I think I found my new home!

[Wolferz]

Moving is such a pain! I'd rather take a beating after making a forced move while sick. I won't bore with the details.

[The Enigma]

Moving isn't something I like to do either.
But sometimes you need to do things like that and when these matters are at hand, I prefer to do them as quick as possible.

[Wolferz]

Nothing like a whirlwind move. Moved my apartment in one evening while running a 102 degree fever. When I had finished, I collapsed in my bed.

[frau kaleun]

Got the desk around noon and that was rather amusing... understand that I was in and out of Office Depot three times within a couple hours on Thursday trying to decide when and how I was going to get the desk home, was there any possibility that the box might slide into my trunk if I was able to tie the trunk lid down, would I be able to get it out again without any assistance when I got it home... answer was "no" on both counts and the guys there actually carted the box out of the back so we could look at it and decide, they were so nice about it. I promised them I would indeed be back with adequate transportation and assistance.

So we're driving over there today and the place is on the other side of a large parking lot from a Hobby Lobby which is a store that my sister absolutely loves. First thing she says is, "Oh, look, a Hobby Lobby!"

Sister, I love you... but we are not going to Hobby Lobby.

"Where are we in relation to TJ Maxx?"

We are nowhere near TJ Maxx. We will not be passing TJ Maxx on our way to Office Depot. You will not even be able to see TJ Maxx from anywhere in the vicinity of where we are going.

So my brother pulls up in front of Office Depot and says they'll just wait there while I go in and buy the desk. I go in and the same guys are working that were there on Thursday and I say, "I'm back for my desk and this time I have a truck!" And I gesture towards the long front window of the store and as I turn I see my brother-in-law's truck disappearing into the distance at top speed (for a parking lot, anyway). "Well... er... I had a truck... where the hell is he going?"

Sure enough he was swinging around in front of the Hobby Lobby where I watched him drop off my sister. Because she couldn't just NOT go to Hobby Lobby.

Then he comes back and we load up the desk and call my sister on her cell to tell her we're done but she's got all her calls going to voice mail so I have to go into the huge Hobby Lobby store to find her. She's in there looking at these absolutely horrible (by which I mean painfully cutesy) little plaques that say "Home Sweet Home" and other folksy crap like that (sorry if that's your taste, different strokes and all that, whatever floats your boat, but... not for me, no, no thanks, lol). Because she wants to buy me something for the condo.

I told her under NO CIRCUMSTANCES was she to buy me a plaque that says Home Sweet Home on it or anything similar. "But can I just get you-"

NO.

"But what about-"

NO. Please do not buy me any cutesy, heartwarming homilies engraved on anything, thank you very much. Honestly. HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU KNOWN ME?!?!?

We finally agreed that she could get me a welcome mat for the front door.

"With a cat on it?"

YES IT CAN HAVE A CAT ON IT.

And so everyone was happy.

My friend and I did get the entire kitchen cleaned, so now I can start moving stuff in there and unpacking it and putting it away.

Also the ugly almond colored dishwasher that looked really old and didn't match any of the other appliances? Turned out to be white. It just needed a good cleaning. It's not even that old and looks really quite good now that it's clean. So it's dropped way down on the list of things I would consider replacing soon, and the fridge has moved up. Just have to wait until I see something I like on sale or, even better, on clearance somewhere. It's a very nice fridge on the inside but really too small for the space it's in, and on the outside looks really old. Because it is. But it works and is clean so not a priority. It'll do for a while.

Couldn't put the desk together because by the time we finished in the kitchen the sun was going down and with no overhead light in the would-be office and no lamps, it was just too dark in there to work on it. I did get it unboxed and all the pieces laid out. I may try to work on some of it myself, heaven knows I put the desk I have now together myself and it's got pieces that are just as big. I do need to find a way to punch a couple of nice clean holes in the backing of the shelves for wire management, but I'll have to get it partially assembled before I know where those should go.

