Adventures in Home Improvements

This year instead of promising myself some silly New Year's resolutions like be kinder to strangers, have more patience and save more money, none of which will likely happen because who can change one's personality? I don't like talking to strangers, so I can't be kinder, my daughter drives me crazy with her homework and whining (she's at that age) so I know my patience will go right out the window and as much as I would like to save more money, there just isn't enough left over to save. So instead, this year I made a list of things I would like to get done to the house, my home project list.

First up is putting up a back splash on my kitchen wall. A back splash is like the artwork of the kitchen just like the handles and knobs are the jewelry of it. I just feel like my kitchen is nude, naked, bare, without a back splash. My husband says it serves no purpose, so why? It's not like we need a back splash! I don't think I was ever conscious of back splashes until I started watching all those decorating shows, thanks Candace Olsen (love her Divine Design, hey Candace, if you are reading this would love for you to design a room for me!).

So one weekend, when my husband had the flu, just the perfect time to go out and buy tile without him making faces, I made the trip to Home Depot for tiles. With my daughter in tow, I bought this nice diamond mosaic tile, about 15 pieces I estimated. I buy the premixed grout, the premixed adhesive and some decorator mini glass mosaics. All costing under $100.00. Feeling pretty good with myself until I take the stuff in the kitchen and hold up the tile to the back splash and then realize, oh yeah there's plugs and phone outlets! Serious problem. I wasn't going to cut tile, yikes, that's way too hard. So I take the diamond tile back and buy the square one. Somehow the non-handy person in me thought that I won't have to cut square tile, wrong! I bring it home only to realize that it too would have to be cut. Well, it is here that I start having frightening visions of those big electrical tile machines that make a lot of noise and constantly need to have water running on the blade. The nice Home Depot man says they rent those machines, but I'm like what about that little tile plier cracker thingy? He says no way. Scratching my head and not wanting to give up because surely it would be easier to take the stuff back than to plow ahead, I fall back on plan b, call up my handyman to see if he could recommend a tile man. Bingo, contact made, Rauel will do it the next day (Saturday). Excited, I go back to Home Depot, return the plain square tile and re-purchase the diamond tile. The next day the tile guy comes over (we pre-negotiated a price over the phone since I told him it was only 15 tiles ), he takes one look at the tiles and shakes his head. Not a good sign. He says the diamond tile will take a lot of extra cutting, translation more money. I'm like gads! Will it be better with square mosaics I ask? Of course. So it's back to Home Depot to re-purchase the square tile and take back the diamond one. At this point I'm thinking Home Depot probably has me on some black list of the chronic returner. Unfazed, I also re-purchase the original mini glass tiles as well, there goes that crazy Asian woman again! Rush home thinking the guy has set up his massive tile saw, when I see him pull out a little tile cutter. Don't you need a big saw, I say? Naw, this is small tile, it's ok. Three hours later and I'm in love with it and with my design, square tile and all. Happily, no matter that the tile guy soaked me a little with his whining about how many cuts he had to make and weaseling his way out of coming back the next day to grout, I'm like I can do it (even though he's charging me more). How hard can it be, I mean with the stuff premixed and all? So I pay the guy (he manages to get an extra $50.00 bucks out of me-don't tell my husband! I'm such a push-over! New Year's Resolution, not to be such a push- over!) and I send him on his way, with a full stomach I might add. Total cost of the project, materials and labor a mere $250.00. Still a pretty good deal and it looks smashing!

Project two is almost under way and that is installing a Rubbermaid closet organizer in my daughter's closet. I would so totally love the custom closet, but who can afford that? So I ordered Walmart's site to store and hopefully it will be here within the next two weeks. If that works out then it's on to the down stairs coat closet.

Project three, built in shelves in my media niche and project four-painting the two walls that are two stories high in my house to match the paint on the other walls.

Almost two project done and it's only February!

Look for my updates on my home improvement adventures!-Single D

The Bachelor-Jason's Final Four

After seeing the final four dates, my pick to win this whole thing is Jillian. Ok, she did start out kinda of quirky with that what do you put on your hot dog thing, but she has turned out to be my favorite of the final four. I love the place she is from Alberta, Canada. It looks simply stunning there and the view from her parents home is to die for. Jillian tells Jason that her mother had suffered depression for 15 years, which is most of Jillian's adult life which says a lot about Jillian's strength. I was looking for chinks in her mother's amour, but only saw a faint twitching about the eyes.

Molly's parents live in Grand Rapids MI. When they first meet, Molly saunters up casually to Jason, unlike the running into Jason's arms that Jillian did. Molly seems very reserved and conservative. Ok more like frigid, iceberg, raise the Titanic. Hey what's up with Molly's last boyfriend that her parents absolutely hated? What was he a serial killer or something? And why does Molly call her mother MaryAnn instead of mom? I do have to give snaps for the mother, she had a craft's basement that Martha Stewart would be jealous of. When MaryAnn took Jason to the basement and asked him to draw a picture of Molly, I found it very telling that he drew a picture of Molly surrounded by hearts and a single rose. Humm, I wonder if it means anything? And I loved the thing with the hats at the parents house, it served nicely to break the ice. Molly's dad was totally funny when he said to Molly that if she's the one rejected not to do the crying in the limo thing. He must really watch the show!

Out of the three sets of parents the oddest ones by far were Naomi's divorced parents living in Lake Elsinore, CA. With her holier than thou father and wannabe spiritualist mother one word for Jason, run! Hector looks like he could have been one of the hommies when he was a teen but as an adult has found religion, Amen! I'm thinking Mom's belief in reincarnation probably doesn't jive with Dad's Christian religion, Amen! When Hector started talking religion, Jason had that frozen look on his face. You know the one he gets when he's put on the spot and doesn't quite know what to say, he had that same look when Mom started talking about how she's an indigo, some kind of religious channeler or something. Nothing says welcome to the family like religious zealots, Amen!

The last date was to Dallas, TX to meet Melissa's parents or so he thought, except Melissa said it wasn't to be since her parents weren't jiving with the "publicness" of it all. So they left poor Melissa to fend for herself and her and Jason had dinner at her friends house. It seemed rather awkward the whole thing but that didn't seem to faze him in the end, when he sent Naomi packing which I knew he would.

Final two, Jillian and Molly as Naomi is given her walking papers. Well at least the rose ceremony was at the Olympic Fairmont Hotel which is absolutely gorgeous. This I know because I stayed at the W Hotel right down the street from the Fairmont. I don't recommend the W. It was an awful experience. The "boutiquish" hotel was trying really hard to be something it's not. The entire hotel is lit in a bluish ambient light, the people who work there are really snobbish and not very friendly. They are trying to create an ambiance like it's some kind of five star hotel, but mostly the ambient light only serves to dim the whole experience of staying in Seattle. If you have a chance at a vacation there, stay at the Fairmont, my guess is that you will be treated a lot better than the W Hotel. My guess is that the W caters to (gay) single execs men, nothing wrong with that, but maybe it should say that in it's advertising?

Well, it's goodbye Naomi, now back to flying with ya-Single D