Posts filed under 'Basement'
I unexpectedly learned it is much easier to convince Will to wear something if you tell him it is what Peter Parker wears. In both cases the truthfulness of the statement is debatable. I can’t presume to know what Peter Parker wore in all the cartoons, comics, and movies, so while I can’t recall a time he wore green shoes, I conversely can’t claim to know that he didn’t wear green shoes. It is a mouthful and a confusing thought, but one I am sure has not run through Will’s mind, yet. For my purpose, he agrees to wear said item because he now thinks it is cool and I have twice been able to get him to wear something that has caused Angie such frustration that she would throw fits at his fit throwing. In short, I have won the battle.
This isn’t to suggest I am winning the war. Bedtime has become a tedious task of give and take and multiple trips to Will’s room at night. He either needs a glass of water or needs some random toy for about two hours before he finally falls asleep. He has a whole giggly routine that he goes through with Angie, but he knows my temperament is not one that entertains such things*.
*I have to apologize at this point for my weird grammar. I finished a CS Lewis book a week or two ago and I don’t think his style has worn off me yet.
At any rate, he is stuck with me for a few more days until Angie returns from interviewing in Michigan. I can only hope that he can put up with me for a little bit longer. I am pretty easy to manage unless I am hungry or tired.
Match.com
Don’t go to match.com. I don’t know what it is, but I know I’ve heard of it and that’s all it really takes to for me to come up with subtitles, fleeting thoughts. Match Day is the day all Med School students find out what residency program they are going working with for the next 2-4 years. It is a big day for us, because we are hoping to be moving some place closer to home. I need to find some kind of countdown widget for wordpress so I can watch the days click by. For me it is really the deadline to get stuff done as we’re probably going to have to our house on the market as soon as possible. I am not looking forward to finding out how cheap my house has become, but there are always bitter pills to swallow and you just hope they won’t have unforeseen consequences.
Shark Attack
If you caught any of the photos, you might have noticed Will was a shark for Halloween. He scored some good candy and never missed a “Thank You.” Probably even more impressive was that he was willing to take off the shark and go to bed somewhat on time that night.
Angie carved three pumpkins which got a lot of compliments and we hung up some lights for the occasion. With Will really understanding what candy is, it made for a pretty fun night. I am just glad I didn’t have to hand out candy. I have no idea how to react when a kid comes up with a pillowcase and a obviously made no attempt to dress up as anything. I can only assume they are bored, lazy, or the need for candy so overwhelms them, they forget to put their costume on.
Work-a-holic
I doubt anyone has ever mistook me for a work-a-holic, but I have gotten a number of things done around the house. Things I have been planning to do for months are just getting knocked out in a matter of hours. Again, it makes me wonder why I just didn’t do it in the past, but apparently I had something more important to do.
In the past few weekends I have finished repairing the basement door (no more stuck, turning inside out door!), installing a little cabinet in the stairs for a small pantry (more shelf space in the kitchen cabinets!), fixed the microwave light cover, and replaced the front door knobs (I know they look goofy, but it is better than the one with the hole in it). I’ve also started putting the final coat of mud on the basement closet and I am not even counting the leaf raking, bush trimming, mowing, and gutter cleaning I have done. (This whole sub-topic is just to remind my wife that I do manage a few things around the house, they just rarely involve dishes, clothes, or dirty diapers.)
Travels
We’re going to CO this weekend to visit my sister and then down to IN for Thanksgiving. I think the last time I was in CO was before I moved to MN and the last time we were home for Thanksgiving was before Will was born. I am kind of happy to not have to cook a big meal this year. The reason for both trips is because they pair up with interviews Angie will be doing, so Will and I are mostly along for the ride. I am sure, many photos will be posted.
