It's a Variety Pack: Indoor Version

Hey!  Hi!  Ho.  How are ya?

Woooof, I am pooped.  Pooped, I tell ya.

Why I take on too much, I dunno, but sometimes it'd be awesome if I didn't.  Really awesome.

So woot, today I have a Variety Pack'er for you!

Mike did finally help me with the one piece of cement board I needed a hand with so I been a' movin' forward in the hall bathroom.  Begrudgingly, he assisted.  Very begrudgingly.  And slowly moving.  Slowly.

Who knew cement board could be kinda sorta arty?

But hey, my stupid shoulder is doing better, so there.  I think.  I guess.  Such a miserable thing.

My PT woman likened the pain to be worse than breaking a bone.  Having broken a finger and that not hurting too badly, I wholeheartedly, overly agree.

I've been booted from PT so that's good.  Right?  I mean yeah, sure, I've got a looong way to go but I can hug Mike now.  And that's THE most important thing, amiright?

I just need to haul my a** upstairs and get that bathroom wrapped the heck up.

As such, I've now learned how to cut cement board.  I've also learned how to cut circular holes in cement board with a gizmo (man that thing is so poorly rated, wow).  Yay, go me.  Workin' workin'....anybody wanna haul boxes of tile up from the garage for me?  No?  Rats.

In the meantime, multiple mini-projects have been popping around the abode which is yes, faboo.  I love getting sh*t done.  Clouds part, brain clears....Roar!

In the ol' pantry, I added yet another row of shelving up near the tippy top.  Ain't no more room for any more darn shelves so I'm gonna call the Pantry Shelf Project complete.  Cha-ching, check and mark and done!  Butt wiggle.

Pantry shelving before.  The photos go downhill from here, sorry.

Ya know, with the new blog, I heh and ugh needed some new/new-to-me props.  Small plates and novelties to put baked goods on for their final money shots, that kind of thing.  And uh, I maayyybe sprung for uh, a few new various baking pans.  Ahem.  So much for trying to get rid of things in this house.  Sigh.

So of course a whole pantry reorganization, minor clean out, and tidying took place because me, I'm a whack job.  A small stack of plates and bam, vrooom, I'm all a-tangent.  But the shelves are great, more storage is always welcome.  There are even empty spots!!

Almost done here.  I went back for one last shelf for the righthand side.  So now it's done and looks less chaotic than here.

Some days I do pause and reflect on what a functional room this useless space became.  Yessss.  A DIY success story.

Since I was in shelf mode and was beyond irritated with the wee lil' under stair closet in the basement every time I walked by it or went to grab something from in there, I yanked everything out and installed shelves.

Trust me, I'm annoyed at myself for letting this teensy closet go so awry for so long.

It was uh, quite terrifying seeing the quantity of stuff that came out of there.  Mike mildly panicking, "what the hell is going on in the basement?"  So yeah, terrifying to the point of mention.

Being smart for a change of pace, I measured the entire closet first, ah ha!, then drew up my shelving plan in AutoCAD.*  Next was a trip to the second home for more of those single track thingies, shelf brackets, and shelves.

One a' those single tracks up on the wall.  I put in three total. 

It went surprisingly quick too.  Like I was kinda scared at how easily the whole thing went.

Except for this moment.  These shelves weren't meant for these brackets.  No worries, I pulled the shelves all the way to the lip edge, it's fine.

Back everything went into that minuscule cave when I discovered there was extra space.  Whaaaat?  No way, extra room?!  Surprise!  So items from behind the curtains were transferred into the closet.  Niiiice!

Oh so neat and orderly and no not everything is back in at this point but how much nicer, right?!

My plan was to put shelves on the short wall but remembering eons ago Mike wanted wine storage in here, I acquiesced, I'm gonna cough up some space, and will assemble some spiffy longer term storage wine racks for him.  Lucky guy!

So it's not a ton of room but hey, there's plenty for a starter collection.

Before I ripped everything out of the closet, I re-noticed, re-remembered that the towel bar in the basement bathroom half fell off the wall.  Go figure.  Go flipper.  Quality work, man.

This had been loose since day one.  Plus it's not my style.

...And speaking of closets, I am getting soooo irked by the closet of hanging clothes in the master bedroom.  I know it's closet nirvana in there with a walk-in and one for hanging items.  An embarrassment of riches I guess.  I'm going to reevaluate though and no doubt, end up reconfiguring.  Sigh, heh.

Sheets and towel storage, that's what's making me buggy bonkers.  Needs fixing.  Eye twitch...eye twitch.

Anywhooo, right, sorry, veered...while I was buying shelf items, I picked up a cheapy yet beefy towel bar.

And despite checking for level one hundred times, it still assembled itself askew.  Of course.

You are level.  What happened?!

So that was less than satisfying, although having an unyielding towel bar in Finn's shower room is fantastic.

Woo hoo!  Super ridiculously sturdy.

Smelly boy got a bath the other day which reminded me that I need to paint those walls with water-resistant paint.  Big dog = massive wet shake, holy cow.

Righty-o.

Upstairs in the master bedroom, I got all fancy schmancy and installed USB outlets* on either side of the bed.  Yep.  Much like the one I crammed in the kitchen.  Made a difference in the power cord struggle too.  Plus it's a nice resale value-add.

The one I bought originally for the kitchen.  Price dropped and knowing I could stab in if necessary, bingo, bought.

To be thoroughly honest, this project came about because I'd been playing fireworks sound effects for Finn over a Bluetooth speaker and the speaker battery kept going kaput.  He hangs out on the bed when we leave the house.  Lucky pooch, gee whiz.

Literally sat and stared at this for a healthy quantity of time.  I mean, whaaaaaat?  Only two wires?!  What the hell?!

Got the idea as Mike will play thunderstorms for sleepy time which inadvertently, unsuspectingly, surprisingly translated into helping Finn this spring, easing his thunder woes a bit so hey, why not try fireworks?!

Like right now, it's raining yet some schmoe is setting them off.  Rrrrrgggg.  Hang on, gotta Rescue Remedy* him....

Gigantic chicken.

Have they helped, the sound effects?  I think a little tiny bit actually but we've got a tremendously long path ahead, if we can ever get there.

So hmmm, what's the recipe for this here post.....Ah, we're enjoying this one of late, Greek Turkey Meatball Gyro with Tzatziki Sauce.  It comes together in a flash and leftovers cold are mmm, tasty!  If you don't have dill on hand which I don't ever, try this Tzatziki Sauce recipe instead.  You are so welcome.

Oh my gosh, I just realized we missed our five year house-iversary.  Wow.  Five years!  Woo, go us!

Mmk!  Next time, a Variety Pack of the outdoor persuasion.

*The AutoCAD link is an AutoDesk affiliate link.  The USB outlets and dog Rescue Remedy are Amazon affiliate links.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.