Miss Fix It Strikes Again- Dryer Saga

A few months ago, I heard a scratching sound in my laundry room. I did a little investigation, and found out that there was something in my dryer! I couldn't decide if it was a mouse or a bird.  I could hear scratching and see something grey hopping up out of the lint trap! I took the dryer apart, but still couldn't see the little guy. After a few screams, a few set mouse traps, and a box coming out of the exhaust hole, I left my laundry room, with the door closed over night.

In the morning I woke up to a bird perched on the window.  I tried to get it out with the nearest stick I could find, with a  wrapping paper tube.  I swatted at it and tried to get it to fly out. It didn't. I had to get to work, so  I left the garage door open, hoping it would fly out. 

7 hours later, on a Friday night, I went home to fetch the bird, instead of going to happy hour. Who wants bird poo all over their laundry room?? I got  home to not find the bird. I used my wrapping paper to hit every surface, but nothing happened. Good, I thought. Its gone. NOPE! I found it in a shopping bag. So I picked up the shopping bag, took it outside, and said, "Go free little bird." 

It didn't go free! It fell over.  DEAD! I think the drama of being INSIDE my dryer killed it. 

I put the dryer back together. Fast forward 3 months. I start smelling a burning smell when I run my dryer. It also is taking 2 hours to dry my clothes! Something is wrong.

So, I unhook the vent, reach my hand in and pull out some lint.  I go back and reach my hand in again. It feels like sticks, thinking it is a birds nest, I pull it out. NOT A BIRDS NEST! IT IS A DEAD SOMETHING! 

I call my friend, Kent, nearly in tears, and tell him he needs to get here now. He says he will be there in 4 hours. Not cool. So I go to the hardware store and buy a cage to put over the dryer vent. Four hours later, Kent gets there. We examine the dead animal, and decide it is a BAT! Now, all I want to do is go to the lake, so we leave and say we will get back to it on Sunday when we return. 

Sunday, we didn't do it. So later in the week, I ask my neighbor to borrow her ladder. I climb up to the vent, this time with gloves, and pull out a HUGE birds nest with 4 eggs.  Then I try to put the cover on, it doesn't fit. So I taped it with gorilla tape. Fixed. No more animals.

But the story doesn't end there. In the mean time, I some how got the dryer belt/pully dislocated. So I had to fix that! Enter YouTube and the Internet! I watched and read these 2 how-to's and successfully, after a few cuts and bruises, fixed my dryer! Now it dries in 20 minutes! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXf2AL1MEzA

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Replace-a-Dryer-Belt-on-Whirlpool-Models/

THE END. 

Nope, not the end, the Gorilla tape didn't hold, so I had to enlist my friends to hold the ladder so I could tape it back up again!

Water on the MacBook!

I had 3 projects lined up to work on using my Silhouette. Jocelyn was 30 minutes away from coming over to work on wedding stuff, my sister had called me to work on some wedding stuff for her, and I had a play date with Tasha and the twins to make onesies. 

Then it happened. I spilled water all over the keyboard of my MacBook! It immediately went dead. AHHHH! I didn't care that the water landed all over the floor and table and rug. I rushed to my computer and flipped it over. I got a towel and wiped it off. Then I grabbed my iPad, and googled "spilled water on MacBook." 

The message boards had all sorts of differing opinions.  Some said rice, some said flip it up-side-down, some said take it right to the store. Most of them said, it's dead. You ruined it.

If you know me, I am all about DIY. I like to try things myself, first, then, pay someone to help me. I went on a hunt for a screwdriver, I couldn't find a screwdriver that fit. So I ran across the street and asked the neighbors. Luckily one of them had one! I unscrewed the back screws on the computer. 

There was water inside. I dried off as much as I could with a paper towel. Inside, there were big signs on the battery that said don't take it apart. I listened to the warnings and said a few prayers to the computer gods. Then I got out my hair dryer. I have a COOL setting on my hair dryer. I used it at a distance on the cool setting.  Then I waited. And waited. 

20 hours later, IT TURNED ON! 

Jocelyn was able to bring her computer, and mine came back on in time to go see the babies! 

Mom's Bathroom

Way back when I was in 7th grade. I thought this wallpaper and color was cool.  I talked my mom into painting the bathroom and we put up the border together.  We didn't have enough, so we had to improvise and cut out the little shapes! Now, 15 years later, the border was peeling off, and the bathroom had seen better days.  Not to mention that awful gold mirror and flower rug!

 

Deciding on a paint color.

After Bob passed away, I decided it was time. I emptied out everything that was in there, and started taking down the border, painting the trim, cabinets, and the walls.

Originally, we had planed to just put up a chair rail and leave the bottom painted white. But my mom found this cool bead board wallpaper from Martha Stewart.  It had really good reviews, and you can paint over it.  However, you had to order it online. 

So after it was all painted, mom put up the wallpaper. She is good at that, most of our house has had wallpaper at one point. I swore I would never put it up again. So she did it. But it looks awesome!

Finally, we painted it and added the trim and decorations.

Yellow & Grey

Here are a few pics of the finished room! 

Headboard & Pillow

Curtains

 Frame

Dresser & Lamp

 Curtains & TV stand

 Paintings

Details

A little paint...

Can really change something! 

I bought some ugly frames at TJ Max and painted them, found a free printable online, and framed them!  It is a great way to give old frames a new life. I used the same paint I used for the dresser for this one. But in the past I have used spray paint and it is super easy! 

Fall Wreath

Michaels had hydrangeas on sale, so I bought a few to make a fall wreath.  

I cut off the stems using wire cutters. 

 Then I just poked them into the grape wreath. 

Simple quick.  I can also re-use the wreath when I get sick of this one or when the season changes! 

Chevron Envelope Pillows

These pillows are super easy to make, they take about 5 minutes, and can totally make over a room! 

First, cut the fabric (I used duck cloth) so that it will wrap around the pillow, and still have 4 inches or so on each side.  

 Fold over the raw edges and sew. 

 Wrap around pillow for size, and then remove pillow and pin, with an overlap. 

 Sew the sides of the pillow. 

Turn right-side-out

 Stick the pillow in the "envelope"

I have also made these, using the same idea! This is especially great if you have ugly pillows that you want to cover up! You can make "new" pillows for about $5!

Mom's Table

I stole this little table from my Mom's house.  It was tucked away in a back bedroom. I had been needing something to put my cable box on in my back room.  I had leftover stain from my coffee table, so I decided I was going to sand it and stain it Kona.

The finish had already started to come off, so the sanding wasn't that bad. 

I sanded it, wiped it down, and then used a foam roller (much easier than a paint brush!) to apply the stain.  I let it sit for a few minutes and then wiped it off. 

Then I went back through and got all of the spots I missed, and hammered the nails in a little better.

The cords are still an issue... but it is better than before. I still think I want to add some words to the top, or something to make it stand out.