Stupid Excited and Proud

Another Switch With a Phone Instruction Twist

I thought today's home achievement was going to be installing a toilet paper holder.

I was perfectly happy with this idea. - I was going to whine about the frustrations of wall anchors. I mean I did work a full day as a financial reporter/editor. I did walk over and pay off my mechanic bill. I did get to the UPS store to drop off a return and pick up some copies. And I'm committed to a yoga practice tonight (I went - it was lovely and opening, with friends - and in a studio - different for me).

All-in-all a productive day. However, while I was admiring my handy work with the TP holder, I thought, "hey, I'll open up this dimmer switch and see if I'll be able to change it out with a double switch to separate the light and fan." When I bought the condo, there was a dimmer switch on both fan and light but no way of actually switching it all the way off. The replacement was also a dimmer but with a push all the way to click, it was off.

Friend Karl said it might not be possible to change out the switch, depending on what's in the electrical box. "I'll just have a look," I thought, and turned off the power.

That did it - I was all in as soon as I removed the front plate.

Dimmer switch attached to both light and fan, alongside regular outlet

I found this already cleaned-up-since ownership mess of wires. I pulled the instructions out of the box of the new switch, scratched my head and sent pictures and questions to Karl - and asked if he could answer if he wasn't busy. He called and that was the beginning of a nearly 1-hour adventure - taking wires out of wire nuts, turning power off and on to see what wire worked for what, taking one switch off, snipping the ground wire from the old new switch to connect to the new switch, putting wires back into wire nuts.

Karl reviewed the pictures of the set up (above) and said - OK, looks good. Turn the power back on. I did it and squealed with delight yelling "hot diggity!" as each switch worked correctly. 

Cheers!

Thoroughly Exhausted

Wow and Still So Much to Do

Last night - just a few hour ago actually, I finished more than six solid hours of working in my condo. I still think most people would walk in and wonder how I live this way.

Progress for sure though.

• cleaned out under the stairs
• moved sailboat supplies including sails, anchors, tools under the stairs
• went through some boxes on the lanai
• moved some items next to the couch to the lanai
• went through kitchen supplies 
• put two large bags of kitchen supplies out ready to donate
• organized in the only cabinet in my kitchen
• cleaned out sideboard and organized the dishes there
• took out recycling
• made five trips to the dumpster with garbage
• put the legs on a new table for the lanai that I'm going to use in my house until I replace the lanai roof
• Moved wood planks and pieces around - for at least the 50th time since I've had wood in my house for building
• Swept, straightened
• Put clothes away

I'm sure there's more to that listed. Let's just say I went to bed after 1 about to pass out. Now I'm up and headed back to the pier for the day.

I feel like it was Saturday well spent. And I guess thank goodness for Prednisone since couldn't sit still. hahaha

Brief Update

Usable and Useless

Upon the recommendation of the lovely woman at the lumber yard, I covered my temporary plywood counter tops with table cloths so I can use them until I'm ready for the concrete top I want to install. Otherwise, bacteria and water will make everything a mess - not to mention it would be gross.

I mean who knows when I'm going to get to install the concrete and as I said before having working sink and counter space is changing my life. It probably will be many months before I can do the counter tops. I need to tackle the tile replacement first. And that's going to have to wait too.

So I just wanted to show it off a bit.

As for the asthma - three days into steroids after the ER visit and I thought I was ready for a little yoga - a new class in a new studio instead of at the beach. Mistake - but now I know. I chose the wrong class for sure - It was hot. It was with weights. It was intense. It would have been a challenge first time at 100% lung capacity. I lay in child's pose about half way through the class, then left when I realized I might be doing more harm than good.

Back home to the nebulizer. I still have about 10 more days on steroids. When they first kick in, you feel a bit Wonder Womanish - in your head anyway. The lungs let you know when they are ready for the tough stuff. Today was not the day. Heck, they aren't really even ready for the easy stuff.

All will be well.  

