Historic Night

Here it is 8 p.m., and we are certainly experiencing such a historic night with the presidential race.  My own state of Virginia has been a battlefield for the Senate and the Presidential race.  We'll see soon enough the results.  We each exercised our privilege and right to vote today.  In our household, we also had another historical event:  we successfully tackled a washing machine repair.

The washing machine and dryer, along with the fridge and the computer are very critical to how smoothly (or not!) things work.  Our front loading washing machine had both a broken latch and a broken lock.  I was able to troubleshoot the problem, find the part numbers that I needed on line, and I watched a video on how to repair it.  It was a 20 minute fix and about $100 in parts.  I figure that we saved at least $150 in repair person costs. This was a much easier fix than the thermostat repair on the dryer.  Both of these repairs gave us a great sense of satisfaction.

Mark took a vacation day today to help me on my SR project.  The bricklayers were there today, and they will be laying  bricks tomorrow.  Like most successful projects, planning, measuring, laying the right foundation and superb execution are key to a successful outcome.

For my own part, I continued my cabinet stripping.  I'm working in scalpel mode now.  I've been careful to ventilate the workspace--but it is still noxious.  I still have particles of finish that have been tenaciously clinging to the surface.

I finished my initial gallon of Klean Strip KS-3.  I purchased another gallon at Home Depot as Lowes did not have it.  You know what?  Everything that I disliked about the JASCO product is now what this new gallon of Klean Strip exhibits (very gloopy and not as effective).  As both JASCO and Klean Strip are W. M. Barr companies.  I have to believe that they are identical products now as this new gallon is EXACTLY the same as the JASCO. Now that I have two gallons of this stuff (I could not bear to buy just a quart more given the price disadvantage), I'll have to find more stripping projects.  I don't think that will be a problem!

An immediate neighbor of my SR project came by to say hello.  I had met his wife already.  They spend 1/2 of the year in another place.  When his wife came by, I had already been underway on my project of a couple of months.  She was in on Friday, and gone again on Monday! 

Her husband was delightful--an older gentleman with a wonderfully warm and firm handshake.  I gave him a tour of the house.  He was very complimentary saying, "You do good work; and I know what good work is."  That made me feel good.  Like every neighbor who has stopped by, he was happy that the house was being rescued. 

I'm looking forward to wrapping this job up.  Though I wished I had not undertaken this kitchen cabinet makeover so late in the process, I know that it is the right thing to do.