Bandana

Sunday, 23 October 2011

Today I made several small improvements on our new home; the kind of improvements no one would probably ever notice unless I pointed them out.

First, I installed a doorstop on the bathroom door. Until now, if you opened the door, it would swing open and hit the cherry wood cabinets. There’s already a gouge in the cabinet from where it has smacked into the cabinet for years. But thanks to a very inexpensive door stop, the problem is solved.

While in the bathroom, I also installed a door lock, so guests can now feel free ease nature without someone walking in on them.

Meanwhile, down in the basement, I removed the hardware and wires for the land-line phone. When we moved in, there was a phone hanging on the wall right next to the dryer. Why someone would need a phone there, I don’t know. Soon after we moved in, I removed the phone from the wall and threw it away, but it wasn’t until today that I unscrewed the jack and snaked the wires back through the floor beams to get rid of all the useless wires.

We all took part of the day to clean some of the boxes out of Isla’s room. While in there, my wife commented on the bottom drawer of the built-in dresser. Turns out, that drawer didn’t close all the way. I had noticed that, too, right when we first move in, but I never bothered to worry about it. At my wife’s instigation, though, I decided to take a closer look at it today. I removed the drawer and – wouldn’t you know it – the previous owner had dropped some clothing back there: a blue bandana and a pair of women’s boxer-style underwear. Nice.

Later, in the kitchen, I removed the front panel of the built-in radio and installed wall anchors. I then screwed the screws into the anchors and, I’m pleased to say, the radio no longer jiggles – it sits securely up against the wall now.

Finally, this evening, I replaced the beige colored screws on the light switch wall plate in Owen’s room with white colored screws. Now the screws match the plate color.

All in all, if you walked through the house this morning and again this evening, you probably wouldn’t notice anything different. In reality, though, I made lots of tiny improvements.

Please email me if you need a bandana or women’s underwear.

Monday, 24 October 2011

Is there someone you don’t like?

I used that phrase today – I said, “I don’t like her,” and the person I was speaking with immediately corrected me and said, “You mean you don’t like her actions.” I dismissed this as splitting hairs, but he insisted there was a difference.

Okay, I guess there is a difference, but I than clarified that when I say I don’t like someone I just mean that I’d rather not be in their presence. Granted, there’s a big spectrum of dislike: from just simply finding someone boring or obnoxious, to absolutely despising someone with every fiber of your being. But, either way, I don’t want to be around them.

I think this is a good litmus test for friendship: If I willingly place myself in your company, then be assured that I do like you.

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

Today I sold a cabinet we had removed from our house. The buyer came prepared with a pick-up truck and some bungee cords. I had posted an ad for a large (>7 feet tall) cabinet and two smaller ones. The woman ended up wanting only the large one.

Getting loaded into her vehicle was a bigger ordeal than I expected. We barely squeezed the four shelves and two of the doors into the cab. We then laid the cabinet itself onto the pick-up’s bed and secured it with all sorts of cords. The downside to the bungee cords is that they have a lot of flexibility, so the buyer was worried that the cabinet would go flying as she drove. I couldn’t really see how that would happen unless she took off from a stop light at an immensely accelerated speed, but I guess it’s better to be overly cautious. We hooked more bungee cords over the top, and I wrapped some packing paper around the hooks to prevent them from scratching the cabinet.

We then laid the two large cabinet doors inside the cabinet, and I placed an unfurled cardboard box in between them to prevent scuffing.

Bottom line: The woman paid us $80 in cash. This, plus the money I received for the broken statue last weekend, means that we’ve already made $90 off of stuff the previous owner left behind. I’m gonna keep track of this and see how much money I can rake in.

Email me if you want to buy a bandana.