i can officially do anything

UPDATED:  See bottom of post for the continuing saga of the phone repair.

Last April after we moved, I did a bit of blogging about various home improvement projects.  Of course, everyone remembers the HGTV brush with fame (and if you don't remember, I remind you often enough), but I also wrote a post highlighting various furniture assembly projects and the frosting of my bathroom window.  I know you were blown away by my handiness then.  More recently in February in an incident that remains unblogged, I undertook another project.  The lid switch of my washing machine broke off, and after some internet research, an exploratory surgery, and a phone call to the Popster, I hotwired the washer, circumventing the lid switch and making it fully functioning once again.  It was a shining moment of achievement.  I'm fairly certain the Popster has never been prouder of me.

I'm really not sure when I developed this confidence that with a tool or two and some internet direction, I could accomplish tasks that I would have previously deemed outside my skill set.  Part of it probably comes from work where over the past seven years, I've learned to fix things that go wrong.  When I worked out in the branches, I didn't have the luxury of getting an immediate response from maintenance or the computer nerds, so I learned to try and figure things out for myself.  Since I've never really ruined anything that way, I suppose I just started considering myself handy.  And in my at-home life the fact remains that I've been a grown-up living on my own for ten years now, and when there's no one else around to fix things, I've trialed-and-errored my way through minor repairs, I guess.

So I say all that to say this:  last Tuesday I dropped my phone in the parking garage and cracked the screen.

I just got this phone in February, so it's under warranty, but of course, the warranty doesn't cover idiots who drop their phones, so my options were to spend a ridiculous amount on a new phone, deal with a broken screen for the next sixteen months until I can upgrade again, or according to the internet, I could order a replacement screen (ebay for less than $40) and replace it myself.  All that Ms. Fix-It confidence had me ordering a replacement screen post-haste.  I chose to spend an extra buck to get the screen that came with the special tiny screwdrivers.  That would turn out to be the best decision I've ever made.  So here's how it went:

 

 I assembled my cast of characters . . .

. . . and realized that there were no written instructions, and I was hopelessly out of my depth.  After a thoroughly informative youtube video, I was ready.  I intrepidly began working.

 I peeled off the back cover . . . 

 took out the battery . . .

attempted to take a picture of the tiny screw driver . . .

 that fit in this triangle screw . . .

and removed the four screws.

I popped off the camera cover.

 This bit was very tricky.  The video guy had no trouble popping this piece off, but I struggled and ended up cracking it.

 My prying tool was some oddly-shaped device I found on the mending desk at work.  It was eventually effective, but peeling these parts from one another might have been easier with the cute little plastic prying device that video dude had.

 As I was taking very blurry photos of this step, the enormity of taking my cell phone apart really hit me.

Here's the point of no return.  If cracking the screen hadn't voided my warranty, the moment that I broke this sticker I was all in.  

 I learned a lot of interesting terminology too.  That little tab thing sticking up on the yellow part of the phone is a ribbon cable apparently.

 Here are my phone's innards.  The two pieces are still connected at this point by the ribbon cable of the digitizer.  I actually know what some of those words mean.

 Enter the itty-bitty Phillips-head screwdriver.  The first screw came out with nary a problem, but the other one was stubborn.  I eventually worked on it so much that the head of the screw got wallered out, and the screwdriver was useless.  I won't recount the hours of frustration this caused, but I eventually put all my pieces in a plastic bag and took a break.  

Once I got home and buried my troubles in a couple shows on the DVR, I was ready to deal with that pesky screw again.  It wasn't pretty, but eventually I triumphed.  But in the meantime, I had forgotten about photo documentation, so there's no proof that I removed the screw, popped out the ear piece, pried up the metal plate there to disconnect the ribbon cable on the digitizer, separated the digitizer and screen from the back of the phone, then separated the screen from the digitizer.  I the replaced this sad, cracked digitizer with the new one and spent a distinctly frustration period of time getting the ribbon cable of the new digitizer plugged back in under that metal plate.  My helpful video didn't actually cover reassembly, but just told me to do everything in reverse, which is much easier said than done, but overall, I handled it. 

 The old, sad digitizer.

The delightfully uncracked state of my phone now.  

