New Year's Resolution, Part 1

So my New Year's Resolution, for what it's worth, was to get stuff done around the house.  Not just sweeping the floor and corralling Legos, although that needs to be done too.  I mean real stuff, like putting up blinds, painting, fixing cracks, and such.  No more waiting for my husband to have three days off in a row and my kids to sleep late and the weather to be nice and whatever other combination of events that, we all know, is never going to happen.  Each month I am picking a room and fixing everything in it that needs fixing.  And now, since I've told all 14 of you that follow this blog, I'll feel like I'm being held accountable.

Some days I'm more successful than others.  For example, I tried to take the Christmas tree out by myself today.  It ended up with more pine needles on the floor than on the tree, Lowly backing slowly away saying, "Help...help...help," in a tiny voice, and WeeBee asking, "Momma, is the tree hurting you?  Did it hurt you, Momma?"  I still say that Christmas tree putting up and taking down is a two person job, particularly if the tree is a foot taller than you, but I did get it to the curb.

So anyway, this month's goal is to fix the bathroom.  My poor sister has been listening to my plans to paint that room for a year.  The ceiling has needed to be painted for closer to four.  And the bathtub needed to be re-caulked for what has to be the third time this year.

I've never caulked a tub before.  To give you an idea of my home improvement skills, I feel accomplished when I hang a picture up on the wall.  But having watched every Youtube video on the subject and read more articles than I knew existed, I went to town with the utility knife, caulk gun, and masking tape.  (Thanks to my husband, who found the caulk gun in the shed.  And got the caulk and masking tape from Lowes.  Granted, he might have been trying to escape from the smell of bleach.  But he did save me a trip to the store, so I am grateful.)

What did I learn?

1) Removing caulk is boring.  Really boring.  Not so boring to your kids, who will pull up a potty and a step stool and keep a running commentary on your progress.  But to the person scraping the stuff away with a utility knife, it's boring.

2) If you don't dilute the bleach enough when you're trying to kill mildew, your house will smell like bleach for hours.  Even if you open the window and turn on the vent.

3)  If you still feel like you have no idea what you're doing, use the masking tape to make the caulk stay in pretty, straight lines.  Especially if you spent hours removing caulk and bleaching everything in sight.  What's another 15 minutes throwing masking tape around?

4) There are some projects best saved for when little ones are in bed.  Painting the ceiling is an excellent example of this.  But sometimes you've just got to jump in and get started and hope your kids are entertained by you hacking away at a wall with a knife.  Otherwise nothing will ever get done.

I have to say, it looks pretty good, in that it doesn't scream "confused homeowner DIY project."  I have no idea how it will look in a month, but for now, I'm quite pleased with myself.  When the whole room is finished I will post pictures.  :)