Tag Archives: man cave

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Recent additions to the Barn Mahal.

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After thoroughly whipping my other half in a marathon Scrabble session in the barn last weekend, I took a good look around.

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And realized what an amazing storage building filled with absolute crap ….

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To seriously alcohol–centric man cave transformation we had wrought.

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Yay us.

And to this glorious rustic palace of play? I added a few new things.

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Because if there was ever a more perfect place for my fully operational spastic poop drone… I don’t know where it could be.

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To the bar, I added an acrylic box of appropriately themed cocktail napkins.

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Each more true than the last.

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Alongside the napkins there are now swizzle sticks.

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Some are shaped like twigs in honor of their origin.

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And some are shaped like jazz hands… because it’s just delightfully creepy.

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And since no man cave with a bar should be without them?

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Hair spray and a comb to repair follicle damage the walk from our wind blown house wreaks on my unruly tresses.

And if you’re cringing over that addition gentlemen?

Viola!

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I also added a plant.

Granted, it’s a just small succulent…. but I believe my eventual takeover of the premises is progressing quite nicely.

😈

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So attractive.

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After a nightmarish week of battling Direct TV customer service and their bots, an hour long phone conversation with “Susie” from Bangalore, an hour and a half long conversation with “Susie’s” supervisor “Jimmy” from New Delhi, one service call from a technician who said he was given the wrong work order, a second visit from a technician who said we didn’t need a separate dish on the barn roof after all, a 40 minute long conversation with “Elaine” from Mumbai in which I told her I wasn’t paying an extra $100 for something that should be free, and a third visit from a technician who finally hooked up a mini receiver in the man cave ….

Can you see it?

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I hope not.

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But it’s there.

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An extremely long cable connecting the satellite dish on our house to the barn.

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Because someone…who shall remain nameless but answers to ‘Hey Marine’…. just had to have a television with a full program line up with DVR capability in his man cave.

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In Maine, lines don’t get buried until spring…. which means I’ll either trip over it and break my neck in the meantime, or the red squirrel bitch from Hell will chew through it when seeking revenge.

Good times.

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Did I mention I had to spend another 35 minutes online with a chatbot when Direct TV charged me twice for the same service call and then added a $9 monthly protection plan to my bill that I didn’t approve? Ever since AT&T took them over it’s been a horror show.

😡

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And then there was a television.

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Next up in the Barn Mahal remodel was the addition of a 50 inch flat screen on a swiveling wall mount .

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Husband laid out all the pieces and parts….

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While I laid out snacks and a beef stew with crusty French bread I’d cooked to bribe a friend for installation assistance.

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The thoughtful friend even brought me a bar christening gift. I love those.

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Installation started well… and then as is wont to happen whenever we work in the man cave… it went straight downhill.

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Nothing lined up as it should, so a little force majeure was needed.

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When they thought it was mounted properly, they carried the television over…

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Only to realize the mount was upside down.

Oops.

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When that error was corrected?

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They dropped two weird sized screws (not sold on planet Earth) which promptly rolled into the floor cracks.

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After I took pity and found them both…. mounting continued. Leveling the tv was easier said than done.

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And though the bracket was perfectly centered between the booze shelves on the left and the WWII propaganda posters on the right…. they didn’t take the swiveling arm into account, so when it’s flush against the wall as it needs to be to allow access to the bar?

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It’s too far to the left… which will drive me crazy for years to come because the husband says he’s not moving it.

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Oh, well. It’s mounted and seems to be secure.

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Now I need to schedule an appointment for Direct TV to come install another what do you mean the barn is too far from the house to run off the same satellite dish. I was really hoping that wouldn’t be necessary but they assure me it is.

Ka Ching!

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I had to.

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While cleaning out my husband’s junk drawer the other day (yes we all have them, but his had reached the point of overflow and wouldn’t shut… so intervention was necessary) I found a treasure.

Buried under the detritus of old coin wrappers, matchbook covers and dozens of scraps of paper with nameless phone numbers was this:

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Wow.

