How about a little DIY to change things up around here?

I don't know about you, but I randomly scour Craig's List for stuff. Nothing in particular a lot of times. Other times, specific things. This time it was specific. I wanted a new front door. Have you priced exterior doors at Home Depot or Lowe's lately? Yeah - the door I wanted was #1 Special Order and #2 $1200! Sorry, but no.

In reality I need THREE new front doors. My mission has been for Robin's Nest because it still has the door from when it was a rental cabin - the kind for a key card! Once we tried to take that clunky thing out - only to find that there was a giant rectangular hole in the door. So I ordered an Oil Rubbed Bronze wrap around plate to cover the hole and put in a regular door knob.  Would you believe it wouldn't cover the whole hole? Naturally the clunky card reader was reinstalled. Yay.

I wanted a door with glass at the top to let in some extra light because the living area is rather dark. Funny how that happens when the floor, ceiling and walls are all wood. I would have loved a full glass door, but since we aren't there all the time, I fear it would be broken into more easily. I'm a huge fan of Craftsman style - mid-century modern in pretty much any aspect. 

Here's the door I wanted. It's a 6 lite Craftsman solid wood door slab. I didn't want pre-hung. I didn't want steel. I didn't want fiberglass. I just wanted a wood door.

So I happened to be in Craig's List on my lunch break at work a few days before we were leaving for vacation and HOLY CRAP! What do I run across? THIS!

 

So I get home, check my door sizes and immediately e-mail this person. Yes, the doors are still available. I'm interested, what is your schedule tomorrow and where are you located? No response. The next day I respond again - I'm really interested in both of these doors, can I come see them? Call me . Half hour later, he calls. Set up a time to meet him the next day - with cash. Mr. Paisley has to meet the termite inspector at the Cottage so I set it up for after that - either way, I'll be at work until after dark. Go figure, the termite guy is late. He finally turns up "yep, that's termites" (no kidding...I know it's termites - you've been treating them for like 3 years now - it's clearly not working - when do we do something that WILL work? To which he says "technicians cannot schedule treatment, I'll put in a work order and a supervisor will come out to verify and then schedule the treatment" SERIOUSLY? TWO more appointments? WTH Massey....WTH. Stay tuned supervisor will be here tomorrow...). Mr. P comes home with the doors. I am beyond giddy. You really have no idea. First - minus the dental molding, they're the doors I wanted. Second, these doors - I can't even tell you what they cost, but I would bet more than ordering them from Home Depot. They were custom ordered from this site Buffelen Door out of Tacoma, WA (according to the bright orange stickers on the glass). This is a "design your door online and we'll send you a quote" place. They have some amazing options! Third...$200. $200 for TWO DOORS! Score much? Yeah...I know!

So the next day we load up the larger one to go to the cabin and voila! It's installed with a smart lock. It was too cold to stain it on this trip, but we will do it next time. It's under a covered deck anyway so it's out of the weather. It's seriously amazing.

I made a quick no-sew curtain for it as well, but that will be another post. I don't want the windows covered, but at the same time, when we aren't there on a daily basis I don't want everyone looking in either...

Time flies...

How can it be almost a MONTH since I last posted? I have a million things in my head to write about. 

• Last trip to Tennessee
• Trucks
• Guest blogging
• Seasons
• Organizing
• Neighbors
• Shopping scores
• Work
• Georgia (and I mean my niece, not the state)
• No-poo (as in shampoo)

Where to start?

How about a mix of a couple of them? At the end of July Mr. Paisley and a friend went to Robin's Nest for a week. One could call it male bonding, but really, they went to do down right dirty work. And by dirty work I mean really dirty. They pressure washed the outside of the cabin - i'm pretty sure it hasn't been cleaned since it was built in 1995. 15+ years of mountain dirt! 

Here she is all cleaned up - hell even the chimney looks a little better (cannot wait to have it redone in stacked stone)  - forgive the cell phone photo.

 Just for reference...here's a photo from when we first bought it... pardon the vehicles (Hi Auntie Alyce!) you get the picture. It was dark and dirty.

Then they started to re-stain it. Here's the photo Mr. P texted me with the samples they threw on the front wall.

