You might remember the great bedroom remodel by means of which I transitioned from working into retirement beginning around this time last year. Once the big work was done, I had a punch list of little finishing details to take care of, and I kept doing them and thinking okay, now the remodel's done.

( Starry starry ceiling. )

Late last night I was up on my stepladder, sticking glowy-stars to my bedroom ceiling, when my brand-new Nest Protect smoke and CO detector first flashed yellow, then turned red and started shrieking at me.

"Emergency, emergency," it said (yes, it talks). "There is smoke in the room."


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My bedroom door has been on sawhorses out on the porch for several days, and I did toy with the idea of just leaving it off.

But no. Despite my having absolutely no need of behind-bedroom-door privacy, there's still something about a separate room, with a separate temperature. And besides, I'd already bought new door hardware.

( Portal )

I'm slowly getting caught up with everyone on my reading lists--hello, everyone!--and it's been lovely, reading what people have been thinking and doing in the last couple of months, and having some online conversations again. I'm about a third of the way through my backlog and am committed to catching up and returning to daily reading, commenting ( Read more... )

The bedroom remodel is substantially complete--which is to say, things that belong in the bedroom have all been moved back into the bedroom, and I've restored the kitchen and living room to order.

Before:

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Both of my sisters came over yesterday and helped me assemble furniture. This may count as an even greater act of generosity than helping someone move house.

Both of them were calm, thorough, and patient, and even if I could have physically managed those giant wardrobes alone (I couldn't have), the task would have defeated me mentally without ( Read more... )

The four hour delivery window stretched into a day and a half, but IKEA's trucking contractor did finally show up this evening, and a couple of cheery fellows brought 445 kg of flatpack furniture and hardware right into the bedroom for me.

( Allen wrenches at the ready! )

The electrician is here with his assistant, installing outlets, switches, and light fixtures. Furniture delivery is scheduled for tonight. My sister is coming over tomorrow to help me start assembling it ( Read more... )

My good friend
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I can't decide whether the best invention ever right now is kneepads, utility knives, audiobooks or ibuprofen. All of these have played major roles in my life the last few days.

( It's a good tired )