Project.

Just can't shrug off the handyman (kuno) in me, so I am tinkering and doing small projects around the house - painting walls and shelves,  fixing doorknobs, installing screen windows. 

In my mother's house last September, me and my two sisters who were also visiting got the itch and started to paint, re-arrange furniture and decorate and I found myself fixing broken electric fans. 

The locals didn't and do not mind the extra lavish attention given their houses. 

I can't stop.  I want to learn how to mix and apply cement.  The only thing that I don't consider is electrical.  There are floor tiles lying around and I intend to lay them in a narrow pathway leading to a lanai. 

Who needs skilled people?  I discovered through horror stories that many who call themselves skilled workers left clients' homes with shoddy projects.

I want to fix a tiled counter top and went shopping for a granite-like material at Home Depot but what the salesperson recommended was to put wood over the tile and install a thin vinyl-like material with granite-like designs.  It was like 1k plus for a metre of the material.

So I considered putting soft vinyl instead of the granite-looking counter top. I went to ACE Hardware but what they have is the regular vinyl tile - the type where glue is needed.

I was looking at the type where you peel off the back paper and stick it on the floor or wall and presto - tile-look!

The house dog named Yabi needs fixing, too.  She's on a heat and has taken to chewing anything she sees - rubber hose, discarded boxes, paint brush, etc.  Yabi is elusive and doesn't like me but she reminds me of my mini-pinscher Shadow whom I left back in the States, and who I miss terribly.  

How about getting a cat to fill the void?  Cats are territorial, so I heard, and are really for keeps.