Troubles and Two Triumphs

Our sister-in-law Chris commented that trouble always seems to find us.  No matter how hard we try, we have something go wrong.  Lately, I think she is right, but I guess that also means that I have to work a little harder to be optimistic.

After three "service" calls (read: $$$) from a HVAC firm and a new thermostat, we thought that we had our air handler/ heat pump problems solved.  Not so.  The system went down Sunday evening; therefore, once again Rick had to flip the breaker, wait a couple of minutes, and flip it back on.  Back in business, for now.  This morning, the system crashed again.  That was enough for both of us.

We went to our favorite home improvement store and came home with 10-gauge wire and a new 30 amp breaker. We knew that when we bought Gladys three years ago this coming summer, the first thing that we had to address was the old Federal Pacific breaker box.  That was replaced by our second day of ownership, but at that time, the electricians just used wire nuts to splice in the heating system wiring with the new box. We also know that this past year, the wires shorted out and took the system down.  The wires were repaired, but not replaced.  Today we took steps to remedy that situation.

Rick started by turning off power to the entire house. Smart move.  He then traced the wire from the air handler located in the attic above our garage to the box.  Of course, that wire came into the box at the very back, buried behind a tripped-out spider's web of wires located in front of them.  He finally was able to locate all three strands of wire and to trace them to the correct splice in one of three wire nuts. We were surprised to find that the wires in the nut were not even twisted together.  They were just held in place with the wire nut, so the possibility of a loose connection at that point was a real possibility.  Rick was able to disconnect the three wires from the breaker and the box.  He needed another half an hour just to pull them back up through the plastic conduit that threaded them down to the box.

Then he started to work on the other end of the line.  At the air handler, he found that the wire was even less connected to the system.  Inside that wire nut, he found the old wire lying next to stranded wire.  Again, we were astounded to find that nothing was twisted together to make a good contact.  Rick cut the old stranded wire off, exposed new wire, and twisted the stranded wire with the new wire. Then all of that was twisted back into the wire nut.  Back at the box, Rick threaded the new wires down the plastic conduit and hooked them up to the new 30 amp breaker.  OK, success.  We now have properly (and securely) connected new wire that is a home run from the air handler to the breaker box.  I know that I feel safer about having the electricity done correctly, and I hope that this new wire will solve our problems with the air handler going down every few weeks.

Our second problem confirmed itself yesterday.  A couple of weeks ago, Stephanie went with us to pick out a counter top for the utility sink in the laundry room.  We have patiently waited for a call from the counter top place to tell us that the top was finished.  We had been promised it last Tuesday, but when we called, we were told that it was not ready.  Fine.  We had plenty other things to do although washing out paint brushes in the bathroom sink was not something either of us wanted to do.

After coming home from Disney on Wednesday, we visited the counter top place.  By this time, we were both convinced that the counter top was somehow wrong.  We were right.  When we arrived, the office woman told us that they had "questions" about the counter top.  We found that they had done a beautiful job of mounting the sink into the counter top that we had chosen, but they had cut the top using the dimensions of the old counter top to which the sink was attached when we took it in.  Our mistake.  We should have not left the sink in the old top and just taken in the template that Rick had painstakingly completed for them to follow.  We had even told the office woman that the counter top had to be cut to the template, not to the old counter top.  Of course, they just cut the new counter top to the old top and totally disregarded the template.

After much English/ Spanish translation discussion (I heard mañana more than once), we finally agreed that we would come back today to pick up the redone counter top.  I do give the place credit that they were willing to rework the counter top to meet our needs.  We paid the agreed upon price, but for all of the issues, they probably lost money on the deal.

Our new counter top supporting the utility sink.

Rick spent the afternoon attaching the base cabinet to the wall and installing the new counter top and sink.  While we had a few challenges, he was able to get the plumbing connected with no leaks.  We now have a fully functioning utility sink, a beautiful new counter top, and a finally completed laundry room.

A replaced cabinet door above the sink and a
new counter top for the sink were the last two
pieces we needed to complete the laundry room.

So Gladys now has a new, clean, strong artery through which she can pump electricity to the HVAC system. (Every senior citizen needs to have her heart checked out occasionally.)  She also has a new utility sink (not located outside, as many are in Florida) with proper plumbing.  Again, we were presented with a couple of problems, but through hard work, we have come out triumphant... and that feels darn good.

Doorways, Disney, and Drawers

My never-resting husband started this week installing what door casing we had left around as many doors as he could finish.  The result is now completed doors in the master bedroom and master bathroom.  The hallway is almost finished, and the guest room only needs casing around the door to the hallway.  We ran out of casing, so back to Home Depot we went to buy more.  That casing, of course, is primed but needs two coats of finish paint before we can install it.

Completed casing around the doors finishes the master bedroom.

Our other chore was to try to salvage the baseboard that needs to be cut shorter around the remodeled closets.  Rick cut the caulk that was on top of the baseboard, took a thin putty knife and slipped it behind the boards, and then gently pulled them forward.  Then patience, more gentle prying with a pry bar, and careful lifting actually provided intact baseboards.  We carefully removed the nails and remaining caulk and were able to cut the baseboard to the correct size to fit around the new casement. Yes!  Neither of us wanted to buy and paint new baseboard.

