Stay-Cation Day Five: all in a day's work

Whew. It's just after six and I'm pleased. I have only two more days until back to work, so I need to make the most of it. I don't have any specific plans with anyone this weekend, which is good. This weekend's plans are to paint that last living room wall, paint the kitchen and make the great room (living, dining and kitchen) presentable. Showering, optional.

I am not sure but my band may be doing something. I met Mary and Stacy Jane and we went to Amerigo's. I was hankering for their Margarite Chicken. YUM. Usually I can polish off tons of bread and my entire entree. Today I had two little pieces of bread and barely touched my lunch! Granted, the first two bites of pasta I had, I snarfed down. That kinda hung up around bandy, and after that, I just didn't have the same gusto for it. So I have plenty of leftovers for dinner tonight.

I ran a few more errands after I dropped them off at work, then took a nap, and then hit the garage again. This morning, I had ripped down some plywood and painted the strips black.

I got some small bolts while out, so I was ready to start hanging brackets to see if my plan worked. The bolts cost me $3. Everything else I had in my garage.

First, I did the one by the garbage can. I have tons of roll-y carts that I'm always tripping over or losing. I decided this would be where they would live. They aren't all that wide, so I also thought I could hang my chair in a bag on it, too. Here's the location where I was going to install this thing:

I mounted (huh huh, I said mounted) the big hook while it was flat and the second hook was an impulse done after I hung it. Yeah, not to self: easier when flat!

Then it was just a matter of figuring out how to load it. After 2 or 3 tries, here's how it ended up:

Off to the next bracket, which was going to hold my dog show dolly. That thing is always in the way (usually I just leave it in the trunk) and it is quite heavy. It needed to be off the floor and out of the way. Here's where it was going:

I used some "free" brackets I found in a box, measured stuff out (using my current close enough for government work rationale), and hung this thing. It all went up easy, but getting the nuts on the back of the bolts in such close quarters was a challenge. I dropped them several times and swore quite a bit. I know swears, you know.

Then I dragged that heavy assed dolly and hung it. Of course I was like, this first? Then that? What about the other way around. Let's just say before I got it to what I wanted, I got in a good upper body workout for the day.

I also loaded up all the extra crates and doggy exercise pens on the shelf adjacent to it. No more x-pens in the house, save for the one by the door. I use that like an air lock in a space ship for when guests come and go out the front door. I prefer to not wildly chase miscreant corgis through the neighborhood.

I almost didn't fool with bracket 3 because I didn't know what I wanted to put on it. Meh. I just decided to put two more heavy duty hooks and hang my sawhorses. That may not live there permanently, but it's good for now. And it gets more crap off the floor.

I think that's about all I plan to do in the garage over this break. I'll save the rest of the piddle-farting around in there for when it gets a bit cooler.

The rest of the weekend will be indoors and painty. FUN! Well, not excruciating. And I can watch TV over my shoulder while I work. My only fear: pulling out the fridge. I'm scairt of what might be back there. Be sure to listen for the girl scream, especially if bugs are involved.

Stay-Cation Day Four and Start of Five (boring)

I cannot believe it is Friday already, but at least for the dwindling week I have been productive. So my vacation leave binge has not been in vain. Warning: this is mostly just a boring diary entry for my own motivation. Not particularly funny or entertaining. I'll save that for later in the day.

It is 8:30 on Friday and I have already used power tools! And I haven't even had coffee yet! It is brewing, though.

I forgot I had mentioned in passing about maybe having my parents come by with their truck to help out with the floor or something last weekend. Mom called yesterday morning to confirm that we were still on. Oh! Um, okay!

Dad wanted to pick up a second massive shelving unit for me. Well, I guess since I didn't go to Nationals I could buy that. Less than the cost of the gas to get to KY and back and one night's hotel stay. Plus it makes him happy to do things for me. Fine.

