Interval Training

My wife either found out about or created this amazing idea and I wanted to share it with you. She sets a timer for 15 minutes and then sets about doing something fun like reading or playing a game or something. When the 15 minutes are up, she resets the timer for another 15 minutes, then goes about doing something productive, like cleaning the bathroom or doing laundry. She continues like this until everything is done or until it's time for bed or whatever. We did this the other night and it was really cool. Normally I'm one to just get into my work and just plug away at it until it's finished, but it can be tough to get into it. Knowing that it's only 15 minutes at a stretch makes it a lot easier to get started when you really don't feel like doing anything. Sometimes I'll certainly still just work on things until they're done, but for those nights when you just don't feel like doing much, this is a great way to be at least halfway productive.

Not too much else to report, unfortunately. I did do some of this:

What's that? A really gross old cantaloupe that's been sitting in the back of the fridge for a few weeks and has gotten all lumpy and weird?

Taste cold steel you filthy piece of fruit!

You can see where you're going, can't you? That's right! Time to spend a few weeks in the orb of eternal darkness so you can think about what you've done.

And you won't be alone, either! You'll have plenty of new friends in there. Broken, shameful friends who are just rotting in this pit of despair.

Bwa-ha-ha! You will know torment like you've never experienced before. Do you see those pain-spikes jutting from all the walls? Escape is clearly impossible. Just resign yourself to your fate and stop that piteous mewling.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading!

Let my love open the drawer

It would already open, actually, it just looked a bit lame. Here's how it looked previously:

My best guess here is that someone tore the front off of the drawer, then flipped it around, then put a new piece on there with glue and screws and shame and called it a day. Ugh. It's so nice to have this thing out of there.

Here it is with the front pulled off. Looks pretty well torn up.

Which one would you rather have your utensils in?

The rails were actually in decent shape so I just put them on the new box.

The drawer front with the piece of shame-lumber glued to it. I wasn't at all sure how I was going ot get it off of there.

Oh yeah, a hammer. That'll work.

Lined up (you can see the tiny mark on the bottom piece) and pre-drilled. Ready to roll!

All finished. It's so much nicer now.

There we go. It's not unsuitable for use anymore now. Hooray!

That's about all I got done this weekend, unfortunately. We had a lot else going on, including the Warrior Dash on Sunday. Still, it's something checked off the list, which is a victory in itself. We've got some big plans for this week, but we'll have to see how they pan out before I get into them too far. Thanks for reading!

An elegant compost bin, for a more civilized age.

Well, since I haven't done much else, I'll keep posting about my pile of dead plant matter inside a black plastic orb. Fun, huh?

The pile of dead leaves from the limbs I trimmed off the tree in the back yard. I've been wanting to get this crap moved, but I didn't know quite what to do with it.

I rolled the bin on over here and that was actually pretty fun. It's easy to move around and very stable when you put it on the stand. I like being able to just roll it up front so I can rake my grass clippings into it instead of having to put them in a bag and then haul the bag to the back or something. Definitely a plus.

I don't know if you can tell what I'm doing here, but I would step on the base of the branch and use the rake (pushing it along the branches) to strip all the leaves off and into the grass. It worked pretty well for the most part. I used the machete to break the limbs down a bit more. That machete gets about as much work in my yard as any of my other tools. I don't know how normal people live without them.

Raked up and in the bin. Now to put the lid on and roll it back to the porch docking bay.

There we go. Just rolling it to get it back to the base mixes it all up really well. This seems like a really good design so far.

I'm going to have to wait quite a while for compost, I'm sure, but I'm trying to build good habits early so I remember to put things in there instead of in the trash. I'm hoping to take a little time this weekend to do something else, but we'll have to see. I keep saying that and nothing productive keeps happening. Maybe I'll just plan on taking it easy and then I'll end up working like a fiend. You'll find out next week either way. Thanks for reading!

Who's scruffy-looking?

Yeah, I'm not going to get sick of Star Wars references in regards to my fully-operational compost station any time soon.

Here's where it is right now, on the back porch. So far, I like this spot. It gets some sun, but also some shade, and it's easy to run out there and drop stuff in it without putting on shoes or something.