We ended up going with the one on the lower left. The cabin one one side of us is the dark brown (walnut) so I didn't want it to be the same color. The top left just looks like it's wet and the top left seemed blah. I'm kinda wishing I went with blah...the lower left looks a bit orange when there's more than an 18" stripe of it. Such is life...i'm sure it will mellow out a bit. I hope. 


At any rate - they got done what they got done and they headed back to Florida. Luckily, the hubs decided to take 75 instead of 95 - for the truck died on the side of the road not far from his parents' home outside of Atlanta. Of course it was Sunday. They dropped the truck at the local small town Ford dealer and my father-in-law sent them on their way in his truck with most of the stuff that had been packed in the the big truck. $1400 and a month later, we pack up the little truck (and when I say little, i'm talking F150 - it's a Ford Lightning - the SVT "race truck" - which is VERY small when you're used to an F350 crew cab) and headed back to The Nest for Labor Day week. We took 75 in order to stop at the in-laws' house and swap trucks. We motored on our merry way on Saturday. On Sunday morning we did the regular...sort of. We went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and since I hadn't clipped my coupons, we skipped going to Kroger to get groceries for the week (note this...it's important). A few hours later, we drove up the street, picked up our neighbors and drove to Gatlinburg to take them to our favorite fancy food hideaway for dinner. Where I had this

Yummy no? Apple, walnut stuffed pork loin with THE best sauteed vegetables (mushrooms, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions) on the planet. For real these veggies are so good that they also come as an entree!  Of course dinner was followed by dessert. They make an AWESOME cranberry bread pudding with whiskey sauce. Oh my...heaven. Seriously. Worth EVERY last calorie. At any rate, as we come out of the mountains (aka middle of nowhere), Mr. P whips into the first gas station we come to. The truck was sputtering. He was sure that when the dealership dropped the fuel tank to replace the fuel pump and pick-up that the fuel float thingy that tells you how much gas you have was off.  So he put threw $25 or so of diesel in (I guess I should say "fuel" instead of "gas" since it is a diesel eh?). Onward we go. Sputter, shake. Let the swearing commence. Turns out it's doing the exact same thing it was doing when it broke down in GA. It dies. We get it cranked up. It dies, we get it cranked up and go a little farther down the road. Somehow we manage to limp it back to the office parking area at the resort where the cabin is. It literally has NO power - no way it's going to go up the steep incline to get to the cabins. Did I mention it's raining? Our neighbors have AAA. We call. Flatbed is there within 15 minutes. Impressive (not really, it's a small town - we just aren't used to that...here in Orlando you're lucky if they show up within 4 hours). For the record, an F350, crew cab, with a long bed...BARELY fits on a regular flatbed trailer. Barely. Our neighbor walked up the mountain, got his car and came down to pick us up. Thank God he walks the whole resort on a daily basis. This Florida girl would still be crawling up the hill 2 weeks later. Remember how I mentioned that we skipped grocery shopping? And that it was Labor Day weekend? Did you know that in small towns, car dealerships aren't open on the weekend? Sure, our service departments aren't open on Sundays and in fact I think only half days on Saturday, but i'm talking about the actual sales part of the dealership. Yep, closed. Until TUESDAY...because we all take the day off for Labor Day. Good times. My fantastic in-laws got up early on Labor Day and drove their car and truck 5 hours to the cabin, to loan us the truck. Again. The got there, spent maybe 20 minutes with us and were back on the road to GA. 9 hours. They spend their entire day off driving just so we didn't have to spend $600 to rent a car for the week. Yes $600...did I mention that the LOCAL rental car places were also closed for the holiday weekend? Yep...closest place to rent a car was the Knoxville, TN airport. 45 minutes away - not really sure how we would have gotten there since our neighbors left to go back to OH. I love my in-laws. Needless to say, the dealership didn't even look at our truck until Thursday. We picked it up Friday afternoon. $400 later - $400 for a diagnosis (crimped fuel line) and a hose clamp (temporary fix because - of course - they didn't have fuel lines in stock - in fact the closest fuel lines were in Detroit, Michigan - seriously? Oh and they had them at one of our local dealers back home in FL).

I hate Murphy. If he was standing here I would punch him in the face and tell him where to stick his laws.


