How's Everything Since the Stimulus?!

I can't say that the stimulus saved my life... just my week. And it possibly saved this weekend too - since I'll be able to get my hands on some materials.

But first let me rewind back to last weekend. This has been such a crazy week that I've barely had time to breath out, let alone blog anything! Saturday we were even so busy that we didn't manage to start the footings until 4 or 5 in the afternoon! At at that point we were so wiped - it was really hard work.

We had to get it done, though. We had rented the cement mixer for the weekend only.

So we got out the hose and the cement and started just mixing away. The actual pouring into the sonotubes turned out to be a little difficult too. Mostly because we've had so much rain that the sonotubes were moist and the cardboard layers kept peeling off of the edges. Not so much to compromise the structural integrity of the tube - just enough to be a pain in the butt while pouring in cement.


Mike tilted the mixer as I kneeled down by the hole with a piece of plywood that I used to direct the pouring cement into the hole. The system worked relatively well. And, it turned out we had nearly the exact correct amount of cement. We only had two bags left over. Very cool. I love a day that I don't have to run back to the DeepHo for some stupid thing.

After each tube was full, we put a bracket into the cement at the exact tube center. These will later hold the posts of the porch. We had a problem with the footing nearest to the house. Somehow, it had gotten off center! I don't know whether we were just off on our calculations initially, or whether all the rain settled the soil in some weird way - the world may never know. But on that one we had to offset the bracket so that it would line up with the other footings. I was pretty nervous about that, but Mike assured me that we'd be able to make it work.

We finished the footings around nightfall and just crapped out. Sunday morning was even more hectic and the weather was terrible! But we managed to make it to the blessing of the bikes anyway, and then enjoyed lunch with some friends over at The All American... soaked mind you. By the time we made it home from that we totally just wanted to poop out. And we did!

That was our last weekend.

And if you were thinking we'd start building the porch this weekend - well, you'd be absolutely... WRONG. Nope - we still have some other stuff to catch up on first - plus, the weather's going to be terrible. Again. But no worries, cause we've got so much stuff to get a jump on.

Number A - We've got a scrap metal run to make on Saturday morning - and then, hopefully, a dump run.

Number B - We need to install that new dryer vent, especially with all this rain heading our way.

Number C - (Cause I like numbering my letters.) We have to nail up the exterior window trim we cut and painted like a million years ago.

Number D - We have to pull back the siding on the front of the house, fix any rot, and install plywood in prep for the new siding.

Number E - If I get any time to myself, I need to scrape and repaint some peeling areas of the current window trim.

Number F - We need to get up into the attic and figure out where the mudroom track light wire goes so we can get that fixed and/or hooked up.

Number G - We NEED need need need need to reinstall the french doors. Yes, we just got the glass fixed and all that - but the thing is, we need to caulk the whole thing and install some flashing at the bottom. That's been missing from the start and if nothing else but this gets done this weekend - I will be a happy happy camper because I've been complaining about this since the beginning.

So I think that's plenty enough to keep us busy this weekend, if the rain holds off.

Woo w/a-side-a Hoo

I usually don't post on Saturdays - being my day to get stuff done - but I have some momentous news courtesy of Uncle Sam....

So I went to check my bank account online to see how much non-money I had and which checks had gone through. But on the home page where they showed my balance - it was too high! I thought to myself, is there some transfer that happened? Did I accidentally put my check into checking instead of savings?

I clicked on checking. You're not going to believe it - it was our freakin economic stimulus money! It had been directly deposited just like our tax refund. $1200. I nearly died. And immediately my head is swimming with the possibilities, but I have to remember not to blow it - this is porch money. Materials money. Pay-off-that-DeepHo-card money. Buy lean cuisines for lunch money.

Just yesterday I was gearing up for a belt-tightening week. And now the belt is coming off entirely! I guess that's the power of techno music/positive attitude.

It's Nearly Summer - Do you Know Where Your Progress Is?

Ah spring. Yesterday was May 1st and that means it's high time for some major warm weather progress action! YEAH! Get pumped. Download some techno. Strap your ipod to your arm and start groovin like there's no one around to see ya!

That's what I did yesterday. Well - I downloaded some techno and pumped it up in the car and drove like there was no one around to see me anyway. Then I went to the GROCERY STORE! Yeah, hardcore... right there.

