stream of consciousness | painting and plumbing
Hi guys!
I didn't blog yesterday because I was a Very Busy Painterly Person.
We had a random, blessed, glorious, one-day break from summer humidity and so of course, I was like PAINT ALL OF THE THINGS!!!!
And this came after me spending the weekend tackling the project of painting my kids' bathroom.
I have done so much painting.
Which is good. I always like to get a few paint-y projects done during our summer school break.
I spent pretty much all day sanding, priming, and painting, and a half hour before dinnertime, I was like, "Oh, right. Food. Ugh."
I was tempted to get takeout, but man, takeout negates cost savings of DIY painting pretty quickly.
Luckily, I had a package of chicken sausages from Costco in the freezer, so I ran out to get some buns, chips, and cherries, and there, it was dinner!
I did spent $17 ($10 of which was cherries), but even so, it was still way cheaper than getting takeout for all of us.
Plus, heaven knows you don't get fresh cherries when you buy takeout.
And we still have leftover chips and cherries too.
I want to show you all of my painting jobs, but alas, all I have right now are before pictures, and those are very not exciting.
Hopefully I can take some after pictures today.
Oh, and those of you who were asking how to paint a room: I took some step-by-step photos when I painted the bathroom, so a tutorial is coming soon.
You know how we've had a bunch of plumbing troubles of late?
Well, on Monday night, we starting getting sewage backing up into our shower, and a sewage lake in our backyard.
You guys, I cried. I just had had it up to HERE with the plumbing problems. Could not deal.
(Mr. FG suggested that a trip out to get some ice cream would be just the thing, so we went to get some $0.50 frosties at Wendy's. That helped a little. Also, my brother let me take a shower at his house. Definitely helpful. )
I was envisioning more multi-hundred dollar repairs, but apparently the septic pumping guy had forgotten to plug in our pump that moves water into the drain field.
We just had to plug it in and voila! The problem is fixed and free.
I am very relieved.
And I would really really like to not have to call a plumber again any time soon.
Ok.
I think that's probably enough brain dumping from me for now. I'm off to finish painting! And take after pictures! Woo!
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P.S. Don't forget to print your Froozer coupon!
Nice work! Glad you got a day of nice weather and were productive! Everything looks great!
Oh nooo! Sorry about those plumbing issues. 🙁 Ugh, that would have made me cry too. At least it was a free fix. And yay for painting! I remember painting up a storm when we moved into our house. It's been a year and I'm stiiiiiill not up for more painting quite yet lol.
That sounds like a really frugal and yummy dinner. The cherries look great btw!
I'm so sorry to hear about the sewage problem at your house. Like you, I tend to freak out whenever there's an issue with plumbing. But I always have to tell myself it's part of home ownership. >_<
Whew- thank goodness no serious plumbing issues. I just had 3 trees cut down- $2500. I am so sick of trees- this is the fifth time I've had to have some cut down and my lot is not that big; half acre. I live where there are these tall skinny pine (sand pines) trees that are very shallow. I wish someone would have warned me 20 years ago when I bought my house. I just hate paying for that service- you get nothing except maybe peace of mind that one won't hit your roof. I keep my car in the garage.
I did cry the third time our 400' water line sprung a leak! It's been a few years and the new water line is paid off but every time our pressure drops even a bit, I panic. Water/plumbing problems are the absolute worst. Glad yours was a free fix. Wish I loved painting as much as you, will be looking forward to your tutorial.
So glad to see the sewage "repair" was so simple! That genre of house ownership is sure not fun to deal with!
Phew! don't you feel like you just saved hundreds of dollars in plumbing!?! SO glad that's all it was. But I can understand the frustration.
Can't wait to see the redeaux
We're twins or something - I had the same sort of dinner experience last night also. My solution was One Pot Shrimp and Veg. The pre-peeled shrimp is in the pot of water, the veg steams in a steamer insert above.
Very sorry about the pond (blech!), very happy it was a quick, cheap fix. And you didn't even need whiskers for it.
I got a phone call from my landlord last Friday night while I was out for dinner to say that there was grey water flowing out from our kitchen sink and all over the kitchen floor, so I agree, plumbing problems are miserable.