November 10th, 2008
This comprehensive contemplation of consciousness is brought to you by Continental Airlines…
Best Laid Plans
I have come to the conclusion that airlines are much like a unreliable friend. You rely on them for rides, but because their world is filled with such drama, they are never on time. Explanations come quickly, flat tires, speeding tickets, traffic, etc etc, but it doesn’t obscure the obvious, you are late again.
Occasionally your friend is actually on time and it makes you forget all the past troubles. Life is good, but all good things must come to an end. I now understand why those business guys that are always wearing polo’s and clip-on cell phones seem somewhat annoyed or aloof. They have hitched lots of rides with lots of friends and I doubt their friends are any more reliable than mine.
Bathroom Break
My parents have decided to make a trip north this spring (spring is technically weeks old, but its just starting in MN) and my mom, more or less, signed my dad up to help me with house projects. After a bit of debating on my part and about 3 minutes of discussion with Angie, we decided on remodeling the upstairs bathroom. There is plenty else that could be done, but I think this is one project I could use the help with and working with my dad in a 7′x5′ room will provide all kinds of entertainment.
I’ve done a lot of measuring and thinking and Angie has done her fair share of thinking and pondering, and we’ve decided to keep the same layout and basically the same style. Everything will be pulled out and replaced, but given the foot print of the room, there isn’t much that can change. Walls can always be moved or removed, but this project has got to be close to being wrapped up after the first few days, so I am shooting for nothing complicated. There are some structural things to fix and some plumbing that needs readjustment, but other than that, it is a straight tear out and replace.
To document the process, I thought about trying to setup a webcam to take a photo every few minutes, but there is no good place to put it, unless we wanted to look through the window. At the very least, I will take as many photos as I can and hope the general idea makes sense.
April 18th, 2008
One of my greatest fears of owning a home is coming to fruition. A downturn in the housing market. When I bought my house back in late ’04/early ’05 there was a defined period of time we knew we’d be in the house. We did a fancy pants loan that people are getting creamed for now, because I didn’t see the need to pay a higher rate on a house I knew we’d be out of in 4 years. The driving force was Angie’s residency choice. Even if we stay up here in the great frozen state of MN, we knew we’d probably move because she would be earning a salary and house was/is too small for a growing family.
Long story short, the house has a 90% chance of going on the market about this time next year. While I hope that I have done enough to the house to maintain its market value, I can’t help but worry I will lose, and I mean substantially, money on the house. I know we will be fine in the long run, but its the short term crunches that hurt. I mean, in the long run, the market crash of 1929 eventually came back, but that didn’t keep people from jumping out of windows.
Now as I work on the house I am slightly consumed with wondering if a buyer will think what I am doing is weird or stupid. Usually saying is, make the house work for you and it will generally increase the value, however I believe there are so many choices now for the buyer that they can stand to be as picky as they want. All the little things that I ignored when I bought the house could be the one thing that turns buyer off. This leads me to thinking that I may never get the house sold in a timely manner, then what? Unfortunately, it is too hard to say. The market could come roaring back by the end of the year due to incredibly low rates and a huge supply. The flip side is we could just be seeing the tip of the ice berg in the water.
Just Bring in the Ship
My friend Joe often quotes “The world isn’t interested in the storms you encountered, but whether or not you brought in the ship.” While on the surface, it seems insensitive, to the right person it is good motivation. Although people at work try not to affirm such thinking, it is the nature of business. Wall Street does not reward effort. Extending that thinking to the house, one would say, just get everything done that you can and not worry about the uncontrollable. It is time then, that I list the tasks and start going through them. Last night, I started thinking again about the fence, and then I my mind jumped around about 20 other things I had to do, like get the oil changed in the truck and the oxygen sensor fixed, and suddenly (again) I had spent about 40 minutes doing nothing. So for the sake of arguement, lets say the basement stairs need to be completed before the end of the week.
