My Writings. My Thoughts.
Monday Night’s Kitchen Floor Update
// September 15th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // homelife, pictures
I was so right. Sleep and food helped a lot. After talking to a few people, I figured out that I had the wrong blade for plywood. So I splurged for the $6 plywood blade and it was SO worth it! It cut the plywood like a knife through a block of cream cheese… not smooth as butter, but it did the darned job!
Thanks to a few friends coming by to help with various parts of the project (Mark getting the ripping started, Nik helping me strategize the removal of the pantry floor)! But I have to brag on myself. I rock on that darned circular saw! Rah woman rah!
Dave is back tomorrow, so we’ll strategize together about the removal of the appliances and whatnot.
The Kitchen Floor Nightmare
// September 14th, 2008 // No Comments » // homelife, pictures
So we need a new dishwasher. The one we have leaks. And leaks more than we realized. Oh, and it’s an Insinkerator, circa 1980. Apparently the company has since realized that putting their eggs in the garbage disposal basket was a good idea.
We knew that we probably had a smaller space than normal for this diswasher, but we took our measurements and went out in hope of finding one that would fit. We measured the height of the dishwasher at 32 1/4″ where the standard height is 33 1/2″ +. This was discouraging. When the Lowe’s guy suggest that we re-take our measurements, we went home and discovered foul play. The previous homeowners had raised the floor in front of the dishwasher by a couple of inches, trapping it in for eternity!
Well, thanks to the previously mentioned leakage, our floors have been warping anyway. Apparently the homeowners laid down plywood underneath the kitchen tile. They did place hardibacker on top, however left a few gaps in it. Oops. Plywood warps when it gets wet. We now realize that we need to redo the whole thing.
We start by removing the tiles. That was easy! And fun! I wanted to keep as many in tact as possible to either reuse in our bathroom (if we EVER get to that project) or give to someone who needs them and kept bags of the broken ones in case some freecycler would be interested in mosaicing.
Once the tiles were gone, we get a good look at the water damage. The wood was definitely growing mold and warping. One piece of the plywood was about 2 inches thick with water while the one next to it was less than an inch thick. No wonder our tiles were coming up!
Well, the hardibacker was properly installed, minus the gaps of course. It is BONDED to the plywood and we hit our first big issue. How do we get this subfloor (technical term I learned through all this) up? We borrow a friend’s circular saw and through a series of trips to Home Depot (shout out to Anthony at the HD!) we realize that we have to buy a blade specifically for the hardibacker since the wood blade won’t cut through it. Since they are bonded, we’ll have to cut through the floor layers twice.
Since Dave is out today, I have a ball with the circular saw the first time around. That hardibacker went up in smoke… or dust rather. It worked really well. Plus I got to use power tools. Bonus! Of course most of our living space is now covered in dust. Suck. I now realize the benefit of plastic walls. I immediately go in with the wood blade for the plywood. This … did not work quite so well. I figure there is not enough of the hardibacker gone since the blade keeps getting caught on it. So I dig in. With a chisel. For like 4 hours. Urgh! At least it will all be worth it when I can get one piece of the subfloor out, right?
I finally decide I’m in a good spot and get the saw ready. First time I try, the dang thing kicks back. Hmm…. maybe the blade is backwards. Nope. Second time, kickback. I check the ‘net and they can’t say much more other than make sure the surface is even. So I try in a different, more even place. Third time, kickback with a mega vengeance. It went back, hit the hardibacker, and the blade came loose. Luckly everything stayed where it needed to, but still. Yikes. I was done. I was so done. So done in tears. And now I’m stuck.
So I got food and now I’m sleeping on it. Hopefully everything will seem roses in the morning light. I don’t know. I really tried. Sigh.
Pardon My Silliness
// September 9th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // general
I cannot for the life of me pick a theme for my blog. And I definitely have not had the time I’d like to concentrate on making this one pretty. So pardon my silliness for now and just read the content. Someday it will be pretty like the rest of my site. Someday…
Cozumel Photos
// August 25th, 2008 // No Comments » // pictures
I officially have my Cozumel pictures up on flickr. Thanks to Maria for saving my butt and letting me have copies of the pictures from her camera. (My camera died as soon as we got there.)
Why I Love Dave: Exhibit A
// August 23rd, 2008 // No Comments » // homelife
Me: Do you think that if water were alive, would it actually enjoy boiling, like if it were a massage or something?
Dave: I don’t think it would like it very much. It’s probably screaming since it’s changing states and disappearing.
Me: Oh, I don’t know. It’s still alive even if it is gas.
Etc. etc. for a couple more rounds and then onto something else.
Yeah, my synopsis kinda sucks, (it’s been a few days…) but at least it gets the point across. Rather than pull a realist and say that I am so weird for thinking such thoughts, Dave decides to play along and actually debate me over the subject. That rocks!
A to Z
// August 10th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // post
Wow! I’m honored! I was tagged for this thing. And I thought my infrequent updates have kept everyone away. Thanks, Carrie! 
A - Attached or single: Attached… at least that’s what my ring tells me.
B - Best Friend: My attachment.
C - Cake or Pie: I’ll have to go with cake. But yum on both!
D - Day of the Week: Saturday. The weekend always starts with such promise.
E - Essential Item: Under-eye makeup
F - Favorite Color: Orange!
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Bears. Worms are too big and I like one-biters.
H - Home town: Wichita, KS
I - Indulgences: Cherry Sours… or anything insanely sugary.