A crane towers above Cinderella's castle for
some updates and repairs.  I guess even Cindy
needs to remodel her house every few years!

Last year we bought annual tickets to Disney World.  We wanted to take advantage of being Florida residents, and the tickets were a good deal.  We have previously visited all of the parks except the Magic Kingdom, so that was our destination on Tuesday.  Overall, we were very disappointed in our visit.

We were expecting crowds to be low; however, we soon found that many more people were there than anyone expected.  While we did not have terribly long waits for attractions (no more than 20 - 25 minutes), we were not thrilled with the crowds in the stores or the streets.

For whatever reason, Rick was in a foul mood.  Parking has increased to $15.00 per car which really is ridiculous, and this park in particular has lots far, far away from the main entrances.  We waited a bit for a shuttle to the park, only to learn that the shuttles were going to be down for maintenance the rest of the day, so we would have to find alternate transportation (ferry or bus) back to the lots.   The weather was in the 70s and sunny, so at least that was not a problem; I did slather on the sunscreen, however, to stay somewhat protected.

We did find a few good attractions.  The Hall of Presidents was up to date with speeches coming from an automated Barack Obama.  Disney's 1964 Carousel of Progress also was updated to include video games, voice-activated appliances, and laptop computers.  The Haunted Mansion was fun, and Pirates of the Caribbean was a nostalgic revisit for me.  Other than those, however, the rest of the attractions seemed outdated, trite, or just lame.  We avoided roller-coaster type rides since my equilibrium is not the greatest right now.  Ha!  Who knows?  Maybe a roller coaster ride would have made me less dizzy.

A feathered friend and some of his buddies stood guard
while we ate lunch.  No worries about crumbs littering
the eating areas in this park!

Lunch in any theme park will bankrupt a person, and ours was no exception.  We spent $20.00 and had very little food to show for it.  I am so glad that I did not have to pay the bill for some of the families that I saw in the park!  We had brought along our own filtered water, so at least we stayed hydrated for free.

While we were there we saw a couple of "characters" roaming the streets or signing autographs.  Rick snuck through areas where he probably should not have been to get a couple of pictures of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger since our grandson's room is decorated in Pooh and friends.

Just to show our grandson that Winnie the
Pooh and Tigger are real... Tigger holds
a small child while his dad takes pictures.

A riverboat ride in the afternoon offered us some relaxation and shade; however, by that time I was exhausted.  We had booked a hotel a short distance from the park, so by 4:00 p.m. we were on our way out.  We decided not to return for the Electric Parade and fireworks, enjoying an evening reading by the pool instead.

Cruising on the man-made river in the Magic Kingdom
was relaxing.

Maybe we are just old, but we think that anyone who takes a child less than 8 years old to Disney is wasting money.  We saw whining children lying on the pavement because they were bored, hot, or just exhausted, and exasperated parents who had just spent a couple of thousand dollars to give those same miserable children the magic Disney trip of a lifetime.  Clue in, folks.  If the children are less than 8, they will not remember the trip and will not enjoy themselves that much.  Keep your money, take them to the beach, and let them swim for the day.  That is what they want, and you will have a much better and less expensive vacation in the end.

On our way home today, we stopped at Ikea in Tampa to see if we could find an end table for the Florida room.  We looked at many, many different tables and finally chose one that matched the other storage cabinets in the room.  It is small, so it works well with the Ikea chairs; it has drawers, so I can store my sewing materials in it, and it has glass on top to protect it.  We purchased a small table lamp that matches the others in the living room for a coordinated look.  The furniture in the room is all white, so I badly need to find some colorful accent pieces to give the room some zing.  I found a great teal bowl at Ikea, but it was both too big and too expensive to make it into my shopping cart.

The completed table and lamp stand ready to invite us to
read or to sew in the Florida room.

Hopefully, that table and lamp are the last two pieces of furniture that we need to purchase for Gladys.  She still needs a rug to make the living room snug, some accent pieces to brighten the rooms, and a few more pieces of art for the walls.  Those will come in time.  For right now, though, the old doll is starting to look pretty good inside.

Not Stumped at All

Owning a big ol' dually 3500 truck has its advantages.  We have used it here in Florida to haul everything from trees to drywall, and today it served us well as a stump extractor.

Rick starts cutting off the additional branches on the schefflera.

On the north side of Gladys, we had an ancient dwarf schefflera (schefflera arboricola) that has probably been there for the last 40 years.  I say this because although we kept it pruned down to a lower-than-the-roof height, the stump was massive.  I had started excavating the stump weeks ago, but although a little dirt had been displaced, not much more had been done.  Today Rick attacked it with the SawsAll fit with the pruning blade.  He took off some of the larger pieces and then hooked the towing strap around what was left.  Neither of us figured it would budge, but when he put the truck into gear, the stump moved!

This shows the big stump but the very shallow
root system underneath it all!

"Keep going!" I said. "It actually moved a bit."  Rick tapped the accelerator a little, and the stump pulled right out.  Unreal.  We were both amazed because the circumference of the stump was huge but the root system underneath was fairly shallow.

The hibiscus was out of the ground in short order.

