there.  Just at McDonald's.  What about Taco Bell, Hardee's, Culvers, Burger King.  OMG. That is totally unacceptable, unhealthy, and dangerous, not to mention costly.  Must improve greatly in 2011!
• Laugh more
• I think it's fair to say I've laughed more this year.  I've probably cried more too.
• Learn life lessons from the elderly
• Still a work in progress.  I see great things through those at church.  I never did get to go have tea like I had planned however.
• Learn yoga and meditation/deep breathing techniques
• I started the year by doing much more stretching and relaxation and breathing exercises before bed. It never developed into a habit or yoga for that matter.  This still remains an interest for me.
• Mentor youth
• I've informally done a bit of this at church, but nothing formal.  I want to continue to look for options to get involved in the future, but need to balance my time.
• Reduce credit card debt by 15%
• Failure. Started strong, but then buying a house sets in, and all of the things that come along with that. Need to try to focus again during the new year, but darn, owning a home, especially an older one is expensive. I should have learned more from my younger sister!
• Run around Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles by end of summer (6.2 miles)
• Failure. I had good intentions, but kept hurting myself while trying to train. I guess I'm just not a runner. Maybe biking is more my thing.
• Volunteer more
• The majority of this has been through church. So much so that I became overwhelmed and started to have negative feelings over what I was doing.  Need to balance everything moving forward so I don't get burned out.

So there you have it... full disclosure on my successes and failures this past year. I will be setting some new goals for 2011 and hope to do better. Maybe I shouldn't have so many?

How did you do this year with goals you may have set?