Getting Things Done

It was tough going for awhile with a new puppy, but she is doing great.  Ciara is getting close to fifty pounds now, she is almost as tall as Gretchen my smallest dog who we rescued a bit over two years ago.  Ciara is close to six months old now, so not done growing yet.  She is however potty trained…so I can leave her unattended for a few hours to work on the house, on nice days the dogs go outside while I have loud tools going in the house…otherwise they go into their kennels.

We had a strange thing happen.  We haven’t had company since the pandemic lockdowns, so about two years.  We don’t normally use the quest bathroom, but…do you know if you don’t use a bathroom the water in the toilet dries up and sewer gases escape?  It happened and did not smell great.  So, we have been trying to remember to go flush that toilet at least once a week.  Well, sometime between the last time we flushed it and my trip in there to clean it for company coming…small piles of what looked like sawdust or sandy dirt appeared behind the toilet.  We were afraid of maybe termites in the wall, or carpenter ants.  I talked my husband into removing the toilet so we could cut and look into the wall to see what was happening.  I got the bright idea of repainting and tiling the floor since the toilet was out of the bathroom, and had him remove the vanity too.  There were no ants or termites in the wall that I could see, I cut a good sized section open too.  I drilled holes in the bottom of the wall in several spots too, no bugs or sawdust/sand came out.  I did put some powdered termite and carpenter ant killer in the wall, I sprayed a foam termite and ant killer in the holes I drilled, just in case.

Anyway, after I repaired the sheetrock and textured it… I pulled up the nasty vinyl that has been bugging me for over 8 years.  It didn’t matter how much I scrubbed it, or bleached it…it would not come clean.  Lol…I had also splashed bleach on the wall and it ruined the paint, several years ago.  White spots on Amethyst Smoke (purplish gray) paint is not attractive.  It took me a few weeks because of other chores and having to get some materials, but I got the bathroom painted, tiled baseboards painted and installed, then my husband got the toilet installed and plumbing all hooked back up in time for company.  I am still working on decorating it, but it looks tons better.  No more nicotine stained floor!  No more white splotched too dark of paint.  We will probably do a more extensive renovation one of these days and replace the bathtub and surround, and the vanity…but with a new faucet and cleaned up well, it will do for awhile longer.  I kind of like the Industrial Farmhouse look, so eventually I would like that look in the guest bath.  We did what we use as our office bathroom during the lockdowns, it looks pretty nice too…I still need to do the backsplash on that one…but not bad doing two bathrooms in about a years time.

I am working on my pantry too, and what was once used as an office because it is only a 9’x9’ room…it is going to be a walk in pantry eventually.  I just have to learn a bit more carpentry, I want to move the door from the living room to the kitchen though…so framing and sheetrock will have to happen as will floor repair.  I may decide to tile the room…if I can still do it when I am ready.  For now, I am adding shelving…since I can fruits and veggies, I need storage.  My garden was pretty much a bust last year, so I have a bunch of empty jars from using what I canned the year before.

My husband and I cut the plywood for a kitchen island today.  It is my next project.  I need to figure out the size of shelves I need for the pantry room and order them.  I am so far behind on normal chores too.  I don’t think I have completely cleaned my back porch for two years with all the projects, then my brothers illness and death…and my injuries and sicknesses too.  But, still getting things done…it is just taking longer than I like.