Enter At Your Own Risk

Spent yesterday prepping the baseboards, to be installed today, for the main living area. While he is doing that, I will touch up paint in the other areas and then everything can be put back in place. That will be the end of this project. Hooray!

Next, I will address furniture. And window treatments.
 

All baseboards are installed and surprisingly, it looks even better than expected. Now to work on painting them, requiring the oh-so-much-fun of taping everything off first. I hope my trick knee doesn't go on strike.

All of this work has been done over a period of 2 1/2 years. Kind of a little at a time. Strangely, I haven't really noticed or felt any major differences until recently. Had this all been done over a short period, all at once, it would have been more of a shocking difference, I think. Now, as we are down to the finishing touches, I am starting to notice. It's kind of snuck up on me.

What I have noticed is the bank balances, lol. It is down to the point now where no more comes out of savings or investments; it has to come from monthly income. So larger project starts are slowing down. The next project is fencing and fortunately, I have most of the materials needed; that will have to wait until Spring anyway.
 
Well, I did nothing yesterday, absolutely nothing. Today, I think I will make a quick run to the library in the nearby town to pick up forms for tax returns. If they are open today and if they have the forms. Then put away all the tools and stuff. Just can't seem to get myself going on the painting.
 
GoodEnuff said:
Well, I did nothing yesterday, absolutely nothing. Today, I think I will make a quick run to the library in the nearby town to pick up forms for tax returns. If they are open today and if they have the forms. Then put away all the tools and stuff. Just can't seem to get myself going on the painting.
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I know the feeling. Your body is telling you, it needs a rest whether physically or mentally... so take it... take as much time as you need and start refreshed... there's no hurry....
 
The library was open and had the tax forms. Hooray for that.

I purchased a smart Roku TV. Started the set up; you must establish an account with Roku, give your DOB, etc., but when they required a credit card number (so if you want to purchase anything, they will have it on file), I canceled it. Terms and conditions stated very clearly how they track you. No. Won't do it. So I boxed it back up and will return it to WalMart in the next few days.

My current TV is a dumb TV which has to be hard wired to my desk top CPU. I wanted another TV to place in another sitting room. I get tired of being in this same room all of the time. I subscribe to nothing, just watch free streaming, i.e., Pluto, Tubi, etc. Pull it up on the desk top and move the screen over to the TV. I use Firefox and Duck Duck Go; supposedly no or very little tracking. But in order to have a TV in another room, without the smart TV spying, I would have to connect a dumb TV to another computer. Would that work with a laptop? I don't know but will go to the local computer guy and ask him.

Also purchased a replacement light bulb for an old fluorescent light. Turns out there is a problem with either the fixture or the wiring to the fixture. Another visit by the electrician is in order. Sigh.
 
Jules said:
Roku is known for making more money from selling your data than selling TVs.
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Not surprised. When I read the Terms and Conditions, I was appalled.

Interestingly, during the set up they send you an email where you have to click on "connect" or something like that. You have 30 minutes to do this. Ever read those Terms, etc? Then fill out all the info they want. It's a smart way to make you rush through it and skip the T&C's.

smiley said:
wot's wrong with a laptop - move it around - even take it for a walk?
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Had a laptop when they first became available. I just don't like them; the keyboards seem small, along with the screens. A family member uses a laptop exclusively and when he has brought it over, I can barely read what's on that small screen. It does have the advantage of not taking up space and being discreet.
 
I have never been one to sleep alot, anything over 4-5 hours is a rare occurrence. Now and then, I get 7 hours and it sure feels good. This morning, when I awoke, I could see a pale light through the curtains and I thought, "Wow! I slept longer, it must be close to 7am." Laid there for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling. Got up, made coffee, looked at the clock and it was 3-something. Full moon. Good grief.

Yesterday, received a text from my sister (1500 miles away) telling me my phone wasn't working. She had been trying to call me. So I called her and she kept cutting out. Tried different things (wifi, cell towers), nothing helped. We both use ATT. Called our other sister, (300 miles away) who uses Verizon. No problems. Hours later, called the first sister again and same thing, cutting out. I think it's her phone. They both have iPhones, mine is an android. She said no problems with other people's calls. Same here. Something between our two phones, I suppose. I hope it clears up; we have interesting conversations.
 
Have you done the baseboards yet? The last time I had to paint them, I didn't tape. Instead I held old greeting cards against the wall while I painted. It worked better for me because I could hold the card slanted in tightly, as I went along. My taping usually left little gaps where my brush would touch the wall. I did have to use new cards frequently because they would get messy.

