GetSheila

I have a shed

It should not come as a surprise to me that I have a backyard shed. It was here when I moved in 5 years ago, after all. It’s just that I’ve always thought of it as a “garden” shed and not until today did it occur to me to use it as a “storage” shed.

Perhaps because I own a lawn mower and weed eater now so am constantly traipsing in and out of the shed, I noticed how much room it has and how much wasn’t being used – or was being used by unneeded things like dried out plant bulbs and all the kiddie toys I found about the garden after I moved in.

Since I inexplicably woke up at 5:00am today (I know!), I got to work:

Notice all the shade. My house faces east so my backyard is in shade in the morning, though it isn’t actually 5 o’clock in this photo. I sat around drinking tea for a few hours – because that’s what you do on Sunday – so this is around 7:30 or 8:00.

BEFORE AND AFTER of the side with built-in shelves:

 

I kept the kiddie toys after all but swept them up in some garden netting to keep them out of way and utilize the dead space in the roof peak. NOTICE THE PRACTICALLY EMPTY TOP SHELF. I can fit at least 3 more bins up there. The labels on the bins so far include: Edging, Weed / Feed, Pots, Baskets, Sprinkler, and Terminate. (The latter holds insecticides and other weapons of mass bug and weed destruction. I thought about labeling it Sarah Connor but didn’t want to confuse mom.)

BEFORE AND AFTER of the other side:

 

The lawn mower is on the right with its groovy folding handle so it doesn’t take up so much space. NOTICE THE PARACTICALLY EMPTY SHELVING UNIT. I still have tons of space and many things to move out there from the garage, but that task shall wait for another day. So far, all that is in there is what was in there before, after a bit of editing.

The best part of the whole project is I didn’t have to buy a thing. The shelving unit came over with mom as did many of the plastic bins, though I admit I have a fair sized collection of my own.

 

I will likely do more rearranging as I move things from the garage because, GUYS, I HAVE A STORAGE SHED.

 

Technorati Tags: home improvement,garden shed,storage shed

Exhausted

Where have I been, you ask? Well… WELL…I’ve been busy.

December: Mom got sick and almost died…again…so she finally agreed to move in with me. Have you ever cleared out the 40-year domicile of a pack-rat? No? ATTEMPT IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

January 1 – April 15: Tax season. Enough said.

April 15 – May 15: Catch up on all the work I put off during tax season. Only it’s July 1st and I am just now finishing getting caught up.

May 16 – May 31: OMIGOD I ONLY HAVE 2 WEEKS TO GET MOM’S HOUSE READY FOR THE NEW TENANT. ::clean, paint, replace carpet and vinyl, remove all the last minute stuff I left there in January, aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh::

June 1 – June 15: Move my friend Micky into mom’s house. Hook up TV’s! Hook up computer! Weed!

Mom’s garden area before weeding:

I was too pooped to take an after picture. But I will, really, I swear. There are three raised beds there. You just can’t make out the closest one because of all the weeds. It is completely empty now and Micky is dumping the garbage cans full of green waste one per week. Baby steps.

My compost pile:

 

It’s rather pathetic. I need a better setup. Cinder blocks? Thoughts?

I started mowing my own lawn to save money and get some exercise:

 

I know! MOWING MY OWN LAWN. What a concept. I bought a cordless lawn mower, which I love. So much quieter than gas-powered. The self-propelled feature somewhat takes away from the “get some exercise” goal but I do still sweat – a lot – even though I wait until after 7:00pm to mow when it’s cooler. Much practice still needed with the weed-eater for edging purposes but time is on my side.

Updating old computers to get them the hell out of my garage:

 

I was going to just give them to e-recycle for disposal but I tested them first to see what still works and got one CPU/monitor/printer set up for my former gardener, who can’t afford to buy a computer. He can get free dial-up, which is dinosaur slow, but he has never had a computer so I hope it will be sufficient for his needs.

Opening computers and poking around inside is rather fun. That clear bin with all the brown folders in it is my new cable/cord organization. With labels. Never underestimate the joy of getting organized. Oh Happy Day.

Next, do something about the garage:

I think I need to go “up.” So much wasted space up there in the rafters.

