“Installing a cat door” or “How to temporarily reverse your cat’s litter training”

Hello, dear friends.  It’s been awhile.

And as such?  I’m going to teach you something.  Like how to install a cat door.

Or, how to make your cat relieve herself on the floor for the first time in her life because she’s so afraid of a cat door.

Remember camo-cat?

 She was trying to blend in this day.

Incidentally, I recently scrapped this photo:

Based on this sketch:

And fell in lurve with these little clear bobbles (and tried to position them a la Jen!)

But I digress.

Let’s say you move into a new house.

And this new house has a basement.

And you have a dog with some strange issues because she was a stray.

And you’ve never had her in a house with a basement before.

And apparently she likes to poop in the basement.

Yeah.  Let’s say that.

And then let’s say that you have a cat whose litter box needs to go in the basement.  So you have to leave the door open for the cat and closed for the dog.

It’s quite a conundrum, but never fear, friends who are following me on this hypothetical ride!  I have a solution!

Enter: the interior cat door!

It was super cheap.  Like, $10.17 or something at Home Depot.

Plus?  It was really easy.  And fun.  ‘Cause I got to cut through a door, y’all.

Let’s begin, shall we?

First, take the plastic rim of the cat door and put it where you want it.  You may want to measure this part, but since I’m badass, I didn’t.  That’s right.  I said it.  My cat door may be slightly askew.  Whatcha gonna do about it, huh?

Then, drill through the door at the corners.

Next, take a Skil saw (I think that’s what they’re called – the handheld one with the jigsaw-type blade), insert it through the holes and cut from one to the next.  And no, I didn’t take the door off the hinges.  Just more evidence of my badassity.

You may need to cut the back side of the door a little if your cuts weren’t totally perpendicular to the door.  That’s where I freehanded it a little.  Did I mention I’m a total badass with no regard for proper power-tool usage?  Then, fit the plastic into the hole and attach it with the screws and foam tape.

And there you have it.  A cat door of epic proportions!

Excellent!  Check out that plastic flap with all its dog-keeping-out-ity!  This is going to be awesome!

And now to teach the cat to go through it.

I tried coaxing.  I tried treats.  I tried shoving her through. 

But you know that phrase, “don’t let the door hit you on the way out?”

Yeah.  Apparently neither did she.  So I woke up the next morning to cat poop on my kitchen floor.

So now we have a flapless cat door.

But at least everyone’s pooping in the right place again.

Dear Self, I've been busy.

Ok.  Maybe not "busy" in the normal sens of the word "busy".

But you know that phrase "pics or it didn't happen?"

Well, here you go:

 We spent a really rainy day at a rock music festival.

 And an evening at a pub for a local music contest.

 I installed a cat-door which the cat promptly avoided like the plague.  Or a really large dog.

 

We went to a Brazilian barbecue that had a phenomenal buffet...

 And sideways waiters, apparently.

 We went to IKEA and laughed at this parts machine.

 And to see a very blurry Jerry Seinfeld live.

 I bought a boatload of scrapbooking stuff, both new and pre-loved.

 I saw Molly and Maggie for the first (and only) time in the year they've lived together.

 I made brownies.

 And installed shelves.

 I scrapped at a Saturday crop.

 And when to Cliff's favourite restaurant with friends.

 I reconnected with my best friend from high school.

 And had a barbecue where we played Quelf, the funnest game I've ever played.

 I went to my grandpa's lakeside memorial.

 And played with my niece and nephews.

 We visited Cliff's family.

 And I painted some birdhouses that Cliff's nana gave me.

And, I made this Chocolate-coconut bar dessert, as well as Donut Muffins, and they were delish.

So.  It may feel like I've done nothing this summer?  But trust me, self.  I have.

Sincerely,
Teri

We be pinnin'.

People?  I think I have a sickness.

Seriously.

I have been pinning so much lately that I have lost track of time.  And possibly thought it was Thursday two days in a row.

Neither of which was Thursday.

Oh.  Sorry.  Guess I should back the bus up a little.  Have you heard of Pinterest?

It's like an online bulletin board where you pin images of stuff you find online that you like, and the photo you pin to your board is a hyperlink to the original source of the image.

The result is a visual compilation of the awesomest stuff on the internet.

Here are a few of my favourite pins of late:

Made these last night.  So yummy.

I shall make many of these.

Save the books, people!

The Doors?  Plus stairs?  You had me at "hello".

No she wasn't.

How are people so clever?

Oooh.  Gettin' deep on ya.

Oh, the irony.  I must make this.

So, what do you think?  Do you pin?  Or are you disPINterested? 

Ba-dum-dum-CHING!

Bathroom reorganization.

Or, should I say, "organization".  See this "before" picture?

There's really no "re" about it.

In our bathroom?  We just have one big cabinet.

No shelves.  No drawers.  Just one big space of the throw-it-in-there-and-shut-the-door-as-fast-as-possible-so-nothing-falls-out variety.

But then? I got smart.  This cabinet needed shelving, I say!

Plus, I wanted to use my drill.

Oh...did I not tell you about my drill?  See, when we first moved in here? We had to put up a shower curtain.  And I wanted one of those snazzy curved ones.

So we needed a drill.
 
In this house, I tend to be the tool-wielder, although the shower-curtain-rod turned into a two-dude job.

Why wouldn't this picture turn upright?

And people?  This started a love affair.  I was looking for things that needed a hole in them.

Anyway, back to the cupboard.

I went to Totem and had them cut me a couple of shelves based on my very precise and mathematical directions.

Yeah.  Basically guesstimated using a little pocket tape-measure.

Then I put them up using 3/4" L-shaped brackets.  Clearly I don't know what they're really called.  I used five of those thingies for each shelf, because they are only held up on 2 sides.  Keep in mind, though, there isn't much weight on them.

I recently switched to flat storage for my cosmetics to help free up some space in the ole' water closet.  That office drawer-organizer on the upper right holds all my girly goo.

Also?  I figured out that there are special screws just for particle-board.  Go me!

Three cheers for crappy iPhone photos!

And then I made them look a little less homemade with the plastic edging that goes on particle-board shelving.  Hopefully that will distract from the very homemade cussing that trying to drill into awkward places produced.

Et voila.  

It looks better, n'est-ce pas?

Now, I want to add a couple of these to the doors to add a little storage for my curling iron and other hair-tamers:

A great idea from The Suels!  Click the picture to head to their post!

I'm linking up at Anything Goes over at Type A.

 

I saved this shower curtain from lifelong trauma.

So, my blogging's been a little irregular.  As in, underwear-from-the-bargain-bin-at-the-Super-Save irregular. 

It needs some Metamucil.  Or at least some prune juice.

Anyway, I've found a stash of photos on my computer from before my computer cord went missing (again!) and sent me on this most recent hiatus. 

Thus, I give you...my new shower curtain!

 
Yes, the photo sucks.  That's my iPhone for you.

Anyhow, see that green strip across this bottom?  That's how I overcame the "floodpants" effect of the curtain when I first hung it.

 See?  Floodpants.  If this was junior high, my shower curtain would be getting beat-up right now.

 So, here's how I did it.  I measured the gap from the bottom of the curtain to the floor, and then I made a strip that height by the width of the curtain plus about eight inches.  I also added some for seam allowances.

Here's me sewing:

(Why do I think I have to take pictures of everything?)

Since the fabric was too narrow to stretch the whole width of the curtain, I had to piece together two widths of fabric.

 This is where the extra eight inches comes in - I made a couple of basic pleats to cover up the seam.

 Et voila.  A shower curtain worthy of a long, hot shower.

Or at least not getting shoved into a locker at lunch.