Monday, February 22, 2016

A post that came to mind as I stood on the bathroom counter

 When most people do home-renovations, they hire someone. Ya know, like on the Home & Garden channel? Property Brothers? Love it or List it? Um, not us.

 Dad is Mr. Do-it-yourself. Like, big time. This may or may not have had something to do with the fact that I found myself standing on the bathroom counter last week. Holding a light fixture that was unattached from the wall while Dad (who's also standing on the counter...and holding a board) cautions me not to touch those wires that are the only thing connecting the light fixture I'm holding, to the wall. Because apparently they could, ya know, shock me if I touched them. 


 If you look closely you'll see the electrical wires... 

 Mom was on the other end of the counter holding the other light. She, too, got the instructions on how to not get shocked. 

 Perhaps I should explain... Plans, that have been tentative for quite some time, were officially made to re-do and enlarge mine and my brother's rooms. It was also decided that this would be a great time to cover the Sheetrock in both bathrooms with wood. 

 While all this was going on, an air compressor sat in the hall. Interrupting our lives with it's racket and graces us with it's obnoxious presence. 

Yep, that's the air compressor. Just in case anyone hasn't seen one :) 

 And it was a great idea. But how did I get roped into the job of light-holder? 

 All that said, the bathroom does look really nice now. :) But as I told Dad, I'm "pretty sure no one else does it like this". So you tell me. Does your family go through things like this? Or is it just us? 

~Faith 

(This is one of those post where I just ramble for a few minutes and none of it makes sense. Pardon me, if I interrupted your life with an excerpt from my own. :) ) 

41 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness this post made me smile. Because. . .our family is exactly the same way!
    We rarely ever hire anyone to do anything, we do it ourselves. And I think the worst part of it all is the air compressor. It's beyond annoying. :P
    Thanks for sharing the post. :) It was a ton of fun to read!

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    1. Yay!! I'm glad to hear I'm not alone. :)
      Yeah, the air compressor can be really annoying. When Tucker was watching TV it really drove him crazy. ;)

      Thanks for reading the post, Jesseca! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

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    2. Nope,. you're not alone. ;P
      Augh! I can't to anything with that thing on! Seriously, it's worse then any other noise!
      It showed up in my email inbox and I'm like "What?!" Her. . .bathroom counter? B-)

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    3. It is!! You can't concentrate on school, you can't read, you can't write... You can't even think!!
      Hehe, it confused Mom at first too. ;)

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    1. We hire people, just because our family doesn't know a ton about DIY. ^.^ Maybe a washi-tape-based dry erase board, but definitely not replacing countertops. :P

      ~Lydia~ <3

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    2. You're probably the normal ones. ;) LOL. Oh, a washi-tape based dry erase board sounds cool!! :D
      Thanks for commenting, Lydia!! : )

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  3. Haha my Dad does a lot of fixing himself. Just yesterday he fixed the sink drain in our bathroom. Thankfully I didn't have to help but sometimes I get roped into it.

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    1. Dad has cleaned out/fixed lots of sink drains, probably more than he cares to think about. ;)

      Glad to hear from someone else who care relate! :D Thanks for commenting, Lauren!

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  4. Our family is exactly the same way. I can see my see holding a disconnect light fixture. In fact, I might be doing so in a week or so...

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    1. Yay!! Apparently we're not the only family who does these things. ;) LOL. I'd love to hear about it if you do end up doing something similar to what I found myself yanked into. ;)

      Thanks for commenting, R! :-)

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    2. Okay, here it goes...
      This swelteringly hot afternoon I was trying (trying, mind you) to staple screen to our rafters so the mosquitoes don't enter as easily. Simultaneously trying not to fall off the top wrung of an 8 foot folding ladder and not looking lovingly down to my normal 5' 7 1/4" therefore giving me a heart attack from the lovely view and my wonderful imagination.
      Satisfied with my variation? (Even if I wasn't holding a live light fixture...) :D

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    3. Oh my goodness, the way you tell it is so funny!! :D I take it you don't particularly care for heights? ;)

      Very satisfied. :) LOL. Thanks for sharing, R!!!

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    4. I don't mind heights. In fact I enjoy them... most of the time. But I tend not to appreciate them when my single base of stability is more like a single base of wobbly instability.