To Dos:
- Trim out wall side gap
- Texture wall
- Paint walls
- Trim out top step
- Build stairwell cabinets
Lets see how that goes…
March 17th, 2008
It is pretty amazing and equally annoying how much Will enjoys watching Find Nemo. He usually asks to watch it at least once before we leave in the morning and when we come home, it is almost routine for me to start the dvd. The weekends are the worse though. I think the movie played at least three time yesterday, maybe four. I don’t watch it anymore with him, but I do listen to it while I work. Sadly, I am beginning to pick up on all the mundane details and even the minor characters’ names. I tried to get Will to sit through Cars with me, but after about 5 minutes he gets bored and wants to watch Nemo. Since Nemo is the only thing that will keep his attention for 10 minutes or more, we are guilty of using it as a distraction. I can usually come home, start the movie, and go make dinner without Will ever really noticing that I am gone. If the timing is right, by the time we get done with his bath and get ready for bed, the credits will be rolling (yep we watch those too) and then we can finally claim the movie is over and go to bed.
Tender Tips
I puttered around with the basement off and on all day yesterday. I put up another length of trim behind my desk and then put up the big trim piece on the side of the stairs. The large piece on the stairs wasn’t completely painted so I wasted away the afternoon going over it 3 times with paint. After it was up, I figured I might as well start putting carpet on the stairs and try to get that finished up, but I only finished 70% of it before I ran out of tape. I am just now realizing the reason I had waited so long to carpet the stairs was because I need to paint the stairwell… Guess I will be putting down some drop cloths. Carpeting the stairs was a real pain and I think if I ever do anything like this again, the carpeting will be the one thing I hire out. My finger tips are so sore from jamming the carpet into the corners, I can hardly type and my knees are just raw from kneeing on the stairs all night. It is also an extremely nerve racking process. The stairs weren’t bad because it was all done in small sections and I had plenty of leftovers, but with the big areas, if you make a wrong cut or your knife slides off track, you are kind of screwed. At any rate, I have just a tad more left to do and then I won’t be worrying about it anymore (a side bonus is all the extra carpet is out of the garage, one less thing to move around!).
I don’t think I ever mentioned that I started putting trim up. I started with some of the longer sections last weekend and got about four pieces put on. It really does add the finishing touches to the room. I really need to put it up around the windows and cabinets, and then I will be able to claim that I am truly getting close to finishing.
March 10th, 2008
For the 2nd time that I can remember, I had a dream about aliens invading earth and although I didn’t die during the encounter, I could feel my imminent doom. It was one of those dreams when you’re in such a deep sleep the act of waking up feels like you have to climb a 100 foot ladder. I believe I woke up after just seeing one of the little creepies pass by me and I could feel the stress lift, but I must have been still in the moment because just whispered to myself, “F***ing aliens.” Then I realized I was awake and it was a dream and I had no real cause for concern. It was weird and so very real for a few moments but from now on I am skipping the jelly fish scene in Finding Nemo because I am pretty sure that alien looked like a jelly.
Basement Blues and Whites
I haven’t kept on pace like I had hoped to get a little done in the basement everyday, but this past weekend it warmed to a toasty 35 degrees. I felt like I was being pulled in a few different directions (work on the garage, paint trim, or maybe just do some other lingering projects?), but when I asked Angie what I should do, the answer was paint the trim. Luckily, I had gone through a cleaned up a lot of the garage and freed up space, etc etc, so laying the trim out and painting it wasn’t too bad. It probably needs one more coat and then it should be ready to put up this weekend.
I also did some adjusting on the table saw and since I feel like it is cutting much more accurate than before, I will *hopefully* get the shelves finished for the built-ins. Then last major area to address for the main area is getting the stairs carpeted. The closet has one rough coat of mud thrown on it, and I likely just going to throw another on and paint it. I don’t see any need to make it look all that nice since one will rarely see the inside.