"While we have the truck here, let's take out the hibiscus, too," I suggested.   I was rather sad to see the hibiscus go because hibiscus are just getting into the season where they really will start bloom,  but my bush was not the most healthy specimen, and I knew that we would have to remove it eventually to make room for the fence gate.  I knew that the root system of the hibiscus was very shallow, so we did not bother to do any digging.  We just hooked the towing strap around the base of the bush and Rick inched forward.  The bush was unearthed in 2 seconds.

I do what hibiscus around the house and in the back yard, but I will wait until we are ready to plant flowers and shrubs and then start with new plants.  After a while hibiscus get woody, so starting fresh will be easier than trying to transplant and to nurture the old bush. They are not expensive and come in a variety of colors.  I cannot wait to get to that point, but realistically, I know that shrubs probably are not until the 2015-2016 budget.

Another surprise today was that UPS drove up (before 9:30 p.m.!) with our new cabinet door for the laundry room and with the upholstery gun that Rick ordered from Amazon just yesterday.  We had just discussed the cabinet door and did not expect it for at least another week.  As far as the gun was concerned, just note that sometimes Amazon's shipping is fantastic.  Rick had the door installed in record time, so the laundry room needs only the new countertop and sink to be complete. We'll use the gun tomorrow to recover the new bedroom chair.

Our palm tree tissue box cover brings palm trees into our bedroom. 

On a side note, I had mentioned that Rick and I were going to stop at the Art Fair this past weekend.  The Fair was crowded but interesting.  We made one small purchase: a tissue box cover that carries our palm tree theme into the bedroom.  This was a small but fun purchase, and that is what living in Gladys is all about.

Sunshine and Smiles

Last night after a long day, Rick and I went down to the Marina.  The local restaurant on the bay always has live music, so we can sit at the Marina, get entertained for free (yes, we are cheap!), and watch the sunset.

We started with a short walk to spy on the house getting built on Victoria Lane.  The contractor has set up mesh fencing to somewhat outline the house and added a picnic table for the workers.  Other than that, not much has been done.

From there, we went to the bay.  The attached pictures show why the Marina always relaxes us and reminds us why we live in Florida in the wintertime.  Enjoy.

One of the Marina "resident" birds keeps a
watchful eye out for dinner.  The birds in
Florida are magnificent.

Numerous sailboats are at anchor just
a short dingy trip from shore.

Another day ends in sunny Florida.

Short and Sweet

I have neglected this blog for too many days, and as a result, I probably have forgotten half of what we have accomplished in the last week.

Right now I am too tired to try to remember everything, so I will try to bring you up to date through the short and sweet version.

We have continued to work on finishing the inside.  Rick has a coat of paint on all of the door casing, and with rain predicted from Friday to Monday, we will probably get them painted and ready to install. The problem is that the nailed-in baseboard is too long, so we still have to alter that before we can install the casing. That might mean another saw to buy or more baseboard if we cannot use what we will try to pull off and cut.  Sigh.  These doors continue to fight us all the way.

The last few days have been beautiful, but appointments and distractions have kept us from taking advantage of the weather and working outside.  We have, however, just about finished the living room. Our new sofas came on Monday, and on Tuesday we found a palm tree for the corner of the room.  The hunt continues for an area rug, but the placement of the tree allowed us to hang the paintings that we purchased at the Art Fair earlier this year.  The sofas are taking a while to get used to because they are both higher and longer than the old sofa.  However, they are very comfortable and give us both a place to stretch out and relax at the end of the day.

The almost-finished living room.

The old sofa was temporarily moved to the Florida Room.  We thought we would like it there, but when we had it in place, it just did not fit.  The color was dark and wrong, and the sofa reminded us of the old furniture that was crammed in the room when we first saw the house.  Neither of us liked it in the Florida Room, so we decided to take it to our favorite consignment shop in town.  The owner, Denice, was happy to get the sofa today when we took it in.  We also took in the two brass lamps that we had used in the guest room, and since the palm floor plant that I had brought from Wisconsin no longer fit anywhere, we took that in also.  We probably won't get much money for any of it, but we will get something, and all of those pieces are now out of the house.

Originally, our plan was to use the old sofa in the Florida Room and to disassemble the white Ikea chairs. Once we decided to get rid of the old sofa, we put the Ikea chairs in the room and found that we really liked them.  The living room with the new sofas is a little darker now, so I am happy that we still have seating in the light-filled Florida Room for reading and for sewing.

The Ikea chairs will give us a great place to read and to sew.
We know that we need to find an appropriate table to use
between them.

Two trips to a local fabric store also resulted in two fabrics that we thought might work for recovering the new white chair that we bought for the bedroom.  The chair that we had in that room actually was Rick's from his high school days.  To say that it is an antique probably is not an exaggeration.  The chair was dark wood while everything else in the room is white, so be bought an identical chair to the one that I recovered and use at my desk in the Florida Room.  Once again, the black-and-white fabric has to go, but today we brought home the two possible replacement fabrics.  The one that we both thought was the best did not look as good as the other fabric once we placed them both on the chair.  Go figure.  Now we have to see if we have a staple gun that we can use to recover the chair.  More on that later.