Here's my current pile o' decomposing matter.

You can see there is some soil in there, just because one of the items is a dead plant that we planted. I don't know if you can see the potatoes, but the red down there are a couple of onions that I was really sad to see go. They were from the farmer's market and they were seriously some of the most delicious onions I've ever had. We just didn't use them quickly enough or store them properly or something. Oh well, guess we have to buy another bunch for like $1 or something. I love me some farmer's market.

I think I mentioned that this thing was a bit of a pain to put together. If I didn't, allow me to do so now. These are little plastic rivets that hold everything together. You put the main piece (the flat ring with a ridged post on it) in first, and the hammer the middle pin into it to expand it and hold everything together. It functions sort of like a molly bolt, if that makes sense.

here's what actually happens, though. You get the little pin mostly hammered in and then it bends and then it's going nowhere. Where's it going? Nowhere. It's a pain because I'd like the thing to be smooth, as intended. There just isn't much to be done about it. I can either leave these little posts sticking out, mocking me like lolling ABS tongues, or I can remove them and try again. There are some extra pins so I could maybe try to pull them out and replace them. I could also just go buts and use aluminum rivets and washers on the whole thing and make sure it will actually stay together long term without messing with any of this crap. What do you guys think? Leave it be, clip them off, attempt to replace, completely replace? I might just wait and see how they hold up. If the lame ones don't loosen, I can just snip the ends off and call it good.

This beast is on sale at Costco right now for $100. I've looked around online and the other sites where I've found it are charging $150-$200 for it, plus a ton of shipping. So if you think this seems like a good way to go (I haven't had it long enough to give a really good review yet) then I'd go get one from Costco. Yes, it's a pain to assemble, but that's maybe an hour of your life. Something I didn't try but maybe should've is putting a tiny dab of Vaseline on the pins to help them seat more easily. If someone gets this thing and tries that, please let me know how it works.

That's it for now. I'm going to strip the dead leaves off the branches I trimmed the other day and put them in here for some "brown" and hope that works out somehow. Thanks for reading!

Oh wait, before I go, here are some links to videos you might find helpful:

The Compospin

The Compospin is easy to assemble! (This isn't true)

Enjoy!

That's no moon...

We really haven't made a lot of progress recently. Ever since the front door, things have just been crazy with our evenings and weekends. We have a lot we want to get done, just not a ton that we've actually been doing. Here's some of what we did accomplish:

We bought and constructed a Death Star. Actually it's a compost bin, but seriously. Could it look more like the Death Star? It's a pretty cool setup, and we've been wanting one for a good long while now. It's easy to rotate, as the base actually has rollers in it. The top comes off so it's a nice big opening, and it has these little spikes inside that get air to the inside. I really have high hopes for this thing. We've started recycling and with the addition of a composter there will be very little that goes into our trash can. Sweet!

Also, we've been looking for a chest freezer to go in the basement. We're big fans of Costco and will be buying a side of beef with some friends this year, so we'll need a ton of storage space. Here's the one we're getting:

GE Chest Freezer

It's 7.0 cubic feet, which is a pretty good size. The reviews are all really solid and I checked it out at Home Depot yesterday and it seems like it's really nice. The controls are on the outside so you won't accidentally turn it down pulling something out of it, and it has a power light so you can see that it's on. Apparently it's really quiet (which is awesome) so this is a great feature. We're going to put it in the utility room in the basement and the top of it should make for a pretty handy place to fold laundry. Hooray for multi-tasking!

Unfortunately, actually getting the thing is proving difficult. My friend told me to get it at Home Depot, so we tried. They had a floor model, but nothing in stock in the store. Or in any other stores. Or on order. Hurm. The guy who was helping us said he saw them at Sears, so we figured we'd try that. the Great Indoors is owned by Sears and they're closer, so we tried them. They didn't have anything in the store but they said they could look it up and order it for us. No dice. Sears didn't sell them either. We asked the lady to see if GE's website had a list of places that sell them and they suggested Ultimate Electronics, which is right across the street. We went over there and they had a display model, but again, none in the store. What the poop? Thankfully, they had more coming in, so I paid for it and it should be delivered this week sometime. Crazy how much effort it took to get a freakin' freezer, though.

