DIY: Leaky Toilet

For some reason plumbing has a "hire a professional" stigma attached to it. However, being that I have some free time on my hands and a trusty internet source, I decided to give it a go.

The upstairs bathroom had a slow annoying leak coming from the tank of the toilet. After my father-in-law replaced the flapper and tightened a few bolts, it still leaked. Therefore, the remaining leaking culprit laid in the gasket between the tank in the bowl...meaning I had to take the toilet apart. After emptying the toilet of all water, and struggling for a half an hour on getting the bolts off, I was able to remove the tank. And sure enough, the once rubber gasket was a petrified encrusted mass, so disgusting that the guy at Lowe's wouldn't even touch it when I brought it in for a new one...wuss.

I replaced the gasket, bolts, and screws and returned the tank to its rightful position. I turned the water back on, filled the tank, took a few flushes, tightened some bolts, and no more leaks!! Now, if fixing a leaky washing machine was only this easy.

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AFTER

Wilbraham Peach Festival

For our weekend excursion, we didn't go far from home. Wilbraham is a rural suburb of Springfield and hosts an annual Peach Festival with a 5 mile run. Mike and I jumped on the opportunity to try our first New England race.

We rolled out of bed at 7am and headed out for the race. We weren't really sure how many people to expect being that the registration stated that the first 200 participants would receive a t-shirt. Come to find out, this was the largest race yet for the Peach Festival topping out at 223 runners! The scale here in Springfield is just a little different than Cincinnati.

Mike and I finished dead on 45 minutes and right in the middle of the pack. It was an easy flat course although humid. After the race we were awarded a peach pancake breakfast as part of the registration fee. I was a tad disappointed to see canned peaches plopped onto my plate considering the title of the festival includes the word Peach. I was imagining fresh farmers market type festival. Boy was I mistaken. Instead, this shindig is more of a Cincinnati grown Catholic Church Festival with fried dough wagons, inflatable bouncers/slides, and a carousel and no fresh peaches for sale anywhere on the grounds.

But for $20 we had a nice race, got a long sleeve t-shirt, a peach pancake breakfast, plus someone mistook me for a senior high school student in need of taking the SAT. Since I just turned 29, that felt pretty good!

DIY: Hanging Shelves

With all of the space we have in our house, I strangely decided to make the oversized closet in the den my very own creative crafting workspace. The closet would have been wasted space otherwise, and now we have 2 extra bedrooms for our yet to be guests or dare say children.

A few weeks ago Mike and I ventured to Ikea to purchase the Expedit desk and bookcase combo which amazingly fits perfectly in the closet space. We took off the closet doors, and I will soon hang a pretty blue striped curtain to hide my creative mess.

To complete the space, I needed to hang a few shelves to place often used items, a bulletin board to post ideas, and a rack for sewing accessories. So with my brand new stud finder with a live electrical wire indicator I set to work.

After drilling holes for the shelf brackets and cramming wall anchors into place, I was able to successfully mount the brackets. And with my innovative ingenuity, I designed a ribbon holder out of a thin dowel rod that easily fits on the curve of the shelf bracket. Now I just hope the cats don't find it. I hung the bulletin board with ease and used the spice rack my grandpa made for me (it doesn't fit anywhere in the kitchen) to organize all things sewing.

From this easy install, I learned that studs are always your friends and live wires are hiding everywhere in closet spaces.

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AFTER

DIY: Framing a Closet Door

The owners prior to us decided to build a closet in the room above the garage. They boxed off a corner of the room for the closet space. Unfortunately, they felt since you can't see the inside of the closet, then why completely finish it? I however am a bit of a perfectionist and want the molding around the door and the baseboard installed before I paint.

I looked online for directions on how to frame a door with molding and after reading the description decided I could handle this as a first project. With my supply list in hand I headed to Lowe's to purchase the necessary items including:
1. Miter box and saw
2. Liquid nails
3. Finishing nails
4. Nail setter
5. Molding
6. Caulk

I laid out my supplies, cut my molding using my brand new miter box, glued the trim, nailed it every 12 inches, set the nails, and caulked the edges. It took me one mistake to figure out the angle direction, but all in all it doesn't look half bad for my first attempt. From the project, I learned I am very poor with a hammer being that I smashed not one finger, but two. However using the caulking gun is my new favorite tool.

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AFTER

DIY Project

Since I've decided to take a year off from teaching hormonal 7th and 8th graders, I need a new project. And considering that Mike and I still only have one car, I am spending my days isolated in my house. I have begun to notice all of the details of our home that need a bit of TLC. Therefore, after being inspired by Julie Powell of the movie Julie and Julia, I am taking on 18 Yamaska as my very own DIY project.

Since Sacred Heart of Jesus School began classes today, I chose today as my start date for this hopeful endeavor of mine. And although Julie set herself a deadline of a year to successful cook all of Julia Child's recipes, I have a feeling I will run out of steam before then, or more likely money. So we'll just see how far this project goes and what kind of trouble I'll end up in. And I may even discover that what I really need to do is find a job!

Finally Home

After a hectic month, Mike and I are finally able to say we are "home" being that we've been able to sleep in our own house for a week! It was a crazy few weeks and feels wonderful to stay put for awhile.

We are slowly learning the nuances of Springfield. First being that alcohol is not sold in any grocery store and can only be purchased at a spattering of liquor stores which are not located anywhere close to the markets. Second, there is no such thing as a garage or yard sale, but rather these things called "tag sales". Third, unlike Cincinnati, there is not a surplus of family doctors here, making it difficult to find a PCP that is actually accepting new patients.

We've also discovered several positives. First is that it takes less than 10 minutes to get anywhere in the Springfield area including CT. Second, morning runs are flat and the routes are endless. Third, I can ride my bike on the street and don't have to fear for my life of getting run over.

We hope to go on our first New England adventure Sunday. The weather is to be gorgeous and the countryside is whispering our names.

Out West Trip

No sooner then we left Cincinnati to move to Springfield, MA, we returned to join Mike's parents for our summer vacation Out West which included fly fishing in Montana, touring Yellowstone, and hiking in the Tetons.


The trip began with 3 days in rustic cabins in Montana. The first cabin, on 4 Mile River, we slept on sheets of plywood--a first for me and definitely not recommended. The following day we drove to the second cabin, which thankfully was stocked with mattresses. We hiked 5 miles up to a meadow and tried our hand at fly fishing for the first time on Meatrack River (the best river name!). And to my surprise, Mike and I both caught our first Cutthroat Trout within 10 minutes and it didn't stop there. We each caught and released between 10 and 15 fish.



The next day we fished on 4 Mile River and didn't have as much success. But we were determined to catch our dinner for the night. With much frustration and choice words, Mike and I were finally successful in the end and enjoyed the freshest fish dinner known to mankind. And I have to admit, fly-fishing is actually pretty fun.






After our stint in Montana, we drove to Yellowstone and stayed at Canyon Lodge for 4 days. We visited Mammoth Hot springs and Old Faithful, hiked the North and South Rim of the Canyon, climbed to the Fire Station on Mt. Washburn, boated across Jenny Lake in the Tetons, and took a Stagecoach ride in Roosevelt. Phew...that was a lot! And not to mention we got stuck in a bison traffic jam!







Our final night, we stayed in Cooke City just outside of the park. We were able to connect with civilization via the Internet, and ate pizza and drank 1554 at the local saloon. All in all it was a great trip and allowed Mike and I the time to relax and de-stress from the move.