New Years Eve

  After getting a couple car repairs done, I started on the minor home improvements I'd complete for New Years Eve. First, the bar to the gate latch was missing for some reason. With the weather we've been having the gate has been swinging open and closed in a worrying manner. I'd bought a new latch kit a couple days ago but simply hadn't had to time to install it yet. So I grabbed by handy battery-powered drill and screwed in the new bar.

  While I was out in the yard with the power tool, I took the opportunity to remove the Direct TV dish and its wires which were attached to the back of the dining room. Not sure what to do with the dish. Art project? I'm open to suggestions. For now, it's just been added to a pile of random stuff the old owners left behind in the backyard.

  A couple days ago we stopped into Goodwill to pick up some Hawaiian shirts for a themed birthday party of our friend Steve. While there, we also picked up some random nice looking housewares. This included a outdoor lantern-style shade. The current front porch light shelter was pretty dated. The yellow bubble glass screamed "Sixties!" and was rusted up pretty badly.







  A couple days ago, I mapped the entire electrical system of the house because we didn't have power in some of the rooms in the lower level. The electrician came out and fixed that, but now I knew exactly which breaker to turn off to cut power to the porch light to get to work. I pulled the old light apart and off the wall, cleaning out the spiderwebs and such. Also, sanded the surface a bit for good measure. Unfortunately, this revealed a patch of wall that hadn't yet been painted.

  Luckily, before we bought the house, the home inspector said we needed to get the boards that border the roof edge (facia) replaced. The contractor did this and had them painted the same color as the rest of the house, leaving the leftover paint behind. I found this bucket and a random paint brush buried in our stuff. Of course, this wasn't a proper brush for painting a house, just one of those small art brushes, but in a pinch, it would do the job. I painted the area and got some chores done while I waited for it to dry.





  I then assembled all the bits (had to use the light fixture from the old setup, because, well, Goodwill) and installed the lantern. I turned the breaker back on, flipped the switch, and my house didn't burn down! Success!

What do you think?