 

Technorati Tags: garage,organize,mom

I love a challenge! (not so true these days, it turns out)

Let the Week-of-Fixing-Up-Mom's-House begin!

So far, I've...uh, purchased paint. I started washing the walls but, you know what? IT'S HARD. Well, maybe not "hard" but they're so big and the sponge is so tiny and they haven't been washed in a decade and...hey, I know!...I'll call my house cleaner Ofelia!

She graciously agreed to come today and wash the walls while I do other Very Important Things, like pack up all the leftover garage sale items for donation I planned to do weeks ago but didn't because, um, I was feeling overwhelmed.

Actually, I am feeling MUCH better now that the Big Ass Garage Sale is over, whereby we got rid of a buttload of stuff, most at 25 cents a piece. Did I mention we made $500? At 25 cents a piece, I think "buttload" is completely appropriate.

Now begins painting the living room, hallway and master bedroom, replacing the carpet in those room and replacing the linoleum in the kitchen and dining room. I'm not doing the flooring myself, btw, because I am not BRAIN DAMAGED.

I'm just a little sad we couldn't do all this fixing up while mom was living there so she could enjoy it. But there was way too much stuff to move back then and no open space in which to move it. (See above regarding "buttload.")

But, onward! Get the house ready for the new tenant! Donate the leftover garage sale items and feel all self-righteous and do-gooder! Organize all the stuff that is now at my house that mom Just Couldn't Part With!

I don't think "vacation" is the right word for this week I am taking away from the office.

As if the 1%ers didn’t have a bad name already

Dear Cheryl in Bend, Oregon:

I’m so glad my sister Karen was able to help you obtain your new dog from California, a sweet blue Queensland heeler.

After paying $200 to the breeder/trainer in California, I can see how the idea of paying another $600 to have the dog transported up to you in Bend would have been rather daunting. So lucky Karen was heading back to Idaho from Central California so you could save some money!

I must admit, I worked Karen rather hard down here. Our 84 year old mother has been ill so I moved her in with me and Karen and I spent a week and a half clearing out her house. Three dumpsters, many truck loads back and forth to my house, and a giant pile o’ garage sales items later, we had it done. Then came the washing of the kitchen items we were keeping, laundering of mom’s stored clothing, and organizing my garage and house so everything would have a place. Whew!

Karen had a lot to take back with her after clearing out mom’s house, so we strategically packed her car to the gills. Even so, she had to leave some things behind to make room for your dog but the gas money from you would help defray some of the cost of the trip so it was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

Imagine her surprise when the “gas money” you gave her was a mere $10. TEN DOLLARS. For transporting a dog, in the back seat of her car, over 500 miles from Modesto, CA to Bend, OR at a total of over 9 hours.

She saved you $600 in transport fees – or the alternative of having to spend your personal time and money to drive down to California and return home with the dog – and all you thought it was worth was $10? 500 miles at the IRS standard mileage rate of $0.51 equals $255. AND you were disgruntled you had to drive 15 extra miles to meet her at your mutual friend’s house rather than CostCo because, after all, she had only just driven ten and a half hours with two dogs and a car full of childhood memories so what would another 15 miles have been (plus another 15 to get back to the friend’s house?)

You live in Bend, OR so you are financially well off. Poor people don’t live in Bend. Neither do they spend $200 for a dog nor contemplate spending $600 to transport it. Your ungracious behavior in this matter and disrespectful treatment of your fellow human being is appalling. Shame on you!

At the very least, please immediately send Karen a check for $190 which, combined with the $10 “gas money” you gave her, amounts to the same fee you paid for the dog. That would be fair and right and still save you $400 in transport fees.

If you choose not to do so, please explain how you came up with a figure of $10 as equitable compensation for the service Karen provided for you. She was too nice – and too tired – to argue with you. Also kind of hard to do so from the shower since you showed up while she was washing the travel away and couldn’t be bothered to wait for her to get out to introduce yourself and properly thank her.

Do the right thing. Or prove the unwashed 99% masses right. Your choice.

Regards,

Sheila Livingston

 

Technorati Tags: karen,1%

Inside at last!