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    5. Haha, sounds like me. ;) I enjoy climbing trees and that sort of thing, but not being on top of a ladder with nothing else around. ;) Though I have been know to walk the ridge beam of an addition that was still under construction... B-)

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  5. The title of this post definitely caught my attention. ;) I love it. :)
    Our family has done some projects like this on our own too. They can turn out to be quite interesting. ;)
    By the way, that's really fun that your and your brothers rooms are going to get bigger. :) Renovations can be fun, but they can also be pretty crazy. ;)
    Thanks for sharing! It was really fun! :)

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    1. That was the plan! ;) LOL.
      Yes, this sort of project can certainly be interesting! :D
      I can't wait until they're finished! Haha, yep. Very crazy. ;)

      Thanks for reading and commenting, Rebekah! I'm so glad you enjoyed my silliness. ;)

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  6. We do most stuff ourselves but not quite like this :)
    Although one time a neighbour from across the street helped us cut a hole in the living room/dining room wall to open things up. :)

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    1. Come join the club, Lauren! So good to know we're not alone. ;)
      Oh, wow!! Sounds like a mess! LOL. ;)

      Thanks for commenting!! :)

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  7. Well, sounds like there are quite a few of us Do-it-yourself folks. We almost always do it ourselves. Just a few weeks ago we were fixing our fence . . . in the rain. Uh huh. My Dad has a million of those sorts of projects and we end up almost never hiring anyone. Good to know we're not alone! Doing it yourself is kinda fun though (sometimes). Either way, it teaches a lot of skills!

    Thanks for the interesting post!

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    1. Yay!!! This is seriously so good to know. ;) In the...rain? Does it rain so much that you have to do it then? B-) I'm kidding, LOL. This is not the first time Dad has tackled something like this, and it probably won't be the last. ;) Yep, you definitely learn some skills!! :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting, Bethany!!

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    2. Well, actually it doesn't rain very often at all. I suppose I should give a brief explanation :D . . . soooo our horses had been chewing on our wooden fence and got them down to like toothpicks. We picked a day to fix it and tried to get out there before it started raining but, well, we didn't quite make it. For part of the time, it was POURING!!! It was kinda funny. But, like you said, this isn't the first time we've done something like that (inside the house or outside) and it most certainly won't be the last. My other fence-fixing venture was replacing a fence in the summer time in—get this—114 degrees!!! Yup. You read that right. It gets so hot here! And trying to fix a fence in that heat is extremely exhausting! That time it was just my Dad and me.

      Ok, sorry for such a long comment. And sorry about the ramblings. :P

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    3. Hmm, I didn't know that horses would do that to fencing! But then, I don't know much a about horses. ;)
      Haha, yeah. Doing stuff outside in the rain can be fun sometimes. ;) Lots of times in the summer it will be raining when we're camping. There's usually a gang of kids riding bikes in the rain! It's so much fun, but you run out of clean clothes really fast. xD
      114 degrees??? My goodness, that's hot!! The hottest we usually see is upper 70s to 80F. :D

      I enjoy your long comments and rambles. ;) Thanks for sharing, Bethany!! :)

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    4. When horses chew on fence its called "cribbing" and can be a sign of boredom or frustration. In our case it was probably boredom. During the summer it gets HOT here. It will consistently be in the 100 and teens. So we get the heat that you don't get but you get the extreme cold that we don't get. :) Thank goodness that you like these ramblings because sometimes I can't help it! :P

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    5. Well, cool! I learned something new. ;) Ugh. And I thought 80-82 last summer was sweltering!! Haha, yep. We're from different worlds it seems, yet so many similarities. :-)

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  8. Haha, we do the same thing! My Dad does most of the stuff, but if there are things that we simply can not do on our own, we'll hire someone. But rarely ever.
    My Mom also loves renovating, especially since we live in a REALLY old house ( I want to say 100 years old or so, but I'm not totally sure). There was one time she didn't want to wait for Dad to get home from his office, so she took a crowbar and ripped out some wooden boards that had been on the wall. Then since she had started on the project already, she decided to soak off the wallpaper which for some reason, she didn't like, but my sister and I did, and painted over the whole wall.

