errantember

Here's the diagram of the new storage shelves I'm making to help us get more organized at Casa Blue. I did this with Google Sketchup, which I had been previously too annoyed with to complete anything. I can't claim I've got it all down, but designing the shelves in software definitely saved me many trips to the hardware store, many re-cuts, and lots of re-work.

Will post pictures of the real thing once it's done.

Click pic for more pictures.

In my last post I mentioned this cool lamp I had made out of my 300-watt floor lamp. I just woke to the sound of exploding glass and the smell of burning bedsheets and melting comforters! The only reason broken, superheated glass didn't rain down directly on my naked body is because I wasn't comfortable last night with how heavy the lamp had become, so I moved it from directly above my head to the stronger side of the metal frame. As it was, I was still *very* lucky that hot shards of broken glass didn't randomly land in my eye or in my mouth! I had to poke beads that were industriously burning their way through my bedsheets with my fingers onto the floor, where they continued to melt into the carpet. I've got the windows open and the fan running full-tilt to get the toxic fumes out of my room.

Oh. And I'm out of bed.

It worked!

I put the finishing touches on the dishwasher repair today by moving the drain hose from the right side of the sink to the side with the garbage disposal. This required a lot of drilling big holes, and contorting at many strange angles, which is the only thing it had in common with sex. That and the abundance of wetness and slimy stuff.

Ew.

I plugged the old location with a wine cork, which I managed to shove in about half way, and then I zip-tied it for good measure. I may, at some point, go and get the correct kind of plug from Home Depot.

But probably not.

I was recently loaned Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces by worldmegan, and boy is it amazing! Reading just a few spaces makes me twitch with barely-contained spring cleaning and radical redecoration urges! After less than half a chapter at dinner, I braved the perils of obviously quarreling roommate just so I could reorganize shelves in the kitchen.

I can't wait to read more.

Will be helping retrieve low-flush toilets for S. in anticipation of installing them tomorrow for some extra cash, then finally getting back to the scooter, which has been continually put off for several days due to home improvement projects/housemate mollification.

Two new garage doors installed, hooked to and tested with existing openers.

So in my ongoing project to deck out the walls of my guest wing with natural plaster before my new housemate arrives on the 28th, I've now finished priming both rooms (including the ceilings) and with the help of trippedbreaker have moved on to putting down the first layer of plaster.

Originally I was going to use American Clay products, but at about $75 for a 50# bag and the pigment to color it, I was out almost a grand by the time I had enough to do the entire wing. However, I recently went to a Design, Build, Live presentation by Carole Crews a life-long veteran of earth building and plaster, and purchased her new book Clay Culture (currently only available from the author.) I decided that, despite the tight deadline, it was worth trying to mix the sand, clay, binder, and pigment myself if it were cheaper. And it's *much* cheaper. At *most* 50% as expensive, and likely more like 35-40%! I made a small test batch of each recipe, with and without the pigment, and decided I liked the homemade stuff better, anyway. The pigments are also much cheaper at Armadillo Clay, but I couldn't wait until tomorrow to start plastering, so I decided to put the first coat down without pigment. I actually liked this color the best, anyway. However, tomorrow I will proceed down to Armadillo and check out some of their other pigments. I should be able to find something exactly like I want, instead of having to settle for the meager selection of colors at my American Clay supplier, and afterward I can likely sell the American Clay products at cost and recoup my losses.

Today I got:

2 overflow drain covers, a new spout, and 10 sort-of-the-same-color tiles for the tub from the Habitat Restore

1 bag of mortar, 1 bag of grout, and some polyseal for the tub from the Home Despot

1 roasted red pepper sandwhich, 1 chocolate cookie, and one mint mate late from Cafe Mundi

1 ticket for Apotygma Berzerk at Elysium next weekend

I survived. Barely.

I rigged up a remote control for the shop vac using X10 (definitely a good move. It takes about fifteen minutes to wriggle my way all the way to the back on either side (they don't connect), and I had to check on some wood damage that might have been termites.) This way, I could switch off the vac with my remote control, then dig into the wood a little to see if the soldier termites would get their Alice Cooper on.
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Just when everybody thought it was safe to assume I'd never emerge from my heroin-addict-level of torpor, I suddenly started accomplishing things yesterday. The tree I cut down to a stump in the front yard came back with a vengeance, resurrecting itself into a 15 ft. tall bush in the few months since the original deed. It was blocking out the view of most of my front yard, and therefore the necessary guilt feelings to ever accomplish anything outside again, not to mention stealing valuable minerals from my soil.

It was once again Chainsaw Time.
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