NikkiB #22 (almost separated)

[NikB]

Thanks ST - we'll see what happens.
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Had SUCH a productive and good day today, I'm really excited! My "to do" list was about 10 times longer than the hours I had, but that's ok. I'll keep plugging away at it. I still had a really great day. This'll be a bit long but I'm just so darn excited.

Obviously... got the internet connection fixed. Yay! That was only about 1.5 hours with tech support (yeah a long time but really, not THAT bad).

The plumber showed up around 9:15. Umm.. I just hafta know, who here bribed the company?? Because OMG ... this guy was HOT!! I mean seriously.. a hot plumber? (no offense to any plumbers out there but ya know.. the stereotype isn't pretty.. but I would've PAID to see this guy's butt crack!! ). He seemed to feel guilty charging me for such little stuff because they have a minimum service charge - it only took him maybe 20 minutes to fix my two "issues" but he had to charge me for an hour. They normally do a quick 10 minute free inspection as part of their service, but instead he did a really thorough one, I think to make up for some of the time (and hey, I wasn't gonna complain about getting a walk through of the house and all the stuff he wanted to come back and fix... ). We had a bunch of P-trap issues, and apparently a pretty serious air-gap issue... I'm a dork but what the heck... I asked all about what those were, what they do, how they work, thanked him for explaining a few mysterious plumbing oddities in the house... it was pretty fun actually. I would've quit asking if he looked rushed or annoyed but he seemed pretty eager to share his plumbing knowledge, and I learned a lot too.

And the house apparently needs like $15k in plumbing work if a pro had to do it (not all at once, but still, that's a lot!). So it made me more comfortable with my decision NOT to stay if it comes to D, too (between that, knowing it needs another $10k or so of HVAC work... it's just too much!!). H can and would do 99% of it himself if he/we kept the house... I on the other hand would have to pay someone and frankly, I don't think I could afford to keep up with a 50+ year old house.

After that I was going to paint but was just NOT in a painting mood so decided to do all the other "little" stuff in my room first. Yeah.. putting on cabinet knobs, hanging blinds, hanging a shade over an open cabinet. Sounds like quick and easy jobs right??

Um... not for someone who has, literally, not even drilled a hole in a piece of wood since maybe high school? (and I can probably count the TOTAL times I've done anything like that on one hand). Don't know that I EVER have drilled through a wall, sheetrock, etc. Nails and picture hanging is about the extent of my "DIY" experience. Somehow I had forgotten that.

So... step 1, unscrew the old, too short, painted-in screws for the cabinets to put on the new knobs. I'm thinking OK, this'll be quick, nice way to start the day. I grab a screwdriver and 30 minutes later I FINALLY get the first one all the way out. I have 5 more to go. UGH! So I remember, somewhere I KNOW H has a power screwdriver-y like device... spent another 30 minutes digging through the garage. By the end of that I was thoroughly frustrated and hadn't found it (and a little bit pissed.. GEEZ!!!.. if I had any room in the house this crammed and unorganized he'd throw a fit).

So, step 2, hit the hardware store and buy my own tools! I felt silly describing the "screwdriver-y thing" at the hardware store (thank goodness they know and like me). Finally I/we realize the screwdriver IS the drill..duh.. it's just a different "bit." Lucky for me everything was on sale - got at least $150 worth of tools for about $60. Nice!!! (no, I don't really have $60 laying around but figure I will need this stuff anyway if we D, and even if we don't it's nice to have my own tools that I know where they are, and they aren't all greasy and nasty!).

Somehow I'm oddly excited to own a power drill, bit set, driver set, stud finder, and laser level set. Even funnier, I thought I was non-chalant but the hardware store guys had these big ol' grins on their faces and congratulated me on my purchase.. .

Got all that home... cool, ready to go, right? Then I realize I have no freaking CLUE what a "chuck" is or how to operate it (though suddenly the "chuckless!" ad on the boxes made sense). I spent another 30 minutes messing around with the drill/screwdriver. Wanted to get online and look it up, but no internet.. still waiting for tech support's call back.

This is SUCH a 180 for me not to get frustrated, cry, and give up entirely. I kept myself calm and finally - woo hoo! - figured it out, and got the screwdriver bit installed. I showed the dog, she seemed unimpressed . Went to use it to pull out the next screw, and yikes.. it's a good thing these cabinets were already pretty thrashed. The bit kept slipping off the screw and I made a bunch of new dents. Again though, I kept at it and kept telling myself "this is your first time doing this!" By the time I got to the last knob I was a pro at removing old screws and putting in new ones.

Then got to the last door and.. gulp... no prior screw. So I hauled out my ruler and level set, laser-marked it, took a guess on the drill bit size, took about 3 deeeep breaths, and drilled a hole through the cabinet. I realize this is going to sound ridiculous to anyone who's ever done this before, but to me it was SO COOL! I love that smell of freshly cut wood... reminds me of either a camp fire about to be built, or of remodeling. I don't think I have EVER "made" that smell happen all on my own. I was so darned excited about that little 1/8" hole in the cabinet door and the sawdust on the floor.

Finished the knobs, and moved on to the roll-up shade over the open cabinet. Looked easy but that turned out to be the toughest thing to install, took me FOREVER, but I figured it out and again I'm so proud of it.

I figured the blinds were going to take ages, but I even got those installed in under an hour! Woo hoo!!! (and if I knew blinds were THIS easy I'd have replaced our icky ones years ago... good thing to know).

Unfortunately the furniture place flaked AGAIN. I had a long argument with their delivery guy and finally decided to cancel the order and dispute it with my credit card (because the store refuses to cancel/credit it). Pretty pissed.. although I'm glad I stood up for myself. Wish me luck on the $$. I plan to shop for either a similar futon/sofa thing or a comfy day-bed tomorrow and/or this weekend (at stores I've done business with before and know they are good!).

I'm excited, my room now has a working sink and shower, beautiful bamboo blinds, knobs on the cabinets, a darker bamboo cover over a formerly open (and ugly!) cabinet. It's definitely coming along!! Wish I could've gotten at least the masking done today too, but I just bit off way more than I could chew. And, I'm the proud owner of - oh my goodness - a POWER TOOL! I'm pretty excited about that. A bit behind on my planned "move in" date, but getting closer. I honestly think this is the most I've gotten done in a day since shortly after we first got this house, when I was motivated to make it all "perfect" ASAP.

And got an invite to a friend's house for dinner on Saturday. Her latest thing is trying a new gourmet meal every Sat... and she invited me to share in her creation this week. Should be fun!

Met another new friend at the meetup group tonight, too. Unfortunately it was kind of weird.. out of 12 people only 2 of us showed (not even the organizer showed up!)... so that was odd, but we hit it off, so that was cool. Poor girl.. she and her xH had almost the SAME story as me and my H.. almost down to the days in terms of Bomb 1, Reconcile 1, Bomb 2/3... to the point it was kinda eerie. She lived in Florida previously though, and there a D can be REALLY quick. She filed Oct. 2 and it was final Oct. 25.. WOW!!! In CA it's a 6 month minimum no matter what. She seemed pretty shell-shocked but at the same time was so smart, beautiful, just full of life - really neat to talk to. She didn't have that "lost" look a lot of us have (and it was funny, she said the same about me... a year ago I KNOW I had that look). She even shared my excitement about drilling a hole in a cabinet door.

Ahh it's way past my bedtime.. but I will catch up on everyone soon!! Hugs to you all.