Sucking Power
We have probably needed a new vacuum for awhile now, but I insisted cleaning the old one would do just fine. It started to smell funny every time the vacuum was ran and it sure seemed like it was getting louder and louder. At any rate, I juts bit the bullet and bought some pet hair special vacuum from Target. If you have ever swept with new vacuum after just using your old one, the results are somewhat gross. You finally realize what the old one had been missing and/or just pushing back into the carpet and then you start to wonder how long it had been like that and how long have you been breathing this extra dust and dirt? It was pretty amazing and the new vacuum even seemed to make the air cleaner. It has a HEPA filter, which the old one did not, so I am sure the old one was spewing dust into the air like crazy. The new vacuum even had the effect of making Angie excited to use it, which is a big plus, although she still has a hard time remembering to put it away.
Will = Awesome Boy
Apparently Will learned to count to 20 in like 2 days and picked up the entire alphabet in the next two days. He mostly just mumbles through them both, but if you listen he hits most of the letters and numbers when he is working on it. It is kind of funny to think what he was doing just a year ago and what he was like. Now he has so much personality and can entertain himself for awhile, it is hard to remember having to constantly bounce him up and down to try to get him to sleep for an hour.
DeWalt GWI
Last night I picked up a used (obviously from the photos) DeWalt GWI radial arm saw. One of the preferred models for the old saws. I won’t bore you with the details or the explanation as to why I am so giddy about it, at this point, it is just important to know that I am giddy.
February 27th, 2008
Almost a Little Boy
It is pretty crazy to think Will is almost two now. I think the change from 1 to 2 is much more apparent than the change from 0-1. He is doing everything from running and jumping to taking recycling out and asking for toast in the morning. I am not sure if I even think of him as a toddler, just a little boy. Angie went to yoga yesterday morning and Will and I put our coats on and went out to the garage. I was just cleaning and picking things up and he helped when could, but mostly I think he just wanted to play with the tools. The garage isn’t exactly the greatest play land in the metro area, but will loves the tools. I am not sure if it is their intrinsic danger that attracts him or what, but if you just give him a flash light and show him how to turn it on, you’ll be lucky to get it back within the hour.
Almost Another Joe Somebody
Angie and I went out yesterday afternoon and saw Juno, sans Will. Although I was extremely reluctant to see the film it was decent. It probably boosted its ratings with its name dropping of MN towns and cities. It turns out the film was shot entirely in Canada, despite mentioning Stillwater, the Rosedale Mall, and St. Cloud. It slightly explains why some of the traveling and various scenes in the movie didn’t quite add up; however, if you’re not from the Twin Cities, I doubt you would even notice. Even though I relented on Juno and decided it was worth seeing, I’d still like to see There Will be Blood and No Country for Old Men. Neither, I think, are Angie’s type of film and since she is… -well if you know, then you know, if not you will have to wait-she can pull rank on me. (If you’re looking to soak in some real MN scenery, I would suggest Joe Somebody or even The Mighty Ducks. Both excellent films, in my opinion.)
Almost Undefeated
I have tended to shy away from commenting on current affairs because, honestly, who really cares what I think? It is not like I am getting paid to tell you enlightening things like “The Giants D really stepped up.” You can read all of that at ESPN. I was just going to comment the Patriots last two losses were the AFC championship and the Super Bowl. Not bad when you consider many teams would love to reach those points, but it has to sting to come that close twice and go home empty handed.
I honestly can’t comment on the game that much. It had started before Angie and I got home and I was watching the recording and only caught up in the last two minutes of the game. Recording football games is an excellent use of time. My tivo-like device jumps ahead 30 seconds with the skip button, so as soon as the play is over you can basically skip over the bad angle replays and poor commentating and jump right to the next replay. You never really get into watching the game because you end up managing the controller the entire time, but you can watch an entire game in about 45 minutes (unless its the Super Bowl and you want to see the slightly racial salesgenie commercials).
