Electrified...

The first task in the new sewing/craft room was to add some electrical outlets to the room.  Rudy had some along the outside wall to run his machines.  Rob tackled the job of wiring up several junction boxes and seven new outlets along the front of the room where the TV and microwave will go and the inside wall where some of the tables will be located.  We thin there are 4 separate circuits.... we know there are 3, for sure.  This will allow us the ability to spread out where the irons are plugged in so as not to overload any one circuit.

Since Rob is still a novice at the and he had never added new circuit breakers to an electric panel, we moved along slowly and orderly.  We had to use concrete screws to clamp the conduit to the wall.  He initially started, then I took over.  Yesterday we finally bought a hammer drill as we still have several things to add on that wall.  This should make it increasingly easier.

Now that all of the new outlets are operational we set up a dehumidifier in the room.  It sits by the door to the basement and we have a hose running to the drain in the utility room so we do not have to dump the unit when it gets full.  This will keep the room dry and fresh and protect the expensive sewing machines.  In the pictures, it is still sitting in the middle of the room.

Today we will be moving furniture into the room, setting up the TV and the coffee/microwave bar.  So more pictures to come.  Still have several other projects to do.  Rob will be heading home to Alaska on Monday, so we have lots to do.

Rob arrives then we measure and buy....

I did laundry yesterday in my fixed washer.  I held my breath, hoping that James had tightened everything to keep the water inside the washer.  (The first time he put it together he missed something and it leaked....)  It was fine, so I got my clothes done and washed up the sheets for Rob's bed.

I started getting ready to head into Philly to the airport.  I had been watching Rob's plane across the country.  Then I had been checking the traffic cams along the route I take.  All day it had been fine.  But just before I headed out I checked again and there was traffic backed up everywhere... an accident on the northbound side of I-95.  So I quickly researched the alternatives, plugged in my GPS and tried a different way.  I got there, but I have no idea where I was... there were traffic lights at every intersection and cars going in every direction.  I am assuming that people were using back roads and clogging them up pretty well.

I still managed to get to the cell phone lot about 15 minutes before his plane landed.  It took a while for him to get his bag, but we finally connected and we headed South on I-95... encountering traffic.  This time I did not care and it kept the speeding maniacs from being hazardous objects on the road.  We ordered a pizza from Pizza Villa and just chatted.  Rob headed to bed early and I was not far behind.

Winston loves Rob.. and thinks he is the center of our attention.  Rob loves to pet him and plays with his toys so Rob is Winston's new, best friend.

Today we spent a lot of time in the basement.  We were measuring for RG6 cable to move the cable into the sewing room so we can watch TV while sewing.  We also planned out additional outlets and two circuits so the sewing machines, irons, TV, microwave and Keurig will not overload the system.  Then we went to Home Depot and did our best to buy everything we need to do the work.  I even bought a small but heavy duty circular saw to work on furring strips, deck steps and other things I may need to repair or build.  Amazingly, I will be learning how to use it so I can DIY projects in the future.

Then we went to dinner with some of my Parkesburg friends.  It is a group of really nice folks who go to dinner at different places every Tuesday.  We went to the Manor Buffet in Lancaster.  It was a marvelous place.  So much food and a wide variety.  Rob got his fill and so did I.  I will go back, for sure.

Tomorrow we start installing cable and extra outlets so I can start loading the room.  Then other projects will be done as well!!!  This is super exciting!  Pictures of our work tomorrow.

Beginning the great basement makeover...

It has begun!  After the cleanup and sorting of the stuff in Rudy's old workshop, the conversion to a lovely sewing room has begin.  I had been thinking about it and making plans and looking at laminate flooring so I was ready to hit the ground running.

My oldest son, Rob, is arriving later today from Alaska.  He is going to be here a week and we will be working on several projects but basically getting the sewing room set up and preparing the downstairs bedroom for a floor similar to the one that is now in the sewing room.

Rob has become quite handy living off grid in Alaska, so we will be tackling some wiring and making a design wall or two in the room.  But Saturday, Danny Lantz and his son, Darren, came to the house and laid the new floor.  This is something they do as part of the side jobs, so they came to quickly do the job that might have taken Rob and I the whole week. They started after 10AM and finished before 5PM.

Since it was the standard cement floor in the basement, I wanted something that could deal with damp.  I have become a big fan of DIY television and had seen, in several of the shows, a product called DriCore.  It is plywood with a plastic backing that has feet like protrusions on the bottom which keep the wood up off the floor and also allows air to flow and moisture to evaporate.  It creates a nice sub-floor that is perfect for a nice application like laminate... what I am doing.

So, after emptying the truck I got 80 2' by 2' squares of DriCore.  Then a day or so later, I got 15 boxes of a very nice looking 'hickory' laminate flooring that was a special buy at Home Depot for $.96 a square foot as well as the underlayment.  I was ready.

This is how the basement looked when I started.  Rudy had some nice tools... band say, drill press, table saw and router table.  There were two work benches, the one you see clearly was where he crafted his remote control planes during the long, cold winters.  I added a sewing table and a cutting table to the room when I sold the Maryland house.  But it was pretty well junked up.

