26 Aug 2016

My gun is ready to caulk

I have this mysterious water leak in my basement laundry room and just when I think I have found the source and fixed it, I find water on the floor again.  The exterior wall where the water seems to be coming in is on the side of the house where the rain usually hits.  It is also the wall with the electric meter, dryer vent, a window and other entry points for wiring.  We have already caulked around the dryer vent and around the electric meter where the concrete had crumbled and was no longer doing its job.  I took a good look at that wall and noticed a gap in the window sill mortar joint.
window sill, concrete caulking, water leak, tj's green adventure
To fix the gap, I bought some silicone caulking that is for concrete.  The kind I bought has a 30 minute rain ready time, which was good because we have been having a lot of rain.  I checked all the window sills and found a couple more that needed repair that I took care of as well.
caulking, window sill, concrete caulking, tj's green adventure
This caulking does not clean up nice with water and I found my hands were covered in a sticky film.  I rubbed some sand on my hands and that got rid of the stickiness.

I also have a crack in the garage floor where moisture seeps up into the garage.  Since I have almost a full tube of caulking left, I will use it to fill that crack too.

Green highlights:
  •  preventing water damage 
Have checked your window sills lately to see if there are any cracks and gaps?
-TJ

20 Aug 2016

Keep your cracked teacups!

It's been a while since I have posted here.  This is a quick life update.  Things have been pretty crazy with one daughter that got married 2 weeks ago, my other daughter expecting my first grandchild and some surgery and recovery thrown in the mix.  I still have to finish writing about "The Project" that we started some time ago and I have a couple more things to do before the room is finally done, but I will get there!

I have been looking for ways to store my costume jewelry so that it is on display to make it easy to find something to go with what I am wearing.

I found this neat idea when I was searching online and that is to use teacups.  I have  a collection of teacups that look so pretty in my china cabinet.  I even have one that was passed down to me from my mother that once belonged to my great-grandmother.  I also have some teacups that are now cracked.  They are so pretty that I haven't thrown them out, but they are no longer useful for drinking tea out of. 
teacup, china, jewelry storage
Instead, you can use them to store and display jewelry.  You could have them sitting out on your dresser or bathroom counter or put them in a drawer so that every time you open the drawer you see something pretty.  Earring with hooks can be hung on the cup and other types of earrings can go inside the cup.  You can put necklaces, bracelets and pins in the saucers.
pathos, china saucer, teacup, pothos

You could also put the saucers under a potted plant like I have with this air cleaning Pathos that I started from a cutting.

Green Highlights
  •  reuse cracked teacups
  •  reducing waste
Have you found another use for cracked teacups?

-TJ