Spring Break

A week "off" filled with a list of honey-do's, leaves little time to blog. Today we spent painting the outside of the house, already looking forward to returning to work next week!

Fiat Lux (II)

Continuing our projects.

Dining Area Before

Dining Area After

Note how the day has turned into night. We had a couple of minor issues with this one that necessitated a trip back to Lowes. Specifically our predecessors had hacked out the hole in the ceiling with (apparently) a butter knife. The resulting hole was slightly larger than the base of the new light, so we had to purchase a (plain) medallion to cover the hole.

On a side note, I read somewhere that if you get electrocuted, you can't always break contact with the live wires. So I've asked Scooter to stand ready with a two by four in case I get electrocuted so she can whack me free of the current. So far, she's been a little disappointed at my safety record.

Again, I cannot stress how simple this is. We have a couple more lighting projects to complete, I'll post those if as they are completed.

Fiat Lux

Kadie and I are engaged in some low level home repair. We moved into our current home in 2001 and have, regrettably, done very little to keep it in proper shape. We suffer from the same excuses which no doubt afflict many of my readers, lack of time, lack of resources, other priorities.

But the real reason is more simple: we lack any sense of mechanical skill at all. I can do home repair work about as well as a fish can ride a bicycle. Whenever I estimate the cost and length of time for a home repair, Kadie alertly doubles both the cost and the time estimates and convinces me to call in a professional.

But our recent flirtation with moving has motivated us to spruce up our digs, or trick up the crib (“Daddy, whatever you do, never say that again” Scooter would say). So we’re starting with something easy. Since some of our light fixtures predate the Hoover administration, we’ve decided to replace some of them.

I know nothing about home repair in general, and less than nothing about electrical repair in particular. But I do know that electricity can kill you. Truth be told, I also recognize that there is a positive and negative charge (polarity?) and that you turn off the circuit breaker before you do anything. So those are the few things I do know about electricity.

But I have been told that replacing light fixtures is one of the easiest and fairly cheapest home repairs you can do. We tried, and it was pretty easy. Yes, you too can change out a light fixture. So I thought I’d brag inform my readers and post a few before and after pictures. So far, none of the pictures were taken in an emergency room .

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After