Draft Covers 2021/2022

We woke up to 18 degree weather today and my first thought was "sulit na the Columbia jacket I got for Swe-cha". As the day  went on, the temp did climb a little bit to a high of 38 F and boy, despite the heater running full blast, the house was FREEZING.

And with that, we finally hauled our lazy bottoms up and started putting up our vent draft covers.

I don't know why we keep putting off these covers until the cold becomes unbearable. I bet we'd be saving so much energy if we put them up early - perhaps, even as soon as we're done with the AC season. 

I was also still dealing with the laundry left over from my family's visit. I started with the bath towels and sheets last week and continued with the comforters today. And it being 18 degrees out, the basement was unbearable. I also did feel a huge draft coming into the basement from the window beside the freezer. 

I swear, when I opened the freezer to pull out gyudon for dinner, I couldn't tell which was colder - the air coming from the freezer or the air/wind blowing in from the window draft.

... and yes, our basement still has to be finished. I do count a major win today in that I finally convinced the husband to help me fashion a window cover for that drafty window.  I planned to use plastic window / door sealing sheets initially but thought cardboard might be a sturdier option. We've lost a light source so I guess we'll deal with this in the spring. 

In any case, the basement immediately felt less cold and I bet this is going to do loads of good for the upstairs living area too. 

EZ Pass Trivia

EZ Pass Trivia: when you go through toll booths and see a "GO TOLL UNPAID" message, it means that your EZ Pass device is no longer working - probably out of batteries - and needs to be replaced. Toll still gets charged to my account anyway because my license plates are registered. 

Patio roof

 On 12/6/2021, I happened to look out our bedroom window and saw these.

 

We have just had a very strong rainstorm recently and that uncovered the problem that we had in the patio roof. The edges, apparently, had been rotting for some time. 

We reached out to our roofer, Flex Construction, and were able to quickly schedule a repair. 

Work included:

- removal of the old shingles

- repair of around 3 ft of plywood on the edge of the roof

- ice shield on the roof

- install 30 year shingles on the roof

- removal of debris 

  

Total cost: $3000 

Also paid extra $100 to clean gutters - Flex flushed out all our gutters.  

*note - We asked Flex to check out our house roof and he found and repaired missing shingles on our roof and also said that our roof is generally still in good shape. We should be able to get another year out of it. (Hopefully, more -- my wishful thinking).

Sad

Lost another friend from my BBS days today.

Was just literally exchanging messages with him yesterday and he's gone now. Heart attack daw.

RIP, A.

Dishwasher

Last weekend was the busiest we've had in a long time. We accomplished so much, our muscles are still protesting right now. 

The first project we tackled was the dishwasher. The old dishwasher, the Miele, has been broken for months and the husband finally decided on what replacement model he wants. 

The husband fell in love with the Bosch 500 series because it had a 3rd rack and the auto-vent feature which, I think, means that when it is done with the cycle, it will open the door automatically to vent out the steam. 

We also didn't bother looking for an integrated dishwasher since this model was available in a stainless steel finish and will match our other appliances. We did take off the cabinet panel from the old dishwasher and saved it in case we may have some use for it again in the future. 

This was purchased from Home Depot and with this, we also got a universal dishwasher installation kit and a Bosch drain pipe extension kit. HD tried to sell me an electrical outlet but I declined because I was 100% sure that there was already a wall outlet for the dishwasher. We did have to buy an extra elbow compression fitting for the hot water supply.

We were hit with a challenge early on in the process. Before starting anything, I suggested to the husband that we push the dishwasher in and see how it fits so that we can adjust the feet to the level we want.

Oops. That's when we find out that it does not fit. There is enough clearance between the granite counter top and the floor, but there is this piece of cabinetry / trim that is blocking the appliance.

Yes, we lowered everything. Yes, we tried tilting the dishwasher so that we can push that metal back under the trim but the appliance top sort of curves upwards towards the middle and that will get stuck too.

Husband and I spent the next 10-20 minutes sitting on the floor, just staring at the dishwasher and contemplating what we can do next. We were also alternating between laughing hard and trying not to cry. It was a rollercoaster of emotions. At some point, I swear, I was going to suggest we just leave it in the middle of the kitchen. 

Husband then tried to pry out that piece of trim. It was nailed and glued securely on both ends and also has another 1" x 1/2" piece of wood backing and support it from the back. 

At this point, I suggested getting a multi tool. I went to our neighborhood Harbor Freight store and got a Chicago Electric Oscillating Multi tool kit for $22.97 (clearance price). We were able to cut off that piece of offending wood. Soon, we were back in business.

The rest of the install went smoothly.

Husband did later check the dimensions of other dishwashers and the obvious size choices have to do with the width - 24" or 18". He randomly picked different brands and all required the same clearance as the Bosch so technically, we could've bought any brand and still hit the same problem. 

That wood trim was really something we had to remove.

And yes, that is the protective sticker, we haven't removed it yet. 

September 2021 Artwork

 The robots along the side are from I Know It.

"Look, Mom, I finished a math worksheet, I earned a stamp!"

(Note that he also made the worksheet himself).

This has a Good Boy --- Naughty chart at the bottom. 

... supposed to be a boxing ring. I think the photo is upside-down.

4th Full Bathroom

Ever since we moved into our BHC home, we've always wanted to get our 4th BR bath gutted and remodeled but as it turns out 8 years later, we've grown more practical and so we decided to just have the fixtures updated. 

We made a wishlist of what we wanted done, since are skipping the entire remodel and the list we came down to was:

- replace toilet - we went with a recommendation from friend E's plumber for a toilet that flushes really well. Keeping our fingers crossed that this one is good and doesn't get blocked. That awful bluish-green shade is also so dated and hurts my eyes.

- replace bathroom vanity, countertop and faucet

- replace shower head with a wider head and one that comes with a hose

We got a few quotes from different contractors.

M, the rude one who would've cut out pipes in the wrong spot unnecessarily if I hadn't insisted he check again, quoted $500, labor only

THC, was at $1500, labor only. Too expensive.

Jeff, our handyman since our condo days, quoted $550. 

We decided to go with Jeff and I will mention that we also decided to just keep the existing countertop and vanity as they're a special compact size and was expensive to replace. 

And as with most of our projects, we forgot to take good "before" shots so this is all I have. (sometimes, I feel so relieved that we do not depend on social media for our livelihood... we'd starve!). 

I took this "in progress" shot when Jeff stepped out quickly to his truck to get some supplies and I remembered that we didn't have any "before" photos. At this time, he's done all the replacements and only had the cleanup left. 

Total cost:

- Water Pik Shower Head - ~$40 (Costco)

- Sink faucet - ~$54 (Home Depot)

- Toilet, tank & seat - $396 (Wallington Plumbing Supply)

- Labor - $450 (Jeff)

- LED lights for the bathroom mirror (vanity) and the ceiling light / exhaust

When all was done, hubby asked, "What do you want to do about the bathroom lights ?" I had no plans, I honestly didn't even notice that the bulbs in the bathroom were still warm yellow lights. I thought we'd replaced all the bulbs in the whole house but these were obviously left untouched since we never use this bathroom anyway. 

Husband did find LED daylight bulbs (candelabra and regular socket) in our stockpile and they made a lot of difference. The bathroom looks so much brighter and bigger.