House projects

My dinner of pork roast and veggies was good, but the bread machine bread was not. Too dense. I have had this bread machine for years and the only bread I ever made in it was from a box mix for bread machines I used to get at Walmart. I can't remember the brand, but it was for white bread and apparently isn't made anymore. So, I went with the scratch recipe in the book that came with my bread machine, but I did not have bread flour, so I am guessing that is the cause. I may buy some bread flour and give it a try again some time.

I woke up to it snowing and a little snow on the ground and it stopped shortly after. I don't think this is going to turn into the big "winter storm warning" they say it's supposed to be.  

DH is (I hope) finally making plans to get started on the big loft he wants to put in his shop. It will be a big loft along the back wall and also a smaller one in the opposite corner. He thinks he can get started on the smaller loft, now, without needing to wait for warmer weather. To do the big loft along the back wall he'll need to move a lot of stuff outside to give him room to work, and that's going to have to wait for good weather days. But, at least he seems to finally be moving towards starting the project. Underneath the loft along the back wall he also plans to build a long workbench, which will also have shelves under and probably put in some cabinets above. The loft and the workbench will allow him to put a good majority of what is taking up all his floor space, up above and on shelves and then give him some actual floor space to move around in and use. At least to get started on the smaller corner loft, it won't take too much supplies and he said he still has one beam left he can use for that. With the floor space he will gain, he will finally be able to move his big wooden "woodwork bench" out of our garage (almost taking up a whole bay) and into the shop.

We also just FINALLY ordered the hidden bookcase door for dh's den. There is a small closet in his den that holds his gun safe and the plan has always been to put a hidden bookcase door there. Only took us 4 years....gosh, it's hard to believe that our house was finished almost 4 years ago now. We sat down on Saturday and went thru the door website to order it and pick out all the specs we needed and then it calculated shipping....$1351....excuse me?! The company is in Utah, practically next door, LOL. The website had a chat function and I got online with a rep and said is that a mistake? She said she would check into it and get back to me on Monday. So, now with a 10% discount and a huge reduction in the shipping cost, the shipping is $500. We can live with that. It will be a big heavy thing to ship, but $1351 was insane. Our door opening is larger than a standard size door, it's 42wX94H and we are getting knotty alder to match our trim and other doors in the house and stained, and also some bookcase doors on the bottom. It's supposed to take 3-5 weeks, so hopefully that's all it takes. 

A couple weeks ago I ordered a navy blue chair for his den. It's sold on lots of websites, so of course I shopped for the best price and ordered it from an Amazon seller. Only it never shipped and then this morning I got an email the order has been canceled. So, I ordered it from someplace else, but had to pay $25 more. Oh well. Hopefully this one ships out soon. It says we are to have it by this Friday. Once the chair is here and the hidden bookcase door, that room will be completed. I'm really trying to just let him decorate it, he put his collections of stuff in/on the display cabinet, etc. but it's so hard, because he is the type that ends up with WAY too much stuff. He's the type that would have every surface and every spot on a wall covered with something.......and it's too much. He knows this and on a few things asked for my opinion. I'm like every blank spot on a wall does not need something. It takes away from what is already on the wall. (OMG, you should see his shop walls as you walk into his shop. Pictures galore. You can't even focus to look at anything there is so much. It gives me anxiety just to look at it all. He knows this isn't a good look in our house/his den and he's trying to not over do it. He knows he wants it to look "classy" but doesn't know how to go about it, so I'm probably going to have to step in and get him to pare it all down some, especially when he also gets to fill up the hidden bookcase shelves with even more stuff. I hate clutter and also told him, if he's going to have that much stuff then he's going to have to be the one to dust it all!