Comments on: Home Maintenance Live-Blogging

By: biscuit

biscuit — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:11:21 +0000

Great tip about the brushes. Primer eats them up. I was just in the bathroom looking at the pitiful things and thinking I’d be better off just chucking them all. :dots:

By: Scotia48

Scotia48 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:09:28 +0000

I know what you mean. I always enjoy the air mattress when we camp. It is so comfy. I slept in a hammock in Alaska when I was up there commercially salmon fishing when I was young and a traveller. I do keep the foam mattress in a cover and wash the cover about once a month. It seems to help.
Biscuit, I can really sympathize with your priming and painting trim. When I moved in my house in 97 and moved out in 07 I was a trim painting fool! All I can say is mask it off, put lots of drop cloths down, use a REALLY good paint and use a 1 1/2″ cheap brush. Oh, you can put your brush in a ziplock bag in the fridge for a few days and use it again (just let it warm up to room temp). I use cheap brushes cause they are cheap and work just as well and I don’t feel bad about throwing them away at the end of a project.

By: biscuit

biscuit — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:41:22 +0000

I’ve thought about doing that. Fortunately, I’m a lo-o-ong way from having to make that decision because there are so many good alternatives out there.

The one thing I know is that I’m really hesitant to get a regular mattress because they get so nasty so fast. Dust mites make me sneeze, and I’m so much happier on the air mattress without an entire thing full of dust mites below me that, at the moment, more air mattresses is at the top of my list.

But I have time – lots of time! – before I’ll be deciding on that. Good gawd, it took me all day just to paint one small part of the hallway, after all – it’s got tons of wood in it, and it’s so much harder priming it that plain walls.

But it looks much better!

By: Scotia48

Scotia48 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:36:11 +0000

I will tell you about my saga for a good mattress. My SIL turned me on to it. BIL has a bad back, SIL sleeps on stomach like me. Solution was a $235 piece of 6″ dense upholstery foam in Queen Size ordered from an upholsterer (not from some fabric store). We have slept on it for 2 years and it still is resilient and supportive but giving. I do flip it end to end and side to side once a month. It is the lightest weight but I can raise it up all at once. I can make the bed by my self whereas when we had the Beautyrest I couldn’t. I kept the box springs from the Beautyrest and put the upholstery foam mattress on top. My SIL has one of those solid wood beds and her mattress sits on that without a box springs and it is still very comfortable. You may really like this solution.

By: biscuit

biscuit — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:21:00 +0000

Congrats, Maracatu! I’m confident they’ll accept it.

I share your pain about the upcoming week. I have an entire seat in the car full of grading that I haven’t even touched. I’ve been waking up at 4 am to do all my grading and test writing and etc., but I just can’t do it anymore. So I just told myself 5 pm is my deadline – I have to start then.

By: Maracatu

Maracatu — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:06:44 +0000

WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I finished correcting my article and just sent it off to the journal in Santiago, Chile!! What a relief! Hope they accept it. Now I can…

1)move on to writing that report.
2)correct homework.
3)draw up next week’s test.

By: biscuit

biscuit — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:46:04 +0000

3:47 pm: I successfully, albeit only partially, bleach the mildew out of the driveway.

By: biscuit

biscuit — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:08:43 +0000

3:06 pm: The houndie grrl has absconded with the kitchen drain and deposited in her stash of stolen goods by the shed in the backyard. When I go out to retrieve it, I discover that she’s made a futile attempt to bypass the Tabasco anti-houndie grrl defense shield on the outside faucet cover. True, she managed to yank the Tabasco laden string off, but the cover remains intact.

3:07 pm: I enjoy yet another bout of puffery at the success of the defense shield.

By: biscuit

biscuit — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:50:22 +0000

Airlock, exactly.

I love my little house and am grateful for all the wonderful improvements made (new metal roof, all new windows, etc etc etc), but I tell you, sometimes, I’m just baffled by the things that were done here! Especially because I’ve found so much evidence that their critters weren’t exactly appreciative of not having access to the doggie door at all times. yoikes!

By: Kate Petersen

Kate Petersen — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:34:27 +0000

Ah, I see. Our winters aren’t nearly as cold as yours, so that’s not an issue here. We have the storm/doggie door leading from the den to the deck (one floor above the aforementioned sliding glass doors). It kept the AC in quite nicely this summer, and since we don’t need much in the way of heat, if it lets in cold air this winter it won’t be a problem for us.

Yes, you need a second doggie door, it sounds like. Create an airlock.