Hooray for Irish Labor!

Yep, I finally got someone to come work for me again! Remember how I abandoned cutting down the bookcases? This cut was me and my dad working together with a cutting fence.

He freehanded all his cuts!

Remember the too deep before?

Now, they’re much more gracefully proportioned! And even more importantly, that hump in my camelback sofa is between the windows where it belongs.

And there are BOOKS IN MY HOUSE! Yes, they’re still in boxes. The upper parts of the bookcases with the open shelves need to be screwed together still. Baby steps.

So much better. I’m still working out how much I have room for, so the first load I brought over is mostly highbrow literature – in beat-up paperback form. Along with everything else I own, I’ll be taking a better look at my books sometime before the big family yard sale that is allegedly still gonna happen sooner or later.

I’m hoping that the Irishman can work for me at least one more Saturday. I’m making a punchlist of small jobs, ranked to put the most important ones and the ones that will be the hardest to do at the top. Here’s what I’ve got so far. I’d love it if he can do at least the first 3. After that I’d have to decide if I can afford to hire him again or if it’s back to super slow DIY.

1. Install oak countertop next to the stove. (I can take it off and sand it later.)
   
2. Install the threshold and permanent stop molding on the bathroom door.
3. Repair the banister. (Because I broke off a piece, lost it, and then got a mirror image of my volute from a friend and plan to cut it up for a perfect patch.)
4. Install the strike plate and stop molding on my bedroom door.
5. Install the roller ball catch and stop molding on the linen closet door.
6. Install the vestibule door.
7. Modify bookcase to reinstall the TV pullout shelf, raised to hold other items below. (I had my TV working but it was in the basement and I’ve never used it.)
8. Install panel sticking on the stairway wall.
9. Repair vestibule and upstairs hall drywall with setting compound.
10. Caulk woodwork throughout the house.

So here’s to doors that open and close with functioning door knobs? Countertops on all my cabinets? A usable stereo and TV? Getting every wall surface and stick of woodwork ready to paint? Let’s not expect me to be TOO fast with all this. Also note that actually painting isn’t on this list. Because I dread it.

Also, my back yard doesn’t look like a dumping ground for flower pots anymore. It looks like it belongs to someone who spends too much money on plants. But plants are important.