Yes, I Know

. . . I should oughta post something.

My computer's been back and reconnected since last Friday, so that's no longer an excuse. But can I plead that I got so used to actually getting things done while it was away that I'm loath to go back back to spending much time on it?

Uh, guess not. Spent practically all night a couple times since then on-line dealing with stuff I Really Hadta Take Care Of.

Call my failure to update Overload Procrastination. Too darn much to write about. Such as:

Progress on the wood trim stripping to the point where I've finished everything in Stage One but the stair rail parts, the hall bench, and the casing around the doorway between the stairhall and the kitchen. This included having to remove and majorly patch the casing of my bedroom doorway, ineptly reinstalled during a 1980s remodelling job . . .

Getting over my queasiness over possible irreparable damage and starting to knock out the fillet stops holding in the stair balusters, so I can begin to strip them . . .

Realizing I need to strip the wallpaper over the stairrail before I start on its woodwork, so beginning the wallpaper removal in earnest . . .

Juggling and mistiming price increases and samples on the William Morris wallpapers I want, to the point that I've come out $160 on the wrong side of the equation and have to consider whether I'm going to get these papers or not . . .

Being offered and procuring a 1985 copy of my house lot survey from my PO-1's land surveyor, who's closing his practice, and what I learned from him when I picked it up . . .

Deciding I have to strip both sets of stairs and the 2nd floor hall floor before I can refinish and reinstall the stripped door and window trim, and making a start at that as I do the stair stringers . . .

Making a start-- sort of-- at finishing the drywall patches left over from the mid-February plumbing work . . .

Realizing I have to secure the cracked and sagging ceiling plaster in my 2nd floor hall and over the 3rd floor stairs before I can strip the steps and the hall floor, and so finally getting around (yesterday) to putting in an order for Big Wally's Plaster Magic . . .

Meeting with about a million masonry contractors to see if I can get an affordable price for replacing my scat-to-scumbaw front sidewalk steps, and researching on whether I can do it myself . . .

Going to the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show this past weekend (courtesy of Elaine V. at Bless This DIY Mess-- Thank you ever so much!!) and buying a cool tile scorer/cutter so I can break the tile I want in my first floor hall . . .

Consequently looking up information on the substrate I need in order to support said proposed first floor hall tile, and finding out that my joist spacing (not to mention the cold air return plenum) may forbid my installing tile at all, without I put in a lot of supplementary joists . . .

Keeping an eye on the bulbs and shrubs breaking dormancy in my garden, and feeling uneasy because I need to grind up last Fall's leaves that are presently parked on the beds and prep the beds for planting . . .

Oh, yeah, and being nosy about what my new neighbors across the alley are up to, as they've had heavy equipment in totally uprooting and digging out the back yard.

So I have a truckload load of post subjects to catch up on.

But now I have to go downstairs and strip wallpaper. A couple weeks ago someone I heard on the radio pointed out that until one has paid off the mortgage, one's house actually belongs to the mortgage holder. This being two banks, in my case. So as I hope I may term myself an honest and honorable person, I need to get busy restoring the value of my dear friends' the banks' property and make the intended silk purse out of this Sow's Ear.

Home Show, Part II: I Buy a Ladder

(When we last saw our heroine, she was trekking footsore, hungry, but determined through the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show . . . )

Finally, late in the evening, I made up my mind: I bought a 22' Little Giant convertible/extension ladder.

I'd been researching those puppies online practically since last year's Home Show. I found the booth on the lower level shortly after arrival at the convention center early in the afternoon. Hoisted both 22' models: Yeah, I can carry them both, but why mess with the heavier one when I don't need it? Rep informed me of the special Home Show offer--and yes, it compared favorably to what I'd seen at Sear's and online.

But I wanted to take a few hours to consider. Did I need this ladder enough to make a deeper dent in my credit? So I looked at everything else on display downstairs and up and let the idea percolate in my mind.

Just before I'd exhausted the exhibits on the upper level, I watched the demonstration put on by the rep for Jaws, the rival outfit. Interesting.

Or maybe not. The Jaws price was higher and didn't include all the accessories. So I went back down to the lower level and had the Little Giant rep do his demo, now that I knew what questions to ask. As he was at it, a homeowner came by and kept telling me how much he likes his 22' Little Giant and what a great product it is. "Couldn't do without it."

That was reassuring, though I'd pretty well decided to buy it at that point. And I did, with the accessories--step platforms, arms, leg extension, and wheels--thrown in. It'll be delivered in a week or two. It's all very well to say I can't afford it, but there's a lot of work I have to do on this house ASAP that I can't manage with my wobbly twenty-four-year-old wooden 6' stepladder. I figure my life and limbs are worth what I paid.

And pace Consumer Reports, my fingers are worth some common sense and care in setting the new ladder up when it comes.

Yes, I'm the sort of prat who likes to see if she got a good deal. So yes, I was online today checking other Little Giant suppliers, to check out their latest prices. And the deal I got was better than any of them could do, even considering the exorbitant Allegheny County sales tax.

But my search also led me to a Consumer Reports article that said these Little Giant convertible ladders (and indeed, all the 22' convertible ladders they mentioned) are unsafe and not recommended. Not because they don't take the weight or don't work, but because the extension technique isn't idiot-proof.

OK, fine. I can see how you can pinch your fingers if you get them between the rungs of the inner and outer sections as you extend or collapse the ladder. I'll make a note to keep them out of the way. And to wear leather gloves just in case.

And I'll make sure to use the proper handling technique. I know I can carry the thing when it's collapsed. Should be able to manage it when it's extended.

I understand the concern, but the shorter ladders Consumer Reports approves of will not fit the bill. I'll do a followup post on how well I can put the Little Giant 22 Type 1 through its paces after it arrives.

Home Show, Part I: A Lotta Stuff!

Yesterday I spent six or more hours wandering around the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show.

Funny how that worked. I'd intended to check the guide and visit only the vendors' booths I was really interested in, then get myself out of there. Ha! Wandered up and down every aisle on both floors, then came round and did it again, just in case I'd missed something.

This home show is really great if you want vinyl fencing, cast concrete patio wall and paver systems, hot tubs, and any kind of replacement window. Me, not so much. Did take some window literature, but I still favor using the local custom wood window people, who did not have a rep there.

What I was looking for especially was local lumber and millwork suppliers, in case I decide to replace any of my interior trim. I established diplomatic relations with three of these. But before I go visit their yards, I believe I'll first check out Construction Junction, the Pittsburgh area building materials reuse and recycling place. There's enough foursquare houses being remodelled around the region--maybe some of the original disused yellow pine trim ends up there.

I also talked to a few patio room suppliers, to see if they could make me some demountable storm/screen infills for my too-breezy, snow-permeable, closed-in back deck. Maybe, maybe not. I picked up that it's an idea I'll have to wait to develop until I have the means and intention to do it right away. These dealers typically weren't interested in making site visits and giving me estimates on a job I might get to in 2009.

Understandable. But by then, I may figure out a way to build them myself!

I renewed my CostCo membership, sampled a lot of dip mixes, bought some dried mango slices to munch on, purchased a cute and inexpensive garden hose holder called "Gecko Toes," resisted snapping up a really beautiful but unnecessary queen-sized handmade bed quilt at $150, and determined that no one, but no one was exhibiting the kind of art ceramic floor tile I've decided is exactly what I need for my first floor stair hall. Too bad.

Even though I wore out a lot more shoe leather than I'd intended, wandering around all the exhibits and around again, I have an excuse-- I had to go back: I'd resolved not to buy anything the first time through.

And six hours and not much to eat later, how am I supposed to remember where the products I was interested in were?