Breathing - Easier Said Than Done Some Days

Asthma Getting in the Way of Progress and Life

I have asthma.

It hit me 10 years ago and hasn't let up since. I moved to Florida to shed the many triggers in New Jersey - ragweed, mold, winter, extreme temperature and weather changes.

That doesn't mean my asthma is cured but it has been much improved.

The last two years I lived in New Jersey, I spent at least once a month in the ER or overnight in the hospital - one time I spent two weeks in the hospital. After that, my doctors sent me to National Jewish Hospital in Denver for two weeks of intense tests two months before I moved to Florida.

Since moving south two years and three months ago, I have been to the ER 3 times for asthma, with one visit turning into an overnight stay. Sunday night was the third ER visit.

I went to work at the pier Sunday morning and I'm not sure what triggered the attack, but it hit hard and I went down fast. I don't huff and puff and struggle for air - my lungs close up and stop moving air. It feels like someone has deflated them. It's hard to move or talk.

The lungs hurt - it can be very painful. Not everyone has chest pain with asthma. Lucky me. Sometimes it feels like there are hands inside squeezing my lungs tight. Sometimes it feels like there are large books or animals or my brother sitting on my chest.

After a full day using my nebulizer every four hours and trying to rest and B checking on me (he stayed at the pier much longer than his schedule allowed - just watching out for me), it was decided I should head to the ER. I wasn't getting better and it was time for some IV steroids and help. I always question this move - going to the ER. I shouldn't - once you are asking the question, it is time to go.

B drove down from Naples at 9:30 p.m. and drove me back to Naples to the hospital. When he arrived at my place, I was still questioning whether we should go. He persuaded me - you can barely talk, you need to go. I'm glad we did. I'm glad he was there to take me. He's a good egg.

The drill: you say you have asthma - you get back almost immediately. You tell the triage nurse about your chest pain and you are sure it's the asthma. No matter - EKG time. Chest X-ray. Doctor listens to your lungs not moving air. Blood work, IV, IV steroids, breathing treatment. Doctor listens to your lungs moving a little more air, hands you a prescription for prednisone and sends you home with an order to follow up with your pulmonologist.

B drove me all the way back to my place instead of two blocks away to his - for several reasons but mostly because my nebulizer was at my condo. He checked on me every time I woke during the night, asked if I needed anything. He stayed with me for much longer than he should have work-wise on Monday because he wanted to make sure I was ok on my own. As Jess said: so glad he was able and willing to help me.

I let my parents do a little petting last night. They had me over for dinner and that was very comforting. I told them B stayed at the pier watching out for me Sunday and took me to the ER. Dad hugged me and said, "little girl, that's what good guys do." I told B he made some serious brownie points - haha. (Don't get excited or freaked out out there. It's nice. No jumping ahead here.)

Two days later and the Prednisone is starting to kick in a little - sometimes it takes a while. I feel a little better than yesterday - the entire Encyclopedia Britannica isn't sitting on my chest and there's a lot less pain, but still really tight. And I'm writing today - more than I could manage yesterday so I must be on the mend. I'm trying to sleep but my brain is awake - my body isn't so much. And my brain isn't exactly moving quickly.

It's amazing how slow the brain and body get when they don't get enough oxygen.

Something funny though: a couple in the coffee shop earlier today were telling Oscar he could sooth his dishpan hands with "that dish detergent what's it called?" I piped up with Palmolive - whoa where did I pull that out of? "And who was it who used it," the mused. Immediately from me - Madge. I couldn't come up with my doctors names at the ER Sunday night without looking at my phone contacts - what the heck? I guess I regressed. Haha.

While my home looks like a cyclone came through and I'm unable to muster the strength to clean it, I did manage to change the light bulb on the fridge water and ice dispenser... and to color.

I'm going to try to shut down my brain now and rest my lungs. Good night.

New Life

It's a Sink!

