handyman? or addition to the family... ??

so today . . . the home improvements continue...

it seems like everything that needs to be done turns into a big, hairy deal!

it's been about a month since our handyman, manuel, was here. he came in sort of an emergency situation at the end of august to put in a doggie door. our pups need back yard access, especially when we are not home, and since we were getting ready to be out of town for several days, we needed a doggie door. right away.

it shouldn't have been an emergency situation. i have known from the time we bought our house that we were going to need unrestricted puppy access from the house to the back yard. and if our family room had sliding glass doors, that wouldn't have been a problem. but it doesn't. it has french doors. you cannot easily install a doggie door in french doors...

each french door has a "sidelight" next to it. i had never heard the term sidelight, until i started scouring the internet looking for doggie door alternatives. but once i realized it was a real thing, with a name and everything, i thought that surely i could get one with a doggie door in it.

i was wrong.

but i was sure i was right! so i spent weeks and weeks following every little rabbit trail that google decided to send me on, trying to find a doggie door that would fit in that space. and what i discovered what that no one makes such a thing. oh they probably will, in a few years, now that french doors seem to be the popular choice for back yard entrance. but as usual, i am ahead of my time. i need one now!

i considered putting a doggie door flap in the door that leads from the garage to the back yard. but then the pups would have to be in the garage when we weren't home--not an acceptable solution for us. i contemplated replacing the french doors with sliding glass ones--but i really like the french doors. i even thought about cutting a hole in the wall for a doggie door flap! yes, i was getting desperate.

and the clock was ticking...

because the first time we went out of town, for our vacation, not having a doggie door created problems. and we were getting ready to leave again. twice. this problem had to be solved...

so we went to petco and bought a doggie door--the kind you use for sliding glass doors. our plan was to have manuel just cut the hole a little bigger in the sidelight and pop the doggie door in. it sounded so much easier than it turned out to be! manuel measured. he went to home depot. he came back and looked at the sidelight again. and his conclusion was that it couldn't be done.

which was ok with me, because i didn't really want him to cut into the sidelight anyway! i mean, we want a doggie door now, but what if a time comes when we don't want a doggie door? what if (heaven forbid) we have to sell our house? we would need the sidelights to match, wouldn't we? so manuel and i discussed it, and decided that he would take the sidelight out, and put the doggie door into the space, and frame around it. which was what i had wanted all along...on that same day, manuel also installed my dining room light and the new light for the entry way. which is a good thing, because that entry way light was slowly killing my soul! it was heavy, and elaborate, and HUGE, and every time i walked through the front door and saw it, it made me feel cranky!! so we can all thank manuel for my improved mood :-)

then we went out of town. twice. and my mom and dad came to visit. once. and i went back to work. every day. and things got busy... but i kept seeing things that still needed to be done.

so i called manuel to see if he could come back today to tackle the list again. he came, and he brought a friend. i think his plan was to finish everything on the list. today! as it turned out, he was just a bit optimistic. it seemed like everything they tried to do resulted in problems...

they tried to get the remote to work for our ceiling fan. but guess what? when the fan was installed, they apparently threw out the signal thing for the remote! who does that?!?!? who installs anything without using all the pieces??? did they just look at that little signal box and think, "oh we probably don't need this..." and throw it away???

they tried to install a light in the ceiling of one of the extra bedrooms. but first they had to find the center of the room. which they did. only to discover that they couldn't hang a light there. so after cutting the first hole, they had to cut a second one. and then then had to cut several holes in the wall to disconnect the electrical outlet from the switch. because apparently in 1967 it was popular to switch an outlet rather than install a ceiling light...

thankfully they also know how to repair the holes.
they tried to move the downstairs bathroom light so that it would be centered over the vanity. because the vanity in that bathroom was the first thing to go when we moved in. i hated the one that was in there. hated. it. so rollie replaced it. and the sink. and the faucets. and now it is beautiful! but since the new vanity is smaller than the original one, the light fixture is now off center... so they cut a new hole, but then they looked at the clock and realized they needed to leave. right away!! and so they just put the old fixture back up. for now.
i wanted another outlet installed in our bathroom. for some reason, our large master bathroom only has one outlet. and it is on rollie's side of the counter. but i am the one who needs it! someone said, "why don't you just trade sides?" i'll tell you why... my side has all the counter space. and drawers. and i need that space! but it isn't good if i am trying to dry my hair while rollie is trying to brush his teeth. someone could get electrocuted!! or stepped on... so here is my side of the bathroom with my new outlet. it is the only project that was actually completed today.but it's ok, because manuel has assured me that he can come back soon. i'm glad, because that light fixture in the downstairs bathroom? it is now the source of my crankiness...

i guess this is what home ownership is all about--projects. sadly, we have no skills. well, i think i have skills, but mostly i have good intentions. rollie has skills, but no time to use them. and so, we have manuel. it looks as though manuel will be spending several weekends with us.

i'm starting to think it might be cheaper to adopt him...