Poking holes in my resale value

The title to this post is a little dramatic, yes, but me and the drywall mud will be spending some quality time together when I move out.

For Christmas, I got some nifty acrylic display cases for my Hess Truck collection. (You might remember me mentioning them here and here.)

Well, they're up on the wall now, see? But not without a fight.

Hiding behind the nicely mirrored backing are a bunch of holes with drywall molly* bolts in them. Why? Both display cases were mounted to the wall twice, and it's not even (entirely) my fault.

My father helped me hang the cases, which are more bulky than heavy. Before you think I'm blaming his skills, know that he builds multiple theatrical stage sets a year. He's not unhandy.

Before drilling into my walls, we measured. We did math. We used a level. While mounting the cases, we used the level again. But, somehow, both cases ended up being crooked -- and to add insult, neither case lined up with its mate.

It was so bad we decided to take both cases down and start from scratch ... after we ran to the store, as we had consumed all of the supplied hardware.

The cases still aren't perfectly aligned, but they're MUCH better now. (And for other collectors out there, yes, I still have the boxes.)

* Drywall molly bolts, for folks who want to know, are plastic spreaders that act as anchors, allowing heavy objects to hang from drywall without screwing/bolting directly into a stud. They become permanent fixtures to the wall, unless they are dug out and patched up. 

Surprise! No mishaps.

I promised some grill-related exploits a couple posts ago. Now that the weather's getting nicer and the days are getting longer, I've used my new grill a few times.

I haven't had any mishaps. Not one.

OK, I forgot to close the valve on the propane tank overnight. Once. But that's it, I swear.

In other grill-related news, I decided to pull my grill and patio furniture indoors during the recent tornado watches. It all fits indoors, which is good to know for when I'm ready to stain and seal my deck.

The hard way

A quick note to readers of this blog: Please learn from my mistakes.

When adding this rug and this sofa to a room, it would be wise to place the rug *first,* then bring the sofa into the room. A college-educated adult shouldn't mess this up, but then there's me.

On a related note, make sure the furniture you buy fits into your HOME, not just its intended room. This 9x12' rug and massive sofa had to scale a flight of stairs only 35 inches wide *and* turn a corner.

Before bringing it in, I did measure the sofa -- a sectional -- to make sure it fit. Its smallest dimension is 38 inches, but the overstuffed padding squished down just enough. My movers still were NOT amused.

Make me feel better; share your brief moments of stupidity in the comments section.

Dirty window sills

Raleigh has been given the gift of phenomenal weather this week. To celebrate, I've opened all the windows in my place to air out any winter funk.

The window sills on my west-facing windows are INCREDIBLY dirty. It's not one constant layer of unmolested dirt. It's as if water got in, then evaporated, leaving only grime behind; I think I see water spots in the dirt. This, clearly, will require a good sponge and some continued observation.

In other news, this weather means it might be time for the first cookout of 2010. Stay tuned for grill-related escapades and a general disregard of basic fire safety.