In the little time that we were outside, we tried to just scrape and then paint the soffits.  I have been dizzy a bit, so Rick does not trust me on a ladder.  His shoulders are killing him, so working overhead is torture for him.  We hoped that we could get away with a quick-and-dirty refresh, but that will not be.  After Rick scraped a few feet of the soffit, he primed it.  Later he added the final coat of paint; sadly, the results were not good. We are going to have to buy a palm sander, scrape the soffits, then sand them smooth and patch what needs patching before we can get around to painting.  Whew!  This is going to be a thankless task, so I know why Rick is doing everything in his power to avoid having to start this job.  Unfortunately, we have to finish the soffits before we can concentrate on the walls of the house.

I also continue to dig around the big stump that we must remove.  I am getting closer to getting the roots exposed so Rick can cut them and the hole deep enough to pull out the stump.  I hope that we can get that yanked out before the brush pick-up on Monday.

As usual, we have more than enough to do.  We will run out of both time and money long before we run out of jobs; however, that is pretty typical for remodeling an old house.

When Rick stopped at the gas station to fill the Camry, I ran inside to buy a lottery ticket.  The jackpot is up to $400 million.  Who knows?  If we win, we actually will have enough money to hire someone to put in new soffits.  Strangely enough, neither of us wants to move from Gladys.  We would just hire the work done to finish her and be perfectly happy to sit back and relax.  The nice thing about dreams: they are always free.

Up, Up, and Away

We took a little time off from remodeling to take Stephanie to the Kennedy Space Center.  We had never been there either, so this was a first-time trip to the Atlantic coast for us.  For anyone who is expecting a Disney-type of adventure at Kennedy, think again. Most of the Center is devoted to displays and videos like one would find in a museum.  We did pass on the Angry Birds Adventure, though, so that, I suspect, was interactive.   However, for history buffs or anyone over age 10 who is interested in NASA and our space program, this is an interesting historical site that is worth seeing.

For those of us old enough to remember Sputnik and all of the stir that the Russians started, the overview of the entire space race program was one of remembrance.  For Stephanie, who remembers the Apollo missions, the history was a bit more recent.  One fact that amazed me was that just 55 years after the Wright brothers flew that first "plane" at Kitty Hawk, man was landing on the moon.  What an incredible accomplishment!

Another impression that we all got was that much of our space exploration in reality was done with a wish-and-a-prayer, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants mentality.  When man got into space, would he be protected if he was in a spacesuit and a pressurized capsule, or would the whole thing collapse and kill him anyway?  No one knew. Would man be able to swallow and to eat in zero gravity?  No one knew. Would liquid oxygen and other mixtures of fuels work, or would they blow up when they reached a certain altitude or temperature?  No one knew.  The level of uncertainty was unbelievably high, so those first astronauts like Alan Shepherd and John Glenn had to be both incredibly brave and slightly insane.

The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)  stands 525 feet tall
and covers eight acres.  The building has four high bay doors
through which the assembled space vehicles can travel
to the launch pad.

The exhibits at the Space Center were presented well and were interesting to view.  Personally, I thought that they relied a little too much on videos, but for those who had not lived through each phase of the space program, the videos were well made and an excellent teaching tool.  For the old folks, they refreshed the memory of what we had previously seen.

This is one of the rocket-transfer platforms on which the spacecraft
move from the VAB to the launch pad. This thing is mammoth!

Approaching one of the launch pads.  We actually
were able to stand in the area where the rockets went
off, so all of the brick were charred and burned from ignition.

We signed up for the MegaTour which allowed us to go behind the scenes into both the Vehicle Assembly Building and onto the actual launch pads.  This was a three-hour bus tour.  I am glad that we had the opportunity to go to these areas since at the end of this month, those tours will not longer be available.  NASA is gearing up for its next phase of operations, so they will be using the Assembly Building and strict security will once again be in place.  The launch pads were empty at this time, but they, too, will soon be used.  On February 20 of this month, a GPS satellite for the military will be shot into orbit.

The entire shuttle Atlantis is suspended in a building for everyone
to see.  The cargo bays are open, and nearby displays give people
hands-on experience with the controls.

The real reason the shuttle program ended: they let Rick drive!

Highlights of our visit included getting to see the space shuttle Atlantis and mock-ups of some of its systems and control rooms.  I was amazed both at how small the shuttles actually were and how cramped the quarters were in them.

We all enjoyed the video which showed the cooperative efforts of 17 nations as we built the Space Lab together.  Most people are unaware that to this day we have a revolving international crew of three astronauts who live six months at a time on the station.  It is an ongoing operational lab orbiting 240+ miles above the earth.

Just had to add the official mascot for NASA
for my grandson, Owen. Maybe someday
you will fly into space too.

We attended a NASA update to hear what was in the near and not-so-near future.  While some of the facility will remain in the hands of NASA, the government is now opening space exploration and business to private enterprises.  Such tasks as the shuttling of supplies, experiments, and equipment to the Space Lab will fall into the hands of private businesses.  NASA will use its scientists, funds, and facilities to move on to its next ventures: putting a permanent base on the moon, landing on and exploring large meteorites, developing long-distance/ time travel to places like Mars, and exploring space well beyond that planet and even beyond our galaxy.  Does that sound like science fiction?  Maybe, but what do you think the Wright brothers would have said if they had been told we would be standing on the moon just 55 years later?

