Frustrated

Today, I'm feeling really frustrated. Our taxes have taken forever and that's been a pain. The wiring in the house is messed up and our internet goes down all the time. We are nowhere near unpacked from our move almost 3 years ago, and there's no completion in sight. The house is taking forever. We've lived 3 years in a really uncomfortable house. When we took this project on, I had no idea I'd work so hard for so long and still have a horrible house. I've worked so hard and had so much stress that it has had a huge effect on me. I'm not the same as when I started. I don't know how DIY fixer uppers ever get done. You can only sprint for so long, and I cannot sprint any more but we're nowhere near done. Just keeping up with household chores takes forever in such a messed up house, and that leaves very little time for even working on it. I cleared my plate for a while to take on the house, but real life has crept in and I can no longer spent 12-15 hours a day or 7 days a week on it, which is what it takes to make any progress with any speed.

Most days, I work until I'm exhausted and barely make a dent in my to-do list. It's getting really discouraging to work so hard and not make substantial progress or even have a comfortable house. I've made no progress at all in 10 days.

Fortunately I'm going away next week for some R&R and hopefully that will refresh me and renew my drive to finish. Part of my frustration is due to exhaustion.

Wiring on a Sunday

We've designated Sunday afternoons to work on wiring, at least until phase one of the wiring is done. We want to get the hub into the office closet, get all wires off the floor and get our internet connection to be reliable. It's been really annoying and our internet connection goes down all the time.

Today we spent 2 hours working on the board for the hub. We drilled all the holes for the wires except for one large on for the power source, which has a huge plug.

Whew, busy day

I spent 1.5 hours on the woodwork today bringing the total to 240.5. I got another coat of shellac on, so that felt good. One step closer to flooring!

I used my new steamer to clean my trashcans. I'm very happy to have this done. The steamer worked great and it wasn't hard at all with the long wand attachment. It easily reached all the way to the bottom. The steam cleaned the cans really well and used very little water and no soap or cleaning products. I used to do this with gallons of water, a broom to scrub with and cleaning products and it didn't work nearly as well. Yeah!

Wood chips

Today I went to Home Depot and picked up 8 more bags of chips for a total so far of 68. I think I'll need between 16-24 more bags, so that's 2-3 trips to get the yard done once. But, It's been so long since the first chips went down that much of it needs to be redone. The chips fade over time, disintegrate in the weather, get eaten by the dogs and get picked up when I pick up after the dogs.

Here is a before shot of the section I covered today:



Here is the after, with one of the dogs enjoying the new chips.



It's a lot of work - the bags are huge and heavy and that's why I only get 8 at a time. But they do really look nice once they're in. Once the whole yard is done, I'll be in a maintenance mode on this job.

Sanding windows

Today I spent 2.25 hours sanding the latest coat of shellac bringing the total on woodwork to 239 hours. I'm almost ready for the next coat and hopefully that will happen this week. Sanding is very tedious and hard to get through.

Wiring on a Sunday

We're back to working on the wiring after pledging to work on it every weekend until at least our current uses (internet, phone, satellite tv) are stable. Our last session was Feb 1. Ugh. Our internet is down about half the time, and it's always a crap shoot whether it will work when you need it. Very inconvenient.

We spent about 1.5 hours during which we cut a piece of plywood to use as a central hub to connect all the wires. I put a few coats of polyurethane on it so labels would stick. We also spent time setting up the layout of the holes. Basically, all the connections will be here. The TV wires will come from the satellite, though the attic, down in the wall to the board where they will connect with wires running to both televisions. Same for the internet and phone. We can use routers to connect more devices. Each room has multiple jacks for TV and internet. We wanted to accommodate any future needs we might have.

Windows and new steamer tool

The windows will be my main focus for the next few months until they (and all the interior woodwork) is done. The woodwork has to be done so we can repaint the entire interior (for the second time since buying the house 3.5 years ago) and then flooring, which I cannot wait for.

Today I spent 1 hour on the windows finishing the putty and doing some buffing. I couldn't sand since the putty was too fresh, but I didn't mind as I was very ready to quit after 1 hour. Total hours on woodwork to date: 236.75

I ordered a power steamer and got it today. I works great and I already have so many things to use it on. I tried to clean the windows myself, and could not get them clean. There are too many nooks and crannies that I could not find a way to clean. The steamer works great - it blasts steam into the crevice and there are all sorts of attachments.

Here is a window sill I cleaned. Look at the difference between the right side and the left side:


Here is another shot of the uncleaned left side:



Here is the steamer itself:



And here is where I cleaned some grout in the dogs' feeding area. Yet another bad piece of advice from our prior incompetent contractor. Grouted tiles are a really bad idea for where the dogs eat. Previously, I used to scrub with a toothbrush, and it took about 4 hours to clean the whole area (about 4x8). Cleaning this area took 10 seconds. You can see the clean grout at the intersection of the two lines. The grout is supposed to be light colored.

Windows - supply pickup

Today I spent half an hour on the windows - it was just a quick supply run to pick up insulating foam.

Total hours so far on windows: 235.75

Windows - putty

Today I spent 1 hour on windows putting putty in nail holes and where top and side pieces of trim join together. I have 1 more window to do and then the putty needs to harden before the next coat.

Total hours so far on windows: 235.25

Still behind on the blog

I'm still here, still updating, but I've been super busy with the house and other things, so I get really behind on the blog. I hope to catch up some day when there is less to do on the house. I'm actually posting this on April 8.