Tips, Tricks, and Lessons Learned...

Random musings from over the past six weeks...

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These are gifts from God. :)

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Good music makes all the difference in the world. When your iPod freezes, you'll be desperate enough to listen to the same CD over and over again. Then when you get your iPod unfrozen, you'll have a new appreciation for technology that incorporates more than 10 songs!

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HGTV is incredibly unrealistic. I knew this already, but now I really know it… 30 minutes makes it all look so easy. Kind of like those PBS or cooking shows where they say “I have one here already done!” Yeah. There's a lot of dust and sweat cut out there, buddy.

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Never ever say “We’ll be fine without AC running. How hot can it get?” 

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How on earth did people in the olden days build log cabins and tame the land and all that with one bath day a week? At the risk of TMI, I don't understand how the human race continued. 

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Sometimes you have to be creative with solutions. For instance... problem: the fiberglass dust in the air has ground into the underside of your flip-flop strap and irritates your feet to death. Solution: whip out the duct tape and start a new style: works like a charm!

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Speaking of shoes: if you run around barefoot all the time, you will invariably find yourself at Home Depot realizing you've left your flip-flops at the house, and you now need to encase your feet in something in order to be allowed inside. If it ends up that your only choice is your husband's size 13 tennis shoes, expect your husband to receive pitying looks from people in the store.

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There really IS a reason for Gatorade (or in our case PowerAid ‘cause we’re cheap). Not being sports people, electrolytes haven’t ever been high on our list. Now I get it. I can pretty much see the electrolytes evaporating off of Jack in the 106-degree-plus attic. (And praise God, after we'd drunk through our nice off-brand supply, Lowes had a special wherein not only was the Gatorade on sale but you got a coupon in the box, making a 15-pack essentially free!)

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This one we got from our dads: in new construction, or when you have the walls opened anyway, put an extra piece of wood right next to the windows at the top - that's always where you install the curtain rods and it's really difficult to do that securely with mollies. This way, the wood's right there! 

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Somebody should invent trouble lights which actually cool the air down. He’d make bank. I’d buy at least 5.

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The absolute best deal in town is the dump (the Montgomery County Transfer Station) which has a paint program. All paint, (interior, exterior, primer, all finishes, hundreds of colors, many unopened) is free, plus they give you free buckets for mixing. You just can't beat it! It's saving us hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Thank you Lord! :)

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It's really bizarre - but cool! -- to stand in your attic and be able to see down through to your living room.

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Torn drywall works great in a pinch to write down blog post ideas when you can't find any paper.

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Along the same lines: make sure that you actually accomplish everything on your to-do list written on the insides of the wall before you put up the drywall. 

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Make everything fun -- even (especially?) the little things like vacuuming up drywall dust on the bathroom floor. (I love my husband! This is the special smiley he makes for me everywhere.)

 

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And while on the subject of my sweet baboo, that's my final musing... my husband is really cute. When he was putting up the drywall, he called me in to find this. :D