Our back deck has a very nice sliding glass door and sliding screen door (where "very nice" means "there's a few issues but none that have caused enough concern to get a professional to look at them," which is in fact the ultimate high bar in home ownership).

And ever since we moved in, the screen door especially has been a little hard to move. I watched some videos about ways to address the issue, which were mostly helpful in the sense of reassuring me that MANY people want to know why their sliding screen doors don't slide very well. (Some sliding screen doors are on little wheels in the track! Neat! Ours does not have little wheels. It apparently moves purely by willpower and luck.)

I saw a lot of recommendations for a WD-40 Gel Lubricant, which we applied a few times with varying effects. (aka it worked fantastically well for the first day or so, and then increasingly poorly as it got gummed up with all that outdoor stuff) It wasn't an ideal sensory experience, and then it was also a pain to clean out of the track again before reapplying.

ANYWAY I recently had the brilliant (haha time will tell) idea to try using silicone treadmill lubricant instead, which has no smell and is clear. The internet informed me I probably wasn't making a terrible mistake, though I may have gotten myself a demerit at work for looking up 'how to clean silicone lubricant' on my work computer. (I did quickly add the word 'treadmill' to the search, but by that point the damage had been done.)

IN CONCLUSION! It worked great on the inner door track, and so far I'd say has been more effective for longer on the outer screen door track than the WD-40. WHO KNEW??? I did not. But now I do! (Also it's only been like, a week. Long term results may vary, as they say.)

The air conditioner saga continues! *Hopefully* today is the day that the 'vintage' through-the-wall AC unit is safely removed, and replaced with a newer (quieter, please, I really hope!) unit. I have been encouraging the rational part of my brain to remember that this will be an interesting and valuable new experience; that these are professionals; that I was the one who wanted this to happen in the first place.

The less-rational part of my brain has been shrieking at me all morning, because there are going to be STRANGERS! IN MY SPACE! Even worse, there is going to be a HOLE IN THE WALL OF MY SPACE! I do understand conceptually that there is already a hole in the wall, and that they will simply be swapping the thing that goes there, but part of me is definitely yelling 'You're BREAKING my HOUSE!' in the background.

[ETA post-installation: Thank you for your good wishes! I can't really say it went well, but it did go, and I'd say there's a better than 50% chance that the new situation is an improvement over the last one.]

I've been trying to find someone who will come and replace our through-the-wall AC unit (me: "no, it's not a mini-split; it's like a window unit, but it's installed in the wall"), which has turned out to be a more challenging project than I'd hoped. (The finding, not the replacement. That part has yet to begin, so I can still pretend it won't be hideously difficult.)

So far one person said no right away (fair), and two people said they could do it and then either ghosted me or changed their minds once they had more details. Attempt #4 has led to an appointment being scheduled so they can "take a look" and "give us a quote."

My favorite thing about it is that now I don't have to call or contact anyone else until after the appointment happens!

*I'm taking a long weekend this weekend, and the part I'm most excited about is getting the chance to rearrange the furniture in my bedroom.

*It's not actually a big enough space to need a long weekend to move things around, it just worked out well in terms of timing, and I like having things to look forward to.

*The room has baseboard heating, which was somewhat limiting during the months when I wanted to make sure the heat could flow as freely as possible. But now it's fine!

*Sure, mid-April is maybe a little early to turn off the heat here, but it's close enough. (aka I've done it before and only regretted it a little bit. Also it's not like I can't change my mind in case of a late cold snap.)

*And I've sort of turned the heat off already by accident, because I turned it down a lot on Tuesday, when it was warm outside, and then I forgot to turn it back up, so... success?

*In conclusion: thank goodness for zone heating.

My understanding of all service visits is that these are the things we all wonder:

*When will they arrive?

*How long will it take?

*Will the problem actually be fixed after they leave?

And then, you know, all the other questions that I wonder about:

*What they heck are they doing?

*Should I be worried that I don't know what they heck they're doing?

*How worried?

*Brain, please don't think about horror movies right now, okay?

*Did I leave anything embarrassing lying around?

*Will they tell me any of the weird things they've seen at other peoples' houses?

*Is talking to the repair person rude because it's distracting, or nice because it shows you respect them as a person?

*Is watching them work okay, or does it make them think you don't trust them?

*On the other hand, if it's boring, are you allowed to go do something else instead?

COUNTDOWN TO REPAIR TIME, ACTIVATE!