Too bad cash flow has trickled down to zilch due to massive spring bills and rising fuel costs. Still, we attempt to press on and I attempt to motivate myself and keep that 'ol depression at bay.

Tonight Mike's picking up a cement mixer, which we're renting for the weekend for just $50. (That's usually the price of just one day's rental, but Mike's got some connections....) Tomorrow morning he'll be working for a friend of his for some extra cash and we'll start cementing in the afternoon.

After that, I suppose it's time to start ripping siding off the house. That means I'll have to purchase plywood. I'd rather not keep racking up my homedepot card bill - but I need to save cash to pay for labor.

God, it seems just like yesterday I had nearly $10,000 in my savings. A freakin record. Now I owe myself at least $1300 and I'll probably end up transferring more money out of savings so I can buy Lean Cuisines for lunch next week.

Ok - this is the kind of talk that made me download new music. I just can't get down and stressed about this crap. What have I been saving for if not for this porch?! Gotta just start groovin here at my computer - get me back and pumped up.

Somebody give me a Corona - stat!

Once the siding has been ripped back a little, we can start building the actual porch of it. At which point, we need to call in The Professional. I'll have him call Morse Lumber using our acct. # for whatever materials we need - they're great and they deliver.

May Day! May Day!

PSHT: Captain - we're taking on water!
PSHT: Nothing we can do.
PSHT: What do you mean?! It's just coming out of that stupid dryer vent hose thing?!
PSHT: It's the rain - it's blowing sideways into the thing.
PSHT: But Captain what if we-
PSHT: Nothing we can do... unless we have a cover or something to deflect the rain.
PSHT: That's it, Captain. That's the last straw... I'm calling the coast guard! They'll know what to do...

Alright, so I over dramatized that whole conversation, but you get the idea. So I guess there's nothing we can do about the second leak at the moment. That's more bad news if you're keeping a list.

Luckily the door fix seemed to be working - no huge puddles... just the damp spot from the early morning pre-door-fix leakage. It felt really good to finally have that taken care of. (Cross that one off the bad news list.)

And if you're as sick of bad news as I am, let me giving something delicious to chew on: Mike called the inspector this morning and we are all set to move on to the next step. Next step - filling our holes with concrete! With another busy weekend coming up, I think we're going to start on this tonight.

Maybe if we're lucky time wise, we can even start building this weekend...

Soda Pressing

Today started last night with some bad news. And it got no better when I woke up this morning. The Jeldwen door guy called and was running late. About an hour and 15 minutes late. Great.

It was raining again and sure enough, water was pouring through the french doors. If that wasn't bad enough, it was also dripping from the dryer vent hose and the floor underneath the washer dryer was soaked. Wonderful.


Things improved a bit when the Jeldwen guy arrived just before nine. (As opposed to 9:15 as he predicted.) He was actually able to install the new glass in about 20 minutes too - so I wasn't going to be that late to work after all. One leaky mudroom problem fixed.

As for the vent hose, I just put a bowl under it and left it. Nothing more I could do.


And to think, I was actually exited for this rain to make my grass seed sprout. Now I'm just wondering what's going to start leaking next.

Our 6 Holes

It's official. We've got holes! Six of 'em! It was quite a feat to dig them too. You don't think it's too hard - 6 holes, an auger - no problem, right? But don't forget, they have to be perfectly level, perfectly centered on their measurements, perfectly straight, perfectly lined up with all the rest of the holes.... or else the entire porch will be messed up. And by messed up I mean crooked, off center, off level, off off off.

So Saturday morning's dig session was pretty stressful. First, we spray painted big x's on each marker post so we could see where the heck we were digging and to keep us on center. Then we fired up the auger and dug down as far as we could with it. This wasn't too hard, except when you get the auger all the way down in the hole as far as it goes and you have to then pull it up - then, it's a little tough. Mike, being stronger than me, of course was able to pull up harder and faster - so our holes tended to be off center because of it.

After the auger had done all it could do, Mike and I dug with the post hole digger and shovel.

Here's me, doing some digging on hole #2.

After the hole seemed close to size, we test fit the sonotube, making sure it was level (with a level), on center with the other holes (using a string), and exactly 7.5' away from the last sonotube (using the 'ol tape measure.) If it didn't match up to any of these exacting specifications, we dug more or in another direction.


