Lazy Productivity

  49. ✅ Install non-skid strips on bunk bed ladder. The 8-year-old has a bunk bed and likes to climb in and out of the top bunk safely without slipping. The 4-year-old occupies the bottom bunk and enjoys peeling non-slip safety tape off of ladders. Talk about an odd couple. Well, today's tasker should satisfy both.

It was unbelievably hot out today, and I didn't get to some of the outdoor tasks I wanted to tackle. Sadly it's going to snow again in two days, so it looks like outdoor chores are going to be on hold for a while. 23.  ✅ Cut down my neighbor's dead tree limb that overhangs the fence. It took longer for me to get permission from my neighbor to do this than it actually took to do it. Ladder: check. Bow saw: check. No more getting poked in the forehead every time I walk around to the side of the house: check. 63.  ✅ Reassemble the backseat.  I hadn't had a truly gross task yet. I was due. Last week my daughter got sick and threw up all over the backseat of my car. I mean all over. Two carseats, a booster seat, floor mats, a cargo net, seat cover, and the backs of the front seats. (And not to mention, all of the stuff I had in the back seat, like books, jackets, and other miscellaneous backseat junk.) It was all covered. That day I spent about 3 hours removing all o...

My mom surprised us by having this hanging play tent delivered to our door last week. It is large, heavy and bulky and I didn't have anyplace to store the box in the house. So naturally we put it together outside.  53. ✅ Assemble the swinging tent.

I took care of two ugly problems that have been bugging me for a while today. Sometimes even drab colors, when fresh, can make a world of difference. 41. ✅ Re-caulk the bathroom sink. When you own your home, you notice things. Specifically you notice when the previous owners were into DIY. But more than that, you notice when the previous owners either took shortcuts or didn't know what they were doing. At some point in history a previous occupant of my house installed a sink. When they did so they used plumber's putty to mount the sink on the vanity, which is perfectly fine. However, they used way too much, and they never sealed around the edge of the sink with appropriate bathroom caulk. So over time as that putty got wet over and over again, it began to ooze out. It looked disgusting, and I knew it wasn't doing the counter top any favors. Ugh, plumbing. Well, first things first, I gave the counter top and sink basin a good cleaning. Using some Q-tips I made sure to clean ...

Sometimes you just have to take a win wherever you can get one. And when you don't, all you can do is hope for better next time. 31. ✅ Replace the shower curtain in the 2nd bathroom. I'm taking the win. 2.  ⚠️ Remove the bathtub hard water stains. I accomplished some of this. The hard water stains are gone. That was a pretty easy one to check off using some CLR and an old rag. However the brushed nickel drain stopper also had what I thought were chalky-looking mineral deposits that needed to also be removed. Upon closer inspection I realized that these were not mineral deposits. The "brushed nickel" hardware was actually just a ceramic piece painted (or otherwise treated) to look like brushed nickel. The chalky mineral deposits were actually spots where the nickel finish had chipped away and exposed the ceramic. There's not a whole lot I can do about that, short of either replacing or refinishing the hardware. Both of those things sound expensive, and I don't ...

Hey remember that time I fixed the leaky bathtub faucet and then didn't test both the hot water and cold water flows? It turns out there is a hot water flow inhibitor built into each cartridge to prevent scalds. And on the model of cartridge I installed, it apparently defaults to zero hot water flow. I discovered this at 2am while getting ready for work. Rather than take the faucet apart again so early in the morning and potentially waking up the rest of the house, I opted for the ice-cold shower. Never again. When I got home from work I immediately rectified that issue.

It's been a few days. We had a family member visit for the weekend, and then we had a couple snow storms, and then most of us got sick. No, not COVID-19, just a stomach bug. But it was a setback. 1. Fix the leaky bathtub faucet. When we moved into this house the bathtub faucet in the second bathroom had a very small drip. It was so small it was almost imperceptible. However, over time that drip grew and grew until a few weeks ago it became a small stream. I really didn't want to have to call a plumber, but after doing some research, I learned that the problem is a simple, cheap, DIY fix. The faucet is an older Delta faucet, which contains a cartridge that controls the flow of water when turned on. I snagged a replacement cartridge off Amazon for about $25, turned off the water in the house, and got to work. Disassembling the faucet was remarkably simple, and because it's not that old there wasn't any corrosion to deal with. Using a hex tool, strap wrench, and flat screw...