That’s my much younger husband on the right (wearing an outfit I’ve thankfully never seen him sporting) next to his cousin Cindy. Why this cringe worthy photo hadn’t previously surfaced in our 37 years of wedded bliss is a mystery…. but I’m guessing it’s a picture he wasn’t very fond of.

And that my friends is where he went wrong. Hate the photo? Get rid of it…. because if you don’t, your wife might post it on Facebook and then prominently display it in your man cave.

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Flashing lights are never good.

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Danger Will Robinson!

There’s trouble in the man cave.

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I walked into the barn this morning and noticed it was a wee bit nippy.

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We keep the new heat pump ( 3 months old ) set at 68 and with all the sun coming through the windows… it’s always been warm and toasty. But today? The temperature was rapidly dropping.

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Lights were flashing and the unit wasn’t running. After spending an extremely annoying half hour troubleshooting with the owners manual, we broke down and called the guy who installed it… who also happens to be the son of my best friend.

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He had me check the error codes and did some research. Then he called back saying he didn’t have the parts he needed to repair it in stock, and couldn’t get them right away… so he was sending his crew over this afternoon to replace the whole exterior unit.

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Now that’s what I call customer service.

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A path has been shoveled and we currently await the new unit.

While it’s true we like our beer and cocktails cold, we usually prefer to be well above freezing ourselves.

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Chairs are a beautiful thing.

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And we’re so in love with ours right now I fear they’ll be occupying blog space for a while.

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Do you know how nice it is to actually be able to sit at our bar?

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Trust me, after weeks of standing? It’s seriously nice.

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And yes, I admit a fair amount of alcoholic beverages have been consumed in the short time we’ve owned them.

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Note to self – clear off magnetic bottle opener before guests arrive.

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Ah….

Chairs.

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And then we got the call.

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The call that we’d been waiting 7 weeks for finally came.

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And we headed down to the workshop in Biddeford to pick up our custom made bar chairs.

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It was an awful morning, snow showers at our house and rain farther south.

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So I was bound and determined our haul was going to be tightly secured and fully covered for transport.

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These babies are heavy, so when we got home the husband had to haul them all out to the Man Cave.

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Made from 120 year old reclaimed Vermont barn boards, no two are the same.

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At first the husband was upset they didn’t all match perfectly, but that’s what I love about them.

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And they may not look it, but they’re quite comfortable.

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So yes, an inaugural beer was poured. At 10:45 am.

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And consumed while seated. Don’t judge…

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Though why the darn man wasn’t smiling I have no idea. He really was happy, but I guess you’ll have to take my word on that.

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It’s like the blue or gold dress all over again.

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* Disclaimer – a mistake was made in scheduling. This post should have been viewed before yesterday’s, so please forget you saw that one. My bad. *

Our (magical, never to be caught actually working, might be an elf) contractor was by the other day to put the first coat of stain on our bar top.

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So while the husband and I were checking progress, I took pictures.

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And it wasn’t until I started posting them that I realized the damn thing appeared to be 2 different colors.

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At first I thought it was a matter of angles and shadows but the picture above and below this text are basically the same, just taken 12 minutes apart.

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And I swear I didn’t alter the hue or color on my phone.

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I have no explanation. Although now that I think about it, this might be a fun bar game after a few toddies.

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Just for the fun of it I placed a few fronting pieces to get an idea what the finished product would look like.

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And I think while not a perfect match to the chairs we ordered…

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It might be close enough.

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Things are moving quickly in the Barn Mahal.

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After waiting a month and a half for construction to start…

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Our rarely seen contractor is really picking up the pace.  I’m starting to think he might be an elf, as we never actually catch him working.

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All the facing boards and bottom moulding are in place…

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And it won’t be long before we’re bellying up for our inaugural beverage. Ironically right after we discovered the new updates a friend and his son showed up to check the progress.

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They hadn’t been here in months and were shocked at the transformation.

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Darts were played.

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Beer was imbibed.

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And shock was expressed that still live rounds were prominently displayed.

🤣

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