Almost Patched
The photo is probably still on the front page here, but along with the mudding of the basement closet, I patched up the light switch in the stairwell. The patch is somewhat hard to see with the small photo, but since patching plaster stands out anyway, it wasn’t worth being that careful. I did see on an HG-TV program where they had this spray can that added plaster like texture to a wall, so I might give that a try and see how it looks.
The stairwell needs a few more touch ups and some small storage cabinets built, but other than that it is ready to paint. I do need to fix the door too. Long before we moved in, the door’s hinges had been pulled out of the wall and there is no stop on the door frame to keep the door from being push too far close. Someone had a great idea of running huge long bolts into the wall, which do help hold the door up, but the heads stick out and do not allow the hinge to close fully. I know it is all a bunch of “blah, blah” to most and the short of it is that you literally have to lift the door to close it, and even they its a tough friction fit. I am hoping my idea for a fix works, because I honestly don’t want it to turn out to be a whole weekend project. But, other than all those things, its practically done!
Almost Done
I uploaded photos from Will and I’s visit to the UWA last week. There are also some new old videos uploade, along with the standard basement and Will photo updates.
As it turns out, my camera will no longer shoot videos. I am pretty sure I am going to get the nice expensive camera I have been lusting after for years, but it doesn’t shoot video. That might be something I just let die, or we might get another cheapie point & shoot for small type videos.
February 4th, 2008
UWA
Angie had to work an overnight yesterday, so I had to come up with something fun for Will and I to do. I am not sure what made me think of it, but I decided we should go try out the Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America. I know Angie and I have thought of it before, so I knew it was kind of pricey, but buying your tickets online saves you $2, and Will was free. I figured it was now or never because once he hits two and we have to pay for him, our chances of going would really drop.
The aquirium opens at 10 on Sundays and the rest of the MOA opens at about 11, I think. At any rate, it wasn’t busy at all so we took our time when Will would allow it. The first part (and the only part I have photos of – more on that later) was basically like a little forest tour with waterfalls and ponds. There were stuffed animals everywhere and Will would find and point out the ones he thought he knew (wolfs were dogs and skunks were bears). That exhibit takes you lower and lower until you enter this tunnel through the actual aquarium. It has a moving walkway, so you can just stand and watch all the fish literally swim around you.
There are a few different areas, but eventually you make your way to the sharks and giant sting rays. It was pretty neat to see the fish up close and from all the different angles. I think Will was a little too amazed, he mostly just stared and watched them swim. One drawback of the whole tunnel thing was a slight feeling of motion sickness. With the fish and the water moving in all different directions and if you’re stationary (instead of being on the moving walk), you tend to want to sway with the water and it gets a little weird. At any rate, staying on the moving walk helped because you at least had that sense of motion.
At the end of the tunnel you’re released to see other exhibits. They had a small aquarium setup with the Nemo characters and other fish movies were playing on the screens. They had some seahorses shark jaws too, but probably the best part was”petting” the rays. You put your hand in this little circle pool and the rays will pop up for you and you run your fingers down their backs. I popped my hand in and after Will watched me do a few times he was asking to have his sleeves pushed up. When the next ray came around he gave him a good stroke down his back and smiled like mommy had just walked through the door. I think he got a big kick out of the whole thing and it was a much better experience than I expected, but I wish I could have talked Will into walking through it one more time.
Camera Shy
So Will and I had just entered the tunnel and I wanted to snap a photo of him looking at the fish when I realized my camera was not acting right. It was trying to extend the lens and was making a weird grinding sound. I kept fiddling with it while I tried to watch Will and the fish, but I didn’t have much luck. When we settled down for lunch I messed with it some more, and I think I fixed the problem (I just pulled on the lens until it started to move correctly), but I am not sure. Maybe it was an isolated incident, but maybe its the beginning of the end for this Canon. Now I am torn between using this as an excuse to buy a nice SLR or just dealing with what I have until it gives up the ghost. I’d like to say that the camera is still new (2.5 years old) and it hasn’t taken that many photos, but I know I have used it pretty hard. We’ve taken it to Indiana countless times, to the humid climates of Mexico and St Lucia, and to Niagara Falls. I liked that it was pretty compact, at least compared to an SLR, so you could just throw it in a bag and go, but perhaps that has led to its early mechanical problems. Either way, I don’t think I want to go too long with a functioning camera.