My life has changed completely - I can see the future of my condo and it is bright. After a year and a half without a kitchen sink, I have the sink in, temporary counter tops and now running water and a working garbage disposal!

Working sink!

My friend Karl couldn't believe I had been living in the condo a year and a half without a kitchen sink. And remember it wasn't just me - J, K and dog Largo also lived there. I made dinner every night and we ate on real plates and used real utensils. Crazy.

Karl spent his two days off last week working on my kitchen - not just hooking up the pipes but making sure everything is to code - much old wiring and plumbing and much of the new J put in wasn't right, he said. Not that J didn't try - it wasn't total crap, Karl said, but just wasn't up to code. Plastic Pex running water outside the wall behind the stove could have caught on fire - we replaced it with copper. Pigtailed wiring from dishwasher to wall wiring also could have caused a fire. We added a plug and an outlet for that and put the wiring in a box. Karl also installed an outlet for the disposal - both GFCI.

Karl also added valves at the stub-out points for the water lines and under the sink so I don't have to turn the water off in the entire condo if there is ever a problem.

About $300 in materials but it looks great and works great. No leaks. (Update - found a leak last night. It's possible the water is just splashing through the make-shift counter top but the pvc pipes underneath may need to be tightened).

AND the switch I changed from the dimmer for the garbage disposal works! I did it correctly!

I have amazing friends. Erin - Karl and Erin are a couple - brought pizza and moral support. I'm not sure how I will ever repay any of them - Chris, Jess, Kate, Brad, Karen, Marc, Lynn, Elana, David, Guy and many more -  I know I'll never say no to moving help, babysitting, dog sitting, house sitting, filing help - whatever they need.

There is still a lot more to do before even the kitchen is finished - the counter top based isn't even because part of it sits on tile and part of it sits on concrete - I need to tear out the tile. Can't afford that right now. So the permanent counter tops have to wait for that or they won't be even - I'm going with concrete.

The stove hood needs to be moved over to center over the stove - Marc, Brad and I moved the stove for the counter top base. The hood also needs to be vented outside - that means going through the concrete wall onto the lanai.

I need to finish the trim, build some shelves, build out a pantry so everything looks like it was always supposed to be there. Before I can ever consider refinancing to get a lower rate, I need to do all this.

But the sink, running water, knowing I'm not going to burn down the place - huge huge huge.

Shopping with Karl

The faucet

The faucet installation

The complicated plumbing because I moved the sink location

More complicated plumbing and the disposal

One of two new outlets

The second outlet

Yay!

Stumped And Stopped

Permits? General Contractor? 

I got all excited last week because I thought I was going to have a working sink, which equals a finished kitchen, or nearly so. It also would mean getting to test out my garbage disposal switch.

My plumber friend squashed those dreams when he walked in and said, "Is this permitted?"

The world stopped right then and everything went into slow motion. Say it with me slowly. "Is this permitted?"

Permit. General Contractor. Words I have feared. It means more money, inspections and slowed progress. Inspections are good - I want the work done right. Everything else - ugh.

I had heard that working on a condo on my little island could be a pain. That the rules were long and vast. You can't even get to the rules on the city's Web site - there's  a secret code for contractors to get in and find out what needs to be permitted - or it seems that way. Apparently just about everything needs a permit in a condo. J ignored these rules and since no one stopped him, he just did the work - or some of it as you already know.

But now what?

Chris (marina, Jess's husband) gave me the name of a GC who worked on his place. He promptly returned my call and said it sounded like no sweat to pull the permit (though I know it will likely be a few weeks - I have heard permitting nightmare stories). However, this guy's license doesn't cover condos so he was going to have another guy call me. It has been almost a week - no call yet. I'm going to try him again today and then move on to someone else if I get no response - though the original GC was super nice and helpful. It's just busy this time of year.

The rules seem random. If you are in an single-family home, the owner can be her own contractor and pull permits AND do most of the work. In a condo, I can replace a toilet on the first floor, do tile and trim work and paint. I think that about covers what I'm allowed to do. I'm pretty sure that installing my storm door might have needed a permit - something I learned way after the fact and haven't confirmed.

