Wednesday: Project Complete

Yesterday was a relaxed day as far as working on the family room. The second coat of paint went on the big wall that had all of wallpaper on it. A few things were placed in the bookcase, and organized.

I'm thinking of ordering some movie posters for the room to over the Klipsch Cornwalls. It is really nice to get the family room back in order. Sweetheart was right and it really bothered me to have the house in such a wreck. I am saying that the project is completed, but there are a few loose ends. I want to have a charging station for the boy's game systems. I'll also have to figure out a non-cluttering place to put my school work.

We do have a shoe cabinet, but it doesn't get used like it is supposed to be used. Shoes usually get left where ever they get dropped. Well, I'm off to move a washer and dryer for my father-in-law.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Tuesday: Project 21st Century: Finishing Touches

Well, it is barely Tuesday by about 15 minutes, and I feel like I'm keeping Mr. Rat's hours. Howdy Mr. Rat!!! I've even popped a Newcastle to celebrate the progress that has been made in the living room. Since this morning, I've removed the last of the wallpaper, painted the trim, and painted all of the walls. The big wall will need another coat tomorrow. My Mom is coming over to help paint. I had to save her something ;-)

Sweetheart went to bed early tonight. Last night, Red Ant woke us up, and she has a hard time falling back asleep, so she was kinda tired. At this point, I had just finished adding the detail work of brown paint (You know, the job no one likes to do when painting has to be done).

Anyways, I thought that I would surprise her when she woke up in the morning. The picture below is what it looked like when everyone went to bed.

There still needs to be some minor details done tomorrow, but I hope that Sweetheart is surprised by the progress. Probably not, she knows me better than myself sometimes. The boys should be excited too. They were banned from the family room yesterday, and really thought it was cool what Daddy was doing. That's another reason I pushed on into the morning. The boys get roused from the sleep, and carried into the family room to dress, then watch some TV before heading out the door. I don't want to break their routine.

(opens second beer)

I've listened to Pandora all day, and it has really helped pass the time quite pleasantly. You should check it out if you aren't familiar with it. I started with Hall & Oates for some 80's rock, and finished with some Roger Waters.

The TV is still about four feet from the wall

Looking opposite the TV.

 (The vacuum cleaner will find it's home in the closet once the path is cleared)

Just to jog the memory...

That's all I got folks....Goodnight and Keep Right On Prepping - K

MRE Monday - Chicken Fajita

This is part two of the MRE Mexican dinner review.

Nutritional Information:

Seasoned Chicken breast with rib meat (chopped and formed) with peppers and onions

Serving Size: 8 oz.
Calories: 160
Calories from fat: 30
Total Fat: 3.5g or 5% DV ( Daily Value )
Cholesterol: 50mg or 17% DV
Sodium: 980mg or 41% DV
Total Carbohydrates: 11g or 4% DV
Dietary Fiber: 1g or 4% DV
Sugars: 3g
Protein: 19g
Vitamin A: 8% DV
Vitamin C: 10% DV
Calcium:  0% DV
Iron: 2%

Expectations:

We had already tried this entree, but needed to do it again for the blog and kids.

Realities:

Row, the seven year old, liked the chunks of meat and little else. He did eat several bites, so it got his seal of approval.

Ant,the four year old, already had his mind made up before he took a bite, and it was that he didn't like it. This is a running theme with him and MREs, and I'm not sure on how to remedy it.

Sweetheart, the super taster, noted that this would be another MRE that would go great over rice. I would have to agree. She liked it

I thought that the meal was mediocre by itself, but had real possibilities once paired with other MREs. I didn't like the fact it had a more of a soup consistency, but I was able to fish out enough substance to make some fajitas with the tortillas. 

Final Thoughts:

A couple of these and some rice would take care of a hungry crew with little prep. The boiling water for the rice wouldn't take long, and it probably wouldn't give your location away. A lot of the comments were done from memory, since the family room is a disaster because of painting. I'll flush out the comments once I find the index card with all of the notes.

Stars: * * * (3)

Sunday: Project 21st Century: Brute Force and Finesse

Before any of the update begins, I need to do some house keeping. A huge Thank You for the donations. I should have been a lot prompter in my post, and I guarantee that the money will go to good use!

I also need to welcome a new follower...Constitution Coalition and his/her blog is the same title.