A sunrise as seen from the balcony of our hotel in Cocoa Beach.

Each night of our trip, we ventures back to Cocoa Beach and the LaQuinta Inn.  The views from our fifth floor window onto the Atlantic and the Pier were marvelous; the Inn itself I would rate at about a C.  The beds were comfortable, but certain amenities like a fan in the bathroom to remove shower steam were lacking.  Overall, we had an enjoyable trip.  Our only true shopping was at the Kennedy gift shop which was a great disappointment, and at Ron Jon's famous surf shop in Cocoa Beach.  I actually got a cute sundress and sweater, and we picked up a couple of things to send back to Lindsay's family.

On Wednesday, on the way home, we stopped at one of three large outlet malls in Orlando. We were disappointed in the Coach shop, out-priced in the Tumi Outlet store, and comfortable in Eddie Bauer's.  Rick wanted some shirts; in the end, I bought two shirts and four pair of pants.  I have lost 16 pounds, and on a 5' 2" frame, that leaves me with a lot of baggy clothes.  I know that Eddie Bauer's tend to run on the generously-cut size, and that was evident again because I bought size 6 pants.  The last time I wore a size 6, I was in sixth grade. But I have clothes, now, that don't totally hang on me like I am a scarecrow.  They will serve me well until I see where my recovery takes me.

Both trikes are now suspended in the garage.  Success!

Today was a productive day.  While we were gone, Steve took in our packages and mail (thank you again, Steve) and that included the bike rack that Rick ordered.  We put the bike rack up this morning, so we once again have floor space on which to work in the garage.  If I had one wish for Gladys, it would be that she had a double instead of a single garage.  Ah, well, the old girl is just not that fat!

We also took a ride over to a countertop shop and in short order found a durable, man-made, solid surface countertop that will work for the laundry room. We knew with the small rim around the sink that granite would not work, and the woman at the countertop shop confirmed that. Rick had drawn a template, and we took in the utility sink; we have been promised the new countertop by Tuesday.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Tarpon Springs to do a little sight-seeing and shopping.  We hope that Stephanie is having a good time and that she is getting a welcome break from the never-ending cold and winter in the Midwest.  We enjoy having her here; we sincerely hope that Gladys has been a good hostess also.

Plants, Picnics, Pulleys, and Plates

The temperature promised to be higher today, so we started the day by going to the Botanical Gardens to see what blooms in Florida in February.  I got lots of ideas for the "someday gardens" for Gladys.  I will try to plant variegated shrubs to provide color, like crotons and gingers, while adding flowering shrubs alike azaleas, hibiscus, and a few others.  The gardens were fairly empty, so our walk through the gardens was very tranquil.  We had packed a lunch, and we had a delightful picnic at a bench in the middle of the palm gardens while fountains added gentle, soothing sounds around us.

On our way home, we got caught in traffic and were witness to former wrestling star Hulk Hogan, who resides in Clearwater Beach,  on a small motorcycle in what appeared to be a commercial in the making.  If he was not making a commercial, then he certainly was not trying to be incognito.  He was wearing a bright orange and yellow bandana with the word "Hulk" across his forehead and an orange feathery boa around his neck.  Traffic started to move, so our glimpse of celebrity was over, and that was fine with us.

Once home, we tackled the job we started yesterday to hang my bike for storage.  Due to my dermatomyositis, I do not dare try to ride this year.  I fear I would damage my muscles, leaving behind only scar tissue and no new muscle.  This is heartbreaking since we are just getting into the good bicycling weather.  One of the reasons that we liked Dunedin is the Pinellas Trail which gives us great walking and biking opportunities. At this point, however, we need the floor space in the garage rather than letting my trike sit there and gather dust.

Added cross beams in the rafter set the superstructure for
the bike lift system.

The bike rack that we tried came from The Container Store. We were not sure it would work, but once Rick put up extra 2 x 4s in the rafters of the garage and bolted the pulleys (rather than to use the screws provided with the system), we ended up with a fairly secure way to lift and to lower my ICE trike.

Up, up, and away... my trike is hooked up and slowly raises
to the rafters.

To those who are interested in the system, it is manufactured by Racor.  The only thing that we felt was not great about the system were the screws that they provided to hold the pulleys up.  The screws were long, but Rick had read about the system online and someone suggested using bolts rather than screws to more securely keep the pulleys in place.  Since trikes weigh more than regular bicycles, he went to Ace Hardware and bought the bolts strong enough to keep the trikes hanging in place.

My ICE trike safely hangs from the rafters, giving us both
head room and floor space in the garage.

Once my trike proved that the system worked, Rick went back online to order a second system to hold his trike.  We paid $25.00 for the system at The Container Store, and he ordered the same system through Amazon for $19.15, and we do not have to pay any taxes on it. Lesson learned.

Our new palm tree plate.

