I know this sounds like a sci-fi, but it’s really just my latest home improvement project.

Our cable line, for some weird reason, came up in a weird corner of the living room.  In order to move it to the obvious place it should have been in the first place I had to crawl under the house and drill a new hole.

I then proceeded to rearrange the living room, hang some picture frames and make an Andes Mint icebox pie.

You were beginning to think child safety locks and door knobs were the only “home improvement” projects I was ever going to do, weren’t you.

Well, here’s what happened this last week.

First of all, I had a coworkers husband come check out the valve for the waterline to the refrigerator and, like I tried to tell all the other people I talked to, it was a weird size–just a hair over 1/4″. Well, he went and bought an entirely new valve and put it on for me. Water and ice from our refrigerator? Check.

Secondly, I called our home warranty guys to come check out or A/C: no airflow. They, of course, said the warranty doesn’t cover it; what was it: clogged a-coil (which was inaccessible because of the water heater). So, for an additional $250 (over my $55 deductible) they pulled my water heater, then pulled the a-coil and cleaned it. Cold A/C? Check.

Lastly, sticks. Because I didn’t get to pick up enough sticks as a child the Lord has blessed me with two very large trees in my relatively small backyard. Ice storms tend to break of limbs (sometimes very large limbs) that randomly fall through the course of the next year. Add to this the trimming I did with the help of my brother, Clint, and what you have is a good truckload of limbs (and no truck to haul them in). Luckily, we are the new owners of an SUV. So, I bought a big tarp, wrapped about 1/2 of ‘em in it, dropped the back seats and VOILA! (Well, not yet; I’m dropping them off today. The place we went to drop them off was closed.)

Ok, so I finished my second project. New doorknobs (antique brass): all the bedrooms, bathrooms and the back door to the garage. Why haven’t I gotten my wife to take pictures of my projects for my blog?

Lessons Learned:

1. If you have several of something to do, do the most hidden one first and the most important one last.
2. Buying the right tools just might save you money in the long run.
   

I know those might seem obvious; but I’m new at this, so cut me some slack.

It was fun interesting trying to install that junk with just a Gerber and some 3×5 cards (don’t ask).