Dumpster Diving

Hello! Remember me? I know it has been a while. It's not that I haven't had anything interesting to write, just haven't taken the time to write about them. But, a couple of interesting things happened to me recently that seemed to fit some old themes of this blog.

First of all, I'd like to give a shout out to my wing man and former blogger, Laura. Hey, Laura! Some of you may remember reading Laura's blog "Braced for Impact" last summer. She, with me, wrote about her single girl tribulations and adventures. Due to lack of content for her blogging theme, Laura stopped blogging last August, about the time she met someone special, who was then referenced as "The Sleeper." Now, just short of a year later, they are engaged!! Yeah! (See Laura, I hate to say it, but I told you so)! Some of you may be wondering how this fits into my title. Rest assured, Laura did not find her now fiance in a dumpster....but she sure found a treasure! Laura, I'm so, so happy for you, but remember that you'll always be my wing man.

Secondly, I'd like to give you a brief update on the progress of my handyman skills. You wouldn't believe how far I've come from the days when I was clumsily trying to use an Allen wrench! But after spending the last several months making weekly trips to Home Depot and most weekend days spent on the BFs house projects, here are just SOME of the things I have learned:

1. There is a special tool made just for opening paint cans and special stuff for removing wallpaper! Who knew?
2. There are like 64 different types of paint finishes (ie. you can't just order one can of blue paint. You have to decide if its eggshell, or matte, or glossy, or whatever).
3. How to use a sander, a power drill, a staple gun, and a paint sprayer.
4. Disposable feather duster work much better than brooms in removing cobwebs from ceilings
5. ALWAYS remember to wash paint brushes when you are finished using them!
6. Kaboom (as seen on TV) works wonders in removing scum and rust from showers
7. How to lay laminant kitchen tiles (and even how to cut the corners around the moldings)!
8. That to keep a good garden, you have to water the plants every day and dead-head them or else they die.
9. That I'm not a very good gardener.
10. I like Menards better than Home Depot.

Now, how does dumpster diving fit into all of this? In the condo building I live in, the dumpsters are in the garage and I walk by them each day to enter the building. Occasionally, I'll see something sitting out there that looks to still be of good value and condition and I wonder why someone is throwing it away. I eyed up a nice black golf bag a few months ago and passed it up only because, well... I don't really golf, don't own clubs, and don't know anyone who needs a new bag. The next day it was gone and I later found out my friend who lives upstairs took it and gave it to her boyfriend. For the past couple of weeks there has been a wooden stand-alone closet sitting by the dumpster. I figured it would be picked-up by someone or would be gone that first week on garbage day. Apparently, the garbage man won't pick it up if it's not actually IN the dumpster, so it has continued to sit there. Today, I noticed it still there. Thoughts going through my head: It's pretty cute. It just has a little wobble and needs a new paint job. Why is someone getting rid of this? Can I really take something from a dumpster? I could sure use some more closet space...

At about 10:30 this morning, after looking at my over-flowing closet in my bedroom, I threw on a baseball cap and went to the garage to haul that closet up to my place. I wanted to go at a time not a lot of people were around and go incognito. I mean, what would people think if they saw one of their neighbors dragging something inside from beside the dumpster?! Using my new skills, I re-nailed a nail that was missing that had given it its wobble, WD-40ed one of the squeaky wheels and took some leftover paint from the accent wall in my room, and an hour later I had this super cute refurbished extra closet for my room! And we all now how I could us more hanging space! It's a literal use of the phrase "One person's junk is another person's treasure!"

Thanks for reading all of my closet related blog entries. I'm really not that obsessed with my closets and don't spend as much time working on closets and rods and racks as this blog might imply. But, when you got a theme, you just gotta go with it, right?