    And oh, that air compressor! It is SO loud! It's just blissful relief when it's turned off. I just stand there and soak in the silence :P

    Thanks for sharing this, Faith! And don't worry, you're not alone! ;)

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    1. From what I've already heard, you're dad is a Jack-of-all-trades too. ;) Yeah, the only person we hire is an electrician. Dad can do the plumbing himself, but one time that resulting in water skirting out from under the sink... :)
      Oh, old houses are so cool!! Oh my goodness, that sounds SO much like my Mom!! One time we were planning to rip out the old carpet in the basement and put down laminate flooring. Dad made the mistake of saying to Mom that as soon as the carpet was out, he could get started putting the flooring down. When he came home there was a huge pile of carpet that Mom had ripped up!! :)

      Yes, the air compressor. It's SOOO awful!! Yep, you can actually enjoy life when it's not on. ;)

      Thanks for reading and commenting, Blessing!! Yes, so good to know!! :)

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    2. Haha, that is SO funny! My dad has said similar things and yep, same results ;) Do I want to imagine what your dad's face looked like when he found the carpet all ripped out? :P

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    3. Haha, maybe not. ;) To make it even more comical, our two yellow labs decided that that pile of carpet looked like a great place to take a nap. ;)

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  9. Oh golly yes. My Dad is the EXACT same way, and we have 'been there, done that'. We've completely (and I do mean completely - gutting, sheet-rocking, plaster, redoing the stairs, etc.) re-done our entire house without ever hiring anyone. It's taken us 12 years, but we're actually pretty close to done! Just little things are left like trim and a couple doors still need stripping. Our house is over a hundred years old - an ooold farmhouse. :)
    So yes, I can definitely sympathize with you! Helping do odd (and dangerous?!) jobs all the time. XD I joke that when I get my own house, I don't ever want to redo it. :D

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    1. It's so great to know we're not the only ones who do this sort of thing. ;) Oh, wow!! That's awesome! Haha, the trim-work always seems to get put off. At least with my Dad. :D Aw, I love old farmhouses! There's an old farmhouse up our road where an old couple lives. I love the quaint feel there is around it. :)
      Like I said, so good to know we're not alone. B-) Haha, definitely dangerous sometimes! And I might be with you on that one. ;)

      I was just checking out your blogger profile. (I know, creepy, right?) And I noticed Tenth Avenue North. YEEESSS!! I LOVE that band!! It seems that like no one I know has even heard of them. *sad face* Anyhow. Good to know another fan. ;)
      I sometimes have a hard time commenting on Wordpress blogs, but I read your posts. :)

      Thanks for commenting, Raechel!

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    2. I know what you mean! :) Haha yes, trim-work does always seem the thing to get put off. ^.^
      I love old farmhouses too; they're so 'home-y'!
      :D

      Haha, nope not creepy! I do that all the time. ^.^ And yes!!! TAN is amazing!! Wow that is sad that no one you know has heard of them! They are missing out! I really love them too, and each of their songs are just astounding. :)

      Oh I'm sorry for that - I've heard that before, and if I knew how to fix it, I would, but technology and I aren't not the best of friends. :D

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    3. Yes, they are!! There's another old farmhouse up our road (not the one I'd mentioned) and my mom calls it Green Gables. ;) <3

      I enjoy their music so much. Other than the girl who introduced me to TAN, I'm alone in my love for it. xD Have you heard any of their video journals?

      That's okay; I could be doing something wrong. LOL. ;)

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    4. Cool!

      I think I've seen one of their video journals...possibly? ^.^ I don't use youtube a lot because our computer is so slow. But I saw Mike's video once on The Last Supper I think it was, and it was really good. I also LOVE his funny video - "Russian Bird Trainer" - that is so hysterical. :D

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    5. Yeah, I don't use YouTube much either, but some. I have seen a few of there video journals – Worn (my favorite!!), Stars in the Night, and Strong Enough to Save. I haven't seen "Russian Bird Trainer". I'll have to find it sometime. ;)

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    6. I'll look those up sometime!
      Oh and I got you comment on my blog post about the upcoming Scavenger Hunt - I didn't publish it because the post wasn't supposed to go up yet. *Facepalm* Sorry! Sometimes technology and I have such a row! The post is supposed to go live on the 8th...so, sorry about that. But hey, you get to be 'in the know' before everyone else!! :D

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    7. Oh no! I hate technical difficulties. ;) Haha, that's okay. I'm just glad the comment came through! :D

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    8. Me too. XP Hehe, yes I am glad for that as well! Thank you for commenting :D It will show up on the 8th!

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