Home Repair Fun

There had been some lightening & thunder storms last month, and after the power went out one afternoon in the middle of one of those storms, we were in the kitchen, plugging in the non-digital phone in order to call the power company - when we both spotted a big flash of light out of the corner of our eyes, over by the north west corner of our living room. We were in awe and a little nervous by what we had seen, but once the rains died down and the storm passed by enough for it to be safe enough for us to walk outside again, there appeared to be no damage to the house. Eventually, the power came back on, and proceeded with the rest of the evening.

As the sun faded, we turned on the house lights. That's when we noticed some of the lights randomly flickering. They'd stay on for a while, then they'd flicker off - then they'd come back on. Not with all of the lights, just some of them. We chalked it up to a "brown out" in our neighborhood, and retired for the evening.

It happened the next evening, too, though - and Don's computer kept shutting down. It was time to call the electrician.

$1000 later, we have a new electric panel!

Yes, a heavy price - but, what a relief. No more flickering. No more worrying.

While he was here, we had him install a new outlet for our electric dryer, which had been hard wired into the box every since we've lived here. I didn't realize that was "not up to code." The electrician installed a big heavy chord and plug to the dryer, and we were able to move it, finally, so that it sits next to the washing machine. We were able to shorten the air tube to the external vent, too. Much better.

I know. Exciting stuff. Anyway, it all's about keeping the good feng shui flow going in our living space. Two weeks ago, I gave our guest bedroom a fresh coat of paint and a good cleaning and re-arranging. This week (today, hopefully), I plan to give our tiny upstairs bath room a fresh coat of paint. Yesterday afternoon, I had forced myself to finally commit to "cleaning the bathroom," but after taking everything out, I decided I'd paint it, too. It's a very small room, so it shouldn't take very long. It'll be nice to freshen it up.

Even though - what it really needs is the ceiling repaired from water damage. Ugh.

Oh well.