Nov 14 - inching along

I'm taking a break.  It's still the 14th and I've just had lunch.

I painted for most of the morning -- touch up on all the door trim and baseboard as well as the up-high trim. 

Then I did the "really nasty job" that I've been putting off.  No, I didn't mow the lawn.  I pay someone to do that :).

The job to which I'm referring is going up in the attic, clambering around in all that insulation (thank goodness it's not fiberglass) and adding a metal plumbing strap to properly hang the vent hood pipe, replacing the duct tape that I'd used as a temporary measure.  The other part of that job was cutting two pieces of sheet metal and enclosing the pipe where it meets the roof vent.  A proper roof vent would have a pipe coming out of it and a backflow prevention flap.  This doesn't.  The old pipe simply stuck up into the rectangular hole and "hoped" that it would vent outside.  I'm sure that most of it did but I wanted to do a better job without actually replacing the roof vent / cutting shingles and flashing etc.

That done, I then hauled up the two large bags of insulation that had fallen down when we removed those bulkheads in the kitchen.  I distributed that over the relevant area.

Now "out of the attic", it was time for lunch and a break.  My next task should be to finish up the caulking, doing the wall-side of the door trim.  Will I ?  Stay tuned.

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Ok, I finished the caulking and then ran a brush to touch-up, which only took a few minutes.  I guess that I'm literally at a standstill, as far as this project goes.  That's hard to believe.

Outstanding -- flooring in the loft (waiting for stair treads); trim door in loft (waiting for flooring); hanging lights over the kitchen island (when Sandy decides what she wants); re-hanging some pictures etc.

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Sandy went into Orlando and found some lights.  Those are now on order.  She didn't find any stools so we're probably going to go with the ones that she's found so far, not sure.  She also didn't find anything to compete with the table and chairs that she's found online.  Her online shopping skills are improving !

I'd been to the East Orlando Costco when I went in to see the Ortho.  They didn't have either Suzies or Food Should Taste Good crackers.  They did have Sandy's preferred brand.  Sandy checked the Altamonte Costco when she was in that area and they didn't have my crackers either.  Sigh.

I did start the process with the security company.  Sticking with my current company is a little bit cheaper so I opted (could change) to move forward.  They sent me their contract and I've just been through it and have marks all over it due to things that I don't like.  For example -- 36 month commitment; 12 month auto-renew; no installation date commitment; ownership of equipment; no access to panel by me; credit investigation report; right to terminate 30 days for company, no right for me ... and then some nits.

This morning I'm leaning towards just paying the small additional up-front money and going with the lower ongoing fee for a self installation like I did up north.  Even though it takes 5 years to payback the $5 per month additional ongoing fee, it's cleaner.  I'm fully capable of doing the install and that can happen quickly.  I'd order the equipment from the same company from which I bought the Cottage equipment.  That makes things easy for me.  They also provide monitoring services in the U.S. and based on online reviews that I've found, are highly rated, in fact rated higher than my existing supplier -- mostly due to their fees.

This is another stay-tuned, but I need to get this going soon.

We had port loin for dinner.  I tried something new and cooked it in the fish basket.  That works well because it's easy to turn, doesn't stick to the grill and the meat doesn't get as bunched up as it normally does.  The downside, of course, is cleaning the fish basket but that's pretty easy for a pork loin.  Sandy roasted some potato wedges and brussels sprouts. 

Today -- Sam is supposed to install the treads although we haven't heard from him since the beginning of the week.  I should get out biking but I see showers headed this way.  We'll see.

If I can't go biking, I just might venture up into the upstairs bedroom wing attic and do something about a hall light by the elevator.  I might also see about properly wiring the switches in the two bedrooms so that they aren't in the wrong places ... that's more difficult !

Onward ?  Hope so !