Curses

To anyone who heard the exceedingly unladylike words I was using tonight... my apologies. I was installing quarter-round under a radiator that only has a gap of less than an inch between it and the floor:

Yes, it bulges. It snagged on something, but then went in, when I did the dry-fit... but after applying caulking and starting to nail, it refused to un-snag. That's not the reason I was cursing, though (although I'm not pleased by the bulge)... I was cursing because the nails refused to go in. My hammer was too fat. My small hammer (from when I was a teenager) is bent. Nails kept bending rather than going in. Even after getting a metal rod so that I could hammer the nails (rather than the floor or radiator cover), they still refused to go in. Most spots I bent nearly a half dozen nails *each* before getting a nail to cooperate. WTF?!?

Why am I caulking in missing quarter-round? Well, besides the fact that it will make sweeping easier (no dust-collecting gap in the floor with nails to snag my swiffer), this morning I was awoken again by my downstairs neighbour's Lysol. (No, I haven't given him the list of alternatives yet... I was waiting a bit to see if any more suggestions came in. I'll pass them along soon, though... as soon as I'm in the mood to type up a letter to him.)

Other things I'm doing:
2. I'm using spray-foam to fill the holes around where the hot water pipes come into my apartment:

(Yes, I used too much. Supposedly I can carve it once it's cured (eight hours), and that's probably easier than trying to wipe up the excess in it's sticky, uncured state.)

3. I've bought foam insulators to go behind the outlets and light switches. (I'm not sure if I'll do those tonight, or leave them until the morning.)

4. I've asked the landlord to fix the hole in Mr. Party-Of-One's bathroom ceiling, created when the landlord unclogged my bathtub drain. (My drain had a really stupid bit of plumbing that prevented a snake from working. Plumbing fixed now.)

Yes, that hole was created back in the spring. Mr. Party-Of-One mentioned it when I was talking to him about what exactly the smell was.

No, I don't know why it wasn't fixed before now.

My landlord said he won't be able to get to the hole right away. He didn't say why.

Hopefully what I'm doing up here will stop, or at least lessen, the smell.

It was rather chilly having all the windows open this morning... and come winter, that won't be an option.

Something that makes me happy:

My new sock dryer. :) It's not on the floor (clutter on the floor discourages me from swiffering), it folds flat when not in use, and is all-around unobtrusive. It's awesome. I designed it, and my uncle helped me build it. (Actually, once I got him involved, I mostly ended up watching or holding things. That's partially due to the fact that I had the wrong kind of drill bit, and it walked when I tried drilling.)