How often do you need to get your septic tank emptied? We have one and have lived here 4 years. I don't know when to do it. I don't want to wait until it starts backing up in my tub.
It depends how big it is and how many people are in your house. I'd look on Angie's list to find a reputable septic pumper in your area and ask them what they recommend.
Never felt like I could help out before, but I actually do this kind of work (and I know far too much about it)!
You should get it pumped every 3 to 5 years. Regular pumping is part of owning a home with a septic system. Get it pumped by a reasonable company and ask them how frequently they recommend based on your usage and how much solids are currently in the tank (assume 4 years worth as it should have been pumped prior to home purchase). Reply back with questions. I am happy to help.
Yup, Sophia, that's what we have been told, too--good to hear it from another professional in the business! Also, for Barbara, if you don't know when the previous owners had it pumped, then I would get it done this year. I say that because when we moved to our house, our septic tank hadn't been pumped out for a looooong time. We didn't end up having a problem, as we got on top of it early ... but we could have.
Yes, get it done, if it's been 4 years or more. Then mark it down somewhere so you will remember. My neighbors wait until it overflows or they have problems, which is terrible for the whole area- we all suffer from the odor. We also put the monthly enzyme stuff down the toilet on the first day of every month as recommended by our septic pumping company. It's from Walmart and called Septic Helper, although there are many brands. You could google this. Our new septic system cost $12,000 about 7 years ago, so we will work very hard to maintain it so we won't have problems!!!
I'm glad your plumbing issue was not so bad after all, but I would have freaked out, too, at first.
My poor husband was going to mow today, but the mower sprang a huge leak in the hydraulics as he was just starting it up, so it isn't working. He was going to pressure wash all that messy fluid off the mower to see if he could locate the actual leak, and the pressure washer quit on him. He went to town to the ATM at the bank to get some cash so he could buy some parts, and the ATM went nuts and wouldn't let him proceed or cancel his transaction. It took a bank employee to re-set the ATM. I don't think I want to go home tonight. He is not in a good mood, not that I blame him. And the pressure washer and mower are still not working.
Oh, the poor man. What a frustrating day!!
I love painting. It is so immediately rewarding once you are finished. I was able to repaint my kids' room by myself a couple weeks ago while my older son was away on a missions trip with my husband. Now that I know I can paint a whole room by myself, I'm dying to go and paint the other rooms in the house once the kids go back to school. 🙂
Ahh, plumbing, once we were at Lowe's at 9:45 at night looking for parts in the plumbing department and the friendly salesperson asked how we were doing, I said, "we are at Lowe's at 10 at night buying plumbing parts, I am thinking not too well!"
We (meaning my dh) painted our whole interior last year during the hurricane. We are inland enough to not have to worry, but they pretty much close the whole state of Florida when a hurricane is around, so since he had 2 days off, he painted up a storm! (during a storm) It was our first hurricane season so maybe we are naive!
Oh man, we've been there too. Plumbing problems late at night are especially the worst!
I am glad you have a free fix. I would have insisted on it as the plumber made a mistake. I would have cried too. Poor you.
OMyGOSH Thank Goodness, I'm sooooo Glad that's all u had to do was plug it in.
This is off-topic, but I'm loving your new kitchen countertops!
Kristen, you are left-handed! 🙂
Cherries sound like they are expensive in your area. I live in a cherry-growing area so we are able to pick them, freeze them, and enjoy them year around at a reasonable cost. I need to be thankful for that blessing!
Yep! Mr. FG and I both are. But only one of our kiddos turned out to be a leftie.
I also try to get painting projects done during the summer months. I am almost finished painting and redecorating my granddaughter's room. I had to take a break to keep up with the rest of the housework.
Your summer sounds kind of like mine. Painting, painting, painting. We painted the entire inside of our rental house for my parents to move into. Sooo many days when mealtime came, I just couldn't pull it together, so I ended up going to get subs or we ate cereal. However...painting ourselves saved us a ton of money. It just took forever. But now my parents are moved and life has returned somewhat to normal.
There's something about a day spent painting that makes it hard to cook dinner! For sure.