I gave Rudy's tools to Danny.  He and his beautiful wife, Marji, have done so much for me since Rudy died, it was the least I could do.  There was a weight bench and weights.  They went to Marji & Danny's grandson.  (I could have sold them, I guess, but I am not comfortable having strangers coming to my house.)  I have thrown out junk and sorted through smaller stuff.  I got the floor swept out several times... it amazes me how dusty and dirty basement floors are.  The more you sweep, the more dirt comes up.  It seemed to create it's own dust!  But Saturday morning it looked like this...

Danny and Darren were here by 10AM and went right to work.  They did some calculating and I helped them figure out how to lay the DriCore.  It comes all connected but you put it down like bricks.  One row across and then cut a square in half to the seams do not meet.  Once we got it down, it went quickly.  In the beginning, until they goot into the groove, I even installed whole blocks myself.  Not hard to do at all.  They did the floor in thirds.  DriCore then underlayment finished with laminate, then DriCore, underlayment and laminate until finished.

I noticed, as the day progressed, that the sounds got quieter and quieter from the basement.  The climate in the room changed too.  Probably my imagination, but I know it will be warmer... that was commented many times in the reviews of the DriCore on the Home Depot web site.

They worked hard and in the end, this is what I now have in my sewing room.....

Beautiful.... Rob and I will work hard to finish it off!  I am so excited.  Stay tuned for more picture progress.

Another Elephant and a Repair....

I am sitting in my living room, listening to the sound of tools in the kitchen.  The young man I hired to fix the washer is here with the new part, getting it installed and returning my washer to perfect running condition.  He arrived exactly at noon, it is now a little after 2 PM and he is putting the washer back together again.  He had installed the broken part (and it was really broken, he showed it to me, and had I let it gone any longer would probably have done more damage) and had reassembled it.  But in testing, there was a leak somewhere, so he took it apart again and is now putting it together for another round of testing.  He is very thorough and taking his time and I have confidence that it will be done correctly before he leaves.  But prayers are still being said silently from here.

Tuesday I finished another elephant.  I have a freezer in the basement.  It had food in it.  It was good and frozen.... and unidentifiable.  When Rudy was alive, I would buy the occasional extra item when I found a good sale.  It came in quite handy for the holiday picnic supplies during the summer.  But since he died, I have not used anything that was in there and very rarely added anything.  If I did, it went to the dark hole that was the basement and became unidentifiable along with the other stuff.  So I decided to get everything out, defrost it (way overdue) and find a new home for it.  Then, once the sewing room is done, find a refrigerator to put downstairs.  This would give me a place for sodas and the like and a little extra freezer space, just perfect for one person.

So last week I started.  I emptied out the door and the top shelf and some of the other stuff.  I only had so much room in my trash, so I finished it up this week.  This morning I went down and removed the trays that caught the water from the defrosting and the two boxes of food that had been trapped in the ice in the top shelf.  Now I have to clean it out... although it is  not that bad.... and then find a new home for it.  So, another elephant... gone.

I also have 80 pieces of DriCore in the back of my truck.  Ready for the installation of the floor in my sewing room.  Tomorrow is the final push to clear the room for installation.  Danny will be here on Saturday so we can try to have the floor done by the time Rob arrives on Monday!

Moving along!!!

BTW... I am hearing good things from the kitchen.  The sound of cycles and water running in the washer.  But now he is on his phone.....still sending up prayers.

Happy Dance.... one elephant down!

I can do a Happy Dance, today.  In December 2012, with the help of my best friend, Marji and her husband, Danny, I managed to clean out the summer home that Rudy and I shared in Maryland.  My other BFF, Debby, had gone down with me for the final push.  We had loaded up Danny's truck and my truck and perhaps (I cannot remember) a trailer to finish cleaning out the house so the new owners could take over and begin remodeling and making the place their own.

Since that time, I have had the back of the truck filled with boxes and bags.  I had started going through the boxes a little at a time.  There were many hands clearing out many things and I did not have the time to go through the stuff before it got boxed up.  We were running out of time to complete settlement by the end of the year and a new set of taxes that would have needed to be paid.  So I had no idea what was in any of the boxes.  I was fine going through the stuff.  It was mostly mine from computer stuff to sewing stuff and the like.  But one of the boxes had a little treasure trove of items that belonged to Rudy.  I was not aware that they had been in Maryland, still.  And when I found them, I was thrust back into some of the profound grief that I felt when Rudy died.  And since no one really cared and I did not need the truck for anything but plowing snow, I stopped going through the stuff in the truck.  It was just too painful.

As I had the strength or needed something that was in the truck, I would get into it and get a couple of things out or thrown away.  But the bed of the truck was covered with boxes and bags.

So, as you know if you are a regular reader, I am preparing for a visit from my son, Rob, a week from today.  It is a working visit and he will be helping me fix up the 10' by 30' room that was Rudy's workshop into a new sewing/craft room for me.  It will help me to get the clutter out of the upstairs and give me a lovely place to have friends come and join me in sewing and creating and laughing.