Oddly enough I don't think I'm going to put it in the corner after all, I think I'm going to put it against the wall right between the two windows. I put the top of the desk in that spot and it fits perfectly and the sides won't stick out into the room as much as I thought they might, and it will make it a lot easier to get to the back of the computer and deal with cables and whatnot when I need to do that. It will also put the place I'd be sitting more in the center of the room, which would be unused space since most everything else in there will be bookshelves and storage up against the available walls. And there will be more available wall space for that with the desk between the two windows.

Just talked to my sister again and they think they will have enough vinyl flooring left over from what they've got on hand to put down in their kitchen, to put down in my little storage room between the garage and kitchen which really does need a new floor. Since it's a completely closed off storage room I really don't care about the color or pattern but as my sister said, if it wasn't nice to look at she wouldn't be putting it in her kitchen. So that's taken care of. One nice thing about having a bro-in-law who installed flooring for 20+ years is, he knows how to do that stuff and knows where to get flooring... all he has to do is go around to one of the places he used to work and ask if they have any remnants they're looking to get rid of. Most of it he gets for free and if it's something he's not keen on installing himself, like tile, he knows somebody who'll do it as a side job for a fraction of what it would cost otherwise.

All in all, things are coming together quite nicely!

[Wolferz]

If ol' Murphy can keep his nose out of it you're golden.

[WernherVonTrapp]

If you have a friend or relative who has an adjustable "hole-saw", that will work on poking clean holes through the desk. You just pop it on the end of a cordless drill. Works like a charm.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by WernherVonTrapp

If you have a friend or relative who has an adjustable "hole-saw", that will work on poking clean holes through the desk. You just pop it on the end of a drill. Works like a charm.

Cool, I'll have to check with my brother-in-law. I know he's got a drill and a bunch of different stuff that goes with it.

Come to think of it a power drill is probably something I should think about getting for myself.

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Cool, I'll have to check with my brother-in-law. I know he's got a drill and a bunch of different stuff that goes with it.

Come to think of it a power drill is probably something I should think about getting for myself.

DeWalt makes a good one.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Wolferz

DeWalt makes a good one.

So I've heard. But I bought a Bosch.

Actually looked online last night and this morning, found a small but highly rated one at Lowe's that was in stock with a price that had dropped from $149 to $99. There was only one left when I got there so maybe it was something that was being discontinued, I don't know. Anyway it looks quite sturdy and works but is small and light enough that it will be very handy for lots of jobs around the place. They also had a set of compatible screwdriver bits on sale, so I got that since that's likely the thing I'll end up using it for the most.

Then I found some 2" desk grommets and a hole saw for the drill to make the necessary 2" holes. And checked with the guy in the tool department to make sure everything in my basket would actually work with everything else. So now all I need is someone to show me how to do the job without destroying the desk, my condo, or myself. I don't think I should be making my first foray into the wonderful world of power tools without adult supervision.

That was my early morning taken care of, then I headed over to the condo with a carload of stuff I'd packed from the kitchen and started unpacking that and putting things away. Decided to give the old dishwasher a try on the utensils and some other stuff I was unpacking and that was... interesting. My best friend and I went to the store yesterday and got stuff for it but apparently the little "pods" of premeasured detergent I bought are just too much for the thing. I loaded it and started it up and then was standing right next to it at the sink handwashing some other things when I started feeling rather damp in the foot department. I thought to myself, what a slob you are, can't wash a few dishes without slopping water out of the sink and down onto the floor...

...but then I looked down and saw that what I was standing in was a growing puddle of suds that was overflowing out of the dishwasher.

I turned it off and put some towels down and called my sister, who told me it was probably just too much detergent in the machine since, thankfully, it wasn't water gushing out - just suds!

So I had to turn it back on and just let it overflow and sop it up until it stopped and the machine finally drained. Now I don't know what to put in there as far as detergent, I'll guess I'll try cutting one of the little "pods" in half and try again and put some towels down just in case.