I started a little painting project oh so long ago and vowed to finish it today because I have been parking my precious Prius outside in the elements for months.

All I had left to do was lightly sand the living room cabinet doors and apply a third coat of paint. I’ve had the drop cloth down and the painting tools ready all this time but just couldn’t get my butt in gear.

So today I did get them sanded but more paint came off in some places than I expected and it all just became TOO HARD.

So I cleaned and reorganized the garage instead. Here is what it looked like before:

 

Well, sort of before. The boxes were stacked all askew on the right but I broke them down and threw them in the center of the floor before going to town with my Skil Power Cutter.

Best. Tool. Ever.

See the giant box on the right? I kept it on its side like that and shoved it full of a bunch of stuff I don’t use but can’t get rid of yet for various reasons AND I can use it as a sort of table.

You can’t see the giant box-table very well due to the avalanche of cardboard I have yet to cut up because the recycling bin is inadequate when you put off cutting up your cardboard for…a while.

Look at all the empty shelves on the other wall!

 

Most of what was there is in the giant box, which I am also using as Donation Station to stash all the things I need to donate but, uh, haven’t.

But perhaps most importantly:

 

It’s a beautiful thing. Except for all the filth on my car. Yuck. I’d wash it myself but I’m a delicate flower. I see a visit to the detailer in my future.

Ow. My feet hurt. And my shoulders. And my back. Ow.

 

Technorati Tags: garage cleanup,skil power cutter

Time flies

Gosh, since last we spoke, this happened:

Discovered cockroaches in my kitchen. HORROR.

Eradicated said cockroaches. Turns out they were holed up in the battery compartment of my automatic dry kitty food dispenser. I got the bug man out here to spray and set traps just in case but haven’t seen or caught a one since I overhauled the food dispenser. Apparently shrieking while playing Whack-A-Roach with the nearest thing at hand (my sandal) did the trick.

Discovered a mouse in my office as it made a mad dash across the room headed for who knows where. I’m certain the cockroaches in my kitchen told the mice where I work, but I have no proof.

Eradicated said mouse, sort of. I cleaned out my snack drawer (sad day, sad day) and Buff Kahuna humored me by getting a no-kill trap. After a few days of the trap not being sprung, I took a look inside to discover the peanut butter bait was gone. We reconfigured it so it would work properly and I set the little bugger free outside the next day. (Stupid, I know!) We reset the trap and caught a second mouse, or maybe it was the first who made his way back into the building. Who knows? I haven’t had any more mouse droppings in my area but others in the office have so they brought out the big (aka poison) guns. No sign of dead mice yet but I’m sure we’ll smell them when they crawl off and die in the walls or something. Blech.

 

 

Got mom all fixed up! She had cataract/glaucoma surgery on her second eye, got her final shot of rooster stuff in her bad knee, and just got a shot of cortisone in her left hip. As my sis Karen says, we’re pretending she’s a racehorse and just going to keep numbing things until we figure out where the problem is. So far so good. Much of her pain is at bay.

 

Got a new haircut. My gays would dub it another “angry-lesbian” look but I’m hiding from them so they haven’t seen it. It’s not the most flattering but I DON’T CARE. It’s super easy and I love it!

 

 

 

 

 

Had a Mary Kay party. I am now hooked on the TimeWise system...and I wear mascara to work every day…and I was my face EVERY NIGHT. As my rep and friend Deb Coburn says, she’s ruined me.

I’m sure there’s more but it will have to wait because  I have to go to work now, on a Saturday. The October 15th final extension deadline for 2010 individual taxpayers looms and I’m taking a week of vacation the 10th through the 14th. Whoops! Didn’t really think that one through and the airfare is nonrefundable.

Here’s hoping I don’t find any mouse poop or worse when I get to the office.

Weather is a serious thing

I did not make fun of East Coasters for overreacting to their little earthquake.

I do not mock other states who complain about a few weeks of swelter we deal with ALL SUMMER LONG.

No, because, one day, it’s going to snow in Central California and we’ll be all:

• OMG! How are we supposed to drive in this slippery stuff?
• Breaking news: “Tragic deaths in Central California: people too stupid to get inside where it’s warm.”
• Eek! All this moisture makes my hair frizz!

