Procrastination, Pilot Lights, and Picture Frames

Last week was supposed to be my productive week.  Monday there was some football game on TV (I don't want to talk about it), Tuesday I worked on the kitchen and did some laundry, and Thursday I had a dinner to attend, so I had grand plans of Wednesday being my day to tackle a couple of the projects in my room.  I ended up getting done with my morning rounds in time to take an hour long lunch break before my afternoon clinic, so I came home, walked in my house around 11:45... and I smelled gas in the kitchen.  It was faint, but it was definitely gas.  If you recall, this was day 2 of the polar vortex (best weather name EVER, right?), so my gas heater had definitely been working on overdrive for the past couple days.  Luckily, I had already packed a PB&J sandwich that morning to eat since I didn't know if I'd have a chance to come home, so I brought my sandwich back outside to my deck and called the gas company.  They were oh so helpful and informed me they would have someone out within an hour and a half.  This phone call happened right around noon, and true to their word, at 1:20 pm my friendly Mobile Gas man showed up.  And luckily my new winter coat I'd ordered had arrived the night before, so I wasn't completely frozen to the bone after sitting outside for an hour and 20 minutes.  Anyways, the good news is that there wasn't a gas leak in my house.  I'll save you the long story, but a vent had popped off the top of my water heater and due to wind or cold or something, the pilot light was out.  The gas guy asked if I had someone who could fix this for me, and I told him my boyfriend definitely knew how to do this stuff, no worries.  I neglected to mention the fact that my boyfriend had recently moved six hours away, but I figured I could do it myself.  I mean, how hard could it be to light a pilot light.  Right?  

I came home from clinic that evening full of excitement, hope, and possibility.  Okay, not really.  I was slightly terrified.  Being a really conscientious homeowner, I'm not sure I had ever looked at my water heater before this week.  I mean, I know where it is, which is more than I can say for my sister. (Direct quote: "there's a water heater in my apartment?")  James had explained to me that some water heaters require you to actually use a lighter or an extra-long match to physically light the pilot light, so that's what I was preparing myself for.  Imagine my relief when I read the instructions on the side of the appliance which revealed to me that there was no need to supply my own flame for this endeavor.  According to the instructions, multiple discussions with James, and about 400 webpages I found after googling "how to light a pilot light without blowing my house up," all I had to do is turn a dial, turn another dial, hold down a red button, and rapidly press a black button, which would activate some sort of magic crystal, and the flame would light.  Piece of cake. 

Black dial, blue dial, red button, black button. No big deal. 

Guys, I literally tried this probably 20 times.  I would turn the dials to their proper settings, hold down the red button (which was sticking at first, but I got it working), then press the black button.  I tried pressing it once.  I tried pressing it 4-5 times in rapid succession.  I heard the "loud click" every single time.  But there remained no flame.  I would try several times until my hands got cold and stiff, then go inside and warm them under my now-lukewarm hot water, then go out and try again.  I took a brief break to watch Modern Family and tried again.  Finally, around 9:30 pm, I gave up. James, because he is awesome, called a handyman to come out the next day while I was at work, and he apparently lit it within 60 seconds.  So there's the story of my super-productive Wednesday, how I apparently am incapable at pressing buttons, and why I didn't get much work on my bedroom done last week.  

I'm on vacation from work this week, and I left Mobile on Friday to come up to Huntsville for the week.  I spent Saturday helping James move into his new apartment, which I love!  I'll put up some pictures of the apartment later this week.  He's driving back down to Mobile with me on Friday night, and I plan on roping him into helping me put up the window film and maybe tackle a few more of the bedroom projects.  So stay tuned for that!  

I know this blog is supposed to be about my house, but for my first documented DIY project, I'm going to stain some unfinished picture frames I got at Hobby Lobby to make a gallery wall for James's living room.  I love doing projects here at my mom's house because all the random stuff you need but don't think about is already here -- sandpaper, rags, brushes, etc.  These are the things that always make me have to run out to Michael's at 8pm on a Friday night or something when I'm at home.  

Frames, sandpaper, and stain laid out on Mom's kitchen table 

Driftwood colored stain -- how fun! 

I bought 2 8x10 frames, 2 5x7 frames, and 2 4x6 frames, as well as some Rust-Oleum Driftwood stain.  I also found this little tray for 5 bucks that I plan on staining to match; I think it'd look cute on a coffee table or end table to help tie the room together.   I'm excited to try this; I hope it turns out well!  My only wood-staining experience didn't work so well, but it involved re-staining an already finished coffee table that I didn't sand enough.  I think these unfinished wood frames will take up the stain well and hopefully have that greyish "reclaimed wood" look!  I love all this greyish-brown aged wood that I'm seeing everywhere lately. I'm afraid to try it in my house, though, because I have 1900 square feet of warm cherry-colored hardwood floors and I just feel like it wouldn't look right.  So what better place to try it than an apartment with carpet and beige walls?  I'm heading out right now to the garage to start sanding, where I've set up a folding chair and my iPad with a couple episodes of Pretty Little Liars to watch while I work.  I love vacation!