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June 08, 2007
mini-update 2: painting
Kara was away for a couple of weeks on business, so while she was gone I did some painting around the house. I managed to get the bedroom, small hallway and large hallway all painted. The bedroom is a nice light purple color that matches a lot of stuff, and the hallways are a light beige.
The painting process went fairly smoothly. I did end up putting two coats on the bedroom so it covered adequately, but other than that, there were no major issues. The more I paint, the better I get at it.
Also, had a few electrical problems. I went to replace the light switches in the main hallway but forgot that they were wired in such a way that you could turn the lights on or off from either switch. I don't have the right kind of replacement switches for that yet, and when I realized it, I tried to put it back together the way it was with the old switches. Only, not quite. So the lights don't work perfectly.
And the intercom no longer lets you buzz people in. I'm also not exactly sure what I did to break that. I have a couple theories. For now, we just get extra exercise.
I am not looking forward to painting the living room, as there is a lot of stuff in there and there's going to be virtually no way to paint it all at once...I'll have to do a wall or two at a time. I also don't really want to do the kitchen, for the same reason. I have discovered that two things I really hate doing are painting and folding clothes. I like it when the painting is done, but the process is just not fun.
That said, it looks so much better in here from the yellowish bedroom and toothpaste green hallway.
Posted by Mark at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2007
mini-update 1: new grill
I haven't blogged in awhile and usually that leads to a super-long entry, but instead I'm going to try to write a few mini-entries to catch people up.
First, I ordered a new Weber Q 200 grill the other day. We used it last week; it's awesome. Just the right size for grilling on the balcony. So far, I have tried grilling various things with the following results:
- Chicken shish-kebabs - I used grape tomatoes, green peppers, vidalia onions, yellow squash and chicken marinated overnight with olive oil and Grillmates mesquite seasoning, then brushed on a little more olive oil and mesquite during grilling. Turned out amazingly awesome.
- Corn on the cob - Leave it in the husk, throw it on the grill, leave on for 25-30 minutes, turning once. Possibly the most corn I have ever tasted in my life. Didn't even really need butter or salt, it was so sweet.
- Trader Joe's chicken jalepeno sausage - Perfect for grilling. Just tasted excellent with no special prep at all.
- Frozen beef mini-tacos - Turned out quite well. Similar to cooking them in the toaster oven. Brushed a few with olive oil, which made them crispier, but that was the extent of it.
- Frozen green beans - Turned out excellently. Brushed lightly with olive oil while cooking. I prefer whole beans anyway, and you have to be careful not to let them fall through the grate, but tastes essentially like grilled asparagus.
- Dill pickles - Yeah, not so much. Tasted like hot pickles.
- Baby carrots - Also not so much. Tasted like cooked carrots (brushed with olive oil).
Tonight I'm doing turkey burgers and corn. I'm going to pick up some other random stuff for grilling.
Posted by Mark at 01:28 PM | Comments (2)