You have done an amazing job on your house! I've enjoyed following along without leaving my wheel chair. :)
 
GoodEnuff said:
I have never been one to sleep alot, anything over 4-5 hours is a rare occurrence. Now and then, I get 7 hours and it sure feels good. This morning, when I awoke, I could see a pale light through the curtains and I thought, "Wow! I slept longer, it must be close to 7am." Laid there for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling. Got up, made coffee, looked at the clock and it was 3-something. Full moon. Good grief.

Yesterday, received a text from my sister (1500 miles away) telling me my phone wasn't working. She had been trying to call me. So I called her and she kept cutting out. Tried different things (wifi, cell towers), nothing helped. We both use ATT. Called our other sister, (300 miles away) who uses Verizon. No problems. Hours later, called the first sister again and same thing, cutting out. I think it's her phone. They both have iPhones, mine is an android. She said no problems with other people's calls. Same here. Something between our two phones, I suppose. I hope it clears up; we have interesting conversations.
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I have that sometimes with other verizon ppl. And I have a verizon android. Sometimes I think it's how well the wifi is running. Mine is 5G but often drops to 4G.

Not sure why. Maybe that's it? Maybe her battery was low?
 
Della said:
Have you done the baseboards yet? The last time I had to paint them, I didn't tape. Instead I held old greeting cards against the wall while I painted. It worked better for me because I could hold the card slanted in tightly, as I went along. My taping usually left little gaps where my brush would touch the wall. I did have to use new cards frequently because they would get messy.

You have done an amazing job on your house! I've enjoyed following along without leaving my wheel chair. :)
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Genius about the cards...I'm going to do that next time.... (y)
 
Yes, did the baseboards in the ex-hot tub room today. Also did a bit of caulking around windows and door. Tomorrow, will do some window trim in there, too. Wasn't planning on doing that but with the new paint on other areas, it looks a bit dull.

Good idea with the cards; I don't have any, though. Carpet can't be taped; I tried, not optimistically. I had a roll of plastic, sorta like drop cloth. I taped the long edge of the plastic with the blue painters tape to reinforce it and used a putty knife to shove it under the baseboards, covering the carpet. It worked quite well and I managed to NOT get paint on the carpet. In corners where it wouldn't go under the baseboards, I held a wide putty knife against the bottom edge, like you did with the cards. That worked, too.

I should be finished with that room tomorrow. Need to touch up some small areas of wall corners where the paine was scraped during the carpet laying. Then it will be really finished. I can place some furniture in there and the walking pad, maybe hang curtains? Maybe not because those large windows look out over the creek and back into the forest, a nice view, and there are no other houses in that direction. I think I will name that room The Summer Room.

After that, I will move out into the hall; same thing, baseboards and some other trims. It shouldn't be too difficult.

I spoke with my eldest daughter today and she pushed me to just hire the painter to come do the interior trims in the entire house. Thinking about that. All of my life, I have been one to do things myself if I could. I feel guilty when I get someone to do something that I can do. What? Just sit here and watch someone else work? I have a hard time with that.
 
As usual, the trim painting became a bit complicated, lol. Upon close inspection, I saw the windows and door frame seriously needed caulking. Did that and was going to paint today, allowing for the caulk to cure first.

Have to run to town today so not sure if anything else will get done now. Tomorrow, I suppose.
 
Yesterday was a quick trip to town. 11:00 am by the time I arrived back home. Instead of working on this house, I did five loads of laundry (small washer) and both the federal and state income taxes. The federal return went pretty quickly. I do my own on paper and it is an interesting thing to see just how we are being fooled. So much out there about the "up to $1,000 more refunded". No. When I compared last year's return to this year's, taxes went up. The COLA increase in SS also increased how much SS is taxed. After taxes, my net income is down.

The state tax return is awful! I receive pensions and SS, simple. Right? Twelve (12!) pages. Spent greater than six hours completing that return. And altho this state is a "no tax on social security" state, bull. Yes, it is taxed, but in a very round about, convoluted manner. They also removed the senior housing credit and the sales tax credit this year. My state income tax last year was $130. This year it's $721. They tout that the maximum tax is 4.4%. Nope. It's more than that.

I'd rather paint baseboards. Shovel snow. Maybe iron my sweat pants. Anything other than that. But it is finished so...

Onward through the fog!
 

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