J - January or July?: July. No like cold. Plus January is the home of the holiday season letdown
K - Kids: Nopers
L - Life is incomplete without: People
M - Marriage Date: April 23, 2005
N - Number of Siblings: This question is so much more complicated than it sounds, but 3 is my number.
O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges. Apples are grimy.
P - Phobias or Fears: Looking older than I am.
T - Tag Three: Twisted Sideways, Rob Lifford, Helen’s World Travels
U - Unknown fact about me: I can still get my feet behind my head, and tried it just now to make sure!
V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Vegetarian wanna-be who enjoys an occasional bloody steak.
W - Worst Habit: Starting new activities
X - Rays or Ultrasounds: ?? Never had an ultrasound, so I can’t answer this one. Stretching on the X question, no?
Y - Your favorite food: Noodles. Just ask the attachment.
Z - Zodiac Sign: Gemini, which pretty much has me described… minus the slut part. ;o)
Wordle
// July 24th, 2008 // No Comments » // post
Wordle is fun… way too much fun for a font/word nerd like me. Look what they did with the front page of my blog:
It cracks me up how much I talk about Dave. And I already know that I say “really” too often, but this just about proves it. I’ll have to start cutting that out.
Sinus Surgery Update
// July 2nd, 2008 // No Comments » // post
Disclaimer: I do have vicadin in my system, so this post might reflect that fact. ;o)
So everything seems to have gone quite fine with my septoplasty (I’m beginning to like the term “sinus surgery”) today. I really didn’t expect to be awake, much less lucid today. But I’m doing pretty well!
When I woke up this morning, I went for a jog. My surgery was at 10:15 and I woke up at 7:30. I knew that I was not going to be able to exercise for a week or two so I really wanted to get in one last hurrah. I took it at an easy pace and ended up going just under 6 miles. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be doing myself a disservice or not. But other than being a bit hungry (no food after midnight last night), it seems to have been a good idea. I’m already having trouble sitting all day and went out to water my plants tonight. Dave got upset with me for that. 
I learned that water counts as food and I couldn’t have any past midnight either. But they neglected to mention that part. I love my water. Fortunately I didn’t have much and the anesthesiologist was ok with it because I had it much earlier in the day.
I have never had surgery before, so this was totally a new experience. First, they put an IV in the back of my hand! Gross! It hurt like a mother trucker. And even through today, the incision point actually hurts worse than my nose sometimes.
I have also never had general anesthesia before. I was expecting a gradual “out”, but no. It was sudden for sure. I have NO idea what happened in that surgery room. One minute I was talking and the next I was waking up in pain. I couldn’t swallow or cough for the next couple of minutes. They rushed to get pain medication through that darn IV in my hand. That was weird. Soon I was able to get some precious water and was feeling better. Dave came back in and they wheeled me out to his car.
The bottom of my nose does hurt and it’s swollen a bit, but neither is as bad as I expected. I got a pretty good nap earlier today and have been awake for a good 4 hours or so. The changing of the gauze is pretty nasty though. It makes me think of those horror movies where people see something really awful or are tortured in their brain and they always show blood dripping out of their nose. It’s just that graphic. ;o)
I’m hoping that I won’t have to wear this gauze for the July 4th/double birthday celebration with my family this weekend. I have a good three days to recover before then so here’s hoping.
I hope you enjoyed my drug-laced post for today. Thanks to everyone for their support. I think it’s going to be such a great improvement in the end!
// June 21st, 2008 // No Comments » // post
I’ve randomly received two pieces of girly advice this month, so thought I’d share.
- Change your bra every day.
Now most women I’ve talked to have been floored by this piece of advice. Most guys are probably scared that this isn’t already the case! But apparently if you only wear your bras one day at a time, it gives the elastic a chance to rest. They won’t wear out as quickly. I don’t know how to prove if this one works or not, but considering what I pay for my bras, I’m happy to help them last as long as possible!
- Put your eyeliner and eyeshadow on before the rest of your makeup.
Now I just started wearing eyeshadow every day thanks to my friend Stef (thanks, Stef!) so maybe more experienced women already knew this. This totally works! I use a brush so the shadow tends to land in a big pile of color on top of my cheekbones. This is not attractive. But if I put the eyeshadow on before my foundation, I can wipe it off and the foundation will cover what’s left. Genius!
// June 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // post
I’m pretty excited. I just found out what was wrong with me and now I’m going to get it fixed!
I’ve been stuffed up for years now. My sinuses are always full and sometimes it even affects my ears. (It can drain to one side of my head as I sleep and I’ll have to switch to the other side since it bothers my ears. I know… gross!)
I’ve been tested for allergies to no avail. I was pricked 30 times, shot 18 times, and only the control affected me at all. The allergist gave me pills for non-allergic rhinitis (reaction to dust in the air) which never did anything.
I have been increasingly bothered by it lately because I’ve been singing so much more. It affects my singing in two ways: 1. I can’t resonate well. When I try to increase my resonance, it just makes me feel even more stuffed up, and 2. A lot of times my ears get plugged while I sing, so I can’t hear myself accurately.
Dave and his film bud Chris inspired me to check out an Ear, Nose, and Throat guy. Chris recommended his doctor, whose name, seriously, is Dr. Slaughter. He basically found out I have a deviated septum and that it’s fixable! I am very excited! It will involve minor surgery and a not-fun-sounding recovery time (of only a week, I’ll live). But it will be fixed! I will sound better and will breathe better and I don’t have to rely on pills for the rest of my life.
The date is July 1st. Wish me luck!
