Monday, October 26, 2015

Deep thoughts...not by Jack Handy... et cetera.

What if I break it?  What if I can't do it? What if I look foolish? What will other people think of me if I fail?  What will that tell me about myself if I fail?

I think we all ask ourselves these questions sometimes, and some people more than others (you know who you are).  Throughout the process of building TicklebellyBungalow people have asked me how I knew how to do all this stuff. My answer has been "YouTube" and occasionally I'll admit to trial and error.  Well this morning I discovered another answer; fearlessly following directions. My little heater, which is fabulous, wouldn't stay lit after the requisite warming period of holding in the knob. So this morning I got out the instruction booklet and turned to the troubleshooting section. The instructions were not perfectly clear to me because of my inexperience with the heater, so I also did a little research to make sure I understood exactly what the instructions were telling me to do. Then I simply dove in head first fearlessly following the instructions.  Once I overcame my fear of the unknown by beginning, I realized that my fear was easily overcome by focusing on learning something new.  Today the new thing I learned was how to clean a thermocouple. Sounds intimidating, right?  A thermocouple is a device that senses temperature and acts as a shut-off. If it has gunk on it or is not seated correctly it won't work properly.  In my little heater it is a small nut that I loosened, cleaned with some fine sandpaper (according to the instructions) and tightened back in place. The most intimidating part was getting to the thermocouple because I basically took the heater apart to get to it. But guess what?  My heater works perfectly, and I learned something new. On to the next!!!

And it has been a busy week!  I had my first BACON day on Saturday, and my first buckwheat pancakes with canned nectaries and coconut whip cream... 
PS. Yes, the smoke alarm works (still), and yes I have a new solution to the cooking smoke alarm issue.  Double hung windows in the kitchen mean I can open the top pane of the window...a small fan next to the stove blowing toward the window should help immensely. 

I put the shelves in the bathroom...the hidden ones that is.
With the door open...

And hiding behind is...


I got some bins for under the kitchen cabinets...frees a little drawer space and utilizes the space under the cabinets.


I also put the house on cinder blocks.  Feels more steady when you walk in and the pull chains on the ceiling fan don't begin to dance like they used to.  With our impending wind storm I think the house will feel more sturdy. Pics to come. Dark early now. 

Along with the cinderblocks I put a few pavers in front of the stairs in hopes that it would cut down on the dirt Nellie and I drag in the house.  Still trying to get used to being Mr. Rogers.  I come in and out so much, though, that it is difficult to change shoes every single time.  That is the goal though.  

Today I went and got the rest of the materials I need for the drawers in the table.  I'm hoping to be able to work on that while this storm passes.  We're in for our first winter storm in the next couple of days.  Need to make sure I have a propane back-up ready.

4 comments:

  1. Button (chain) down the hatches girl, the wind is coming. If you need anything, just cook bacon and I will hear your distress call.

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  2. Button (chain) down the hatches girl, the wind is coming. If you need anything, just cook bacon and I will hear your distress call.

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  3. Jen, what you are doing and learning and teaching yourself is so inspiring. The fears you describe sometimes grip me. The fear is worse than learning the new task. Thank you for sharing on your blog. You go girl!!!!!!

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  4. Thanks for documenting your trial and error, I can't wait to be living in mine and doing the same!!!

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