Any pandemic projects at your house? (merged)

[klpca]

My daughter and SIL built a home climbing wall in our garage last week. I never thought that I would have one of those in my garage but here we are. Luckily I drive a mini, so I can still pull my car inside when they aren't climbing. We are still social distancing, so we gave them a garage door opener and they just let themselves in and climb.

Today is the day that I am going to repurpose an old china cabinet into a storage cabinet for the sewing room. It is beautiful but not a fine piece of furniture (it was probably from the Sears catalog back in the day). I am equal parts dreading the project and excited about it as well. The outside is going to be a beautiful navy blue (leftover from another project) and on the the inside I am using some leftover wallpaper (white/silver geometric pattern).

This is one of my inspirations: https://www.etsy.com/listing/757750...MIlvP6877g6AIVVh6tBh14kgZxEAQYBSABEgJvA_D_BwE

 

[presley]

That cabinet is going to be gorgeous!

I still haven't done any significant projects. We've had some unexpected extra chores come up. Toilet leak which led to a saturated carpet. During the flash floods yesterday, pool got a bunch of mud... I am still holding out hope that I'll get some project done at some point. I'm doing online school and still working from home, so I haven't had as much free time as I keep imagining that I am going to have. I think I'll at least order a dumpster next week so I can do some purging.

 

[klpca]

That cabinet is going to be gorgeous!

I still haven't done any significant projects. We've had some unexpected extra chores come up. Toilet leak which led to a saturated carpet. During the flash floods yesterday, pool got a bunch of mud... I am still holding out hope that I'll get some project done at some point. I'm doing online school and still working from home, so I haven't had as much free time as I keep imagining that I am going to have. I think I'll at least order a dumpster next week so I can do some purging.

I'm still working (from home mostly) M-F so I am not getting much done during the week. But now, without the normal weekend distractions, (hiking mostly) I suddenly realize that I have some time to work with. I tried to sell/give away my china cabinet but there were no takers, so it's been in the garage for nearly 3 years. It's now or never. The fun part will be getting it upstairs. My husband will not be a happy camper but he'll be happy that it's not in the garage anymore, .

Bummer about all of your water issues. Nothing worse. My boss had to put a sump pump in his backyard on Thursday night. I'm ready for this rain to be over.

 

[DaveNV]

I think I've been on quarantine lockdown long enough, that I'm finally tired of sitting on the couch, and I'm actually starting to look around for fun things to occupy my time. It could also be that I think I've finished watching everything ever recorded in the history of broadcast television, and all the movies in our home video library. I've run out of TV to watch. (Not really, but it seems like it. I do have limits - I refuse to watch the Home Shopping channel, anything with "Housewives" or "Kardashians" in the title, or any faux news propaganda channel. Even the rebroadcasts of Gene Rayburn hosting the old Match Game from the '70s on the Game Show channel are getting to be repetitious...) But running out of day-to-day TV watching is not necessarily a bad thing. I've discovered a useful project I can do that will have long term benefits, if this lockdown ever ends:

We have an extensive collection of DVDs, probably a couple of hundred of them. I had previously converted a bunch of them to MP4 format, stored on our home network, so we could watch what we wanted from any room in the house, and without having to put a DVD in the player in our "media room." (Don't let that term get you all excited - that's what we call the room where the DVD player is. )

I discovered that since doing that, we've upgraded some of our TVs to higher resolution 4K devices, and some of those converted movies don't look so great now. So I'm on a mission to review and re-convert anything that doesn't look its best, using newer conversion settings in the software. I bought a new 4K/Blu-Ray/UHD portable DVD burner that attaches to my computer, (thank you for promptly delivering it, Amazon Prime), and I've updated the software that converts commercial DVDs to a home recording. I'm going to update what we have available to watch. The added advantage to all this is that if I want to take along a movie to watch on a portable device while traveling (Remember traveling? It's a thing we all used to do... ) I can save a movie from our home network to my tablet and take it with me. Nice!

What fun hobbies or projects are you doing, when you're done with TV? Give me some options, in case I run out of DVDs to convert. I have a feeling that'll happen sooner than I want it to.

Dave

 

[Brett]

for me - gardening and photographing birds

 

[klpca]

Great minds think alike!

