Dealing with a Problem- Laundry Shelf Pt Two

The hole in the wall couldn't be patched.  

We don't have any more whole tiles so cutting the tile out 

and replacing it wasn't an option.

Something was needed to cover up that hole.... 

Every choice I thought of for shelf material

seemed wrong and clunky until I thought of a glass shelf!!

There's an internet vendor for everything:

Glasstopsdirect.com to the rescue.

We measured and marked and then set about drilling into the tiles for the brackets.

My job contribution was misting the drill bit and wall with water 

to keep down the heat during the drilling.  

This is the bracket that is covering the hole...

it was just wide enough to allow the wire hole to be straddled by the two toggle bolt screws
and exactly tall enough to span the gap of the hole.    

 Shelf up!

Hole hidden!

Perfectly centered on the sink and brackets evenly spaced!

And best of all it looks really good and not like a patch job....  

I finally found a spot for my father's brightly colored Navy certificates:

one for crossing the Equator, another for being the first group at Ellyson Field NAS and the third for crossing the International Date Line all as an aviator during WW2.

Forty seven projects done!

"The List" and What To Do With An Unwanted Wire!

My first post of 2015 

was about my New Years Goal to get the house finished.  

Shortly after I wrote that post,

Joe and I walked through every room of the house

plus made a circuit outside

writing down each thing that we needed to do 

in order to consider the house "finished."

Lest you think it was a small handful:

there were 97 items on our list. 

Ninety seven.

We could easily have probed a little deeper 

and rounded it out to an even 100

but 97 was where we stopped.

When they hear about "the list",

it becomes apparent that many of our friends are "enablers!" 

They tell us,

"Oh, you're never truly finished with a house."

I'm not believing it..... 

sure there are some unforseen repairs and changes on our list

but the bulk of it is unfinished construction details

or delayed decorating decisions that have drug on way too long!!  

We're almost at the halfway point of whittling down the list. 

We've completed 46 projects/jobs since January.  

Here's a one that we completed last month in the laundry room.... 

There was supposed to be a shelf above the laundry sink,

but while the carpenters were here, 

I was too busy painting and staining to make a decision on what kind of shelf to buy or have built.  

This is what we've been staring at since moving into the house:

a beautiful tile backsplash 

ornamented by a metal junction box 

covering up a hole and wire.

Now isn't that sort of pitiful?

Step One was to take the junction box off to see what kind of hole we were dealing with....

Thank goodness our tile installer had made as small of a hole as possible!

After a few more weeks of thinking, I had a plan!!!

I'd spent a lot of time researching under shelf lighting strips, 

so it was difficult to finally admit that the best choice of shelf

involved NO lighting.

So the wire had to go.

It was secured to the studs in the wall so there wasn't any pushing it back.   

Joe double and triple checked 

that he'd disconnected the wire from any existing lights and the wall switch.  

Then took a few deep breaths 

and cut off the wire even with the tile.  

He lived without even a tingle!

Part Two tomorrow!

Fall Color Lingers On....

I'm ensconced with my laptop in a cafe on W&L's campus,

trying hard not to appear too clearly out of place among the coeds; 

(I'm aiming for the professorial look)

because our internet is "gone."

Kaput.

Throttled to the point of nonexistence.

Used up.

Bandwidth zip.

Various other terms that mean that three of us 

aren't able to get by on our meager HughesNet 

monthly internet allotment.

Ah the joys of rural life....

But I wouldn't give up these views for an internet connection!

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” 

― Albert Camus

Our evergreen cedars and pines in the westward view 

keep us from having a total color change.

Sometimes we wish we had fewer of them,

but we're glad to have their greenery during the winter!

The kitchen window has been like looking out at a new world.

Glory all around.....

Things I Didn't Post About in October

A few things that I left out in the October posts...

• Way back in the spring, we said goodbye to Carter as he left for another summer as a guide in Alaska.  He's now back in the lower 48 and staying with us for a while as he figures out what he'll be doing next.  I'd about gotten used to cooking for two, so he may starve during his stay!  

• Sarge's injury meant we couldn't go camping on one of our planned weekends so at the last minute we volunteered to be hosts again for a Parents Weekend fundraiser:  Habitat Hotel.  We had a lovely W&L Mom of a Freshman who stayed with us for two nights in exchange for a donation to the local Habitat for Humanity chapter.  Thanks to about 50 hosting houses in the county, the Habitat chapter raised over 13K pure profit in one weekend!!!!

• VIPs from Louisiana came for a repeat visit!  

  

  Sunset Dinner on the Porch

We had such fun with Charles and Brenda!

Barboursville Winery           

Winery visits .....

Barboursville House Ruins

I hate to admit that we went to the Trump Winery

but it was close to our day trip to Monticello 

and the scenery was gorgeous.

Technically it's The Donald's son who is the absentee CEO

but despite the fact that the sparkling wines were good, 

I couldn't quite bring myself to buy any bottles!  

:)

View of vineyard from the Tasting room Patio at Trump Winery

We forced Brenda and Charles to sit through a lecture I wanted to attend at W&L, 

so then we toned it down a little and brought them to the Safari Park....

Yes, the camels really do steal the feed buckets

AND

Yes the animals really do get close!  

The floor of the truck is still swimming in spilled feed pellets!

• It took a while for the elementary school's bureaucratic wheels to get moving, but I finally got started with reading tutoring again.  I had my fingers crossed that I could be matched with the same second grader whom I had last year, and I was!!  He's a terrific kid.... and he's making mind-boggling progress!

• We enjoyed beautiful fall day out one Saturday.... a trip to the barn, 

loading up on pumpkins for the porch at Swishers, 

an hour or so at the Wade's Mill Apple Butter Festival.  

Stirring apple butter over a woodier in a copper cauldron

Wade's Mill 

Followed by serving as hosts 

for a Newcomers Dining Out dinner at Emilios in Staunton.  

Perfect day!  

• And then scads of other "littles".... Oktoberfest at McKethan Park, planting 30 new plants for the garden and hillside, working on that pesky house To-Do list, Bridge (the game we never stop learning!); music performances (Symphony fundraiser, Sonokleet Jazz, and Chanticleer) and some riding.  

Sarge is continuing to improve and we're hopeful that he'll be back to his old self soon.  

I'm ponying (leading) him alongside Cloud, but we haven't had him carry a rider yet. 

• And finally the world didn't fall off it's axis when I attended a yoga class last week!  Hard to believe I know!  We'll see if I'm motivated to keep it up!