August 12, 2022

Friday Night Photos

Good grief--I just looked at the clock and realized I spent literally all day folding clothes and prepping clothes that I want to alter in some way. I got a lot done, but it feels like the entire day is gone with nothing to really show for it. I cleaned out my closet, getting rid of clothes that don't fit anymore or that I just don't want. And I did a week's worth of laundry--since the bedroom was torn apart, Jerry and I had clothes all over the inside of the bedroom closet and a hamper by the laundry room.

I don't have a ton of photos for today (well, I have about ten million on my phone, but they are mostly pictures of our progress on the flooring). I don't want to get redundant with those, so I'll just share a few of the things I worked on...

This is a screw gun that my brother brought over to screw in the plywood subfloor. Nail guns are common, but had no idea there was a such thing as a screw gun. It's super fast to drive a screw (you just pull a trigger and push down for a second) but I couldn't get the hang of doing it quickly. Brian could have done the whole room before I did one board, but thankfully, a good old fashioned drill is probably my favorite tool to use. I just turned on a podcast and glued and screwed the boards by hand. It's kind of relaxing, actually.


On the other hand, I'm not a fan of the circular saw. Unless I use a straight edge as a guide, I always wind up with wonky cuts. (And from this picture, you can clearly see I wasn't using two hands--maybe if I did, I'd wind up with better cuts!)



My least favorite tool, by far, is the sawzall. It vibrates so hard when using it and it gets heavy when you have to saw through boards with it. Brian insisted that *I* cut the wall, though, while he took pictures of me struggling with the sawzall ;) 



I also took out the wall that was to the right of the shower. And then I discovered that the person who screwed the bottom of the wall to the floor screwed it right through the floor and into the AIR DUCT. Seriously?! 



At one point, Jerry was walking across the joists and he fell right down into the crawl space. I thought for sure it would be me that did it at some point, but nope! It was so funny when he popped back up, though, because he found a tool (a small pry bar) that I had lost SO long ago. I can't even remember the last time I was that far back in the crawl space, so it's probably been a couple of years.



Jerry always makes fun of me for the face I make when I'm doing something difficult. I think here, I was pulling out staples--the bane of my existence. For the record, they aren't normal staples; they're two inches long and about as thick as a paperclip. 



Anyone remember the movie Fear, with Mark Wahlberg? Jerry and I watched it when we were dating, and we always laughed about the "4 EVA" part of a tattoo that Wahlberg's character had. Before we ripped out the floor, I drew this so Jerry would see it when he got home from work. He didn't even notice it!



When I was going through pictures on my phone, I laughed when I saw this one. Brian had asked me to text him a picture of the pry bar tools I borrowed from my dad. When I saw this picture on my phone, it reminded me of a typical slasher film where the killer lays out all of his tools to scare the bejeezus out of his victim.



I've been pulling out weeds here and there whenever I notice them in the new mulch so they don't get out of hand. The other day, I discovered some mushrooms! I don't know anything about mushrooms, but I imagine these are probably common ones that pop up everywhere. 



I took this picture because I'm hoping someone can tell me what it is. It looks like an innocent weed because it's so small and barely pokes up to the surface. When I pull it out, however, the root is enormous! It's probably as thick as a jump rope at the top and it goes down pretty deep--just one long piece. I thought I took a picture of the root, but I guess not. I'd like to know what they are so I can get rid of them, though.



When I was in West Bloomfield yesterday, I figured I'd stop at the Goodwill there on my way home. West Bloomfield is typically an upper class area, so I hoped I'd find something good. I took a picture of these jeans because the top looked interesting. I thought someone added that fabric to the top as an alteration, but when I looked inside, it seems like the jeans were made that way. I don't love the look of this particular pair, but I took the picture because it may be an idea for turning low-cut jeans into mid-rise jeans. My butt (or lack of) does not like to hold up low-cut jeans.



I loved this yellow sweater and it was cheap, but I didn't like the 'Ooh la la' embroidery. After looking at it on the inside, it looked like I could probably pick out the embroidery without damaging the sweater. Unlikely, but it was worth a try. It took forever because I was being so careful, but I finally got the stitches out and you can't even tell that it was ever there!



I was very excited to find this pair of True Religion jeans. Several years ago, I wrote about wanting to get some new jeans from the thrift store after having lost weight. Someone kindly commented that I should treat myself to a pair of designer jeans like 7 For All Mankind or True Religion. I kind of made it a mission to find a pair of each of those brands at a thrift store. I've gotten several pairs of 7 For All Mankind jeans over the years, but never True Religion.

The fitting rooms were closed yesterday (still due to COVID) so I hoped they'd fit. When I got home and tried them on, they were too big in the waist--bummer. But I'm going to alter them a bit to see if I can get them to fit. If not, well, they were only $6! (The safety pins are just there for my reference when altering.)



And finally, here is a picture of where Jack and I hiked yesterday. It was so pretty! I saw a few different types of squirrels that we don't have here. The only ones we have around us are tree squirrels, so it was fun to see the black squirrels and chipmunks. I just looked up how common they are and apparently, 56% of the squirrels in Michigan are black squirrels! I'd seen them before, but never around our house.


And that's all I've got! Hopefully next week I'll have less pictures of the bedroom floor and more pictures of funner things ;) 

6 comments:

  1. Love your facial expressions!

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    1. I never realized I did that until Jerry pointed it out! Apparently, scrunching my face up like that makes the staples come out easier, hahaha.

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  2. The odd jeans look like the maternity pair I had. I wonder if the extra material is to accommodate a baby bump?

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    1. Ohhh, that didn't occur to me! I bet you're right. They looked a little odd, but so practical! Hahaha, I like "mom jeans" now--the higher waist is much more comfortable ;)

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  3. I'm not sure if your brother is a carpenter by trade, but the way he has you putting down the plywood is one way you could do it. I don't see a single tube of construction adhesive anywhere. You need heavy glue on the joists, lay the plywood down and ring nails with a nail gun, very fast. You're going to get squeaky spots without glue. Our Trex salesman gave us one of those screw guns to put down composite decking, and my husband threw it away because when you put enough pressure on the drill to drive the screws, it bends them sometimes, plus you're forever refilling the small amount of screws it holds. The reason you have screws through your duct-work is because you should visit one of the warehouses where they put together those houses some time. We have a friend who owns one, and he has a problem keeping help that doesn't show up wasted.

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    1. Actually, I went through five and a half tubes of Loctite subfloor adhesive--I wrote in the third paragraph that I was glueing and screwing while listening to a podcast. :)

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