Careful examination will reveal that there's a bit more of a distinct crack between the screen and the back of the phone than there was pre-surgery, but since I'm now going to actually start using the case that would have saved my phone from the original breakage, the gap will likely go unnoticed.

After this largely successful foray into electronics repair, I feel like I'm ready for anything.  Maybe I'll try car repair next, though I'd be perfectly happy if my vehicle (pop quiz, hotshots:  What is my car's name?) didn't give me an excuse or opportunity to hone that skill anytime in the foreseeable future.

In the meantime, if any of my faithful readers have their own broken cell phone screens and are considering a home repair, you're welcome to my tiny screwdrivers, but be warned:  it's a high-stress situation.  Better have some silly putty on hand to ease the tension.

UPDATE:  I knew last night when I wrote the post that I could receive texts and check email and play Angry Birds, so I assumed that my phone was fully functioning.  When I tried to call work this morning to tell them how massively I'd overslept, I had some issues with the screen going black and not being able to hear the phone ringing or the person on the other end picking up.  Not cool.  I think I put the internal ear piece in backwards, but all my tiny tools are at home, so I'll have to work on that tonight--in the meantime, if you call me, and I can figure out how to answer, I'll have to put you on speaker (which I have verified does still work), so beware.  I should probably change this blog title to reflect this failure, but I'm sticking with what I've got until tonight's surgery proves I was every kind of fool for taking my phone apart in the first place.

handy as a pocket on a shirt

The moving-in process continues at my new place.  Due to an odd kitchen layout, some storage challenges, and a few other oddities, I've done more work than usual in getting this place livable.  But I think when it's all said and done, I'm going to be happier here than I've been in lots of previous apartments.  You've already seen the wildly popular dresser-painting project (and maybe you even saw that my ugly little dresser and humble little blog were linked and mentioned in an hgtv.com design blog).  And while that was perhaps the most ambitious project I've undertaken, I've definitely been busy with other handy projects.  Here are some photographic highlights:


We were completely out of dvd storage room, and without the built-in shelves of our other apartment, I was desperately in need of another storage device.  Enter this trusty little cabinet that I bought at WalMart for very cheap. 

I put it together while I waited for paint to dry a couple weeks ago.  It's not very pretty, but not offensively ugly either, and the black is going to work out fine in that transitioning space between the living and dining rooms.


The same day I bought the dvd shelves, I bought a little tv cart for my bedroom.  Thanks to those handy built-ins at the last apartment (the only thing besides an ice maker that I miss about that place, for the record), I had been using the living room tv stand in the bedroom and had gotten rid of the old entertainment center where the smaller bedroom tv used to reside because it took up way too much room.  So I was in the market for something cheap.  Thank you, WalMart.  When I got it home, I discovered that one of the boards had a corner broken off. 

But I follow instructions, so instead of taking it back to the store, I ordered a replacement part from the manufacturer's website.  Once that came in last week, I was able to throw this one together in no time.  The corner of my room where it's going to permanently reside is still a war-zone of boxes and unpacked containers, so I can't show you the completely finished project--but it's going to look like a tv sitting on a cart with other components on the bottom shelves in a corner.   

Even before I bought these pieces, I was working on a plan for my kitchen.  This new kitchen is odd--and also very much not new.  The cabinets and countertops have definitely seen some better days, and the washer and dryer share space in the kitchen in a layout that defies logic.  But I've kind of been excited about figuring it out and making it work.  So thanks the perpetual sales at JCPenney, I was able to get an island cart for my kitchen and a buffet-style piece for the dining room for less than $300.  I ordered them the week we moved in, but thanks to UPS damaging one and a short time spent on backorder for the other, I didn't get to start making my kitchen storage dreams a reality until last week.  The white piece in the kitchen holds what I needed it to hold perfectly.  It seems to be working out great, and it was mostly painless to put together.

The dining room piece came in on Friday, and I started working on assembly Sunday afternoon.  Though I'm about ready to go pro with all my furniture assembly diagram-reading of late, this was definitely the most complicated project so far--but it also seems the most well-made. 
My electric screw driver was tired by the end of this project.   So was I--and my hair.

But I finished installing the doors this morning before work, and I really like how it looks. 