No one in the condo complex has said anything though all three board members are in town for the winter.

Of course I will do what is required. It's just a matter of figuring out what that is and finding someone to get me there.

I have visions of "The Money Pit" - a 1986 film featuring Tom Hanks and Shelly Long. "Two weeks," the contractors repeatedly told them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmDX0tgONFs

While I wait, I think it's time to work on sailboats.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpM8FjO4Vko&feature=youtu.be

Electricity E-Lectricity

Switch Switch - I Think It Works

Last week I changed out a receptacle after remembering that J and I put a dimmer on the switch connected to the garbage disposal!

Since we were nowhere near having a working sink and disposal at the time we realized that's what the switch went to, we just left it. But now I'm close - so close - to having a fully functioning kitchen, that I thought I better change it.

I can't help but sing the old Schoolhouse Rock cartoon about electricity: "Electricity. E-Lectricity. It's Powerful stuff so watch that plug."

Makes me a little nervous - as it should I guess. I went about handling this task on a Friday before heading out with my Mom, Jess and Kate and their moms to a wine and painting party. I was determined to tackle something in the condo after work, after a run and before going out.

I turned off the power and tested it with my non-contact voltage  tester - Jess's husband Chris advised me which one to buy. Um - it was still on! I turned off everything in the kitchen and living room and tested again. No power. Phew.

I got out my handy rechargeable-battery-operated flash light that came with my cordless drill and took the cover plate off. I studied the existing receptacle - hoping this would be easy as my first one since J had many months ago pulled out the old one and figured out the wiring to put in the pretty black switch - it was just the wrong pretty black switch.

Hmmm, I thought as I sat atop my plywood counter top staring at the wires and my "Wiring" book. B walked in about the time I started this - perhaps mildly entertained that I was standing in shorts and Ugg boots, leaving over the plywood trying to figure this out., seeming unconcerned I was dealing with electrical components and never doubting I could do it. That boosted my confidence and made me more determined to figure it out.

The switch I took out had wires coming from it while the switch I was putting in had none. One wire the switch connected to inside the box was green - the ground wire - and there were two red ones! The book said one was supposed to be white and one black. Head scratching.

The ground wire was frayed so I needed to cut off the end and strip some of the rubber casing to exposed more wire. I had just purchased wire strippers suspecting I might need them. The only problem of course was that I didn't know how to use them - I kept cutting through the wire and started to worry that I was going to make it too short to use. B  said he thought you were supposed to gently twist around the wire then pull off the rubber. Oh yeah - I do remember seeing that or maybe even doing that a couple of times when hooking up stereo speakers a gazillion years ago. So that worked!

Next I used needle nose pliers to bend the wire around the ground wire screw on the receptacle.

But what about these other wires?! I did the same with those and wrapped around the live screws hoping I had the correct wire on the correct screw.

Meanwhile, I was talking aloud about what I was doing and thinking. B said from the couch, "If I weren't here, would you still be talking out loud?"

"Of course I would!"

"OK, moment of truth," I said, ready to flip the circuit breaker and see if my switch switchery worked. Then it dawned on me - I had no way of testing whether the switch worked because the garbage disposal was still in a box on the floor and neither that nor the sink were hooked up.

D'oh! Well that was kind of a waste of time. I certainly could have chosen a project that had immediate impact.

Such a Kyle thing to do.

At least I have tried out the new tools and I know how to fix the problem if when I finally hook up the disposal (or plumber Chuck does - hopefully this week), it doesn't work. Or at least I think I do.

And because I know you have the song in your head, here you go.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLuPNThw0RE

Dimmer not needed for garbage disposal!

Essentials: basic switch, wiring picture-book

Handy life-saving voltage tester

  

The dimmer

Switch in place!

