The saga of our new door, or, how hard can this possibly be?

Back in the first week of August, the glass on our front door cracked.  The next day, one of the cracked sections fell out.  The door was old, needed a lot of work if we wanted to keep it, and we didn't really like it all that much anyway, so we decided to replace it.

What should have been a short process led to us not getting a new door until a few days before Halloween.  Home Depot dropped the ball a few times, by not returning phone calls, and not communicating between the retail staff and the installation team.  Then, once our door was finally ordered and delivered (one month after we ordered, rather than the two weeks they had estimated), we had to send it back, because they had pre-drilled holes for the hardware, but those holes didn't line up with the existing spots on the frame.  This was fairly obnoxious, as they require that an installation team come out and measure everything before you can even order a door (we have to pay for this), so I am unclear as to why the correct measurements weren't available.  We finally got the door installed, and the handle now sticks, and the deadbolt requires almost enough force to break the key to get the key to turn in the lock.  I am not pleased, and really don't think we'll use the Home Depot's installation services again.  Every person we dealt with was exceedingly polite and apologetic when things didn't work out they way they should, but there were just so many missteps, that I don't think we could confidently use them again.  Additionally, I felt as if we were being pushed to purchase an entire frame and replace the perfectly functional glass panels on the sides and top of the door frame.  The door we wanted to buy was actually a few hundred more than the one we ended up buying, but we could buy it only if we also replaced all of the panels around the door, which more than tripled the price.

The door was finally installed, but we had to paint it ourselves.  We debated between a dark green and a dark red for a while (turns out we had plenty of time to decide).  Our house has red brick, and we recently replaced our black shutters with forest green.  I was a bit worried that a red door with the green shutters would look a bit too Chirstmasy all the time, but I was also having trouble finding a green that I liked.  I took several walks around the neighborhood looking at doors, and almost all of my favorites were red.  So I brought home something like 30 red paint chips from the store (still Home Depot, I like shopping there).  We rejected most of them right away once we had them out in the sunlight, and narrowed it down to 3-5.

We decided on Raw Cinnabar, from Behr.  I had read a few blogs from people who painted their doors red, and almost all seemed to mention that the red they choose was not what they expected when they started painting.  So I bought a sample pot of the Raw Cinnabar, and of another red, Tuscan Rose, and painted some cardboard swatches.  We brought them outside, and still liked the Raw Cinnabar the most, so I bought a quart!  I think I probably could have just stuck with the sample pot, but wanted to get the paint & primer combination, and it will be nice to have extra in case it needs to be touched up later.


I started by taping off the hardware.  I really want to replace it -- not only does it now not work smoothly, but I think it is the original hardware from when the house was built, and it is showing its age.  I was shocked at how much replacing the door handle will be though!  The least expensive option I saw at Home Depot was $93.  Ugh.  I started to tape off the glass, but the oval shape made that very difficult, and I figured I would just be careful, and wipe off any mistakes.  That turned out to be an ok decision, but it was nerve wracking working around the edges!

I had purchased a small roller, but ended up using just the brush and a small foam brush.  There were so many small areas and trim areas, that by the time I was done with those, it felt like 80% of the door was done.  It seemed like a waste to use the roller for the small areas left to do.  Looking at the picture now, I see that there was more unpainted area than painted, but I swear getting to this point took 45 minutes, and the rest of the door took 5.

I finished the first coat, and let it dry for a few hours before shutting the door.  I was really excited by how well the paint & primer combination gave such good coverage.  I was trying to make the paint coat as thin as possible, but even after just one coat, there weren't many glaring areas where the door color still peaked through.  Up close you could definitely see that a second coat was needed, but from the street, it looked great!

As I began to paint, I realized that the door was going to move, and I didn't want to have to hold on to it the whole time.  I looked for something heavy to put behind it, and used our huge Rubbermaid storage tubs - one filled with flour, the other with brown sugar.  That seemed to do the trick.  I also realized as I started painting the top that I was in danger of getting a bit of the red paint on the white trim, so I added a few strips of tape to the top of the trim.  I also added garbage bag drop cloths to our floor.