And now that it's ready to hold the serving pieces, place mats and rarely used kitchen appliances that have been waiting on its arrival, I can finally start to reclaim my dining room from unpacked box limbo.  And that's going to make me a very happy girl.


In other project news, my bathroom window has also been a nagging problem since we moved in. 

It's in our shower, and the sill is definitely too low for the window to go uncovered, but the miniblinds that were hanging there when we moved in were not working for me.  They were gross because they never fully got dry.  Plus I kept bumping them with my elbow when I washed my hair.  They needed to go. 

Our landlord cleaned and repainted the window after we moved in and I discovered the effects of wet blinds on the area behind them.  He sure did a messy job, which I had to work on a bit. 

Robyn's shower window has frosted glass--and a wide tiled window sill to hold products.  I covet that, just a little.  That frosted glass inspired me to find a similar solution.  So I bought a frosted plastic film that came with a fairly complicated set of application instructions.  Lucky for me, I had my trusty sidekick.

After I did the two lower panes, we decided it wasn't really necessary to do the top two for privacy purposes.  Since the shower curtain is always closed, I don't think it's going to look weird, but I may end up covering them all because I have to look at it.  I'll keep you posted.  Also please try to ignore the pink tile in these photos.  I know I try to ignore its existence every time I'm in my bathroom.

Let me show you one last thing before I leave you alone.  This house has more windows than any place I've ever lived, which challenged my meager curtain collection.  I still haven't found anything I want for the double window in the kitchen, but I already had living room curtains that I love that I didn't get to use in the last place because it had no living room windows!  The problem was that I only had one set of my beloved curtains and two double windows in the new living room.  I bought my curtains on clearance three or four years ago, so the possibility of finding another set was a ridiculous pipe dream.  But I didn't want to live in a world where I couldn't have my striped curtains.  So over the phone, my moma affirmed that I could find a solid color set to coordinate and make this new look happen.  I split the panels and used some Stitch Witchery (because my sewing skills are less than basic) to create this custom look. 

I'm still looking for the hardware that goes with the other curtain rod, so the behind-the-couch windows don't have curtains yet, but they will be identical to these though the curtain rods don't quite match because I couldn't find one exactly like my old one.  If I decide I can't live with it, I guess I'll have to go back to Lowe's to get one to match the new one.  Sigh.

Also pretend like that chair doesn't have pink on it.  That's what I'm doing.  This chair used to live in Jess's giant room at our old apartment, but we kind of needed it for the living room here.  I'm coming to terms with its non-matching fabric because it's so comfortable, but if I found a really cheap slipcover that I thought would stay put on it, I'd have it covered in a second.


Here's some great news for my imaginary readers:  my moma is coming to see me this weekend.  I'm going to put her to work hanging stuff on the walls because that is a job that strikes fear into my heart when I try to do it alone.  She's bringing my sweet Grams with her too, so I'm thinking about nice sit-down jobs for her.  She does love to fold laundry, so I may not try too hard to get that done before they arrive.  I don't know if the Popster's coming to play on house-decorating day or if he'll try to find some manly pursuit to occupy him, but he's at least going to come and see the new place, I bet.  I want to show off all my recent home improvement projects to him, since he doesn't read my blog.  I try not to let that fact hurt me.

an open letter to amazon

Dear amazon,

Yesterday I signed up for your Associates program, which theoretically will monetarily reward me when my imaginary readers follow links to your website and make purchases.  I recognize that this was my choice.  You didn't seek me out or coerce me, in any way, to sign up for this program.  It was all my idea.  Remember I said that part.

I'm mad at you, amazon.  You have appealed to the basest, greediest, most selfish part of my nature.  You held out the delicious carrot of monetary reward, and I bit.  I sold out.  I heard the siren song of earning up to 15% on qualifying purchases when folks click on my links, and I hopped on that bandwagon.  And now, I feel like I've betrayed my faithful readers and my principles and everything I once held dear.  I know what you're thinking, amazon.  If I'm truly suffering from that much guilt, why don't I just change my mind?  It's not too late to back out.  I haven't posted any links yet, after all.  But I'm weak.  Any my greed outweighs my guilt, in this case. 