When that happens and someone who lives with snow all the time makes fun of us, I will have the moral high ground and no compunction about punching them in the face.

 

Technorati Tags: east coast earthquake,weather woes

Tea has a flavor – don’t mess with it

Raley's was out of Darjeeling tea. Again. (WTH, Raley's?) Some shopper probably did what I usually do and bought out the whole supply, knowing they never seem to have any in stock. Damn me for waiting to shop until I was completely out!

I decided to try Bigelow French Vanilla for a change of pace but here's the thing: black tea already has a flavor. It is downright blasphemous to muck it up with new-agey herbs and flowers and whatnot. Save that for the hippie herb teas, dammit.

Guess I’ll have to start mail-ordering my Darjeeling again. But don’t worry about me, I bought some English Breakfast to tide me over. Not the same, though…not the same.

 

Technorati Tags: darjeeling tea,flavored tea

Does Apple have a “one free drop” policy?

I don’t know the answer to whether Apple has a “one free drop” policy. All I know is I went to the Apple Store with my iPad2’s spectacularly cracked screen and left with a brand new one for free.

Here is what it looked like after I dropped it on my tile entryway floor (which will be ripped out as soon as possible because I’ve always hated it and now have a genuine reason to perform tile genocide):

You can’t see it very well, but the worst of the damage is at the lower left edge. It looks kind of blue, eh, from left edge to about halfway across? If you tilt your screen away from you and look at it from “below” you may be able to see that entire area is a mass of shattered glass. Clearly that’s the edge that hit first. I kept using it for a bit that morning and suffered “tiny shards of glass in my index finger” syndrome.

Because sometimes I’m not too bright.

It was chaos when I arrived at the Apple Store. CHAOS. TIP: If you’re going to the Apple Store, don’t go on Saturday. I’d never been to one of their brick and mortar stores before, having bought my iPad2 online, so was unprepared for the melee.

I thought making an appointment online worked like it does at DMV where you  jump ahead of everyone who is too stupid to make an appointment. It does, sort of, but either they drastically overbooked or the standard 10-15 minute appointments took longer than expected because I wandered around the store for 30 minutes before my “genius” came to greet me.

BTW, if you’re new to the Apple Store and have an appointment, be sure to check in with any of the worker bees walking around with iPads. I wasted 5 precious minutes standing at the Genius Bar waiting for someone to acknowledge me so I could check in. I finally interrupted one of the “Geniuses” and was cheerily told to find anyone walking around with a tablet and check in there.

Then he laughed behind my back as I walked away and called me an Apple Virgin.

Not really, but I did feel the teensiest bit humiliated that I was DOING IT WRONG. I had, in fact, read the instructions online that said to check in that way but thought doing so at the Bar itself would be faster. VIRGIN.

My genius’s name was Estavan and I should have taken his picture because he was ADORABLE. Also 12 years old, or thereabouts. He began by telling me the warranty only covers hardware failure, likening it to a car warranty. If your engine falls out due to mechanical failure, that’s probably covered. If you crash into something, that’s what you have insurance for and there is no insurance for you iPad.

He said they don’t replace the screens on the iPad2, either, and a new unit would cost $499 (the original price) but he could offer me a replacement for just $279 AT THAT STORE ONLY (Modesto’s Vintage Faire Mall.) It sucked, but I said okay because I take my iPad2 to bed with me every night and can’t imagine life without it.

As he processed the paperwork and got my new iPad2, I chatted with the girls next to me who were there to replace an iPhone but couldn’t get the case off. Their male Genius couldn’t get it off either. My Estevan tried and only got half of it off. Then a female Genius picked it up and – boom – case off! The males declared they “loosened it” for her, of course.

So I go to sign the paperwork and Estevan says he’s going to take care of me today and I think, yes, yes, you’re giving me a brand new iPad2 for almost half price, but it’s still almost $300 so don’t get cocky. But then he makes sure I am looking him in the eye when he says, “so I’m giving it to you for free.”