Mudding
Well on Saturday, I finished drywalling the closet. It wasn’t a major job, other than I built way too many corners into that little space and I was trying to use up a bunch of scrap drywall I had laying in there. When I put Will to bed, I figured mudding was quiet enough that I should probably get started on it (with all the corners it will take a few nights to get it all finished). About the time I decided to get started, a random thought ran through my head “Gee I haven’t seen the mudding tools in a while, I wonder where they are?”
It turned out to be a very valid question. I found the 12″ knife right away, but its not really needed until the final coat of mud. Next, I found the mud tray which was filled with a bunch of junk. Then the real pain set in. I was 99% sure that the 6″ and 10″ knifes were out in the garage, but the garage is currently a wreck. Have some heaving and hoeing, I found the 6″ under all the trim for the basement. Currently, the 10″ is still at large. I think it only took me about 45 minutes to do the actual work, but about an hour before that was spent just looking for the tools.
I also started patching the hole by the light switch in the stairs. Assuming things go okay in the next few weeks, I might be able to paint the staircase and put the carpet down too. The basement has changed a little since the last photos, so I will have to take a new batch to test the camera and upload them tonight.
The terrible search for the mudding tools prompted a clean up of the garage. I didn’t make a ton of headway last night, but I think I have the general idea down. It is suppose to be in the 40′s today and 14 tomorrow, so I will probably try and finish it tonight.
January 28th, 2008
I posted a few long lost videos of Will and one of Angie commenting on the basement. The video of Will dancing to The Office theme music is pretty good. If I remember right he asks to hear it “agin.”
Museum of Play Things
Every third Sunday of the month, the Children’s Museum in St Paul has free admission for everyone. Even though it is suppose to be one of their busiest days, we figured the extremely low temps and going early would help a little with the crowd. It wasn’t too busy when we arrived and we started heading through the different areas. Most of the exhibits were decent, none were awesome, and a few were just okay. Perhaps I have been spoiled by the great children’s museum in Indianapolis, but I guess I expected a little more from the visit.
I thought they would have things like dinosaur’s bones and maybe some space stuff or possibly a train, none of which I saw. For the most part, it was a giant staircase with a few rooms on each level. Most of the exhibits allowed interaction, which was good for the older kids, but some of the exhibits just seemed like play areas. Perhaps I we missed some giant wing of the museum, but I am sure glad we went on a free Sunday.
Whoops
I wrote all of those first paragraphs last Monday and then I forgot about this post. Will ended up with the croup again and I was home with him off and on all week. It is like having a wicked bad cold for a week and all he wanted to do was sleep and cough. He is feeling better today and has about 300% more energy, so I think he is happy to be back in good form.
Chilling
The cold streak here has finally snapped and we should get above freezing tomorrow. I am not sure if its good or bad when you think 35 degrees is warm, but when it is close to a 30-40 degree swing, it feels like a heat wave. At the very least, it isn’t painful to be outside for more that 2 minutes.
Basement Stuff
I finished the drywall in the closet, so now I just need to mud and paint it up. I am thinking I might use some of the paint that didn’t workout for the living room upstairs, but I don’t think I will break my back on it. It is just a closet.
I still need to finish out a few things on the stairs and one of the annoying items was the hole in the wall by the light switch. The photo at left is from when we first moved in the house, but I managed to get a hunk of scrap in the hole to give the mud something to hold against. It will probably take a lot of tinkering to make it look decent, but its better than looking at a huge hole in the wall.
I also grabbed a large board to attempt to better trim out the stairs and to make carpeting them easier. It is a little hard to explain, but I guess I won’t be having an “open” stair case like I planned. Or rather, it won’t be as open as it is now.