Here's the short version of our "vacation"
Friday – after work - leave 1.5 hours later than planned, drove to GA to switch trucks with the in-laws, spent the night.
Saturday – drove to TN, got there mid afternoon.
Sunday – went to breakfast, skipped grocery store, will go later, picked up neighbors, went to dinner in Gatlinburg, driving back, truck dies. AAA tows it to Ford dealer.
Monday – dealer closed for holiday (gotta love small towns…), rains all day. ALL. DAY….and all night. Roof starts leaking. In-laws get babysitter for grandma who can’t be left by herself, drive car and truck to TN to lend us the truck…again.
Tuesday – finally go to grocery store – yea food!
Wednesday – find out there are back taxes due on the house…from before we bought it. Shell out $250 in taxes that should have been paid by the bank when we closed. Text realtor to get closing guy’s contact info (yes, I still text my realtor...we're like BFFs now). Left him message. 
Thursday – uneventful – gorgeous day!  Vacation almost over…spend the day cleaning, doing laundry (oh joy) – plumbing starts gurgling when washer drains.
Friday – another nice day – spend it on the front deck painting a dresser, picked up the truck mid afternoon! $400 – essentially for a diagnosis and a hose clamp.
Saturday – get up at 7am to go to an HOA meeing….meeting goes until noon because the new management company has royally p*ssed everyone off already, go to lunch and the salvage yard with the neighbors (they drive - hey, i'd be afraid of getting stuck somewhere on the side of the road with us too) – get back around 4:15, supposed to leave for GA at 5. Throw in last load of laundry (sheets and towels because we have people renting the cabin before we are back up there), washer drains…into the bathtub downstairs. An hour later hubby has figured out where the pipes are plugged up, can’t fix it. Finally get everything packed into the trucks and we drive BOTH trucks to GA…due to leaving 2 hours later than planned, we hit traffic at a dead stop on the interstate because the TN football game let out. Get to GA at 11:15pm – I eat a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch because he didn’t want to stop for dinner. Go to bed…supposed to be up at 7 to leave by 8. 
Sunday - Evidently, my husband doesn’t know how to set the alarm on his phone because I woke up at 9:35am. End up leaving at 11:30am, get home at 7:15pm, unload the truck, go out to dinner, come home, go to bed and thank GOD i'll be getting up and going to work in the morning, because as many random issues as I get to deal with there, at least I KNOW what's going to happen!


That said...Mr. Paisley is diligently researching and hunting for a new truck. Our truck is a 2003. It's not THAT old...did you realize that if you wanted to buy my 2003 truck, exact model and options, in a 2012 model that it would set you back nearly $60,000?  Leather, power this, power that, 4x4, FX package, tow package, diesel, crew cab, long bed (if you can find a long bed), sunroof, blah blah, blah blah...O.M.G.


I think I just thew up a little bit. 


So there you go - a little glimpse of the past month or so at the Paisley Cottage / Robin's Nest. That covers "Last trip to Tennessee" and "Trucks" - i'm sure there will be an update later.


PS - even though the blockage in the plumbing is outside of the cabin, the city says it's our problem (of course it is...) luckily, our home warranty is paid up and it covers...plumbing. At least that will only cost $65.

Goodwill Hunting!

I finally made it back to Goodwill today. A few months ago, I changed office locations and now I don't pass the Goodwill on my way home from work every day. At least not the one I've always gone to...nope, I am now closer to the mother of all Goodwill stores - it actually used to be a department store. Montgomery Wards. It has the actual Goodwill Industries training / education center, a LARGE store, and the clearance outlet. Yep...and it's only about 10 minutes from the office. It's not like I haven't been there before, just not as frequently as the smaller store that is 5 minutes from my house. The big store could actually be on my way home from work as well...just depends on which road I decide to take home.

At any rate, today I didn't have a plan for lunch. So I just got in the car and drove...and ended up there (and then in the drive thru for a $2 Taco Bell lunch). It was crazy busy at 2 in the afternoon. I went in anyway.

This is a store you could spend all day in...because you're nearly shoved out of the way by workers putting more stuff on the shelves and racks while you're looking! Lord help me, if I leave now, I might miss something good they're about to bring out of the back! 

