Tag Archives: DIY

D-I-Yes You Can!

by Jennette,

Things continue to move along at the rental house. My husband spent the day re-sanding the hardwood floors, to re-refinish them. I did running around to get supplies, and was also working on staining the rest of the shelves we’re going to put in the kitchen. They are going to be some really cool pipe shelves, made all the cooler because ours will be over the stove, and have the microwave installed beneath & between them, as shown to the right.

I have some of the pipes, and have the rest on order, so this project should be done and ready to install by next week. Next up is painting the U-shaped pantry shelves and the bench support for the mudroom, which will all be white.

The fact that I am doing this stuff amazes some people. And until about a year ago, it would have amazed me too, because it never would have occurred to me that I could. Painting and staining is no big deal; I actually stained every piece of trim in our second story when it was added on about fifteen years ago. There’s also a built-in bookcase; I stained the wood for that, too. Minwax and I have been good friends now for over fifteen years.

But it never would have occurred to me that I could design a project, or especially that I could cut and assemble it. Not until I discovered non-writing blogs last year (while not doing much writing), one of which was DIY Diva.

I found this on Pinterest, while I was looking for new house ideas–a blog post about how the author and her boyfriend built their own house from the ground up. The article was great. But what really drew me in was the writing.

I wound up reading her blog starting from her first post in 2004 (yep, she was an early adopter!) through the current one. Hers is some of the most witty, engaging, clever yet self-deprecating and just plain real writing that I’ve ever come across. For a good example, see her About page–for which the web address is diydiva.net/loose-screws/. LOL! I couldn’t stop reading that blog until I’d read every last post. Somewhere along the way, she convinced me that I could create and build things too. And I’m not the only one–plenty of times, I read in the comments how someone had been inspired to try building something because of reading her blog. And how this was one of the reasons she loves to blog–to empower others to create, and see that Yes, You Can.

Oh, and her blog was the first place I saw pipe shelves. Check out this master bedroom closet–so cool! Mine are much simpler, but I still think they will be a definite wow-factor in our house’s kitchen when it goes on the market.

She doesn’t blog often any more, but when she does, it’s still entertaining and engaging, and I smile every time I see a new post in my feed reader. So if you want some good, humorous reading with a bit of swearing and a good dose of Yes, You Can, check out DIYdiva.net.

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What I’ve Been Reading: I started a novel this week and am really enjoying it. I’ll blog about it next week after I’ve finished.

What I’ve been Writing: Finally! I managed to fit writing in two evenings, for a total of over 1,000 words. That doesn’t sound like much, but I’ll take it! So this week’s goal? Finish that scene!

How about you–have you ever read something that totally inspired you to do something you wouldn’t have before? Do you read blogs by people other than book-writers (because bloggers are writers too)? Either way, how are you doing on whatever goals you might have, whether writing or otherwise? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

Shelves and Books

by Jennette,

The blog was a little late today, because my husband and I had some shopping to do:

Shelves, barn doors, and more shelves (and my dog Skeet)

That’s the lumber for all the stuff I’ll be building (or rebuilding) for the rental house. Custom U-shaped shelves for the pantry, re-cutting and staining the shelves and bench for the mudroom, and the open shelves to go in the kitchen. When the fire happened, the pantry was finished, and the rest of those were stained and waiting to be installed.

After the fire, when our plan turned to selling the place, we decided to deck out the upstairs with a sweet new bathroom, and a 14′ walk-through closet. The latter will need custom closet organizers, since one of the walls is a 5′ high knee wall. It’s also getting a barn door, since the opening on one end is an odd size. There will be a second barn door in the dining room at the bottom of the steps. We could buy them for $300-400 each… or build them for less than $100, and get them custom sized to boot. I found this great online tutorial, and they don’t look that difficult. So my work is cut out for me for the next couple months! Oh wait, it’s not cut. I have to do that too. It will be fun. 😀

On another note, I promised last week I’d share some books that helped me learn about adrenal fatigue (I slept well last night for once, thank goodness, or that shopping trip and carry-in would have been rough).

I started out thinking maybe it was just the onset of menopause, so I found Female Brain Gone Insane by Mia Lundin. While I wasn’t having the dramatic mood issues many of her patients were in the anecdotes, a lot of the other things these ladies were dealing with sounded familiar. I had never heard of adrenal fatigue until I reached the last section in this book, and it was a major light bulb moment–these were the symptoms I was dealing with! I also got started on vitamins and supplements due to what I read here.

The next book I picked up was Is it Me or My Adrenals by Marcelle Pick. This went into a lot more depth, since it was focused solely on that subject. This was also the one that promoted diet as the main fix for adrenal fatigue–a time-consuming, labor-intensive meal plan that eliminated all processed foods and sugars. I tried one week of the recipes, and didn’t even make them all–who has the time and energy for that, on top of a full-time job? Not me.

I’m Too Young for This! by Suzanne Sommers focused more on menopause and perimenopause, but had some good info in it. I reviewed it here.

Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome by Dr. James Wilson is probably one of the first books to come out on this subject, and goes into it in even more detail than Is it Me or My Adrenals. Wilson is one of the pioneers in research for it, and I loved that this book went over the history of the condition. Adrenal fatigue has been recognized since the late 19th/early 20th centuries, and was commonly treated then. This came in handy when I was writing Time’s Best Friend, when I needed a reason Florie’s mother couldn’t step in and help her all the time. I figured, why not get some use out of my own experience? 🙂

Author Fawne Hanson offered me a copy of her book, The Adrenal Fatigue Solution, in exchange for an honest review, after seeing me mention the above on my blog a while back. The book was good and contained a lot of good information, and I reviewed it here. The book isn’t available anywhere I could find except her website. Her website also has a lot of good information.

What I’ve Been Reading: Smith’s Monthly #39 by Dean Wesley Smith, featuring the novel Ace High. This is the novel he wrote in five days while on a trip to Las Vegas. It’s amazing what we can do if we prepare properly, have the right mindset, and are used to just sitting down and writing, which is his process. And Ace High was really good, one of his Cold Poker Game mysteries about retired detectives solving really twisted crimes–proof that as a reader, I can’t tell how fast a book was written, whether or not it was revised (he doesn’t), and whether or not it was outlined (he doesn’t).

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What I’ve Been Writing: Unfortunately, again, not much. I think this scene just isn’t interesting me enough (which means it won’t interest readers, either). I need to just wrap it up quickly and move on, and trim it in the process. It’s not like my book isn’t already long. 😀 So that’s my ROW80 plans for this week: Trim and finish that scene, and begin the next, which should be fun.

What about you–as a reader, can you tell if a book was written fast or slow, or with or without an outline? Have you ever built shelves, and if so, do you have any suggestions for me? And how are you doing on whatever goals you might have, whether writing or otherwise? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.