January 26th, 2008
Good Bye Garage, Hello Barn
As I promised myself, I got out and did some work this weekend. Some time ago, maybe around Thanksgiving or before, I started tearing the siding off the garage and re sheeting it to prep it for new siding. I only had one side done and it has sat like that since. I had asked for all this Carhartt clothing for Christmas, so I could work outside without freezing to death and Saturday, I put it to the test. I decided to work on the side of the garage with the large overhead door on it (the side Angie claims is the front, but it clearly the back of the garage). As it turned out, Saturday was a bit warmer than expected and I ended up sweating a little in my clothes., but I will take that over getting so cold it takes hours to warm up again. I got about 80% of the “back” side done and decided I might as well trim the shingles off the garage (when I put the new roof on the garage I just let the shingles hang off the edge rather than trim each row, just to speed up the process). At any rate, it looked like the garage got a much needed haircut. If I had known it was as easy as it was, I would have done it weeks ago.
Sunday was not so warm and I am glad I didn’t leave too much left to finish on the back side of the garage. The pry bar was noticeably colder in my hands and the wind seemed to be blowing just on me. At any rate, I finished a 2nd side of the garage so the sheeting is roughly 50% done now. Since I am using someon’s “used” sheeting that is covered in dust and dirt, when I stepped back to look at my handiwork I thought”Hmmm, it looks like a barn.” Hopefully the end result will shape up better.
Weirdo
It goes without say that most people in the neighborhood accept that something odd is always going on at my house. They know when they see me in brown overalls and a brown coat standing on a ladder, outside, in the middle of January, that I am just busy doing whatever it is I do. In short, they are use to my oddities. However, the house beside me that has been empty for weeks now had a little more traffic over the weekend. A guy was there on Saturday installing new locks and padlocks on the garage then a real estate agent was poking around on Sunday. Both times I was outside, covered in brown, with safety glasses on and large orange earmuffs for hearing protection over my ears (they also help keep the wind off my ears). Both times, I got weird looks, but neither really inquired what I was doing.
All I am saying is that I was warm and I have grown so use to wearing the hearing protection, it drives me nuts to not use it. When I went home over Christmas and made some cuts on my dad’s bandsaw, the squeaking and squealing of the saw just made my ears ring. I really wanted my ear muffs right then, but I knew my dad didn’t have any (I think he is half deaf, so it probably doesn’t bother him anymore). Point being, I know I looked silly, but I don’t have to listen to that horrible metal on metal clank sound when I hit the pry bar with the hammer and I didn’t have any shingle graduals in my eyes when I was trimming the shingles (they did end up all over my forehead and nose though).
What About the Basement?
Glad you asked. The trim is the last part for the majority of the basement. I haven’t gotten to that yet, but I did install some built in bookshelves I had made about a month ago (again the lag was due to painting). I still need to paint the actual shelves (they’re adjustable and thus removable), but at least the giant holes in the wall are covered. So its nothing to get too excited about, but its the first real work I have done since Labor Day when I put all the carpet in place. I think I estimated I will need at least another sheet of drywall to finish out the closet, and I am pretty sure I have one in the garage, but I have no idea what shape it is in. Given that the high this weekend is predicted to be -2, I might just focus a little more on the basement than anything that will require being outside.
Yet Another Project
The upstairs bathroom, or as I am going to refer to it from here on out, the kitchen’s closet. Much to Angie’s annoyance, I am gearing up to redo the bathroom. She is perfectly happy that it will be fixed up, but I think, slightly annoyed at how much I talk about it and ask her opinion about things. The real issue with the bathroom is space. I don’t have the luxury of shopping from 20 different vanities because there are only a few that will fit into a 19″ space. The previous owner opted for a pedestal sink which left no place in the entire bathroom for storage of things like TP and towels. So I have decided to go back to a vanity. The toilet and shower will just be swap outs, although for the shower I am going with pre-made wall panels instead of tiling it all. That is more for speed than actual preference of material. The toilet I have in mind is slightly narrower than average and has a little less depth than most. A few inches here and there don’t sound like much, but when you bump the electric tooth brush charger which falls on Angie’s hair straightener which pulls down the contact solution and Angie’s makeup bag which sends little cans and tubes of gel and powder all over the room, you just hang your head and wish for another 2 inches of space.