One thing that I wanted to add to the blog was the wonderful plate that Stephanie made for us.  The plate is about 6 inches square.  She made it and two other plates at a one-day glass fusing workshop.  We both really like it.  I would like to hang it on the wall as a small, delightful decoration.  Palm trees are part of our Key West theme for Gladys, so once I find a plate hanger, I will find the perfect place for it.

We ended the day by grilling dinner.  Stephanie came from ice and snow and -5 temperatures, so having something on the grill was a winter treat for her.

Tomorrow we will travel to the east side of Florida and visit the Kennedy Space Center.  We are looking forward to a few days off as we explore a new attraction and a new area in the state.

Laundry Room Cabinets

Yesterday did not turn out to be a day that either of us expected.  The day started with a heated discussion about what to do with the laundry room cabinets.  At one point, Rick was ready to haul them all to the magic curb and let them disappear from our lives.  In the end, that was not his choice.

Rather than deal with them at that moment, he focused his attention on the last two coats of paint ( numbers 43 and 44 if you remember from my previous blog),  finishing the slab door that will replace the pocket door between our master bedroom and bathroom.  The painting is the easy part; adding the hardware for the pocket door will be more of a challenge later.

While he was doing that, I took the car and drove a few blocks to the lab for my monthly blood test.  I had orders from both the Mayo doctor and from my local rheumatologist, so I told them just to combine the orders, avoid the duplicates, and send the results to everyone.  A very nice phlebotomist took me into the room and skillfully drew three tubes of blood.  No pain; no problem.  Suddenly, I was very dizzy.  I looked up at her and told her I needed to sit for a moment.  The next thing I knew, she was calling the receptionist from the outer room because boom, I had passed out.  They gave me some water, and I felt a little better, so I stood up. Wham!  Apparently, I immediately blacked out again.  I really do not understand why this happened since I have had hundreds of blood tests throughout my life.  They generally don't phase me at all, but I was upset from my disagreement with Rick, and my blood pressure or something definitely was off.  The kind people at the lab escorted me to a room where I could lie down for a few moments. They asked me if they could call someone to come and get me, but if they called Rick, we would just have to deal with two vehicles to get home.  I told them "no" and that I would be fine.  Within 10 minutes I was fine, so I got up, thanked them for their help, and drove home.  Thankfully, no one else was in the lab at the time. Weird.  I have only passed out once before in my life, so this was totally unexpected.

The laundry room before cabinets.

By the time I got home, Rick had one of the upper cabinets assembled.  He found even more damaged parts-- an upper and a lower panel-- and he also found that one of the doors had a patched hole in it that was totally unacceptable. He had a left-over panel from the kitchen, so he was able to cut a new top and bottom panel.  The patched door, though, will have to be replaced.  He sent an e-mail to the company letting them know that their quality control or their shipping needed to be upgraded since two out of four boxes of cabinets were damaged.  He got a reply today that said, in essence, that they were just the manufacturer and that if he had any problems, he needed to work with this distributor.  In other words, "We don't care if the product is damaged.  That's your problem, not ours."  For that reason, we cannot ever recommend River Run cabinets.  Do not consider them; they used to be good, but they no longer produce quality parts.

The cabinet above the sink goes in while
the next cabinet waits its turn.

The completed cabinets (sans one door).  Thankfully, we
purchased hardware for them when we bought the knobs
last year for the kitchen.

Rick finished assembling the cabinets yesterday, and we installed them this morning.  They are not perfect, but they will do.  We had to install them higher than normal on the wall to avoid the clean-out trap that is behind a panel over the washing machine.  The upper cabinets (minus the one door that needs replacing) and finished.  We will work on the installation of the lower cabinet sometime during the next week.

Stephanie flew down from Minnesota today.  The temperature was -5 when she left, so our cloudy, rainy 55 degrees today still seemed wonderful to her.  The temps are supposed to climb in the next few days, so she should be happy with the climate.  She has not been here in over 18 months; thus, she only has seen pictures of the changes.  She was amazed at the new rooms and delighted with the new guest room.  Although not quite complete, Gladys has taken a good bath, put on new underwear, added some fresh make-up, and generally got dolled up to meet and to welcome our current guest.

Trapezoids and TinkerToys

As with every job, the success of the task is always in the details.  Yesterday Rick took care of a lot of those details.

Obviously, every door needs some kind of a knob, so he started by putting in the knob on the hallway closet.  We paid extra to have pre-hung doors with the knob holes and gains cut out so the knob-installation job would be easy.  Yeah, right.  The doorknob went in fine, but the gain cut out for the striker plate was not where it should have been.  Why can't anyone do anything right anymore?  Rick had to take a chisel and cut out more of the door just to get the striker plate to line up correctly. Sadly, he added the knob to the bathroom closet door today and he had to do exactly the same thing to get that striker plate to fit. At least we have consistency in their screw-ups.

A quick trip to our handy-dandy big box store resulted in melamine white boards that we could cut into shelves.  We wanted to replace all of the shelves in the hallway closet because we suspect they are covered in lead paint.  We discussed buying stock goods, cutting it, and then painting it ourselves.  In the end, we decided to go with the less-expensive, less-work melamine boards.  Since we had to cut out around the central vacuum pipe in the hall closet, the shelves took a little longer than usual to complete.  Additionally, while Rick cut the shelves straight, the walls of the closet definitely were not.  The inside of the closet is more like a trapezoid than it is a rectangle!  What does my sister-in-law call all of these odd things?  Oh, yes: Character.  Add trapezoidal closets to Gladys' charming list of character.

