we are way overdue for another moneypit post. we took a break from working on the house for most of september and october in order to keep up with our actual jobs, run a marathon, and to take a quick anniversary trip to california. but we’ve knocked out a few projects in earnest lately, especially with winter closing in.

1. the linen heap is now a linen closet! this actually makes me happy every time i open the closet. all it took was a trip to the hardware store for paint, then more paint when i ran out, then a trip for shelves and hardware, then another trip for different hardware when that hardware didn’t work and 3 coats of finish on each side of the shelves which seriously which takes more time and planning than kneading, rising and baking a loaf of sourdough artisan bread. let me tell you that a house whose walls are alternately plaster/lath, drywall over plaster/lath, plaster/lath directly over brick, or drywall over studs presents some challenges when it comes to anchoring stuff. i’ve been known to drill exploratory holes in the wall prior to starting a project.

2. the storage heap is now a storage room again! (there’s a theme to this post, can you tell?) i found a warehouse in the burbs selling industrial shelving via craigslist. getting 12′ long steel uprights into our mazda 3 hatchback is not for the faint of heart, but tinycar can do anything, and i am stubborn. they cost half as much as the wobbly metal shelving at home depot, and are twice as sturdy. we could store an elephant on these shelves. a compact one, that is. anyway, the feeling of dread that i had every time i went into the storeroom has abated. i’m no longer avoiding projects that require a tool or art supply that had disappeared into the storage room.

3. in keeping with this post’s theme, today’s project was storage shelves in the garage, so that that heap could also be wrangled under control just in time for winter. we dusted the snow off the BBQ, fire pit and patio furniture and tucked them away until next may…or june. sniff.

4. i also fixed a broken basement window in the easiest way possible: by boarding it up. we are slowly but surely repurposing Scary Shed back into the property, one bit of scrap lumber at at time.

5. Ben and his dad installed lattice under the porch stairs just in time for Halloween; how else would you disguise the monster under the stairs?

6. speaking of which, Ben fulfilled HIS homeowner’s dream by setting up a truly impressive haunted house for Halloween. the rig included 4 performers, 2 video projectors, a webcam, laptop, fog machine, a custom-made candy table, and a horse’s head mask. i missed all the fun, of course, because tech ruins everything, but the boys did have a good time scaring children. this video of shifty eyes was projected in the 2nd floor front windows:

7. it only took me half the summer and a half dozen posts to DIY plumbing/appliance forums to search for parts, order parts, get the wrong parts, return those parts, order new parts and then take apart the fridge, but i finally managed to install the missing water inlet valve in our refrigerator so that water comes out of the water spigot in the door. fancy! i’ve never had a Fancy Fridge. rental apartments don’t get Fancy Fridges. (as evidenced by the fact that i bought our rental unit a totally boring fridge without any bells or whistles or in-door water spigots). our unit came with a new-but-sat-in-an-abandoned-house-for-four-years bottom-of-the-line “fancy” fridge which was mysteriously missing some key parts. sadly, the ice maker still doesn’t work and i haven’t had time to diagnose the problem. it recently got bumped down to the “someday maybe” section of the house to-do list, so we may just have to soldier on using ice trays. it’s a hard knock life.

8. our thermostat evolved another phase, from cheap programmable model to Nest. while adjusting the temperature with ap app on my phone is both novel and convenient, i’ve taken to calling out “Nest! I’m cold!” and assuming the the robot overlord will hear my complaints and make immediate adjustments. so far this has not happened, so i’m only so impressed with Nest’s “learning” capabilities. but Ben checked and Nest has an open API, which means that theoretically, we could jail-break our Nest and add voice-activated capability. nerds.

9. finally, we paid someone to replace the gutters on the back of the house, thereby eliminating the backdoor rain curtain (which was a unique, but fairly impractical, feature which comes standard with fixer uppers), we paid someone to install a new garage door motor (but then the rest of the door buckled, we pounded it back into place, and are teetering on the edge of total door failure and replacement), and we paid someone to extend the spigot stem on the shower so that the handle can be attached and we no longer have to explain to houseguests how to operate the shower. all of this was money well spent.