Update November 17

We have working phones! They've been working for SIX whole days now. It's like an early Christmas miracle! And since then, we've had almost constant telemarketers, robo-calls, and wrong numbers calling. There was actually a little peace when they were down, as it turns out.

Been slogging it out with the tiny projects around the house that make a difference, that need to be done, but are mundane and do not contribute to a life-changing, purpose-filled existence. Wheee.

Fought with plantation blinds yesterday, with all the rain preventing me from getting outside. Got them up in all the front rooms of the house so from the street we actually look a bit more consistent. Word of note: if you ever buy them off the rack at Lowe's, buy Blindz, not Levolor. We had to put Levolor in the front living room windows because Lowe's didn't carry Blindz in the giant size we needed. I spent part of the day installing the Blinz brand and got the hang of it quickly enough, as soon as I quit reading the directions. "You will need: a phillips head screwdriver, a flathead screwdriver, a level, a pencil, safety glasses, and a tape measure" my a$$!!!! I used NONE of those things. No wonder people don't feel like they can doityourself around the house. It even said in the directions that "a ladder may be helpful." Yep, it will be, because I'm NOT SEVEN FEET TALL.

What you really need is a Sharpie with fine point (because pencil doesn't work on vinyl or glossy white trim), a drill with a small bit, like 5/16ths or something basically slightly smaller than the size of the shaft of the screw, an electric screwdriver so you don't get carpal tunnel screwing in the ridiculously long screws, and a stepstool, because again, I'm not seven feet tall. That's it.

I can't even imagine who uses a level to determine if the brackets are straight. If your window is level, and you're putting a bracket in at the exact same place on either side of the window, you can pretty much bet you're level (not to mention that blinds in general rarely elevate levelly anyway, which may account for any non-level allowance). And if you're using a tape measure, just how far away from the window are you actually mounting the blinds? Lizard Lick, NC? They're meant to cover the window, not the wall. And if installing blinds in your house requires safety glasses, perhaps you need to reconsider what it is you're trying to accomplish--are the blinds to cover up a bloody crime scene?

Anyway, the first blind took the longest, because I, like a good Rocket Scientist Daddy's girl, read the directions. And nothing was working and/or I was met with thwarting. Whose idea was it to tell installers that you mount the extra weight-bearing bracket in the middle? If you do that, you can't adjust the blinds because that's where the threads are that adjust the entire contraption. Then my "Momma taught me better than to read the stinkin' directions" instinct took over and everything installed like a champ. The trick is to install the center bracket not in the center. And to predrill holes. And to stand on a stepstool doing it. Who knew? Within one and a half hours, I had installed three sets of blinds this way (with the first taking close to an hour). I knew I couldn't tackle the living room with its insanely-sized window, so I waited for Rich, unsuspecting as he was.

He got home and unawares, said "sure, let's tackle the LR blinds". Heh heh. So we did. And Levolor blinds are not that great. The packaging is a pain, the brackets aren't as sturdy, and there's less control over the actual blind than you have with Blindz. But they all had to match, so we had to put them in. It went fairly well overall. And then we had the bright idea to go ahead and install the dummy panel curtains in there for the finished look. That involved taking down the pull-cord controlled, pinch-pleat, 1960s, dust-filled drapes and rings, moving the rod, and sliding my rod-pocket drapes on the ends to flank the gorgeous new blinds. It also involved moving the entire rod down so that the drapes hit the ground and not somewhere-close-to-but-not-quite-to the ground. That's when the fun began.

Sometimes neither of us has the foresight to examine the big picture and to break it down into the easiest parts. Instead, (luckily not a lot of the time, but we were unfortunate enough to both do it last night) we look at a problem and say "this looks simple enough" and start tackling it. Five brackets, dropped screws, dropped nut flanges and rod parts later, we realized that maybe it wasn't the best plan. I think it took us about an hour what should have taken us about 15 minutes with a little prep time. But the rod is now moved, the curtains are on, and the window looks amazing. Except for the little white patches and holes above the rod where the brackets used to be that I now have to patch and paint. It never ends.

Got an awesome housewarming present from the P's . . . a square tile analog clock that says "whatever." and all the numbers are jumbled in a corner. I LOVE it!! We're still debating on where to put it . . . it seems to fit us perfectly.

By the way . . . never got the counters installed last weekend due to a "crappy" week for Rich that he had to recover from (dangling participle be damned) and a 96th bday extravaganza we attended for my grandma. So perhaps with the right weather, we'll be able to tackle it this week or weekend.

Trying to get enough gumption to patch and paint stuff today. Hard to get started . . . .