Any pandemic projects at your house? (merged)

My daughter and SIL built a home climbing wall in our garage last week. I never thought that I would have one of those in my garage but here we are. Luckily I drive a mini, so I can still pull my car inside when they aren't climbing. We are still social distancing, so we gave them a garage door...

tugbbs.com

 

[elaine]

DH is baking bread (rolls, cinnamon buns) with at-home college kids.

 

[pedro47]

A new assignment this morning by the Commander - In - Chief.
I need to pressure wash the vinyl on our home. Thanks you SIP , order.

 

[DaveNV]

Wow - identical threads, forty five minutes apart! Tuggers are starting to think alike, too!

Dave

 

[clifffaith]

I'm sorry I started my project. My dining room table is currently loaded with photographs. I got overwhelmed pretty quickly yesterday and threw up my hands in despair realizing if the closet that housed them had burned down I wouldn't have lost anything I cared about. Add to the gazillions of photos the fact that back when you dropped film/cartridges off at the grocery store they were giving out a second set for free, and the second sets invariably ended up in separate shoe boxes. So I dragged the read newspaper basket over near my chair and started tossing things. Today I started up again and realized I could sort by friends & relatives/Window Works/Bailey/Nearcliff/Palacios/PV Drive/Meyler/lot we bought but didn't build on/current home/travels. I'll pick up a pile at a time, trashing dupes and winnowing down as best I can. I enjoyed seeing interior shots of past homes much more than I did shots that had people in them (of course that was my business for 30 years). Also made me realize I only have two physical photos (with cats in them, of course) of this house. Photos on a phone aren't really photos to me. And of course printed photos go in a shoe box never to be seen again until the shoe boxes become too numerous, so what's the point?

 

[Passepartout]

I'm the dog's doorman. "Let the dog out, let the dog in." Walk the dog. We've been doing some gardening. I need to till some fertilizer into my raised beds. We still have a chance of frost, so a little early for tender little plants. Paula is helping a doctor client get Social Security Disability for a woman who is a former highly skilled surgical nurse who has come down with ALS and has no family to care for her. A real heartbreaking situation- as so many of these are. My DW is recognized as one of the very best attorneys to get help for these people.

 

[Patri]

I have done lots of organizing, but my big project wrapped today. I spread it out over a week. Took down 1980s floral wallpaper in the master bath. Finished painting today. I moved here in the fall of 2016 and have been procrastinating for a time such as this.

 

[klpca]

I'm about 1/3 of the way there. I'm beat! Today was sanding and priming. Tomorrow will be the blue paint, and hopefully a coat of white on the inside. Next weekend will be another coat of white, glazing the accents with a light touch of antique gold, refreshing the hardware, and putting the wallpaper in the back. Sadly the shelves are in there to stay so the wallpaper will go in in multiple pieces. But it will be exciting to have this out of the garage.

 

[WinniWoman]

I did some baking today. Made a loaf of bread, thanks to a Tugger who was kind enough to send me some extra yeast she had, and a neighbor who grabbed the last bag of white bread flour on the shelf at Walmart. I also made corn muffins and oatmeal cookies.

Hubby has some things to do outside but can't decide how to do them. We might get a handyman to do them instead because lately he is making everything no matter how simple into a Federal case. One is a gutter- or maybe no gutter- not sure how to place it as what others have done has water going down the driveway- meaning ice in the winter.''The other thing is vinyl lattice under the front porch.

I want to paint our entry doors but might just have a handy man do that also as I am not good at it. I was going to pick a color for the front door, as I saw that other homes here have different colors other than white. But that involves me going to Lowes- not the best paint -which is nearby- or to Home Depot, which is 45 minutes away for the good Behr paint. Plus, I would have to first get samples and then submit them to the HOA because I heard there were issues when people started to paint their doors all these different colors. I was thinking a soft. warm yellow as our siding is cactus (a gray/green). But the lesser hassle would be just having both doors painted white and calling it a day. Then the handyman could just pick up exterior white paint. The white looks good as the trim around the house and front porch is white. The builders paint job is dirty- I think it is just a primer on the outside. I am fine with a nice clean paint job even if it is just white.

Of course, I have to find someone to do these things first, and at a reasonable price.

Most other things we are leaving for next year and years after. We are concerned about the economy, our son's future, and we do not want to over do it at this point. We have already spent a lot of money on the new house and we have only been here two months.