He wanted to put it together too, which meant I had to make room for it. YIKES! So we we came home from Lowe's and dove right in. Fortunately, it only took about 20 minutes and no tools more complex than a rubber mallet. I hadn't really planned on doing much in the garage while off this week, but the bug bit me a little. Nothing a little cortisone cream won't fix, though.

Mom and I went to lunch at O'Charley's and I'm pleased to say I brought home most of my salad. Maybe the band helped me, or maybe I lost my appetite when she nearly choked to death on a piece of lettuce. Holy crap!

She just sucked something down the wrong pipe, but when I asked if she was okay and if she could breathe, she didn't respond. Just sat there wide eyed. Then she sucked a tiny bit of air noisily. Okay, that's good. She is not completely obstructed. It's a start. I sat there gaping as she turned all shades of red and eventually she got another swig of air. I was finally able to relax once she started coughing. I kept saying, "Do you need the Heimlich? Huh? HUH??"

After she said she was okay, I was finally able to unclench and I had that same kind of sensation after a near miss car wreck. Like when you go to change lanes and even though there was nothing there when you turned and looked 3 seconds ago, all of a sudden there's a car! SWERVE! The whew, I nearly peed my pants adrenaline crash sensation.

Whew. I was happy that I didn't accidentally kill my mother with lunch. She'd be incredibly pissed because she is totally planning on out-living my dad. She has a plan that her dying first would really screw up.

Anyway, the left soon after and I got back to my thing, which at that time was a nap. Heh heh. I do have to be lazy a little bit on my time off.

Late in the afternoon, though, I decided I wanted to scootch stuff around in the garage and at least get the shelves into place. Let's just say that the back wall of the garage is teeming with vermin! I saw a few mice scampering around. Sigh. I guess I should get some kind of killing apparatus. Even if they are kinda cute.

It took a lot of sweat effort, but I shifted everything out of the way then moved the shelves in place. That was pretty much it for the day. I was filthy, sweaty and sneezing uncontrollably from the mouse poo and dust I swept up. Time to kick back with the DVR and catch up on some telly.

This morning I went out to the garage to look at my handiwork. Ugh. This is one of those darkest before the dawn moments. It definitely looked better out there before Dad came over. Now it's pretty much a sty. BUT, I can see where there is some progress going on and even better, I can see that someday in the near future, I might get to PARK IN THERE!

Getting my garage cleaned out is very important to Dad. He has repeated several times lately that he wants me to have the Corvette when he kicks off. It needs to fit in the garage because allowing a 'vette to sit outside is a cardinal sin. UV kills, don't ya know!

When they discuss the car, as soon as Dad gets up, Mom says, "Hell, that Corvette is our tickets for an Alaskan cruise!" Sheesh. Refer to plan noted above.

Still thinking about my dog stuff, I have some things I don't want in my dog room. Big, clunky things I want to hang. I've run out of wall space in the garage though. I have one spot left, and that is supposed to be for my wheelbarrow. I have a holder and everything. I'd just have to dump the rotting yard waste out of it and put it in the garage. Go figure.

So I stood out there, mice darting around my feet, trying to figure out how to get more surface area to hang things from. I realized the end of the massive shelving units would work quite well.

Hence the early morning power tools.

The shelves are 2' wide and I just happened to have a 1" thick 24" square piece of plywood. I cut it into 3 x 8" wide strips and measured it for holes. The plan is to bolt these pieces of wood to the three available sides of the shelving units (one end is stuck in the corner and I can't reach it). Then I can put sturdy hooks in the plywood and hang more stuff! Yippeeee! I just want as much crap off the floor as I can get.

I cut down the wood, sanded the edges, then painted them black to match the shelf frames. Today I'm going to meet the work gals for lunch. On the way home, I'm gonna stop by Restoration Hardware to get a gallon of wall paint. After 6 YEARS of living in this house, I am going to finish painting the last wall of the living room come hell or high water! Then I'll dash in at Home Depot for some bolts to anchor these brackets to the shelves.

JOY! No more tripping over my foldy carts as I come and go from the garage.

Here are the shelving brackets, already in progress: