I'm getting rolling again on this project, but desperately don't want to bore anyone to tears by stating what my daily work entails (although I will sometimes do that) instead I'll focus on the writing life, advice for those trying to squeeze in their words in hectic, busy lives. So a little bit about writing, a bit about time management, and a pinch of motivation.
Tomorrow: What can you do in 15 minutes? This week, I'm going to keep a time log of sorts where I'm going to note what tasks I take 15 minutes to do. I want to capture a variety of tasks that will help me track what I do on a daily basis, as well as prove to myself and my readers that 15 minutes is actually a LOT of time. So check out the blog this week for details...
Monday, October 30, 2006
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Getting Back on Track
I knew that getting through September and October would be tough. Teaching 4 classes, Cub Scout meetings and the annual Cub Scout camp out, working on a video project, and last, but not least, remodeling our master bathroom.
Six months ago, I thought that putting in a new shower stall, floor, and vanity would take a couple of weekends and a couple of vacation days to do the hard stuff (like plumbing and electrical) and would cost around $700 to $1000 at most. I started this project about 4 months ago, and now that we have sunk at least $1500 into the bathroom, and I've spent two days replacing the sub flooring, leveling out the cracks and gaps between the boards, and then sticking the self-adhesive vinyl tiles on a Masonite base. My dad suggested that I use glue on the tiles as well so that it will stay in place better. But the glue and the Masonite didn't work well together and the tile bubbled and oozed glue for over a week. So I had to buy several sheets of cement board, and do it again over the next two weekends... Fitting it into place, screwing it in place with a screw every six inches, then re-gluing and re-tiling the whole thing.
After the flooring is almost finished, we begin install the new toilet (it works great) and pull in the shower stall base to lay it down on the floor to see where it will fit. As it turned out, nowhere. The damn thing is too big and ends up too close to the toilet. Next we begin calculations to install the vanity and the new medicine cabinet. Guess what? They don't fit either, so pretty much everything that I bought over the last several months at Lowes has to go BACK to Lowes, and of course, there are no receipts to be found for the items... anywhere. Kristen and I tear apart the house, and all we can find are the small, $12.76 receipt for planter hooks, or the $6.43 receipt for screws and a small piece of wood. And we save ALL of our Lowes receipts.
So as this has proved. I am not even qualified to shop for my own home improvement supplies, let alone execute a do-it-yourself project. I need to stick to writing and spend my time more efficiently.
Six months ago, I thought that putting in a new shower stall, floor, and vanity would take a couple of weekends and a couple of vacation days to do the hard stuff (like plumbing and electrical) and would cost around $700 to $1000 at most. I started this project about 4 months ago, and now that we have sunk at least $1500 into the bathroom, and I've spent two days replacing the sub flooring, leveling out the cracks and gaps between the boards, and then sticking the self-adhesive vinyl tiles on a Masonite base. My dad suggested that I use glue on the tiles as well so that it will stay in place better. But the glue and the Masonite didn't work well together and the tile bubbled and oozed glue for over a week. So I had to buy several sheets of cement board, and do it again over the next two weekends... Fitting it into place, screwing it in place with a screw every six inches, then re-gluing and re-tiling the whole thing.
After the flooring is almost finished, we begin install the new toilet (it works great) and pull in the shower stall base to lay it down on the floor to see where it will fit. As it turned out, nowhere. The damn thing is too big and ends up too close to the toilet. Next we begin calculations to install the vanity and the new medicine cabinet. Guess what? They don't fit either, so pretty much everything that I bought over the last several months at Lowes has to go BACK to Lowes, and of course, there are no receipts to be found for the items... anywhere. Kristen and I tear apart the house, and all we can find are the small, $12.76 receipt for planter hooks, or the $6.43 receipt for screws and a small piece of wood. And we save ALL of our Lowes receipts.
So as this has proved. I am not even qualified to shop for my own home improvement supplies, let alone execute a do-it-yourself project. I need to stick to writing and spend my time more efficiently.
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