i'm still alive!

So I have not written a post in a number of months.
OK... since July.
It's been a while, but I have a perfectly logical reason for the absence.  Phillip and I am expecting our 2nd child.  It's a boy and is due late January.
Because of my history, I was put on restrictive bed-rest almost immediately.  Thus no heavy lifting...and heavy is considered 10lbs.  No extended periods of standing or sitting...and extended is considered 2 hours.

Now with those restrictions its no wonder I haven't been able to contribute anything to the household so far. But what I lack in home repairs I have more than made up with appetite.

Behold my lunch:

Mmmm good.
(Note I shared with Phillip and toddler son)

Air Compressor

Harbor Freight (an excellent store for guys who want cheap tools) had a sale on a small pancake air compressor.

This air compressor is 1/3 Horsepower, 3 Gallon, 100 PSI Oilless Pancake Air Compressor. Air Output at 40 PSI is1 CFM and Air Output at 90 PSI is 0.6 CFM. In other words very very small. However my goal for this is to only use it for simple trim work. So I purchased a 2 in 1 brad/finish nailer which requires 0.5 CFM at 90 psi. We had a spot where a piece of the cabinet is missing in the kitchen. At first I tried to use wood glue to put it back together but it just fell down once my son grabbed it.

Before:

After:

 The air compressor plus the brad nailer made this job so easy. It is true the right tool for the job makes a world of difference.

First Trip to the Dump

Sorry I was not able to take any pictures. The camera was MIA. Ever since we purchased the trailer, I have been loading it with the debris from the master bath room demo. On Saturday morning the trailer was fully loaded and I was ready to go. But the very first business of order was to get an idea of how my jeep would handle the additional weight. The very very first thing I noticed was my mpg was below 10. I headed over to the local elementary school parking lot and floored the gas pedal. It took a while but I managed to get to 30 mph. Then I slammed on the brakes. It also took a while to stop. But it was nice to have an idea of how long it takes me to accelrate and to stop. Two very very important features of driving. So now I am off to the dump. I have never personally driven to a dump before. I have been to one with my father when I was a kid. The only thing I remember was there was this long line because it was a free dump day for the citizens of our county. And there was some guy just in front of us who could not back up his trailer. It took forever. With that in mind, I was off to the closest dump. I took my time driving slow. I think my max speed was 55mph on the highway. Leaving plenty of space between vehicles 5-7 seconds sometimes. The jeep didn't seem to mind the load. I really wish I had a transmission temp. guage. I arrived at the dump with out incident. The clerk at the dump said that a trailer my size would cost $58 to dump. The ticket said my trailer had 3000lbs in it. I doubt it especially since it wasn't weighed empty. Anyway the clerk said I had two options I could unload it at the customer spot but I would have to lift everything out of the trailer into the dumpster. The second option was to drive into the landfill and just push it out the trailer. I chose option 2! so off we go, up the hill into the landfill. The clerk gave me the directions which seemed really simple. Nevertheless i screwed it up. And ended up by a mine blasting section! Talk about being nervous thankfully they weren't blasting on that day. So I just turned around and got back on the right track. As soon as I hit the gravel road I was really thankful for my 4wd while pulling my load. After asking a number of employees who were all really helpful I managed to get to the actual landfil. And low and behold driving in reverse in a landfill is not as easy as in a parking lot LOL. I didn't take as long as the guy from when I was a kid but It did take me two times to get to where I wanted. While saying I just had to push everything out of the trailer is easy. The Task was longer and more ardous than I originally planned. And then at some point I noticed the side of my trailer was coated in a crismon red. Turns out my hand was bleeding. I have no idea how it was bleeding. I didn't feel anything poke me but I was bleeding. And a lot more than I normally bleed. Glad I got my tetnaus shot. I finished unloading and cleaning out the trailer. And drove to a store to buy some gloves. My finger still hurts to bend. Starting to wonder if I tore something in my joint. Total cost to dump this stuff $200 for the trailer and $58 for the actual dump for a total of $258. While at first that seems really expensive. I know we will use the trailer for more things in the future such as buying furinture, and bathtubs and other stuff. So everything was worth it in the end.