Four of the holes we dug pretty much no problem. No trees or plants in the way, sandy soil - relatively easy job. But the last two were nearly right on top of where that tree was - you know, the one we took down a couple weeks ago? And Mike knew that we were going to be running into some roots.

So he came up with an ingenious plan, which I knew would either work brilliantly or get us an stoopid award from country fried home videos....

We attached the auger to the forks of the skid steere.

The plan was simple - Mike would run the skid steere and I would run the auger. The forks would help move the auger up and down as I steadied it and we'd chew through the roots without exhausting ourselves or getting off center.

I have to admit, I was damn nervous. But the idea worked perfectly. We dug the first hole fairly quickly and easily and managed to tear through a couple roots. The second hole wasn't as cooperative. We made it pretty far down, but hit a huge root that we just couldn't dig through.

We took the auger off of the forks and then used the machine's forks to stab and pull at the root until it gave way.

After he had done all he could with the machine, Mike used the sawzall to break through more of the roots and then we just kept digging. Finally we were able to get in that last sonotube and fill in everything.
Despite the hard work, we really made good time. We were pretty much done by 2, after getting a late start around 10:30am. After that we took a lunch break then cleaned up the excess dirt and put down some grass seed.

And that was it for the day. The footings need to be inspected before we can do anything else. I left a message for the inspector later that afternoon. Hopefully they'll be able to come out in the next few days. Then we'll fill these tubes with concrete and begin construction.

Plus, with rain predicted all this week - it was a great time to overseed the lawn!

Putting Your Footing in Your Mouth

That would be a task actually. You try fitting a 10" by 4' sonotube fulla concrete into your mouth. Ha ha. I'm feeling silly cause it's FRIDAY peepholes! I'm so excited. Can't you tell?

Last night was highly productive. TJ came over and the boys marked the footing holes. Mike and I will dig them probably tomorrow, since we have a bday party to attend tonight. And then what? Well, then we have to wait until the building inspector can do his thang and approve them, so I'm not sure what else is going to get done this weekend.

Mike assures me that there's other stuff we can do - like start re-siding the front of the house. That's going to involve taking down the old and gross siding and the old and gross shingles underneath the old and gross siding and putting up plywood. Joy.

Not that it doesn't need to get done, I just really want to start on the actual porch. I can't help it! It's beautiful out and I'm dying to stand/sit/lay on the porch.

We can't work any more on the mudroom, because I have no money for it right now. All available funds to porch! I realize that all I need to buy for the mudroom is a little bit of tile, since we already have the hardwood, but I'm putting my foot down. No spending!

See how gross the old siding is? And how stupid is that thing over the door?!

Here you can see the clearly marked footings - accurate at last.

And here's the side with the door. From this pic you can tell just how big the porch will be outside those mudroom french doors. We could never have a deck on back - so this will be absolutely awesome k possum.

Sunny And Bummed

It's been a tough few days after a long holiday weekend. With this beautiful weather, I can't understand why everything around the office has just gone absolutely haywire. Spring fever, perhaps? Who knows. But after just two days of it, I'm about ready to take an ice pick to the head.

Last night was really frustrating. I was really excited to get home and get to work. I planned to do my sponging and Mike and a friend of his were going to dig the porch footings with a borrowed auger.

At first the sponging went really well. It looked good! But part way thru the second wall, a mysterious dark spot appeared and I couldn't fix it. It was frustrating, but I left it to dry and continued on. The rest of the room came out pretty good - at least until it came time to cut in. And damned if I could not remember how we did it last time to save the life of me!

I tried at first cutting a kitchen sponge and tried sponging with it near the ceiling and in the corners. It just wasn't doing it. I then tried that in combination with a moist kitchen sponge - you know, to kind of sponge on with the first sponge and blend with the second. That was working... but not very well. It was very time consuming too. Mike tried his hand at it and could do no better. I was getting super frustrated at this point, and I was out of Coronas. Not a good combo, people.

Then, I tried the first sponge with a moist paper towel - but had similarly "eh" results. Then I grabbed a brush and just started pouncing with it along the ceiling and corners. Though this wasn't matching up exactly with the sponging, it was a hell of a lot better than all the other options I had tried, so I continued with it throughout the room. It made a mess on the ceiling everywhere because I really tried to pounce with it. (By pouncing I mean just hitting the wall with the brush, straight on.) But all that will be covered with moulding - or, as a last result, I could always repaint those portions of the ceiling.