For the second coat, I did not bother pulling out the rolling pan.  I hadn't used the roller yesterday, so decided to avoid the potential mess that comes when I pour paint out of a can, and just dip the brushes directly into the paint can.  I think it turned out well!

Book #23 - Bless Me, Ultima

I was looking for a book to read the other week, and saw Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya.  I knew that the book had been through at least 2 cross country moves, and it seemed to be one that had been on our bookshelves forever, but I never picked it up.  I'd assumed it was one of my husband's from college, and shelved it accordingly.  I asked him if it was any good, and he looked at me as if I were crazy, and said he'd never read it.  He thought it was one of my books.

The receipt in the front cover proved him right.  I, or someone in my family, purchased it for $12 at the Barnes & Noble in my hometown, in 1995.  It was right before the school year started, what would have been my sophomore year in high school.  I don't think it was assigned in either of my English classes for that year (Banned Books*, and Great Villains), I didn't take Spanish, and I can't think of any other class where it would have been assigned.  And the book had never been cracked open, best I could tell.

So I did finally read it, and enjoyed it.  The day after I started it, I saw a newspaper article about the upcoming movie based on the novel.  It's strange how that seems to happen; as soon as you learn about something, it pops up in all sorts of places.  I am interested in seeing the movie, but will probably wait until it comes out on demand.  Our movie nights are limited here, given the lack of a babysitter!

*Ok, I went and looked at the trailer for the movie, and apparently the book was banned in several areas when it was published.  So I guess the book could have been on the list for my Banned Books class.  I know we never did read it though.  Perhaps we just ran out of time.  Anyway, the trailer for the movie looks awesome, and I may try and drag my husband to see it.

Book #22

Book #22 was Gallows View, by Peter Robinson.  It was ok, but I'm not going to go out of my way to find anything else by the same author.  The writing felt very heavy handed, and the final chapter seemed to exist for the sole purpose of beating the reader over the head with the Great Moral Lessons from the story.

I used to read a lot more mystery novels than I do now.  This book made me miss those previous books.  I think the only mystery-type books I've read recently are from the Dresden Files series, but those have morphed from mystery novels in an urban fantasy setting to urban fantasy with a side of mystery.  Great series though.  I'm looking forward to the newest installment in November.

Reading Challenge Books 19-21

Books 19-21 were from the Liveship Traders trilogy, by Robin Hobb.  My father-in-law had lent me the first book years ago, after I finished the Farseer trilogy from the same author.  I read about a chapter, excited to have another book from the same world, but put it down after that, disappointed that there did not appear to be any overlap in characters.  I returned to the series after starting the Rain Wild Chronicles.  It is sort of funny reading ostensibly stand-alone trilogies/series out of order.  You don't need to have read the Liveship Traders trilogy to understand the Tawny Man trilogy, but there are things that remain mysteries the latter series if you haven't read the former!  Likewise, I have enjoyed the Rain Wild Chronicles very much so far, but those books took some of the mystery out of the Liveship Traders trilogy.

One thing I think Hobb did an excellent job on in the Liveship Traders trilogy was keeping the characters complicated (I was going to say balanced, but that isn't quite right).  I tend to dislike when characters are wholly good or wholly evil, and the character's in Hobb's other series often suffer that weakness.  The characters in the Liveship Trader's are more nuanced, and I appreciated that.

Reading Challenge #18 - East of Eden

Book 18 was East of Eden.  Why did no one make me read this book before????  It was beautiful.  Due to an odd high school curriculum, I was never assigned a great number of books that most reasonably well-read adults have been made to read at some point.  I have to thank Mumford and Sons for writing a beautiful song that interested me in reading the book that inspired it.  I'm now off to find a list of other books that I should have read a long time ago, and am looking forward to some great discoveries.