Can't turn it on from here

 If the switch works, next is this scary-looking one below - to separate the fan and the light from the existing single dimmer switch in the powder room.

Apparently , someone was overzealous about adding dimmers.

The Thrill Of The Nail Gun, And Other Scary Things

Trim And I

I learned to use my Brad nailer.

It's kind of thrilling.

There's a lot to it though - not really the pulling of the trigger but setting it up with the air compressor. I had no idea all that went into maintaining an air compressor and making sure you don't blow it up!

So I got all worked up to put some trim up in my powder room. But because it's me, I was so focused on the use of the gun and setting everything up that I didn't check the nail length verses the door jam where I was hanging the trim. I assumed wrongly that J had purchased nails for the gun that were perfect for the project at hand - the reason for the nail gun purchase. They were too long. Discovered by my friend Lisa when she stopped by for a visit this week. She went to close the pocket door in the bathroom and the nails slowed and scraped the door. Terrific .

The next day, I went to Ace (I'm almost famous there for all my projects and mishaps), bought a small pry bar and smaller nails - after I learned I needed to say they are for a gun. I didn't know there were Brad nails that didn't go in a Brad nail gun. The clerk kept showing me regular nails and kept saying, no Brad nails. Now I know.

A few days later I found a few minutes, pried off the trim using the pry bar and a paint scraper. I didn't break any of the trim! I pulled out what nails I could and then used my Dremel tool to cut off the rest. I put the shorter nails into the gun and reinstalled the trim. Then I repainted the door. 
So I'm back to square one in the powder room - kind of. I mean part of the trim is up at least - woo hoo.

After I had the two side pieces up that J stained and cut originally, I realized the top piece hadn't been cut. There are two more full pieces of stained but uncut trim and one not stained. My next gig will be to learn to cut the trim and learn to stain so I can finish the project - putting trim on the outside of the door too.

Others Live In The Disarray Like I Do - Kind Of

Someone Who Gets It

Since this blog also is about healing my heart, I'm going to talk a little bit about B. He might cringe at this. I probably won't publish this. But maybe I will.

B moved to this island like I did - after a lifetime of visiting - and moved into a condo his parents owned and use mostly as a rental property. He has continued with the job he had up North while searching for a place to buy in this area.

Two years ago, that was me exactly.B bought a foreclosed condo. Ditto.
 B is now finding himself overwhelmed by the projects at hand to make improve his condo as he tries to work, make friends, get to know the area and workout. Ditto.

Having that in common certainly doesn't make for a match but it does make for some common interests and problems that we share. It's nice to go to his place and see the disarray and to see the completion of projects such as when he installed his new dishwasher last weekend. I was there for the end of it - helping a very little bit - but getting to cheer him on when it was finished. I love that feeling of accomplishment. He was very proud and should have been!

It has been refreshing and comforting to hang out with B - (I haven't asked him if I can write about him so an initial will have to do for now). While he doesn't have the baggage of a J and K in his life, we're sort of on the same page in our lives - except he has also added the stress of a new career to the mix.

But he's not a project himself. I mean we all are in a way, aren't we? Growing, changing, amending ourselves as we move through life.

I think I give myself a little slack now knowing it's OK to live in a bit of chaos with boxes still unpacked, nothing totally finished and little free time. My friends aren't judging me for how long it is taking me to finish this place and they come by when they have time - we are all strapped for free time. B visits here without judgment - at least it's mostly clean if a bit of an obstacle course to get through. And I don't judge his place. I can see the potential. I went over last week and it was already much improved! He's moving along faster over there than I am - but I'm not comparing. Like yoga, this isn't a competition.

I am enjoying whatever this is and getting to know each other. I think I can speak for him in this instance in that he is enjoying this too.  To personify "this" -  it's smart, funny, fun, silly, comforting, unpredictable, surprising. I'm not here making a declaration of any kind; that might scare us both - haha. But whatever it is, I like it. And damaged as my head and heart still might be, they are on the mend for sure.