Here's what I hope comes out of this decision:  I hope that I manage to integrate these amazon links in normal ways, ways that make sense to the overall purpose of the opinions and don't distract or alienate folk.  I hope that somehow, sometime, someone gets something useful from our new partnership (although I'm not supposed to call it a partnership, according to the terms and conditions of our agreement--sorry).  And I hope that if it's wretched and horrible and painful for my peeps out there, that they speak up and speak out and put a stop to the distracting madness.  And I hope if that happens, amazon, you'll forgive me for running a democratic blog and kicking you to the curb.  And if I let my greedy side contribute something here, I also hope that people link through me to make huge purchases from you so that I can rake in the dough.

You know I love you, right, amazon?  I mean I've spent enough time with you buying things for me and others and drooling over things I don't need.  You're my go-to for most anything purchasable on the interwebs.  Even if I plan to buy in person, I like to see what you can tell me about what I'm interested in.  You're good people.  You do good work.  So I really hope we can make this work, amazon--because somehow even though I know I'm completely the one to blame--I'm still a little mad at you.  Maybe I'll stop being mad when the big, fat checks start rolling in.

Your newest non-partner,

Ellen

a bit of a ramble

It's been an odd week around here.  Snow derailed my Monday and Tuesday plans, resulting in some winners and some losers.  Two days off work with no house-cleaning guilt.  Big winner.  I didn't make it to Coldstone Creamery to cash in on my free birthday ice cream before the coupon expired (sign up for their birthday club, no unwanted emails and free ice cream once a year).  Loser.  I had time to finish a book, blog it and do a significant amount of work on a knitting project, decide it wasn't good enough, take it all out and start again.  The situation is a winner, even if I'm a loser.  The dryer repair dude couldn't come out and possibly fix my dryer because of the roads.  Loser.  But I didn't have to do any laundry during those two days off.  Winner-ish.  I saved loads of gas by not driving anywhere from Sunday night until Wednesday morning.  Frugal Ellen wins again. 

The dryer dude rescheduled for Wednesday, and our arrangement was that he would call thirty minutes before showing up.  So I decided to go to work.  Because the weather mandated a late opening, I didn't have to be at work until 11:30, so it was a bit inconvenient that I got the dryer call just before noon.  Dryer dude and I didn't hit it off immediately, as he was only about ten minutes away when he called.  I'll spare you the details of my not-so-pleasant phone demeanor because I was probably an over-reacting jerk.  So after being at work about 45 minutes, I left again.  In the first five minutes of my dryer's exam, I got great news that the problem was in the outlet, so I could have the apartment folks fix it, and I'd be back in business.  Then he took that back and decided that the real problem was in the timer switch, which is apparently as expensive to replace as a whole new dryer.  So my streak of things needing replacement in February continues.  At least it wasn't a car this time.
Since I was already home from work on a school day, I decided to go ahead and find that new dryer, in hopes of having it delivered sooner rather than later.  After doing very little research and choosing not to drive to North Little Rock or Bryant, so that I could focus on spending tons and tons of time reading labels and standing around waiting to ask questions of sales folk.  I will say that I encountered the nicest sales folk ever at both Best Buy and Home Depot.  I will also say that February is a great time to buy new appliances because everyone is running sales to cash in on all that tax refund action.  So I ended up buying the cheapest thing I could find because that's how I make decisions.  This uninspiring photo is my new Admiral (made by Maytag) dryer.  I can't show you what it looks like in my house yet because it won't be delivered until Saturday.

I'm sorry.  That was an awful lot of information about household appliances.  Sorry.

So here's something a bit more interesting (I hope).  Last winter weather incident I started knitting a scarf for someone, probably not me.  I put that on hold last week to start on a more time-sensitive baby knitting project.  I did my first project in the round and once again took no in-progress photos.  Blogging fail.  And after two false starts on circular needles (left), one too tightly cast on and another too loosely, I had to switch to double-point needles (right), which seemed like the scariest, most complicated thing ever.

As you can see from this delightful diagram lifted off the internet,  you have to put a third of your stitches on each needle and then use a fourth empty needle to knit onto.  Then once you knit all the stitches off a needle, you use that needle as the empty one.   I'm confusing myself with this.  But once you get started, it's not as bad as you might think.

