This. And That. And a Third Thing. Plus: Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!

Ugh, I'd been having such a hard time getting rolling, getting things done.  Draggin' my butt around.  I was on such a hot streak there for a hot minute too!

It was kinda pathetic really:  I'd stand in front of a project, stare.  Stare.  Pause.  Walk away.  Come back a little while later:  stand, stare, pause, walk away.  Rinse repeat.

Mike was struggling a bit too, distracted, which was hard to watch.  I love him, I care about him and don't want him hurting but, I can't fix that latter part.  He was so thoughtful though -- he invited Finn and I to come pick him up at work for lunch in a park on Monday.  We did and it helped.  A lot.  Despite the bug bites.

I will say that Tuesday morning when I woke up, I felt a little patched up, a little better, relieved maybe, for lack of the right descriptor.  Mike seems better too.  Likely because July 20 is over.

Although Tuesday night Finny boy was outta nowhere sick, keeping us up until almost 6 a.m., poor guy.  First a horrible poopie then throwing up, weird breathing, throwing up.  Normally cool as a cucumber in these scenarios, I was totally freaked, our first sickness encounter with Finn.  

Worse, either he had been punished for being sick at his prior "home" (his behavior was suggesting so) or he didn't know how to handle himself not feeling well...it was upsetting and stressful for all of us as likely it was the former.

My brain kept reeling, panicking, over-everything-ing, "omg, he isn't dying, right?!"         ......The human brain, man.

Then of course lights off, lights out for Mike.  Me?  Never.  I'm up for hours.  Not. Ever. Fair. 

He's such a weirdo.

But Finn is a-ok now, thank all get out.  We're not sure what it was but we hope it's long gone, never to return.  An unexpected reward from that night?  He's exhibiting a new level of trust with and appreciation for us.  Thumbs. Up.

So back to house stuff....This:

Finally got the second record cabinet all dolled up.  I was hoping the therapeutic-ness of stripping furniture would alleviate well, stuff, but unfortunately not this time.  It's ok, I was happy to have it finished and set up.

Mike's folks came to town as an extension of the Week of Mike, if you recall, and bearing a birthday gift.

Ok, lemme back up.  They used to have one a' those console record player thingies, the cabinet type and Mike had expressed interest in it.  Turns out they donated it.  Ah dammit was Mike upset.

So the gift they bore was a table top record player* complete with CD player and radio, like a replica old timey one.  Not my personal style which they made mention but that's all right because the gizmo is pretty spiffy.  It's not the old console cabinet but Mike is elated and really?, that's all that matters.

Hence the fire alight to refinish the second cabinet and set it up as heh, well, a record cabinet!  No way, crazy, right?!

As I am mighty fond of the results on the first one, ya know even replicating it on a door, I repeated the look despite this second cabinet having a few minor issues, unlike the first one.

"Acts like real wood!" My a**.

One thing I dislike, by the way, on a side note?  Borderline hate, and hate is a strong word so I try not to use it:  when a product says it will do something and then it does not.  Like this wood filler I picked up for intended use on the dings and holes from the kitchen moulding removal.

Top half wiped.  No soak in.  Grrr.

Yeah, nope.  Doesn't take stain.  Like at all.  Despite saying so on the label.  Poor form, dudes.  Grrrr.

I ended up using markers.  Yeah I know, not the ideal nor correct way but it got the job done without purchasing anything single use.

Mike wanted the inside as-was.  I painted the door insides black since I managed to get stripper all over them again.

Mike is quite thrilled with the cabinet, though it took him about an hour or so to discover it after he came home from work that day.  Walking past it several times....That's ok, it's entertaining for me, heh.

But now to beef up our record collection!  Time to pick up my smattering of old albums from my folks!

And That:

Over the weekend we made use of the snazzy patio which of course is always faboo.  What wasn't faboo?  The bottom fell out of Mike's chair.  While he was sitting in it.  Woooooof, major disappointment.  He deemed it unfixable, tossing it afield, but I gave it a whirl regardless.  Of course, as I do.

Heh, literally tossed afield. Option 2 was busted and tossed too.  No, he doesn't have an anger problem.

I'm not sure if the whole chair is eucalyptus wood, like every single element, but if it is, eucalyptus wood is definitely not a hard hardwood.  Fyi.  Ah, this explains a lot.

The wimpy possibly slightly dull coping saw ripped right through the support piece under the seat slats.  Like melted butter.  With far too much ease.

Well anyway, I tried to disassemble both chairs as much as I could without going overboard and mutilating them.  Turning to my itty bottle of original Gorilla Glue,* the bestest glue evers for messed up scenarios such as this, I gooped in blobs where I could.

Need to seal up/oil that 1x patch still.

The next time Mike sat in the one above I got this text, "nice job with the chair babe."  Yeah, I'm only sitting just inside on the couch.  Silly guy.  Later he asked, almost creeped out, "what the heck did you use on these?"  Because as we know, Gorilla Glue mushrooms everywhere if you're not tidy.  Which I was not because these chairs have fallen out of favor now.

Yeah, I know, I can trim that off.  But will it be worth my time?  Ehhh, I dunno.

Third thing:

In furthering the basement quest, the other day I was doing that dopey standing and staring thing when my eyes fell upon the china set Mike's parents gave us.  Huh, I could clear off that whole shelf spot thereby eliminating more stuff outta the too-much-stuff-filled basement if I put more shelves up in the pantry.

Bingo!

And so it became.

Pantry before, lookin' kinda messy, and somehow filling up fast.

Picked up one more eight foot shelf, one more four foot shelf, some extra sturdy heavier duty brackets and set to work.

I even attached the second half of the wine glass rack to the underside of a shelf, fiiiiiiiiinally.  To keep the glasses from sliding off since this is way back up glassware storage, i.e., they never get used, I got smarty pants with some twist tie "locks."

But wow, suddenly I was kinda taken aback at how...  Pantry this room has become.  I mean, it's like a, a, a Pantry now.  It's come a loooong way baby and man, am I quite proud.  I don't know what it is about merely two new shelves but it's like...PANTRY.  Heh!

Wow.  Holy pantry.  Pantry!!  And no, I don't normally keep a compressor in there, but hey, who's to say I wouldn't?! Still room enough for one more course of shelves, way way way stupid high up. 

Am I worried about the china being stored so high?  Way high up on a shelf only accessible to me by ladder?  Well, um, yeah, but those brackets are crushed in there securely, no wibbles at all, so, it should be just fine.

Woooo hooo, one more open spot!  Yeah baby!

But speaking of the pantry...!!!

No sh*t, I kid you not, I who never wins a thing...our pallet wood pantry floor won in a pallet contest over on Instructables!!!  I...I....I am SO excited I can't even speak!!!  Heh, we have an award winning floor!

From the bottom of my wee little humble heart, thank you thank you thank you for voting.  My biggest thanks to Mike for trusting me, believing in me, and letting me do nutty things.  Mwah, kisses for all!!

*The Crosley Symphony record player and Gorilla Glue links are Amazon affiliate links.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.