Monday, December 5, 2011

How I Spent My Whole Day

   Last night, Hubs told me he needed to work on the house in Fishkill today, and would need my help. Of course I would help him! That's what good wives do, right? So this morning, after our coffee, we got dressed. We had both packed up our necessary stuff last night. We carried all our stuffs out to the truck, and headed out.

   We went right to the house, as Hubs wanted to get the old screen door out, and get the opening ready for the new door, so he would know what size door to buy. You see, there is a breezeway between the house and the garage, with an entrance into the kitchen of the house. Betty had always used that as the main door, and never used the actual front door. This breezeway had screen doors on both ends, off the back door is the back deck.
 
   In the winter, this space was really useful, as it wasn't heated. It could be used as a kind of cold cellar, she would keep lots of cases of soda in cans out there and they would always be cold. Last year for Thanksgiving, I kept our spiral sliced ham out there for days, it was as good as keeping it in the fridge.

   But my beloved Hubs, bless his heart, wanted that room to have heat, and be a mud room for the tenants who will rent the place after we finish fixing it up. I really tried, but I could not talk him out of it. He said the mud room would be a selling point for the renters. I said the cold storage would be a selling point for the renters. As usual, he won. His friend, who put in the new propane heating system, made sure to put a baseboard unit out there.  So that's why we had to close it in.

   And that's what we did today. He originally wanted to do both doors, and get home early enough to go hunting this afternoon. I got to help pick out the door. I wanted one with small windows at the top, so some light could get in. They didn't have any of that style in the size we needed. Of course not. So we ended up with a solid door, so no windows.

   It took much longer than anticipated, as usual, to install this door. The good news is that somehow, SOMEHOW, the door is actually plumb. He wasn't even trying for plumb.
The bad news? We only had time to do one door. And since the door we bought was actually bigger than he wanted, he had a lot of extra work, making the opening bigger. When we do the other door, he says, we will buy the smaller size door.

   So instead of replacing the back door on the breezeway, he had me find the glass for it in the garage. Before we left, he took the screen out of the door and put the glass in, so at least the heat will be contained now. The new heating system has only been in for a couple of days. Before that there was no heat in the house for quite a while. The old oil burner had been removed, and all the old radiators replaced with baseboards.

   Believe it or not, we actually got out of there and home in time for Hubs to go on his afternoon hunt. After we hung the door, we put in the door knob, and the deadbolt he had bought. Then we put the glass in the other screen door, packed up, and got out of Dodge. Even in just that little while, I could feel the difference in the new mud room. It was warming up.

   So another day passes in which I get not a single lick of crafting done. I need to finish crocheting Chloe's sweater and assemble it. Then I want to knit her little brother a hat and scarf for Christmas. That shouldn't take long, as he's 14 months old, and I have the yarn in my stash.

   Hopefully, whatever Hubs has in mind for tomorrow, he can do by himself. I gots my own work to do!

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