She isn't rectangular, but she's functional.

Nevertheless, the shelves are cut close enough that everything fits securely, and, thankfully, I have more than enough storage. Now how often can a homeowner say that?

Closet doors help the bedroom look more complete.

Yesterday also saw the closet doors go up in the master bedroom.  I love the new organization inside, and although I don't like hauling the doors to one side or the other to get dressed in the morning, I am happy to have the doors give us some privacy back.  Our bedroom faces the street with three big windows, so without the doors, anyone walking down the street could see what we had hanging in the closet.  The doors are massive, but they certainly fit the Key West decor of the room.  I think they make the room look higher; with all of that fresh white paint, they certainly reflect more light into the room!

In the afternoon, we drove to Pinellas Park to meet with Michael, the man who ordered our cabinets for the laundry room.  Those cabinets are a sore subject with both of us because we know Michael will do whatever he can to "pad" the price; however, he is the most convenient source to get the same brand of cabinet that we installed in the kitchen last year.  Last year he quoted us a laundry room cabinet price with the cabinets all assembled and installed.  This year, the price was "slightly higher" and that did not include assembly or installation. Of course, that meant that we had to purchase a staple gun, staples, clamps, and screws to complete the job.  I told Rick that the additional expense for those items would have paid for half of the installation costs that Michael tried to talk us into this year.  In the end, though, we will have a staple gun, staples, and two more clamps to add to our stash of tools.

Additionally, Michael did not order the end panel. Argh-h-h! One of the reasons that we wanted cabinets in the laundry room was to have a refrigerator panel that would enclose the right-hand side of the cabinets from the crown molding to the floor, thus blocking the plumbing from view from the kitchen. Rick has said all along that the order would not be complete, and he was right. Michael is the type who promises things in two weeks, and we have to call a month later to ask where the cabinet might be.  That's what happened this time, so when Michael said he would try to get the end panel added to the next order going to Virginia, I am not depriving myself of oxygen waiting for that panel to arrive.  Can we do the rest of the installation without that?  Yes, and we will.  However, once again, why can't anyone do anything right anymore?

Last night after dinner Rick opened the boxes that contained the cabinets.  As we half-expected, we found two side panels that were bent at the dado join and damaged, and we found two panels that we chipped at the edges.  One of the chipped pieces is on the inside of the base cabinet, so I can live with that.  The other chipped part actually was a piece that we had to trim, so that also worked out.

Rick looked at the two end panels and decided that he could glue them back together. He did that today, and if people did not know the panels were damaged, they would not know.  Thankfully, both panels will just be screwed together in the middle of the bank of cabinets, so neither will be seen.

I thought that today would be a day to finish some of the other projects, but that changed mid-day, too.  During our trip to Lowe's and Home Depot, I bought some new shelf paper for the hall closet.  I lined the shelves, got side-tracked with Rick's new project, but finally got back to it this afternoon.  The hall closet is now complete, and I actually have room to spare in that enclosure also.

The laundry room sink on the old
2 x 4 legs has served me well.

The "new" project that I did not anticipate today was the building of the base cabinet for the laundry room sink. I thought that we were going to check the cabinets for damage, put them aside, and not tackle the laundry room until after Stephanie had visited and departed.  Ha!  A woodworker with four whole boxes of cabinet parts is like a little boy with a whole new box of TinkerToys. No patience, no discipline.  Just let me get my hands on all of those parts and play!!!

The new cabinet, with the old sink-top resting
on top, sits in the garage waiting for installation.

I now am without a laundry room sink. That is OK, but I have a guest coming in two days, and I will not be without laundry facilities.  I freaked about that, but that thought, I am sure, really did not even cross Rick's mind.  He said that he could "fix it" so I could have access to my washer and dryer.  OK.  Next time, though, ask before disconnecting the plumbing!

We knew when we ordered the cabinets that we would have to cut the base back 1 1/2 inches for the assembly to clear the door casing. The Festool saw made the actual cutting a breeze, and we soon had the cabinet together.  Our next challenge is to pick out a countertop that will support the sink.  Right now the sink rests in an old laminate top that was in the house when we bought it.  We would love to add a granite countertop, but we are afraid since the top really will only be a few inches of rim all the way around, that granite will break.  We have to check a few places to learn what they could do or what alternative materials they may suggest.

So for now I have a laundry room sink in the garage, a washer that cannot be used without a drain cap, and, since I know my husband very well,  the expectation that Rick will get up tomorrow, get help moving the washer and dryer, and will get the cabinets assembled and installed by the end of the day.

Paint and Progress

The weekend saw no rest inside Gladys.  We continue to paint anything that lies flat on a sawhorse for more than 10 seconds, and incidental chores always seem to rear their ugly heads.

We did take time over the weekend, though, to visit the Marina (which was too crowded to find a place to sit), and to take a walk down Victoria Lane.  Victoria Lane is a street that runs along St. Joseph Sound where, in the 1890s - 1930s, the elite of society came down from the North and built their "vacation" mansions.  We enjoy seeing the various periods of buildings on the street, and Rick is fascinated by what will appear on one particular lot.