Here are some other updates:

Yes, that's right. Our little plants have disintegrated. I don't know what it was that killed them, but they are absolutely dead. One day in the full sun is all it took to destroy them, it seems. We're going to have to figure something else out. Maybe letting them sprout and grow in the full sun would be better? They'd be tougher, perhaps? I have no idea.

Finally, after many weeks, the patches we burned out with the doors are filling in. It was a stupid mistake, but the grass seems resilient enough to handle it. I'll be happy when my little rectangles of death are nothing more than a memory.

If you'll notice, the grass coming in from the patch seeds is of a significantly darker green than the rest of the lawn. I honestly hadn't even considered that this would be a problem. I'm not sure whether to leave it and hope everything just sort of fills and blends or to pull it out or what. I'll have to see how it looks as it fills in a bit more, I guess.

Well, unfortunately, that's all there is. I'm really going to push to try to improve something at least 3-4 times this week. I've had a good long break from it and I'm itching to do something again. Thanks for reading!

Sorry!

Sorry for the lack of updates, everyone. We were so busy last week, I didn't really get much done with the house. We did have a few good things, at least. The new cabinet came in, for one. Here are the pictures of the old one:

Look pretty good, right?

Yeah, that's a big split down one of the face frame pieces. Didn't even notice it until we took the door off, either.

The corner is just sort of caved in. Not the end of the world, but still not what I want when I pay several hundred dollars for a shiny new cabinet.

A sizable chip out of the edge, here. Again, I think this would be covered up, but still.

This one is tougher to see in the picture, but the back panel of the cabinet just isn't attached very sturdily to the frame. It seems like someone dropped this thing pretty hard.

The new one looks great, and is pretty much free of any damage at all. We'll have to get those up on the wall before too long.

Really, that's about it. I pulled some weeds in the front yard yesterday. Crabgrass is a huge pain and is popping up all over. None of the weed killers are even working a little at this point, so I've taken to just pulling them out, even when it's just one little sprig in the middle of the lawn. It's slow and tedious, but it's the only thing that's working. At the very least, our lawn looks better than most in the neighborhood. The work we put in earlier in the season really seems to be paying off.

So that's it, unfortunately. I feel like a bit of a slacker for not doing more, but I'm sure I'll get back into the groove soon enough. I'll get pictures and post them here, as is my custom. Thanks for reading!

Busy weekend!

I didn't get a lot done last week, aside from sort of fiddling with the door a bit. I made up for it this weekend, though. I got a lot done that I wasn't even really planning on. Enough with the intro, let's get to the pictures and captions. Interesting note on the pictures: I now have more than 1000 pictures of the house and the various projects we've done so far. That's probably more pictures than I've ever taken in my life all put together.

Here's the bathroom wall. You can see how flat the patch looks, especially with the semi-gloss paint. The flat paint in the rest of the house kind of hides the bad texture, but this stuff just shows up like a beacon. I got that hopper gun and decided this weekend was a good time to bust it out and give it a try.

First, I wanted to flatten the area. It has a lot of layers of texture on it, and those need to get gone before I get going. This little guy is a life-saver.

Here's the wall after sanding. You can see the little metal patch piece that's on there from the door knob hole that started this whole mess originally. The more I try to fix it, the more it needs to be fixed. I'm hoping to stop the cycle of abuse and regret soon, though.

Here's the fun part. You have to mask off everything around the patch area because the hopper gun splatters like crazy. I thought this was enough. I actually thought this might be excessive. I was so wrong.

Here I am with the hopper gun. It seems really nice. All the pieces (except the hopper) are solid brass and the whole thing just feels really solid.

There's the splatter I put on there. You may notice a difference between this splatter and the splatter I was getting from the can. I certainly noticed the difference.

The depth of the texture with the hopper gun is so much nicer. It put big globs with tiny speckles between instead of just small globs everywhere. It's exactly what I need. Any of you who have experience with this may notice that I simply have too much on here, and I realized that when I tried to knock it down. I think I may also not have given it enough time to solidify.