To do this, I will be putting down a DriCore sub-floor and then a laminate floor over that.  It is the perfect setup for a basement room.  But I need the truck to get the materials back to the house.

So, today, I backed the truck up to the Bagster Bag, and one box and bag at a time, I sorted through the remainder of the stuff, throwing out some of it and bring the rest either onto the porch or into the house.  I still have another sort or two to go through, however, I will find places for much of the stuff.

BUT, the truck is empty.  That elephant has been eaten.  Happy, happy, happy!!!!

Not to Jinx this, but he stayed alone.....again.....!

With all of the bad news and things that have been happening in my life, I took a big step today.

Actually it was Winston who took the big step.

This morning I prepared to go to church as I usually do.  When the time came, I reached down and Winston... for the first time... realized that I was about to put him in his kennel and he actually made an attempt to run away.  He still growled and nipped at the latch as I closed and locked the door.  But he was secure in his kennel and I could attend church without worry.

Today I was going to a  luncheon with a little group called the Social Butterflies.  It is mostly single ladies, either divorced, widowed or never married.  Every time I go there are a couple that are repeats but mostly new.  We were just meeting for lunch at a place that I had never been to, so I went to try out a new place to eat.  I had to meet my friend, Annette, at her house at around 12:30 PM and we were going to go together.

Church usually gets out around 11:30 AM.  So, after the drive home, I had close to 30 minutes to let Winston out and snuggle with him.  And, of course, this morning he seemed to snuggle closer and his eyes told me how happy he was to have me home.  So it really pained me to have to think about putting him back into the kennel.

So, I decided to give leaving him alone in the house without being in the kennel.  He followed me to the kitchen, I grabbed my keys (I had left my purse in the car) and Winston began to dance thinking he was going for a ride.  I told him 'no' and set the alarm and closed the door.  The last time I did that, he began digging at the inside back door like he was going to dig his way out to follow me.  This time he just stood quietly looking st the door.  I stood quietly for a minute or so and no digging.  I quietly went out the actual back door and still no digging sound.  I walked slowly and could not hear anything.

I worried all the way to the Bistro on 10 and got out my phone to get online to see the tale of the cameras.  This was another time I was happy to have those cameras working in my house.  The back door was intact.  I could not see Winston anywhere, so I assumed that he had curled up inside his kennel to sleep.  I checked off and on throughout the lunch and never did see him.

When I walked into the back door after a lovely lunch, he was on the couch.  For the first time since he came to live with me, he hopped down off the couch and walked into the kitchen, tail wagging, happy to see me.... and I am assuming... also happy that I had not locked him in the kennel.  So, I will have to try it again.  I keep having to remember that Winston is still getting used to being here.  But I think I am winning him over!

Set back # 1

I have found that just about the time one feels secure in doing some things around the house that are a bit more expensive, you wind up spending big bucks on expensive stuff.

I am preparing to put together a nice room in my basement where I can put my sewing equipment so I can enjoy my passion and still have use of my living room and dining room where I can have company without thinking that I am exhibiting hoarding tendencies (which I probably do, anyway... at least where it comes to fabric).

So, I have found a microwave oven to put downstairs so I can nuke lunch or dinner without having to be upstairs.  I am emptying the freezer in the basement.  I will donate it to the church, if they can use it, or sell it and replace it with a small fridge or used one so I can keep sodas and various foods in the basement.  I also have a Keurig coffee maker that I do not use, and I will have that in the basement too, for coffee and tea.  With the TV from the Maryland bedroom and a day bed, I might never come upstairs except to go to the bathroom.

Over the last couple of months, I have been finding the occasional black mark in my clean laundry.  It looks like an oil stain (I was used to them when Rudy was alive) but I could never find what I might have washed or dried that could have made that stain.  The last few weeks, it has been showing up more frequently and I finally determined it was happening in the washer.

Today I had a very nice young man from Lancaster come in and check out my washer.  He ran some tests and, running water in it, changing to different settings and listening (I had noticed the washer being louder and louder as it ran) to determine that the bearings in the plastic drum (not the motor) that holds the water and allows the drum to spin, were shot.... I will be looking at this as it comes out of the washer and after it is out, believe me!  It could easily account for the little drips of oil that were getting into the washer if the seal is breaking down as well.

So the estimate to fix, parts and labor.. close to $500.00.  A new washer would run a few to quite a few dollars more, but still......really???  And they have to come back and completely tear the washer apart to install the new part.  And the washer is just a bit over 3 years old.  It is an LG.  The motor was guaranteed  for 10 years, the drum for life.  This part is neither, so only a year and it is so out of warranty!

I will get it fixed and hope the replacement part goes longer.  Next time I will have to think seriously of replacing the washer!

I hope that his is not going to be the first of three.  They said things like this come in threes!  Please, for my sake, let this be just one!

Not Ready for this....

Yesterday, one of my errands took me to the Sam's Club in Exton.  I was not prepared to see what I saw.....

September 4th!!!!  It was September 4th!!!!!

Earlier and earlier every year.  Soon we will have Christmas Sales all year!  The 12 months of Christmas!  Wrong... so wrong!