Still Catching Up On Repairs

Even though I've been back over a week, I'm still catching up on repairs around the house.  The cleaning, my least favorite thing to do, is taking up most of the day.  I'm cleaning places I've never cleaned before, like all the recesses on the doors and every mopboard, so I guess that's a good thing.

It's almost Halloween, so I thought twice about cleaning the front porch.  There were so many spider webs and lovely black widows, that I took a shovel with me, just in case.  No use letting the little kids get tangled up in REAL webs before they get their candy.

I bought everything I needed to make a great stew, cutting and chopping for an hour to get everything in the pot.  Isn't it beautiful??  It was supposed to have a crockpot liner under all those veggies.  I purchased a box to test them out, then forgot they were on the counter .... sitting right next to the pot. I was so intent on cutting everything up, I missed them completely ... or maybe it's just old age, which I refuse to believe!!

Everybody into the pot!!!  I followed a yummy sounding recipe, but in the end when done, it just didn't have the flavor.  Maybe a can or two of soup would have helped.  The next time Dan Chance makes HIS stew, I'm looking over his shoulder the entire time, because his was mighty tasty!  At least this batch wasn't burial material!!

While the stew cooked in my new crockpot (which did an amazing job by the way, even turned itself off) I replaced the handle on my bathroom toilet for the third time.  

I have to admit I know the culprit in this case is the tabs I put in the tank.  They just dissolve everything in or out of the water.  The thing is, if you had an aversion to cleaning like I do, it's worth it if I have to replace the handle because the one tiny little screw melted.  This all hails back to my mother forcing me to clean the house rather than help my dad with the horses and cattle, which was my passion.  Therefore, it's all my mother's fault!!!  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

On to the burned out light bulbs.  My living room alone has nine ... yes NINE lights in one room, every one being those big spotlight kind.  Although only a few have actually burned out since I moved in 5 years ago (I rarely turn lights on), I'm replacing all of them with LED lights so I CAN use them if I wish.  Expensive .... you bet your britches they are ... $10.00 each.  That adds up to $90 for one room alone.  They say however, that I probably will never have to replace them again before I die.  If I move, I'm taking them with me!!

Every single light is a kind of "pot" light ... this one being out on the patio.  When I went to replace this one, the entire fixture fell from the ceiling.  How the heck do I fix THIS??  I finally figured out there were two clamps that rusted through, meaning it will never stay up again.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a replacement for this??  It seems every light fixture in this house was installed by some now defunct company in Modesto and no one seems to know where the fixtures came from.  That means I have to buy a different kind and try to figure out how to install it.  YIKES!!  Electrical work is not my forte!!!  For now, it will just have to hang there.

Here's my other problem ... stereo speakers in the ceiling.  There are FOUR of these 12" speakers installed in the living room alone.  When I purchased the house, they were all missing ... all 25 of them.  At $100 apiece, I didn't have quite enough money to replace them, so two holes remained empty.  Now that I can afford to replace those two, I can't find them anywhere.  I thought to take the ones from the front door or laundry room (yup, they are EVERYWHERE), but I have no way to fill in the hole.  This little problem is a thorn in my side!!

In other news, I ordered a small pressure washer to clean both my house and the RV.  I wonder if it will work on the dogs too?  Nah, probably not.  Next up, three of the four lights on my garage don't work any more.  Why don't they make these things to last more than five years?  The front porch light is the same ... of the three sockets, only two work.  If I had any clue whatsoever, I would take them apart and see if I could figure out how to fix them.  I just don't want to burn my house down the way I burn my attempts at cooking!!