Finally! A garage door opener

I've had quite enough of opening and closing the garage door manually.  Heave the door up, back the car onto the driveway, get out, pull the door back down from the inside, slide the lock over, go out the side door and lock it behind, get back into the car, and finally on my way.  I'm too old for this.

We've been wanting to get an opener for some time, but with all the other projects around here, it always got pushed to the back burner. But no more.

It was all pretty easy. I ordered this "internet" garage door opener from Sears.  You can even order installation as part of the order (a bit pricey at $129 but I was willing to pay a little extra for the convenience). Just pick a date and add it to your cart.  Free shipping too.  The opener showed up just a few days later, and the day before the installation was scheduled, the installer called to let me know when he was coming.  He showed up right on time, took about an hour, and it was done.

So far it's been great.  Opens the door rather slowly, but super quiet. It's chain-drive, yet barely noticeable from inside the house.

The controller shows you the date and temperature in the garage, and a motion detector that turns the light on whenever you enter the garage. Though frankly, that's a bit of a tradeoff because it's handy at night if I need something in the garage, but during the day if I'm just going out and open the garage door, I don't really need the light to come on.

The coolest part is that it comes with a gateway so you can control it remotely from a laptop or smartphone. If you're not sure you closed the door, you can always check. You could also let someone in to the garage, for instance, to drop someone off.  Log in is required each time to use the app, so if someone steals your phone they don't necessarily get access to your house. You can even set up alerts to notify you every time the door is opened. (I guess if burglars break in though the window then open the garage door from inside so they can load up your stuff, you'd know. And you know if your spouse has gotten home before you.)

When we first bought the house, we didn't live in it full time, but would come down for long weekends, roughing it with just a few kitchen supplies and a futon while we worked on some of the major remodeling. Even after we moved in, we worked little by little on the various projects, so it still didn't feel quite permanent. Funny, but it's the garage door opener that makes it feel "real" to me now.

Best household tip ever!

I was just holding a can of Minwax wood stain when I knelt down and accidentally banged my knee, which caused me to slip and slosh dark walnut stain onto the carpet. I thought it was done for--no way wood stain will come out of carpet once it has penetrated the fibers.

In desperation I turned to my trusty friend The Internet and found this clip on YouTube.  It works! Hallelujah! It works! WD-40, who'd have thought....

Installing glass mosaic tile

Part of our adventure in Monterey living has been fixing up this house, which has turned it more of a project than I think we anticipated. Isn't that always the way?

Finding contractors -- ugh, I hate it. We've had a bunch of them through here. It's not that I've been unhappy with anyone I've used, but they're hard to get hold of and not always available when you need them. Have you had the experience of contacting a contractor and getting no response, then weeks later when they've got no work they call back?  I can procrastinate like crazy on making decisions about a project, but once I have, I want to get going on it NOW.

So I took on the last phase of the kitchen remodel -- installing the glass mosaic tile backsplash--myself. The internet is full of instructions how to do it, but they always install the tile all the way up, from the counter to the bottom of the cabinets. And of course they only demonstrate the easy parts.  Since we just wanted a 4-inch strip along the countertop, I was on my own.

I think it turned out pretty good.

Click the Read more link below to see a few tips and tricks I discovered.

How to get a building permit in Monterey

Today's lesson in Monterey government: Building Permits.

If you're doing any sort of renovation project, or replacing any major systems like the furnace or roof, you're going to need a building permit. A permit is required for pretty much anything you might need to do, which I suppose is the same everywhere. You can have your contractor pull the permit for you, or, as the homeowner, you can do it yourself.

I'm in need of a furnace replacement permit, and my contractor wants $90 per hour for his time to pull the permit, so I decided it might be interesting to do it myself. Here's what I learned.

Tiles going up

The backsplash tiles have started going up. I'm learning as I go. The internet is full of instructions on how to install glass mosaic tiles. Of course, it's always some smiling person standing in front of a wall to be tiled -- swoop the trowel across this way, now hold at an angle and notch the mortar, now smooth it out -- their arm sweeping across the wall in easy, practiced movements. They don't show the reality of bending across the counter trying to reach the far corner while also trying not to hit your head on the cabinets above, or tiling the little 5-inch gap between the top of the counter and the bar. With the first strip, I learned how much mortar NOT to put on. I did way too much, and when I pressed the strip of tiles against the wall as you're supposed to, mortar came squirting out between the tiles. I spent the next 40 minutes picking it out of the spaces with a toothpick. So I didn't get much done the first day. Here's what I've got so far.

Next project

Everyone is just so much more laid back here--it's part of what makes living here fun.  I was reminded it of this again because I needed to get some tiles to finish our kitchen remodeling project.  The kitchen was seriously outdated and not in great shape when we bought the house, so fixing it up was one of our first projects, and we finished the bulk of it straightaway. But with all the decisions about cabinet styles, colors, hardware, floor tiles, countertops, paint, etc., we procrastinated on choosing a backsplash. And then with other priorities, and it kept getting pushed back. (We lived for months with masking tape covering the gap between the countertop and wall--sheesh!)

Anyway, I finally got back to it, so we headed over to Monterey Tile and Marble to look at tile samples. (We were turned on to this place when shopping for floor tiles by a fellow customer in the Home Depot tile section. He saw us looking at tiles and suggested looking at MT&M as well. ) It's smallish, family-run place with zillions of samples and friendly, helpful staff. We found a few samples that we liked and asked how to check them out so we could try them in the kitchen. No problem. He wrote down my name and that was it. I kept waiting for me to ask for something else. When we did this years ago in Seattle, we always had to show ID, and sometimes even leave some sort of security like a credit card number or even a small deposit. But here, "just take 'em...bring them back in a week or so".

We picked one we liked, and went back to place the order. They gave me a great price and within a few days I had my tiles. These are the ones we picked....aren't they pretty with the granite?