On a personal note, I have broken 100 countries and 10,000 unique visitors from the United States on my blog. Only 313,890,000 more people to reach about prepping and personal responsibility.

The title of the blog (Brute Force and Finesse) says a lot about this me and my Sweetheart. I approach most problems from the viewpoint of a hammer, and all problems are nails. Sweetheart has more tact and finesse.The huge, I mean huge wall would be a great example. I was trying to power my way through the wallpaper.

Sweetheart's work

Sweetheart, who has more finesse, took the smaller putty knife and worked it under the layers of wallpaper, then carefully slide it around. The net result has huge chunks of wallpaper coming off with little less effort. She ended up spearheading the big wall project while I played cleanup and detail work. If I had continued my manly ways, I probably would have ripped all of the sheet rock out, and started from scratch. Finesse wins this round of home remodeling.

This is what was left after she was done...or my job.

The Piranha wallpaper remover worked on the big wall. The only thing that I can guess is that the paint or texture is different. Around a third of the wallpaper removal, I ran out of the $7.00/half gallon bottle of Piranha. On a whim, I sprayed Simply Green on the wallpaper backing, and to my surprise, the results were better than the more expensive stuff.

What's left to remove along the borders.

Same

Can you believe that this is the big wall?

File this one away folks...Simply Green removes wallpaper paste, is cheaper, and non-toxic.

Keep Right On Scraping & Peeling!- K
 

Saturday: Project 21st Century: Trial and Error

We took off the outer layer of the wallpaper around the tops of the walls, and it has been a lot more work than originally planned. I heard the old saying that you double the time and amount spent on your original estimate and you'll get a good idea the true cost of your project. Well, it's holding true.

The outer vinyl from the ceiling border was a breeze to take down. The boys got a huge kick out of seeing who could pull the longest piece of wallpaper. Row won.

The under layer is a different matter. I tried to wet the paste and backing with water, let it sit for a few minutes, and tried to peel it off. Nope. I then tried a putty knife, but it only took out a few lines. A quick search on the internet found that vinegar and hot water would take the paste off real easy. I tried a new batch in the spray bottle and let it soak into the backing of the wallpaper. The putty knife again went after the backing and the results were the same.

I tried a small spot on the opposite wall to see what I was up against...

Underneath the old world map wallpaper, was another lovely wallpaper flower print. The owner before the one that I bought the house from was a widow, and I'm sure that she had a hand in picking out this pattern, or her flamboyant handyman. So, I'm not sure how this is going to translate into time committed for the project, but it's not going to make it any shorter.

I also remembered that Woolite mixed with water would also take the wallpaper backing off the wall. It doesn't.

While I was working on the border, Sweetheart was on the opposite wall peeling wallpaper. The big wall. She was making some good progress in removing both sets from the wall. The paste will need some heavy elbow grease to remove it. I tried a small patch, and it worked. I'll have to clean the wall with hot water and some Dawn to remove all of the paste, and to prep the wall.

This morning

This morning the boys and I made a run to the Lowe's and bought a small bottle of Piranha Wallpaper and paste remover (professional strength). After reading and following the directions, it was also a fail. The only thing that has worked so far is wetting the backing, letting it soak, using a putty knife, wiping it clean with a rag, using a steel wool scratch pad, wiping it down again, reusing steel wool, then doing the final wipe down. It took about 2.5 hours to do the shorter wall, but one wall is done. All I can say is that it works, even though I'm not happy with the rate of progress.

(break between writings) 

This day's progress was slow. We went to church tonight, which was a much needed break for my sanity, and arms. The process goes like this: wet, wait, scrape with putty knife, wipe with rag, scrape again, wipe with rag again, use steel wool for the stubborn paste, wipe it down, cock head to see if all of the paste is gone, climb down ladder, climb back up ladder for forgotten tools, climb down, move ladder. Repeat as neccessary.

I've managed to get two walls done, and about 20% of the big wall. Not too bad, considering I had to watch the kids most of the day as well. I'm thinking that this won't get done by the time the beach trip rolls around. I've got to complete some paperwork for the school, which will probably take a day. I'll also be helping my father-in-law move a washer and dryer into his house. He needs the help, and has offered to pay me for my time. I'll take a full tank of gas for the truck, and a few bucks. After all, he needs the help.