“Uh…what?” I almost climbed across the Genius Bar and kissed his adorable little cheeks. Free. FREE. One of my Facebook Friends says they have a “one drop” replacement policy, which my Genius didn’t tell me, but I don’t care if it’s true or not. I’m just happy to have my brand new replacement:

Isn’t it beautiful? *sniff*

So I waited 30 minutes past my appointment time but walked out 15 minutes later a satisfied Apple customer. Apple’s customer service ROCKS.

 

Technorati Tags: ipad2,apple one drop policy,cracked ipad2 screen

Activation Energy to the Rescue! (Or not)

I’ve mentioned activation energy before, which is apparently a chemistry term for the energy needed to start a reaction. I read about it at Vlad Dolenzal’s blog a few years ago and it was rather an Ah-Ha moment for me.

Not that I have actually used it to start exercising regularly and eating healthy. Don’t be ridiculous!

But it’s brilliant for getting your butt in gear when you have a not-so-fun task to do and no one around to motivate you to actually do it.

Enter: my living room entertainment center painting project.

My BFF Tania came down from Sacramento last weekend at the beginning of July and helped me get it done, along with decking out my master closet. The world needs more friends like Tania. (Love you, girl!)

I let everything dry about a week before putting the shelves back in and promptly peeled paint off left and right getting them in. THE HORROR. On closer inspection of my paint job on the base unit and uprights (Tania did the doors and shelves and they are perfectly lovely) I decided it needed a third coat of paint anyway so I would do that and add a few coats of shellac for protection.

Of course this involves taking the shelves back out and removing the doors, followed by lightly sanding the monstrosity so coat #3 will adhere and wiping/vacuuming/tack clothing away every miniscule bit of sanding residue, before the equally monumental task of actually painting begins. Followed by repeating the entire process multiple times depending on how many coats of shellac you think it needs.

Dear god, I was not looking forward to it.

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While it was only a couple of carriage returns for you, that was two hours away from the keyboard for me, during which I actually did get the 3rd coat of paint on the living room shelving unit base cabinets and uprights. This post was going to be all about activation energy and how awesome it is and how much I got done because of it.

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That was on July 10th, exactly 4 weeks ago. I just got the 3rd coat of paint on ONE side of the shelf inserts today, and don’t even ask me about the cabinet doors.

To put things in perspective, here are things that got done during that 4 weeks I wasn’t painting the shelves:

1. Had my annual review at work;
2. Had my annual mammogram;
3. Had DirecTV out to fix the TV connection in my guest room in preparation for mom staying with me before and after her eye surgery;
4. My sister Karen had major abdominal surgery and is already half way through her recovery period;
5. Took Mom for cataract and glaucoma surgery in one eye, to 3 follow up appointments so far, and she is back to her regular activities pending upcoming surgery on the other eye;
6. Found myself – to my horror – working along side the Tea Party (It turned not to be that horrifying after the initial shock but that’s a whole other post);
7. Took mom to Fresno 3 times for injections in her knee of something that originally came from a rooster’s comb to cushion the joint where the cartilage has worn down to the bone, aka arthritis. One more injection to go and, if it works, she’ll be pain-free for 6-12 months;
8. Got my nails done (another trip to Fresno);
9. Got my hair done;
10. Fed and watered a friend’s critters while she was out of town one weekend;

In retrospect, it sounds like I had a lot going on but, truthfully, I sat on my butt every evening when I could have been painting and sat around drinking tea during the cool hours of the weekend mornings. I used the excuse that it averaged 100 degrees for the last month, but still…

I think perfection-itis was holding me back. I opted to sand only (not prime) before the first coat of paint, thinking the raw wood would suck up the paint and apply a good bond. It certainly did suck up the paint but I’m not so sure about the good bond part. Maybe that’s why it peeled off when I put the shelf inserts back in. I decided I don’t give a crap anymore and just want it DONE. The cabinet top is holding up nicely where I have had the cable box and DVR sitting so maybe the third coat will do the trick. I plan to let the shelves dry for a good month before putting anything on them, like books and chotchkies. And I have decided To Hell with applying shellac, though I did buy some should I change my mind.

Then maybe I’ll get around to finishing the caulking on the baseboards in my master closet.

I need handy friends and family who live closer and will work for food and/or alcohol.

 

Technorati Tags: home improvement,painting cabinets,activation energy