 

[VacationForever]

I have not embarked on any real project yet. One that I have been thinking about is having a hydroponic herb thingy. We live in a single story condo and we like it that way because it means by not having a yard, we don't need to work on it nor worry about it whenever we go on vacation. I need to do more research on the hydroponics.

 

[am1]

I have not embarked on any real project yet. One that I have been thinking about is having a hydroponic herb thingy. We live in a single story condo and we like it that way because it means by not having a yard, we don't need to work on it nor worrying about it whenever we go on vacation. I need to do more research on the hydroponics.

In good times can be a plus but my guess now everyone who has a yard is enjoying it.

 

[clifffaith]

I'm the dog's doorman. "Let the dog out, let the dog in." Walk the dog. We've been doing some gardening. I need to till some fertilizer into my raised beds. We still have a chance of frost, so a little early for tender little plants. Paula is helping a doctor client get Social Security Disability for a woman who is a former highly skilled surgical nurse who has come down with ALS and has no family to care for her. A real heartbreaking situation- as so many of these are. My DW is recognized as one of the very best attorneys to get help for these people.

We have to leave the kitchen/dining room area because otherwise JB Orange Cat is perpetually unhappy with which side of the back door he's on. Although he seems to have figured out there is a jigsaw puzzle going on in the living room and if he scratches someone eventually will let him in.

 

[klpca]

I have to show this to you guys. It's my car *in the garage*. This is my life lol.

 

[VacationForever]

I have to show this to you guys. It's my car *in the garage*. This is my life lol.View attachment 18934

Is that the rock climbing wall that you mentioned?

 

[Panina]

I can list a whole bunch of projects but the most important project I worked on was me.

It’s was the most important and the hardest as it became an emotional roller coaster dealing with the pandemic.

Kind of reminds me of the steps I took when I grieved losses of loved ones, except I went though it much faster: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

 

[klpca]

Is that the rock climbing wall that you mentioned?

Yes it is. Obviously only the young ones can climb at that angle!

 

[geekette]

I'm sorry I started my project. My dining room table is currently loaded with photographs. I got overwhelmed pretty quickly yesterday and threw up my hands in despair realizing if the closet that housed them had burned down I wouldn't have lost anything I cared about. Add to the gazillions of photos the fact that back when you dropped film/cartridges off at the grocery store they were giving out a second set for free, and the second sets invariably ended up in separate shoe boxes. So I dragged the read newspaper basket over near my chair and started tossing things. Today I started up again and realized I could sort by friends & relatives/Window Works/Bailey/Nearcliff/Palacios/PV Drive/Meyler/lot we bought but didn't build on/current home/travels. I'll pick up a pile at a time, trashing dupes and winnowing down as best I can. I enjoyed seeing interior shots of past homes much more than I did shots that had people in them (of course that was my business for 30 years). Also made me realize I only have two physical photos (with cats in them, of course) of this house. Photos on a phone aren't really photos to me. And of course printed photos go in a shoe box never to be seen again until the shoe boxes become too numerous, so what's the point?

I have always been the weirdo that was never a picture taker nor keeper. Most photos are in my head. Guess my lack of interest in photography has saved me a lot of time and storage space.

 

[WinniWoman]

In good times can be a plus but my guess now everyone who has a yard is enjoying it.

At a time like this I do miss the 10 1/2 acre wooded property we had in NY. But I do not miss the isolation. At least here there are people to talk to and they are nice and help each other. Plus we are close to our son.

It is still very cold in the Northeast- 28 degrees this morning but will rise to 55. As soon as we get our outdoor chair covers the rockers will go on the front porch. But not much to look at except our tiny muddy and messy front lot and other homes and construction- and a porta potty- lol- and the occasional person walking by, many with their dogs. ( A lot of dog owners here)

At least this is just a short walk away. So wish I had a small fishing - type boat right now, though. I would be out there every day in my glory. (but not fishing- ha ha)

 

[WinniWoman]

See what I mean?

 

[Patri]

I did some baking today. Made a loaf of bread, thanks to a Tugger who was kind enough to send me some extra yeast she had, and a neighbor who grabbed the last bag of white bread flour on the shelf at Walmart.

Good for you. I have been looking for yeast too. One day I will hit the store at just the right time.