No... I haven't disappeared completely...

[a_nord]

 Yes, I've been gone.  For a lot longer than I thought I would be.  Facebook seems to be where I've been.  There and of course looking for a new job, visiting my parents and entertaining out of town friends.

But that is no excuse.  It's just what's been going on.

I almost had a job in December.  But after 5 outstanding interviews with Neilsen, I crashed and burned at Home Depot.  I'm not going to dwell on it.  I've already made peace with it.  And now that the holidays and such are over, I've moved on and jumped back into the search with both feet.  With no extra money to throw at projects, construction kind of came to a halt.
The cold weather hasn't been much of a help either.  After all the trauma my Lungs took a couple of years back, they are even more sensitive then they already were to the cold.  So in order to keep myself well (so no extra outlay of money other than Cobra) I have stayed in doors mostly.  That's where Facebook plays a big part.  Yes there were things I could be doing, but hey Farmin' was a little more fun.  But now, I am limiting my time out there and returning to the house issues that are at hand.

Being home has made me aware of repairs and maintenance that really need to be taken care of.  If I don't stay on top of things, they tend to get too overwhelming - financially as well as in number of tasks.  So I fell back to what I know... Lists.  I started listing out the repairs that I need to tackle and some are just gonna have to wait until I have a job.

1. The back door has some surface rust and needs to be sanded and repainted.  But I have to wait till it's a little warmer.
2. The Ice maker is broken - I figured out what was wrong and I have to get the part.
3. The Fire place screen is all jacked up.
4. The Fire place box is a little cracked and needs to be painted.
5. The Master Toilet needs the guts replaced.
6. The Master Toilet's shut off valve leaks.
7. The Seal on the bottom of the Kitchen door needs to be replaced.  It's torn and isn't working very well.
8. The furnace filter hole isn't big enough for a filter to easily fit in.  
9. The deck railings are all warped and wobbles.
10. The Ryobi Flashlight bulb needs to be replaced - found them at ACEHARDWARE.com
11. The garage door opener (keypad) is jacked up.  Needs to be replaced.  Of course mine is hard to find, but I did...
12. Driveway Cracks are really out of control... they need to be patched as does the one in the Garage.
13. Floating Platform has some wood rot and warp-age.  Those spots need to be cut out and replaced.
14. All 3 bathrooms need to be re-caulked
15. The fan in the Guest bath needs some work.
16. Caulking all around the house that was never re-done when I put baseboards back on and around the crown moulding I put up in the master and guest rooms.
17. The shoe moulding needs to be put on in the kitchen, master and living rooms.  When I put the floors in I didn't put it back on and now I see why it's supposed to be on.
18. The pedestal sink needs to be put in the downstairs bathroom.  I just bought the faucet so I only have to wait for some warm weather.

That's just a few of the things I've seen.  And I have decided to tackle the ones that are cheap/free because I have the materials already or they are inexpensive to fix, first.  Then the others as I can afford them.  Hey I still have finished (or started however you look at it) projects around here that got pushed aside.  I need to pick those back up.

1. The paint that needs to be kitty littered so I can throw it away.
2. Moving the Media Room downstairs.
3. The cleaning of the fish Tank.
4. Finishing the office - yes I know Rose.
5. The Ebay Stuff I need to sell.
6. Write my will... Though I was waiting till I have a job so I can include the life insurance in it.
7. Some Databases that I need to build.
8. The recipe book I need to redo.
9. Windows 7 install.

I think that's more than enough to do, don't you?

I do have one more bit of update news.  I have been on my "diet" since last April.  And as of December 1, 2009 I was down officially 40 pounds.  Then Christmas hit.  And the cold weather hit.  I stopped weighing myself every morning.

I looked around early last week and thought to myself... oh crap.  All that hard work and I've shot it all to hell.  So I stepped on the scale.  And to my surprise... I hadn't gained a pound.  So I counted myself as lucky and got back on the wagon.  Started moving around more last week.  I was back to batch cooking and of course my routines.  As of Yesterday morning... I am down another 4 pounds.  So a total of 44 pounds lost since last April.  Which isn't too shabby, considering I really don't exercise that much.  If it had been much better weather, I probably would have been outside doing yard labor and burning off more calories.  But I'm not going to worry about that now.  That's water under the spilled milk.

I hope to catch up with you again tomorrow... But you never know.