Also, when reading a book that everyone assumes every other adult has already read at some point, be aware that people will try to spoil it for you.  I had to talk over two people on two different flights who wanted to talk about their favorite parts of the book -- parts I hadn't gotten to yet!  They both looked skeptical when I said I was reading it for the first time, and please don't tell me how it ends.

Negative Calories

So I've been slowing chipping away at the baby weight from my last pregnancy, but have been stuck in the same five pound range for about two months now.  I haven't been watching what I've been eating well at all, and have been making a few too many batches of cookies.

I decided to try harder this week.  My coworkers did not make this easy.  On Tuesday someone brought in cookies.  The cookies from this bakery are so good, that they are usually gone within fifteen minutes of someone e-mailing the office and saying they brought some to the break room.  I resisted.  On Friday, someone brought in doughnuts.  I love doughnuts.  Thursdays are traditionally doughnut morning in our family, and I resisted then.  I resisted Friday too.

I should  get to count negative 800 calories, right?

Too Hot to Handle 15K

Today I ran the Too Hot to Handle 15 K.  Texas, July, 15K, sounds fun!  It actually wasn't all that hot, and the course was nicely shaded for the most part.  I finished in 1:53 and some seconds.  I did some serious walking in the second half, but ended up running more than I thought I would be able to.  My training, once again, was subpar.  My goal headed into the race was to make it to the half-way point before stopping to take a walk break.  The course was a nice out-and-back, so judging halfway was easy.  I felt really good the first half, so then decided to go to 5 miles.  Was still feeling good shortly before the 5 mile marker, so decided to get to 6.  Runkeeper told me when I reached 6 according to GPS, but I couldn't see the mile marker on the course anywhere.  I ran for another minute or so, before deciding to walk.  Not two seconds later, I saw the marker.  I made myself start running again until I passed it.  At one point around the 5 mile mark, I started thinking of trying to run the whole thing.  I swear my legs heard my thoughts, and they immediately registered a protest.  It was as if they said "look bitch, if that's the way you're going to think, we'll just quit now!"  I reconsidered, and said I would evaluate how I was feeling at 6 miles.  My legs concurred that this was a much better plan.

I ran a lot of the race without music, which was less boring than I thought it would be. Around mile 2, my iPod decided it didn't really need to send a signal to my headphones.  I unplugged the headphones and replugged them several times, but that fixed it only the first time.  I unplugged them so I could at least hear the Runkeeper prompts every half mile.  There were still a lot of people running near me, and I enjoyed listening to snippets of their conversations.  Around mile 8, I plugged my headphones back in, and the iPod decided it could send me music again.  It was much appreciated!  I made myself run the whole last mile, and I was so glad to see the finish line!  I actually started crying when I finished, which made catching my breath difficult.

A few thoughts about the race set up:  the race is held on the trails around White Rock Lake.  While it was nice to run on the trails instead of the road, the trails were still open to the public.  Several bikers were trying to do their rides at the same time the race was going on, and some of the bikers were none to happy to have so many runners on the path.  Some of the runners definitely contributed to the problem by not staying towards the right of the path, so the bikers could easily pass on the left.  The course support was great - water and powerade around every mile, with sprinklers set up at several stations.  Whomever prepared the powerade made it very weak though. After spitting it out at the second or third station, I stuck with water the rest of the time.  There was a nice lady around mile 7 offering ice cold washcloths.  I'm pretty sure she was an angel.  People park like assholes.  We got there about 45 minutes before the start.  Much of the parking is just along the side of the streets surrounding the park.  We passed at least 5 spots where someone could have parked if people had parked another foot or so either forward or back.  It seems to me that if you are attending a popular event, and you know parking is limited, you'd park yourself in a manner that would allow your fellow runners to park as well.

The same race organizers run the same race in January, called Too Cold to Hold.  I'm definitely signing up.  I will be very curious to see how much faster I can do this race in less hot conditions!