BRR!

We’ve had plenty of frosty nights this spring, but last night it was just plain cold. It had rained all day and then the temps dropped to just around freezing. I bundled up, slept like a log, and was woken by the feeling of being too hot as a bright sun warmed up the RV interior.

It’s chilly out there, but sunny enough to fool a less wise person into trying to fix her leak. I tried that last time we had a sunny break and wound up with a soupy mess that is going to be a nightmare to clean because there just wasn’t enough time for the silicon to cure. I have taped a plastic bag over the leak and it’s holding back the water, but a real fix needs to happen soon. For one thing, I won’t feel comfortable sealing up that area from the inside with trim until I’m sure the leak is fixed. It’s beautiful out this morning (the sky is pure cornflower blue), but it’s supposed to cloud over and start to pour again this afternoon. Bah.

The first thing I needed to do in the study was to get rid of one of the mattresses and put the other one on a pallet the way I did in the loft. I needed something 8′ x 31″ and there was nothing even remotely suitable in the Home Depot dumpster. I decided it would be less work to buy some 8′ lengths of lumber and use whatever I had here to make the cross supports. So, that was my major project of the day.

Thankfully, there was no major mould problem under the mattress lying right on the ground. There was a little dampness and mustiness, enough to make me feel that neither the mattress nor cover were salvageable, but it was much better than expected. I built my base in two pieces, guessing correctly that two 4′ x 31″ sections would be easier to manage than would be one big one. It’s not pretty, but it does the trick and you can’t see it anyway with the mattress on it:

I have a drawer that used to be a nightstand that I relocated to the top of the bed base that I have had no idea what to do with since I took the base apart. I decided that it would fit nicely at the end of the mattress, but it needed to be raised up so the drawer could open. I cut four legs from a scrap piece of dinette trim (like the stuff I used to secure the dishwasher) and I had one more panel from the base that was the perfect size to hold the drawer. End result:

As you can see, I also relocated the cabinet. And it won’t open with the printer in the way. There is simply no other place to put either item so I may have to live with having to move the printer whenever I want to get into the cabinet. It’s not something I go into that often, so it might be okay.

Now, here’s an honest shot:

I would have liked to turn the cabinet into a charging station, but it was just a smidgen too small to hold the UPS. Putting it under the desk was a compromise. I know I can improve on my wire management, but it’s already better than it was. I should be able to leave things on the desk (except the computer, of course) by putting some non-skid material under them. I secured the UPS with industrial strength Velcro.

The only other renovating thing to do to this room is the floor trim, which I’ll work on tomorrow. There is still major organization to be done, but that’s low priority right now. I’m focusing on what I need to do to make Miranda drivable and/or for which I need Croft’s workshop. I may get out of here yet!

My first stop today was Home Depot where it was confirmed that the Campbell River Home Depot is the best in Canada for customer service. Every time I stopped to look around, someone offered me help. When I was picking up foam brushes in the paint section and went to consult my list, an associate offered me help with my list. No one was annoying, but simply made sure I would get out with everything I need in as little time as possible.

One of the items on my list was a variety of moulding, with some needing to be specific lengths. Home Depot charges by the foot and provides a cutting station with a mitre box and hand saw so I spent a few minutes cutting my various pieces to the right length. A couple came by while I was busy and the man asked me if I worked there! I pointed to the ‘customer use’ sign and the guy replied “Cool!” I agree; it’s nice to be able to do it yourself and not have to wait for an associate to free up to do it for you.

Next stop was Canadian Tire. I have a love/hate relationship with Canadian Tire. When I’m not sure where to find something, like a grommet kit, I know Canadian Tire will have it. The store also has amazing deals. But shopping there SUCKS. The associates, when you can find one, are rude and don’t know where anything is. Even if something is displayed in the flyer, it can take an hour to find it. Today was a particularly bad day and I lost my cool with the associate who snarkily told me “This is my section and if it’s not here, then it’s not my problem to find it” (I’m paraphrasing). She told me that I should have shopped online first and found the SKU since that’s all they can search for on their lame, archaic system. I finally told her to forget about it and decided to do one last loop through the store.

As I headed for the cash, the associate came up to me, with a completely different attitude and said she was still looking. I was a bit shocked by the turn around; she’d gone from complete bitch to being friendly. I had told her “I’m not angry with you, just at the way Canadian Tire trains you guys” and I just might have gotten through to her. She dug for a bit more time and finally found the elusive grommet kit. I was still simmering, but my mood improved.

I got to the cash and the first item rung through was a new staple gun. It was a deluxe model that was labeled at $13.95 on sale from $19.95. It went through at $20.95, down from $29.95. Anger boiled up again. This is another Canadian Tire trick; making the pricing confusing and hoping that you won’t notice or won’t care when you get to the cash. The cashier said she’d call someone for me and I replied “No, I’ve had enough of you guys and I just want to get out of here; take it off the bill.” I had been there an hour!!!

Needless to say, I was completely drained by the time I got home, but I still got a lot of work done.