I spent $20.91 today. That's a lot for me...especially at a thrift store! My first find was a wood, square, chunky candle stick for $.99 - need. Have to make a stand for my new cloches! Then I found a lower case wooden "r" for $.69. Hello - Robin. Yeah, needed to add it to the "R" collection. Then SCORE, the matching candle stick for another $.99. Then I nearly knocked over a little old lady (not really...well, she wasn't OLD) to grab an old Scotch plaid thermos! $2.99 - it had the cup/lid and the cap.  It has a super clean, clear (glass?) interior, a rusty metal bottom and a dent that you can hardly see due to the plaid design. LOVE it! It will be going up on top of the cabinets at The Nest. Then for another $.99 I found one of the bowls to my mom's Christmas china (yeah, I know we've BTDT before - only this time it really IS her china - I didn't ask, I just know it's not my pattern LOL). Then I made another lap thru housewares to make sure I didn't miss anything and that was when I scored the two wooden geese - these will also be going to The Nest - they'll be great on the wall of the porch. I will be changing the ribbon and ditching the twigs and dead leaves (ummmm right...not sure what that is all about) - they might also lose the hearts. We'll see, that would require touch up work for sure. The large one was $7.99, the small one was $4.99.  A bit more than I think they're worth, but I haven't bought anything there in awhile, so I decided to get them.

Pardon the treadmill intruding on the photo op. I finally got Mr. Paisley to get it out of the storage unit for me and of course it's now just sitting in the middle of the living room - that will be changing.

Happy weekend!

Mary Mary quite contrary...

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row

Although when I was little we used to trade out the last line for "and one darn onion" - I have no idea why.

I guilted invited my mother to go to the cabin with me for the 4th of July weekend since Mr. Paisley was working thru the holiday and after several calls back and forth with my Tennessee neighbor - I just really felt like I needed to go. Turns out my bench was the only thing missing - from my house. My neighbor was kind enough to move the rest of it into the house...I asked her if she could put it on the screened porch - it's locked and frankly, more trouble than it's worth to break into. She rolled up my rug and put it out there...everything else she put in the living area inside. 

While I sincerely appreciate her doing that...OH MY FREAKING GOD!  The bugs, the spiders, the spider webs I kept walking into, the dead things...I nearly had a heart attack after running into the "critters" that were living in the stuff that she brought into the house. Seriously. 

For instance...this beauty (pardon the crummy cell phone picture and the fact that there is like no light in the downstairs bathroom). That's a dead (THANK GOD) spider. Please note the size of the drain in relation to the size of the curled up and dead spider.

Kill me now. As if the spider wasn't bad enough...there was the thickest, stickiest, ridiculous web coating nearly half the tub. HALF! 

Another of these lovelies turned up as I went to do a load of laundry. It was IN the washing machine. I popped the lid open, it ran, I cranked it up to a full wash cycle on heavy duty with hot water and ran screaming - to myself, but screaming in my head none-the-less. Spiders don't swim. I nearly barfed when I was shaking out a towel fresh from the dryer only to find a few crispy stray spider legs. Long crispy spider legs. 

Kill me now.

I ran into on SMALL spider still alive. I sucked it up with the vacuum and then dumped the canister over the deck rail. Then there was the centipede...or millipede. Whatever - I didn't stop to count the legs. I stomped on it, screeched and did the "ew ew OMG it's on me, get it off" dance.  

My aunt and one of her granddaughters came down from Ohio for part of our visit. We had a good time.

The day my aunt was leaving, she and my mom decided they needed to plant me a garden. Like that? Proper English / Grammar Police beware! The said I should have hostas there. Well duh...we planted, oh I dunno, 10 or 11 of the damn things last summer, they didn't come back. So they raked. Worked on my little rock wall. Ran the drip hose. Made a couple trips to Lowe's for plants and rocks and planted a nice little garden that I don't have great photos of...but here they are anyway. 

I bought a cute red, white, and blue pinwheel for a little 4th of July festive-ness

Hostas, day lilies, lantana and a couple of other plants that I can't remember the name of (probably stuff we don't have in FL)

My creative aunt added two sizes of rocks in sort of a wave pattern to look like they had washed down the hill from the road above.

The hose isn't pretty, but not sure what else to do with it. It will get partly covered up as the lantana starts to creep.

My aunt says she's going to drag her ex-husband down to the cabin with her one weekend and totally redo my rock wall. She said "it needs rock glue" whatever that is...she's always the one with the best looking yard, so she can do whatever she wants with it!