I also got all the parts and pieces of the desk and file cabinet laid out and made sure I had everything. Was gonna start putting some of it together but then it got overcast and rained all afternoon so, again, I didn't have enough light in that room to work by without it being a strain.

But I did my first loads of laundry in my new place! Yay! No more hoarding quarters to make sure I've got enough to do laundry every week. I debated lugging my laundry over there but it turned out to be a good thing, if I hadn't I wouldn't have had the big towels on hand to deal with my dishwasher mishap.

And I got the carpet cleaned in the big bedroom and part of the upstairs hallway. So all in all, it was a good day.

[Onkel Neal]

Nice, I love the writeups, this is very exciting.

BTW, I am sure you know this, but if you use anything other than dishwasher detergent in your dishwasher, the results will be similar to what you described. You may want to try some plain old dishwasher detergent.

[WernherVonTrapp]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Decided to give the old dishwasher a try on the utensils and some other stuff I was unpacking and that was... interesting. My best friend and I went to the store yesterday and got stuff for it but apparently the little "pods" of premeasured detergent I bought are just too much for the thing. I loaded it and started it up and then was standing right next to it at the sink handwashing some other things when I started feeling rather damp in the foot department. I thought to myself, what a slob you are, can't wash a few dishes without slopping water out of the sink and down onto the floor...

...but then I looked down and saw that what I was standing in was a growing puddle of suds that was overflowing out of the dishwasher.

I turned it off and put some towels down and called my sister, who told me it was probably just too much detergent in the machine since, thankfully, it wasn't water gushing out - just suds!

So I had to turn it back on and just let it overflow and sop it up until it stopped and the machine finally drained. Now I don't know what to put in there as far as detergent, I'll guess I'll try cutting one of the little "pods" in half and try again and put some towels down just in case.

That happened to me once, sort of. Early morning, wasn't fully awake, accidently put clothing detergent in dishwasher, sit down to watch the morning news, see soap suds rounding the corner into the living room. I spent the whole morning mopping up and sopping up.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Nice, I love the writeups, this is very exciting.

BTW, I am sure you know this, but if you use anything other than dishwasher detergent in your dishwasher, the results will be similar to what you described. You may want to try some plain old dishwasher detergent.

Well, that's the brandthat my best friend recommended so Cascade was what I bought but I had to go all high tech and get the fancy little premeasured things. I am gonna try cutting them in half, most of the loads I'll be doing in the near future will be to wash all the new dishes I have and give stuff that's been packed a quick cleaning before putting it away. So I won't mind having *less* detergent going in there, nothing I'm washing will be dirty from actual use.

And yes, my sister's already reminded me of the time she got a similar call from my brother-in-law who decided to run the dishwasher when he was home alone and, finding that they were out of the "usual" stuff they put in it, filled the little dispensing chamber all the way up from the bottle of Dawn sitting next to the kitchen sink. Suds ahoy!

I'll have to remember to start taking pictures as things develop. I still haven't gotten used to the fact that my newish phone has a halfway decent camera on it, lol.

[Onkel Neal]

Too late, I wanted to see the floor with the suds....

[Wolferz]

Frau Sudsy

We use the Finish brand of dishwasher detergent. Those come in a rock solid form with a booster in the middle. Sort of looks like a marble in a bar of soap. You may also want to get some dishwasher cleaner to clean out all the inner workings... Pump, drain etc etc. Food particles tend to build up in those parts if the old lady was too lazy to scrape her dishes before washing them.

Armistead will probably recommend a flash light attachment to go with your new drill.

[magic452]

A kitchen full of suds

I though that only my brother made mistakes like regular dish soap in the dishwasher but I now see he is in very good company.

His comment was "dish soap is dish soap."

frau Sounds like you are having a good time with all this. It's defiantly something different and an interesting experience.

Magic