Anyways, I need to get back to the wallpaper, but it just might wait until morning.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Project 21st Century

I have started an ambitious project of repainting the living room this semester break. I get about little under 3 weeks between semesters, and the living room is in dire need of a makeover. The hallway was officially completed yesterday! A full two days behind my schedule for the break. The last week will be spent at the beach with a slew of family and relatives descending on The Caribe like summertime locusts.

The hallway project started about a month ago quite by accident. Well, not so much an accident. As I was walking past the wallpaper that covered the lower half of the hallway, I reached out and started to peel it off. A bigger chunk than I was expecting came off, and so it started. The lower portion of the hallway was a different color than the top, and it looked rather tacky. It needed some attention, and we've been in this house for over ten years. It should have been done a looong time ago.

The visqueen is covering the attic fan, and during the summer and winter months, the heat/cold pours into the house. The double layer of visqueen probably saves us over $40/month just from heating and cooling.

Looking down the hallway

Looking up the hallway

The gate was to keep the kids off the stairs, but now used for canine control.  Our viscous dog, would lick intruders to death if allowed to run free. Our rescue dog is our oldest kid, and earns his keep by saving us money on an alarm system. He has been a wonderful companion, and excellent with the boys.

The new project, is running two days behind because of the hallway and my slothfulness. I've already taken all the personal pictures down, and done some small tasks. The previous owners had plants hung from the ceiling, and the hooks have been removed and patched as of yesterday. From the photos below, you can see that we painted a small area of the wall to make sure that we like it.

The house is being prepped in anticipation that we will be selling it within the next year, so that the boys can go to a better school. Using the house as a rental has also been discussed, since we owe so little on the mortgage. The daycare is no longer providing after school care, ergo our "reason" for a transfer won't be valid anymore.

This brings us full circle to the project at hand: Bringing our family room into the 21st century, and out of the 1980's!! I have the idea to post nightly pictures as the project progresses...it'll be fun to see the progress and to document the changes.

Facing South, entering from the entry hallway.

Old color on the left, new one on the right. Valspar Nighthawk Satin Finish.

The big 65" TV against the wallpapered wall. This wall will takes HOURS!!!

Our lovely curtains from the previous owners...begone.

The bookcase between the two doorways.

Well, you can see the project ahead. Time to get working, and I'll post tomorrow.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Ammunition Update

In my neck of the woods, it seems that the ammunition shortage has eased up a bit. While 22LR is still unavailable at my local stores, at a reasonable price, most other ammo can be found with a little hunting. I noticed shotgun ammo was available throughout the shortage, but the usual amounts on the shelves was gradually decreasing during the whole "crisis". I'm beginning to wonder if the cost of the other ammo had eaten into the shotgun category for purchasing??? Either that or the amounts available had also taken a hit.

The online retailers are also more reliable in their selection and prices. The prices have started to drift downward, but not to previous levels. I'm not quite sure if we will ever see pre-shortage prices again. Hopefully. I've also noticed that the major players in retail have stopped advertising ammo prices, which is understandable. A good indication that the shortage is over will be the beginning of advertising for ammo again.

Magazines have become plentiful for my weapons, and in a few cases cheaper. Supply and demand at work. Curious that the people complaining about the high prices in the beginning aren't being vocal about the price drop. They should be lined up to pay the full retail, if I was supreme ruler of the universe. I was actually ahead of the curve on magazines, but still need to purchase the magazines for the guns that I'll be buying in the future. You can guarantee that the PTB haven't forgotten about their failed attempt to ban them. There will be new legislation in the future, they're just licking their wounds right now.

While I had a good stash of ammo, I didn't have enough to continue training during this time frame. This means that I didn't have enough (period) I'll be bumping up the amounts as money allows.

The only thing that I really haven't tracked is primer, leads, and brass. How is the reloading supplies in your area? By the way, my region is the South.

Comments are welcomed and encouraged.

Mundane Monday

I'll have to owe you an MRE Monday, since I've got to close out my Summer clinical work through Trajecsys. It's an online tracker, or logsheet, of all of my x-ray procedures that I've done the last eight weeks.


Sounds fun doesn't it? Anyways, I'll post again tomorrow....Oh, and I got an A for a clinicals and an A for Advanced Patient Care this semester. 9 hours of A's should bump the GPA up a little.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

It's expensive...I should know.