Days 3 & 4 & already slackin'

I'll admit that I actually started slacking night 2.  I posted on night two that I was about to put the second coat of paint on the chipping front porch areas.  Well, after gettin' cozy on the couch  and having a glass of vino, that plan went out the window really quickly.

Day 3: Last night we had our weekly (which recently has not been weekly) hoard fest.  What is hoard fest?  Well, once a week we try to have Steve's brother and his wife over and I cook dinner.  Then we retreat (sounds so pleasant doesn't it?) to the basement where we go through stuff.  Stuff?  Yes, stuff that belonged to Steve's parents.  I call it the hoard.  We sold their house in 2008 and brought about 3000sq feet of their "stuff" to our basement.  Anyways, there is lots more to the story but I would really really like to finish going through the stuff as do the boys and Greg's wife, Amber.  I feel like we can't start our major dormer addition/upstairs remodel until we go through everything.  And it is a chapter in our lives that we would like to close.  And we are SOOOO CLOSE!  Seriously not too much left, but it's the hard stuff, like photos and papers.  and collections.  Anyways, I will count hoard fest as my Day 3 project.  Got rid of several large boxes of trash/recycle and need to take a load to Goodwill.

Day 4: finished coat two for the front porch.  woo-hoo! caught up from day 2
Then I discovered (much to my delight) that Steve had attached all but one (I guess it's missing?) of the post caps to the new fence!  Yea, wanted to do that this weekend but it's done.  That tricky boy, got one past me.
So onto a couple other little projects that drive me nuts on a daily basis.

Doors: we had our wood floors refinished in Oct. 2009-yup, almost 2 years ago.  had to remove the doors to our closet bedrooms "(as well as hall closet door and bedroom doors).  At the same time I took advantage of the opportunity to strip the hinges for all the doors.  Well, we of course rehung the doors but ever since then both of the closet doors have failed to close all of the way.  Didn't used to bother me too much.  But now it does.  Daily.

luv this 6 in 1 screwdriver that was under $5 from Home Depot-keep it in our built-in desk for easy access

Why?  because we have a little munchkin who loves to open & close doors as well as hide in dark spaces (which includes closets). Yes, adorable BUT not lovely when he starts pulling out the shoes you just put away or dumps the toys you are trying to keep put.  And you can't close the door.  Well, I currently can get it to stick shut but that is just bothersome.
So, how to fix it?  I tried to tighten the screws on Ben's door just before he went to bed but that did not help.  Will maybe need engineer (translation: husband) 's ideas tomorrow on how to fix.
Bedroom door fortunately just required tightening the screws but now the strike plate does not line up correctly so I have another project for the list.

strike plate is too high-no clue what happened here

Befuddles me how these things work just fine til you take them down.  Maybe it was the hardware stripping that did it.

Mini Project 2: Toilet bolts
We put in our new toilet a year ago March now.  all in, all secure, but no bolt caps.  And it's just ugly if you ask me.  and a pet peeve.  especially since we have such a pretty toilet.  So I took care of it and it took me less than 10 minutes. and I only broke one saw blade.  Just need a little adhesive to fully attach them now.

What our bathroom looks like with those ugly bolts showing all the time.  Sans the tools.  actually that is a lie because I would not find it weird to walk into our bathroom and find tools in there.  Would probably think nothing of it.  I heart home restoration.  Note folded toilet paper-this make me laugh and I promise, just did it for the picture, we are surely not tidy like that.  Nor do we have a maid.

Enter deco hex bolt cap. Purchased from Rejuvenation. I think that they were around 6 bucks a piece, maybe 4.  A far cry from the plastic crap they sell at the big box stores.  But of course I got them on sale-I am frugal and I rarely buy things full price. However, they only appear to sell these in stores and not online.   Speaking of Rejuvenation, they are having a bath sale right now but I believe it ends in the next few days so stock up if you have a bano remodel coming up.

Cap doesn't fit, expected this

So I broke off the first little bit with pliers but then had to saw the rest off

broke the blade sawing the second side but still was able to finish-yea team Skye!

doesn't it look sooo much better?  I think so.  and that fun little vintage metal can-an estate sale find for a few bucks that I got several years ago.  Still can't decide if I should spray it a new color but how I luv it so.

Days 10&11-Weds & Thurs

and I'm behind and quickly forgetting what I did when so hopefully I will get caught up.  The hardest days to blog (they all seem hard with a million house project and a little one running around) are Monday and Tuesday because I have two kiddos under my wing (although I often get in some hard core blog time during naps).  So really those are probably the easiest days for me to blog. 
Let's try this again.  The hardest days are actually Wednesday (yesterday) and Thursday (today).  Have you all heard that obnoxious song about how After Wednesday comes Thursday-cracks me up BUT at least I have a song to refer to when I forget the song about the days of the week that I learned in preschool.  or wait, didn't I also learn it in Spanish class (can hear it now... lunes, martes...)?

anyways, terrible but cracks me up at the same time.

Soooo, because Wednesday comes first, that is where I will begin.

But back up to Tuesday as Steve also worked more on sanding on Tuesday night while I sorta putzed around outside trying to come up with excuses as to why I could not part-take in helping to fix the siding or sand.  I ended up hanging up the little $.50 yard art that I bought at that garage sale last weekend and also glued some more boards together.

sorta cheesy but better than the deteriorating fence

OK, so on Wednesday (drum roll please) we did absolutely nothing.  Except share some delicious homemade lasagna and a bottle of vino.  How fantastic.  Steve's bro had to cancel our hoard fest so we just cancelled work all together for the evening.

Ben beating the heat Weds night

Thursday:  I put in my time hunting for the perfect little adornment for our stark and plain bathroom wall.  I went to quite a few local thrift shops including lounge lizard, a 60s/70s shop on 20th-ish & hawthorne, ReRun on 7th and Fremont and Seek the Unique on SE 6th & Taylor.  It's right near Rejuvenation.  Also went to a cool little Store on ne 33rd-ish & hawthorne and bought some sweet kid's metal folding chairs.  I will need to post a pic soon as they are in the car and need to come into their new home.  They were a screaming deal on sale for $5 a piece, marked down from $10.  These things could withstand a nuclear bomb they are so sturdy.  Ben is still a little small for them but can't wait to put them by an equally cool (and sturdy) little table someday. 
Here are a couple cool finds (did not purchase) at Seek the Unique.  I forgot to take pix in the rest of the stores-got too excited at the prospect of shopping without little man by my side.

lure the spirits?

jewelry?  bills?

and Thursday night I blogged and tidied the house while Steve did some more sanding outside.  He hopes to have the back all primed and ready for some Green paint by Saturday evening.

doesn't look too different from last week but we promise that it is gettin' there