I think it's been about six years since I've had one. It seemed like when I was younger they happened all the time, but lately they've really been few and far between.
I did wake up planning to go to work. I got up at six, bundled up, went outside and shoveled the walk to the driveway. Started the truck, knocked the snow off it let the windshield heat up. I finished shoveling the front, took the dog for a quick walk and just as I was getting ready to load my tools in, the phone rang and I was informed that we wouldn't be going in today.
It was such a break too, because this weekend went way too fast. Mrsmal and Rcsmal are out in the greater Pittsburgh area this weekend, giving me my first home alone weekend in over a year. As much as I wanted to go out to the bars and sleep late, it also meant it was the first weekend I could do a bunch of home repairs that just didn't seem to happen with a baby on the scene. So, I spent the previous week making a list of all the things I wanted to take care of. Considering how the weather worked out I got everything I could done, plus a bunch of other little things that had been bugging me.
The big project was recaulking the bathtub. Back when I did that bathroom I was certainly in a 'knew enough to be dangerous' phase. I knew all the steps involved in taking a bathroom apart and putting it back together, but I didn't quite have the experience. When I tiled the walls, I didn't pay as much attention to line where the tile meets the edge of the tub as I should have and left a fair amount of wide gaps. I grouted that line initially, but it soon turned moldy and cracked away. I then caulked it, but didn't really let it dry out enough so mold formed again.
Without ripping out the tile and redoing it, the only way to really fix it is to dig out all the old caulk and grout. Spray the void with bleach and let the area sit for about 12 hours with the heat on high. Then clean it and vacuum it again, squirt silicone caulk in the deepest voids and let that set up on high heat for about another 8 hours. Then I got a tube of caulk that matched the grout and went over every seam to make it look I grouted to the tub. Then let it dry again. The whole process takes a few days, which is tough to do when you have 32 inch dictator living in the house who needs to bathe at least every other night.
So that's done, I also re-worked the baby gate, put the finish panels on all the cabinets*, surge protected and reworked the entertainment center, tightened up a ceiling fan that wobbled**, installed some trim to keep small fingers from exploring a hole in the wall, built a little shelf under the kitchen sink, fixed the toilet paper holder, brought a table downstairs, brought another one upstairs, washed and folded about 8 loads of laundry, put a roof on my mother's shed and finally, thanks to the snow day, waxed my countertops.
I also got a chance to check in here. With the new job and all, either nothing exciting is happening, I'm too wiped at the end of the day to write about it and im not sure if any of it will come back to haunt me. When I was a freelancer, it was a little easier to write about my co-workers, knowing if it was good what I wrote wouldn't matter, if it was bad they probably would never find this page and if it was about Snake I know he doesn't go on any website that doesn't have tattoos, porn or heavy metal information.
That being said, work is going as well as can be expected. I'm still getting used to working in the same place everyday. I'm also kind of missing the whole work like hell for two or three weeks, then have enough money to get me through the next couple of weeks. Of course in this economy in our current situation, that kind of boom and bust income doesn't allow for a good nights sleep. In the end I'm probably making about the same as I used to make per month when times were good, I just don't have the free day or week that I used to.
It is kind of amazing how much work these guys have considering what is going on. Either they actually know enough about this business and have a good enough reputation to keep working when fewer people can afford their services, or they're a madoff type construction ponzi scheme which is incredibly difficult and would be equally impressive if they were pulling it off. All I know is that my check is there every week and it clears, for which I am grateful.
I do think a lot though about what kind of work I can do in the new green economy. I do the like approach right now to our energy situation- although I believe there are going to be radical changes in the future, but right now the focus seems to be on identifying and repairing situation where energy is just being wasted. While I don't see myself assembling wind turbines someday, I can see myself doing energy audits- where I go to homes and businesses and figure out where they're wasting energy. Then either making the repairs myself, or contracting them out to someone who does. I've looked into the energy audit business and basically they require engineering degrees, which I don't have. But it has put the thought in my head that maybe I could get one.
We'll see, paying for school right now isn't really an option on the table, but things sure are changing these days. I do hope to make it back here soon, but if not, know I'll be thinking about you. I do have some big projects in the works for the spring. Mission one when the weather warms is to build my workshop, I have all the wood for it, I just need the ground to soften to I can do some digging, after that, I should get it up in a couple of weekends. Next is my brick barbecue pit, complete with deep frying station, smoker and grill. I've kind of gone as far as I can with slow roasting ribs, so now its time to learn how to smoke them. I hope to have it done in time for the party which will be held on July 11th this year- so mark your calendar.
*a two year old project)
** it was in no danger of actually falling, but it looked bad- especially in a babys room