Pay no attention to the adorable wife toes in this picture. Okay, maybe a little. Look how cute they are! All done now, I promise. The splatter got a little bit everywhere, even with the masking paper.

Yeah, pretty much everywhere.

I cleaned it, though! I need to see if I can find a way to make it work that I get to make the messes for the renovations, but the wife has to clean them up. That would be awesome. For me.

I didn't get a picture of the failed knockdown, unfortunately. There was a lot of cursing and stomping of my little feet when it didn't work, and it's best not to get any records of that. This is how it looks now, after I scraped off the failed texture. I'll have to sand it and go after it again. I'm testing on some cardboard in the garage now to see how my settings need to go.

My target.

Here's my first try. The speckles seem like they're too small and too close together, but we'll see when we knock it down.

Yeah, that's not going to work.

A little better. The best thing about the hopper gun over the can is that you really do get globs with speckles. No matter how hard I tried with the can, I never got globs and speckles. Now I just need to get the right number, size and distribution of globs, and all will be well.

The cardboard is flexible, which makes knocking the texture down a bit tougher, but this is a bit better. I think I need a few more globs, but this is pretty darned close to the right size. Almost there, now!

I finally went and got the paint for the siding, too. My mom was awesome and called KB to get the color for us, so we hit up Sherwin Williams and got a quart for touch-ups.

Pretty easy here. It looks almost invisible now, which is a far cry from the "hole with a dead pigeon in it" we were rocking when we first moved in.

I also put a coat of paint on the new trim piece, but it needs a bit more. You can also see the little heads of the screws we used to secure the brickmold, so those need to be filled.

The trim looks better, for sure. Had to go get some Bondo putty for the nail holes, though. i heard that the Bondo will stick better and last longer than regular wood putty, so I wanted to give it a try. So far, I'm liking it. It's cheap, easy to use, easy to sand, and has a nice smooth finish when all is said and done.

 The Bondo at work. I think these spots will work pretty well. A couple of them need to be sanded a bit more, but overall they're looking good.

This is the enemy. It's crabgrass in my front yard. It isn't so bad up here, but it's starting to spread and no weedkiller I've tried will take it out even a little. I can't even get it to turn brown or anything. It just soaks up deadly toxins and demands more, like Lindsay Lohan or something.

This is the back yard, where it's really bad. I haven't mowed back here for a few weeks, partially because I kept wanting to spray the grass and have it have enough surface area for the poison to really take hold. Partially because I'm lazy.

Laziness be damned! I just got out there and started pulling. The crabgrass comes out pretty easily, since it grows in tufts. I still have plenty more to take out, but I think I got the worst of it. I also mowed after this, and I'm hoping that my theory will prove out. It seems that crabgrass grows faster than regular grass. Therefore, if I mow all the grass to the same level, the crabgrass should make itself more apparent and I get go pull it out without damaging the good grass. We'll see how that works.

This is my beautiful wife planting our little eggs into larger pots in the back yard. The sprouts were really thriving, it seems, but they needed to get out into the world and get some real sunlight and all so they can grow up big and strong.

This is sort of interesting. The eggs seem to have been containing the roots more than we anticipated (this may have been because they weren't buried) so she peeled off the shells and the membrane stayed behind. It makes them easy to plant, but the roots should have no trouble punching through. Brilliant!

Here they all are in their new homes. We'll have to see how they progress out in the real world.

I also decided to trim the tree. It had a few low-hanging branches that really got in the way of mowing, so I cut them off. I used a saw instead of a machete this time, since I kind of want this tree to survive. I really think it looks nicer back there, and it's much easier to get around in the yard. This big giant tree back there is really great for shade in the evenings, and we're one of the few houses in the neighborhood with a tree this big. I'm sort of proud, even though I had nothing to do with it.

So that's about it for this weekend. I feel like we accomplished a lot, even though they were mostly small jobs and some were unsuccessful. The experience with the hopper gun is valuable every time, since it is clearly the right way to go for the wall texture, and getting the hang of it will open up a lot of possibilities. Thanks for reading!