Hole in the wall

I feel like I've gotten 2 mini-educations these past 2 months. First I got a Bachelors of How to Buy a House, and I now know what PMI is and how escrow works and that the $ figure estimate that real estate websites list for the monthly payment for a specific house are not at all accurate. Then I moved on to work on my Masters of Home Improvement Projects, with a concentration in Sanding. I wish I never had to sand anything ever again, but I know I will because sanding really is important and it works wonders. You know what else works wonders? Toothpicks. After the cabinets were painted and I started putting the new hardware on the doors and drawers, I realized that the screws that came with the hinges were too skinny for the holes that were already in the doors from the old hinges. I trotted off to Home Depot for the three-thousandth time to buy fatter screws, and I luckily found an extremely nice employee who had "been wood-workin' for 30 years" that saved the day. He told me to cut up toothpicks and put them in the holes first and that would make the screws fit tight enough to keep the hinges on. And it worked! I love little tricks like that.

So after successfully refinishing the floors and getting the cabinets painted with new hardware and hanging again, I sort of feel like anything can be done with enough research and advice from handy Home Depot employees. Which is why a hole below the bathroom sink where an old pipe used to be seemed like no big deal to fix.



And you know, it was no big deal! It couldn't have been easier, actually. Its amazing what kind of gadgets are out there...any kind of problem you can imagine, there is something out there to fix your specific problem. All I had to do was cut a wall patch to size, dip it in water and place it on the wall, let it dry for half an hour, spread some spackling on it that looked like bubble gum...




...and 2 hours later, voila!!



The hole is gone!! This stuff is so cool. And not just the hole patch...all of it. The pink spackling, the toothpick trick, and all the other things I've learned - its all fascinating! I wish I was an expert about all things do-it-yourself because I'd love to work at a hardware store and help people like me find the right things and tell them about secret tricks. And best of all, I'd get a discount! Maybe after a few more years of working on this house and I'll be ready to do that :)

The pink walls are slowly disappearing. Here's a sneak peak of the new living room walls:



For awhile the living room looked like a baby's room with the pink and blue, but I now all the pink in the living room is covered by the first coat of blue and half of it has a 2nd coat. Once the living room is done, there will only be 3 more pink rooms to go (both bedrooms and the hall). Apparently the old owner was really into pink.

All the pictures so far on this post are ugly, so here are some pretty ones from the past few days. Hanging out in the backyard --




View from the roof --

Isn't it amazing how the minute Fall starts, everything immediately turns crisp-looking? Its like you've been wearing glasses that are too weak all summer and then suddenly you've got the right prescription again.

I've got my 10-year high school reunion this weekend, so I won't have any updates for a few days. Apparently I'm the only one who's nervous about it...everyone else I've talked to is so excited, but I feel anxious about seeing people that I grew up with after all these years (our class only had 34 or so people in it, and our school was K-12...I went to school with most of my classmates for 10 years!). Anyway, everyone tells me it'll be fine, and I'm sure they're right. But I'm still nervous so wish me luck!