Last year, someone purchased one of the old mansions with the intension of remodeling it.  The new landowner soon learned, however, that he could not put the electrical wires within the walls (rather than having them strung outside the walls and across the ceiling as they must have been done in the late 19th century).  He also found other costly and space-prohibitive barriers to his plans, so he had a "gentle demolition" of the structure.  The "gentle" part is due to the fact that he allowed contractors and others to come in to bid on the ornate woodwork, three-way fireplace, exquisite staircase, hardwood floors, hand-carved wainscoting, and other decorative features of the house.  Those items were carefully removed and preserved before the final demolition of the building.  What remains is a vacant lot with stakes and red strings outlining the planned structure that will grace the lot.  We both hope that the new owner will build a new "old" house-- a period piece that will fit into the neighborhood rather than a modern mansion that will be totally out of place.  Since he was careful about preserving parts of the last house, we think he might be sensitive to the ambiance of the area.

At the very end of the street near the Marina is another big old house for sale.  That house used to be the Yacht Club of Dunedin.  The house has been for sale over a year, and we noticed on this walk that the entire house was tented.  Tenting occurs when a company comes in, puts an air-tight tent over the entire structure, fills the inside of the tent with poisonous gas, and then lets everything inside die for about three days.  The two most prevalent reasons for tenting something are to rid the structure of bugs -- including termites-- and to rid the structure of rodents.  We tented Gladys the first year we owned her to eliminate both termites and fruit rats.  I wonder if someone wants to buy the old yacht club, or if the real estate company trying to sell it found problems and decided to take care of them.  What happens to that house also will be interesting to watch.

What is happening in this house shows progress even if it is not too interesting to watch.  (Remember the old saying, "That's as exciting as watching paint dry"? Well, that's where we are right now.) Rick finished painting and hanging the main bathroom door. We finished and set aside the hallway and bathroom closet doors while we work on the interior of closets, and we picked up casing that needs our attention next. Having run out of sawhorse space, we have make-shift sawhorses made of orange tubs in the garage. Whatever works...

Rick was lamenting that we did not do much again today.  I disagree.  He currently is working on the large closet doors for our master bedroom.  Why are we sick of painting?  We have 11 doors that we are replacing.  Each door must be painted with a first and then second coat on both sides; therefore, Rick will have painted 44 sides of doors by the time he is finished. Then there were the door frames which also needed two coats of paint... thankfully, we have completed them all.

Rick rolls one wall in the hall closet.

We also worked on the hallway closet today.  While painting the upper storage unit in the guest bedroom was like painting the inside of a cocoon, painting this tiny closet was more like painting the inside of a coffin while being in it!  I cut in the

The completely painted hall closet.

corners and edges this morning while Rick painted a door; then he came and rolled what he could with a little roller.  By that time, I had also managed to paint both elbows, parts of my forearms, and about 10% of my hair. I think Rick just wants my hair to be as white as his, so this is his devious plan to get me to that point!  The result of our labors, however, is a fresh, clean closet.

Other completed chores today included adding handles to the closet doors in the guest bedroom, picking up glass for the nightstands in that room, and adding the closet track in the master bedroom.

Handles make the closet doors look more
balanced, and they make opening the doors
much easier!

We took time out from painting after lunch to load our old Ethan Allen end tables into the truck to get them out of our way.  We actually purchased those tables 38 years ago with wedding money that we received from Rick's grandmother.  They have served us well both in our first apartments and homes and for the past three years down here.  However, they really do not fit into Gladys' decor, and they were really showing their age.  We intended to take them to Habitat for Humanity Restore, but to save time and gas we took them to Johnson's Furniture here in town.  They deal in new and used furniture.  The man we talked to said that they could not sell the tables, but they could donate them to the church to help the poor.  That's good enough for me.  I have no idea what church will get the profits  nor do I really care.  If the donation will help others, that is fine.  They are out of my house and out of my life.

Had they not taken the tables, I am sure that the magic curb would have worked also.  Last night we put out the old tracks for the closets, and they disappeared before the garbage collectors came this morning. Anything not wanted finds a home elsewhere via the magic curb.

We need the room in the house to bring in our next project.  Rick called today to arrange to pick up our cabinets for the laundry room.  They are coming unassembled, so we have no idea how many boxes we will have.  We probably will store them in the same corner of the living room that just held the end tables.  We will have to find time, soon, to get them assembled and installed.  That probably will not happen, though, until after Stephanie's visit which starts this Friday.  We cannot wait to see her and to take some time off.  What we are doing now is mostly cosmetic changes in Gladys, but, wow, do those cosmetics cost a fortune for this old doll!

Today was a beautiful day outside, so I am hoping that after dinner we can at least take a little time to sit outdoors or to take a walk.  Last night we actually grilled our dinner.  Doing so seems so unnatural for us folks from the North who usually do not pull out the grill until the snow melts in late April or even early May.  Yet the weather was the main reason we came to Florida and purchased Gladys.  We feel we have made great progress with her, and we continue to be happy with the changes we are making.