With that in mind, rather than going over everything that's been going on here in the middle of nowhere (that would be a LONG post!), I'll just start with something recent!
If you've read my blog, or know me, you know that nothing is ever as it seems when it comes to any sort of home remodeling or even just updates in our home! As I've been working on painting the master bedroom (the ONLY room I've never painted in the ten years we've lived here!), I knew we needed to update the ugly old ceiling fan. I was going to wait until I was all done painting, but that's one job that seems to be taking a little longer than usual. Not only was the old ceiling fan UGLY, it made a lot of noise when the fan was on. It was a ticking sound . . . so you get this tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . tick, tick, tick, tick, tick . . . tick . . . tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick . . . ok, so you get the picture! It was ANNOYING, to say the least! Yes, it was something that we kind of got used to (like the sound of traffic when you live on a busy road), but when you're first trying to fall asleep it was awful! Here's a picture of the old, nasty fan.
So, after work yesterday (yes, I work on Saturdays now, but only because I WANT to, not because I HAVE to!) -- I guess you may not know, I got a new job last April! I'm in the health insurance industry now, working for one of the largest health insurance companies in the world! What that means is that when I go to work on Saturday, it's because I get time and a half for the overtime! YAY for my budget! OK, I'm getting off track here . . . Sorry!
After work, I stopped at Menards (a big home improvement store in this part of the country), to pick out a new ceiling fan. Erica was with me (she works with me at the new company and gets to make overtime, too! YAY for HER budget!). Anyway . . . Erica picked one out that was really nice (a Hunter) and was on sale for $70 off! We couldn't find one in a box, so she asked one of the sales reps if they had any. The only one left was the floor model. It was marked down to $109.99. Seeing as it was the floor model, I did my best to get more of a discount, but they just weren't budging. I was shooting for $99, but it just wasn't happening. Oh well, at least I tried! It was still a GREAT deal. I figure they saved us about 85% of the work, because basically all we had to do was wire it up!
It's a good thing that Erica's car allows you to lower the back seat to make the trunk bigger and accessible for putting bigger stuff in. (We carpool to work and she wanted to drive.) Oh, not to go off on another tangent here, but with Erica now having an awesome full-time job, she has been able to buy a new car for herself! She got a great deal on a 2008 Dodge Avenger last month. Yay for Erica! So, we were only able to fit that HUGE ceiling fan into her trunk because of the ability to put that seat down. Whew! That was a relief!
So Greg and I start taking the old fan down. He's removing the screws from the cover plate, and as he's on the last screw, I ask him "it's not going to fall, is it? Do you want me to hold it." Just as he's saying "No, there's a bracket holding it up under this" the FAN COMES CRASHING DOWN! Seriously! The FAN CAME CRASHING DOWN and landed on the bed! Can you say HOLY CRAP?! Well, we sure did! Ha ! We've found so many things jerry-rigged in this house, but who would have thought that someone would actually jerry-rig a CEILING FAN and NOT use the bracket to attach it to the ceiling! Seriously, this thing was only hanging by those itty bitty screws that are used to attach the cover plate to the ceiling to hide the wires! WHAT MORON DOES THAT?! I'm almost afraid to sit here at my laptop underneath the ceiling fan in the dining room, because it's probably the same!
We WERE going to give the fan to our friends, Nate and Jess, but when it fell, one of the blades landed between the mattress and the bedframe and snapped.
Unfortunately, that means it's going to end up in the garbage. Not much we can do about that!
Not too much later, we had the new fan up and running!
What's really cool is that the top light is a night light and leaves a soft glow in the room. VERY nice! It was so awesome to sleep last night without that awful ticking noise from the old fan! It was also comforting to know that the fan was hung properly! This thing was HEAVY! It's on a LARGE bracket that is attached to the ceiling studs, so won't be going anywhere and is certainly not going to crash! This one is also much bigger than the other one, so moves the air a LOT better than the old one.
So, there you go! Once again, nothing is ever at it seems at this house! Oh, and just to leave you with something super cool . . . last Saturday, driving home from work, there were two Bald Eagles munching on a dead deer in the median of Highway 29! I actually turned around to go back and take some pics!
How awesome is THAT?! And, in case you're wondering, all that snow in the picture has now melted!
Blessings to all!
Julie
2 comments:
Thanks for the blog update. Although we've kept in touch on FB - I love reading the stories. :) Keep it up. :)
Susan
Thanks, Susan! I think part of the reason I stopped was because of Facebook. It seemed like I was already sharing so much there, but I've been itching to write again, and there's only so much my Facebook friends will read . . . so this way, I can write to my heart's content and folks will read it if they want, knowing that I tend to be long-winded! LOL
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