the joys of homeownership...

It started simply enough, "hmmm, I'm home this weekend, I should invite P&J over for a bbq on the deck" and turned into a charge the power drill and drag out the wall paint kind of a weekend.

Inviting folks over for dinner is a good motivation to clean the house. I enjoy the company too but the real benefit is a clean kitchen. I started Saturday morning by throwing in a load of laundry. It had been a few weeks since I've cleaned the lint trap in so I popped it out and started to remove the woolen blanket that had formed on the filter. Sadly, the trap was so full, and the "lint" so heavy that it slid off the screen and down into the dryer vent. I cursed:
DRAT! (Mom says I'm using the words shit and damn too much and that it doesn't sound like me.)

I pulled out the vacuum and attempted to suck the lint blanket up from the top - but had no luck. Nervous about burning down the entire "H" wing of the condo I decided I'd better pull the dryer out and try to get the lint out the back.

In order to get the dryer out of the laundry "closet" I had to remove the folding doors and pull out the washing machine. This was no easy task because the previous owner Jeff "I don't know how to forward my mail" S. installed pergo throughout the kitchen, livingroom and hall - but didn't pay to have it installed under the washer and dryer. (Heaven forbid you should pay an extra $100 and do it right!?) So, I wrestled the washer out and moved the dryer into a position where I could disconnect the vent to get my vacuum up in the hole. I still didn't get the lint blanket out. Satisfied that I had done all I could do I moved everything back and started the dryer only to realize the vent hose disconnected itself and I had to pull everything back out AGAIN. (this was the second utterance of the unladylike statement "this is darned inconvenient!")

With the dryer finally working I set out to put the doors back on the closet only to find that the one door was broken and the screw that holds the door into the bracket on the floor was too short for the space. I tried readjusting it - but it looked to me like when I moved the washer I popped up one of the "expertly" laid pergo strips.

Pulling out the electric drill I removed the metal bracket from the wall and used my trusty hammer (with protective cloth) to move the pergo piece back into place, and then replaced the L-bracket. This, of course, did not fix the problem of the door not hanging correctly. I tried to adjust the bottom screw on the door to extend the length - but the whole screw popped up into the hollow door. "Flick flack flippen thing!" Now I have a 30 pound rattle.

Deciding that I should just stop and prepare my house for the guests I decided to switch out the door with one from the guest room closet. I installed the replacement door easily enough, but it is not the same sized door and ended up nicking the wall during the installation.

I ran out to the hardware store to find a screw and a molly to fix the broken door. I ended up with wood filler, a replacement screw, and new slides for the top (along with new plants for the deck.) I am in the process of slowly filling the stripped out hole with filler so I can re-drill the hole and pop the molly and screw into the door. If it doesn't work I'll just move. (Juni wants me to move to Portland anyway - this is a fine excuse.)

My dinner guests (who are in the 3rd year of a similar project that started with the changing of a lightbulb) laughed and asked if I had a lint brush on a long handle. Apparently they make things that you can stick into the dryer slot to sweep out the lint. Who knew?

Dinner was good - but I slept through the most of it...