News Archive: March/April 2021
21 April 2021
After my return from the hospital, I went right back to work on the house—at least to the degree I could tolerate. And since the glass doors for the china cabinet arrived in my absence, I started with that. I will say I'm not even close to being back to "normal," and unpacking the glass alone was an all-morning process.
13 April 2021
Installed the blocking for the bullnose tiles—that's all I had the energy to do today.
12 April 2021
Got the new bathtub step treads tiled.
11 April 2021
Whilst waiting for the dishwasher to show up, I decided to finally make a modification to the bathroom I've been wanting to do since around June 2020—that's when I installed the tub and quickly realized the access to it was quite inadequate. Plus, with me becoming weaker and less flexible each day, I was keen to get it done sooner rather than later—or never. So I engineered a plan for a second step. As a bonus, it serves as a place to sit down whilst drying. I gave it a full test this evening, and everything worked perfectly.
8 April 2021
I've been stimulated, so I ordered the last appliance needed for the house: a dishwasher. It will be delivered mid-May.
5 April 2021
I used my spanky new oven for the first time to bake brownies!
3 April 2021
How on Earth did a crippled old man with a heart condition, who's barely able to lift 40 pounds, manage to get a 250-pound appliance up and into that hole in the wall on his own? I think it makes for an interesting side story.
To celebrate, I pulled another trigger: I ordered the glass doors for the china cabinet. I found that ripple glass was cheaper than frosted (what I'd wanted) and even plain clear. And finally, I placed an order for some bakeware—I didn't have any, not even oven mitts. Wouldn't do to have a nice new oven and nothing to use in it.
2 April 2021
My oven was delivered today—five days early—and they were kind enough to unbox it and bring it downstairs. It's great timing and lousy timing all at once: on the plus side, it's good that I got the woodwork done when I did; but I've not had the chance yet to line up help to heft the 250 pound behemoth into place, so who knows how long it's going to be sitting in the middle of my living room. I'm also in the throes of feeling really, really poorly, and I'm not the slightest bit excited to see it.
1 April 2021
I've spent the last two days finishing the woodwork for the oven area in the kitchen—which basically meant doing all of the remaining woodwork. To be perfectly honest, however, I don't like it. First, it's all pine, and I hate pine as a finish wood: the color is gross, it stains inconsistently, and it's a softwood, so it's easily damaged. But hardwood costs five to ten times as much, so it's not an option for me. And second, there's just sooo much of it! I hadn't foreseen it looking the way it does. Trust me, it looks way better in photographs than it does in person.
31 March 2021
The lumber needed to finish the woodwork around the oven arrived this morning, so now I'm cutting, fitting and staining dozens of pieces of wood. Meanwhile, the oven delivery date has been set for Wednesday, 7 April 2021, one week from today.
29 March 2021
Selling my car due to health issues did have a silver lining: I had some spare cash to invest in the house. So, an oven is on order, and due to arrive sometime during the first week in April. Meanwhile, I'm frantically trying to get the woodwork done in preparation.