Its going to have to be a quick project though. I know I am going to have to remove the floor and fix a few other things, but I am hoping I can remove the tile without screwing up the walls too much. Not having to drywall and mud the corners would take at least 2-3 days off the project.
January 15th, 2008
I knew my week was off to an ominous start when I showed up Minneapolis Airport (where I will never use the restroom again) for my 7:30 am flight on Monday morning and was told the airplane had hit a bird. The flight was canceled since the bird had done a fair amount of damage. I could only assume that the plane had hit a pterodactyl since one could assume any bird alive today hit by a plane going 500 mph would basically explode on impact. Since I didn’t see the plane, I will have to assume the airline was telling the truth though.
Once I was able to fly out I treated to getting another cold while away from home. My tonsils swelled up like a couple of sick brains in the back of the throat and soon enough it wan’t much fun to swallow. I tossed and turned one night basically waking up every hour or two until about 5 in the morning when extreme hunger pains hit me. Since I was in a hotel, I had to wait for 6 for breakfast. I sat in my room, smelling the stale smell of other people’s cigarette smoke with my throat burning, wondering if I would get in trouble if I just flew home that day or not. I stuck in through and finally made it home on Thursday, on another delayed flight.
By Thursday night, I was feeling a little better and since Angie had been home alone all week with Will, I decided to do some odd cleaning jobs around the house. The sink in the bathroom constantly gets clogged and takes about 3 hours to drain a little water out of the sink. I was messing around with trying to take the plunger out of the sink to clear the crap out when I thought I would check the trap for a clean out (the trap is the “s” or “p” shaped pipe under your sink, it holds water in it so sewer gases don’t wander up the empty pipes and fill your house with explosive methane). So I am running my finger on the underside of this trap feeling for a big nut that can be removed and allow the trap to be cleaned (I can’t see the pipe because it is behind the pedestal of the sink) when I feel a little piece of the pipe’s casting fall off. I thought that was slightly odd since only a cast iron pipe would have a casting like that and I was defiantly working with just some chromed pipes. Then I feel water trickling out on my hand…
Long story short with the drain pipe, it had rusted through, completely. I had to pull the pedestal off the sink (luckily whomever installed it just used tons of silicon and no screws to connect everything) and that gave me access to the trap. It was a simple fix and I am glad it happened when I was there to notice it. I am sure that pipe has been dripping a little bit for a long time. Unfortunately, the story of the sink doesn’t end there. I had shut off the water supply valves so no one would accidentally run water in the sink (in retrospect just putting the plunger in the sink would have been a much better idea) and when I turned them back on no water came out. I assumed the washers had broken off and I took the valves apart and pulled the washers out. This time I got plenty of hot water, but no cold water. A piece of the washer was missing, so I took the cold water supple apart again and clean out all the fittings, including the faucet. Everything went back together again just fine and now I had hot and cold water… plus another leak. I some how had messed up the little supply tube and it was dripping water from the connections. After two more trips to Menards (I bought the wrong sized tube the first time) everything was fixed and water tight.
Needless to say, I was frustrated. I often ask Angie what she would do if I wasn’t “handy” and able to fix all these little problems that tend to come up in an older home. I then realized she would have called a pro and the job would have been done in an hour and done right the first time. At any rate, she still allows me to fumble around and tell her about traps and valves and gaskets and pretends that she is happy with a diy’er.
September 3rd, 2007
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