And here are the results:

Here's an almost blurry flat view.  Also the colors are off in some of these.  It's a sweet little pastel variegated cotton yarn.

 

With a head inside it, it won't be so oddly shaped.  See what I mean about the colors.  I need to find some better lighting in my house.

Here's a a view of the top.  I'm fairly pleased with the decreases, especially for a first attempt.  

Most of the hat is done with a seed stitch, which is precious.

See what I mean about the colors and the lighting and whatnot?

All that knitting talk got me off track from the how I spent my week thing I was doing--maybe you didn't realize there was a purpose here.  Sorry.  Thursday I didn't go to work at all because I woke up feeling the cruddiest of cruds.  I am as certain I can be without owning a thermometer that I was running a fever, which is exhausting and ick.  But being sick is boring, so no more talk of that.

After listening to everyone in my life assure me that Lost got good again after I quit it at the end of season 4, I am considering giving it another shot.  I started watching season 1 on hulu yesterday afternoon.  I thought I might as well start with the part I definitely like before working my way back into the terrible, stupid season 4.  So I'm enjoying reliving the glory days.  We'll see how it progresses.

There was a rumor of more weather coming our way tonight/tomorrow, but something tells me I've used up my allotment of snow days for the year, so I won't be waiting around on that call tomorrow.  

The indecisive weather did have a role in canceling my planned weekend trip home to hang with my moma and the Popster, but the Saturday dryer delivery put the final nail in the that coffin.  Good news is that they're coming here next weekend.  My grams has been in Arkansas since Sunday, but dumb weather has kept me from seeing her.  Boo on that.

And surely that's enough random for one night.

if i had more money than sense

Whenever the Powerball gets up into the hundreds of millions, the Popster always buys a ticket.  He doesn't bother when it's any less than that, apparently tens of millions of dollars aren't worth his time, but hundreds he'll trouble himself for.  And when he buys a ticket, and sometimes when he doesn't, he and my moma decide what they'd do with hundreds of millions of dollars.  The nice part is that I usually end up getting a few million out of the deal.  In fact, the first things my moma usually lists off when she's playing this little game is who all she'd give money away to:  her kids, her sisters, the church, and so on down the line.  I  think most people probably say that they'd give money away whether they actually would or not, but when my moma and the Popster say it, I believe it.  They are generous folks, and I don't imagine the addition of eight zeros to their bank balance would change that.

So when the Powerball gets high, I root for them rather than buying a ticket of my own.  I'm not sure my heart is as generous as my moma's, and hundreds of millions of dollars is a big responsibility.  I hope I'd be generous, but what got me to thinking about the Popster and his Powerball tickets was because I was feeling full of wants today, wanting things that are far from necessities.

So if my olds ever win their hundreds of millions and I end up with a windfall as a result, I'd first try to spread some of that around to causes and efforts that help the hungry and hurting.  And I'd buy the last quarter of the college education I'm not using.  I'd pay off Al, but maybe not get a new car right away.  Al and I are getting along splendidly.  And I'd settle up some credit card debt and make myself a promise never to get mixed up in that again.  I'd stop throwing money away on rent, and make sure there was some money tucked away for a rainy day.  Those are just the smart responsible things one does when one can afford it.

But then, I'd do fun stuff.  The stuff you don't do or buy when you're trying to be a reasonably responsible, frugal adult.
Today, first on my list is a DSLR camera.  I know I just got a new camera, and we're getting along just fine, but the more I see what my little $80 camera can do compared to my sister-in-law's or any of the photographer/bloggers whose photos I drool over, the more I want an expensive big-girl camera of my own.

I'd buy a new couch, one that had never belonged to anyone but me.  I am to the point in my life where hand-me-down furniture is just no fun.  It would also be a color, not tan or beige or any other code word for bland.

I'd buy too many pairs of shoes.  I'd try not to, but it would happen anyway.

And I'd buy at least two more pairs of jeans and at least three more pairs of khakis.  I'm down to only one pair each that I actually like to wear.  And a new shower curtain.  And maybe dishes.  And chocolate-covered pretzels.

So those are the things I'm feeling greedy for right now.  What, imaginary reader, will you do when my moma and the Popster hit the Powerball?