By the time I was done, that other dark spot had dried and I was able to sponge over to hide it. Phew! I think overall, it came out really well, although not as good as the first time.

Here's the main wall of it. The pattern is so subtle, you can't really tell from this pic. But in the room there's just a hint of a texture - which I really love.

(*Also, Mike bent and installed the track light for me. (This was a bday gift from my friend Becci and I just love it!) Only one problem - it didn't switch on with the other lights. So we're going to have to get back up in the crawl space and see where the wires go. That was another frustrating aspect of last night!)

Here's the side by the windows - which, by the way, I opened for the first time this morning. Exciting huh?

Here's the side by the washer drier. You can catch a little hint of a pattern in this one. Tonight I get the pleasure of putting all the switch plates back on - plus re-hanging my pictures on the wall 'n stuff.

At this point you may be asking, "Didn't you say something about an auger for the porch footings?"

Well yes I did. Another frustrating aspect. Mike's friend did get the auger. But the two of them had to rescue another friend of ours who blew his transmission near to our house. By the time they got back, they really just wanted to relax for a few. Mike told me that he and I could run the auger... now, me being Ms Tiny Arms, I wasn't too sure about that.

So we went out and dug a test hole near the mudroom door, which the porch will later cover. And I have to admit, it wasn't that hard. The auger looks big and scary, but it's really not too difficult to operate. The trick is just to pull up every 6" or so to clear the dirt out of the hole. Pretty cool how it works actually.

That's not the frustrating part.

Mike was trying to measure where exactly the holes were supposed to go. And he was getting mad confused because our house is not square and he didn't know exactly where to measure from! We both knew that this first step is soooo crucial. So we stopped everything we were doing and just decided to call The Man - TJ.

(If you're new to this blog - he's our good friend and even better carpenter.)

Mike asked him if he could come over tonight for them to measure and mark the footing locations together, and he agreed. Then, Mike and I can dig the holes ourselves.

Speaking of which, I've got to get my butt home!

I Got Pics!

I've got a long battery charger story, but I'll save it for another time. I don't think I'm quite ready to re-live the whole stoopid experience again anyways.

Anyway, due to circumstances related to Wednesday's long battery charger story and Thursday's all day shoot/dinner out - nothing has been done around the house since my last post.

But at least I can offer pics as a cop-out.

Blue Base Coat

Opp Angle

Coupfusion

We received in the mail on Monday a Home Depot coupon. 10% off when you put something on your Home Depot card. Yay - since we're always needing stuff - it's great to be able to save something, ya know?

So last night - due to my exhaustion from a long walk with my mummy bread and the fact that our neighbor Rich was over doing drywall with Mike - I just could not bring myself to sponge. But we had the coupon.... and Mike really wanted to get the sonotubes and concrete for our porch footings. Great! Perfect timing.

Before heading out we called our carpenter, who knew how many 80lb bags of concrete were needed to fill at 4' by 10" sonotube - turns out it's 3-4 bags, times the 6 sonotubes we need - equals 18-24 bags. We decided to get 20 bags.

With this info in hand, we grab the coupon and jet over to the DeepHo. As we're pulling into a parking space, I get a weird feeling, and pull out the coupon.

"Coupon good 4/17/08-4/20/08"

It's the 15th. THE 15th.

I nearly died as I read the dates to Mike. He just gave me that look of "Why didn't you look at that before we left the house." and "I don't care what that coupon says, we're getting this stuff NOW."

The real kicker is that we have plans from Thursday - Monday and there's no time between the 17th and the 20th to hit the DeepHo.

We went back and forth for a couple minutes on what to do - and finally decided to purchase just the sonotubes today and Mike would go on Friday right after work and use the coupon to get all the concrete.

What a pain! Coupfusion to the n'th degree. But I hate not using a coupon because we need to buy stuff anyway!!!

It's Blue Da boo dee dah boo dah....

A new world... er... house record has been set! Last night I painted an entire room with 1/4 of a gallon of paint! Well, maybe it was closer to 1/3 - but it was definitely less than 1/2!

When I started painting, I had this feeling deep in my gut that I was probably going to run out of paint on the last wall. So I really tried to stretch what I had right from the start by just applying an ungodly amount of pressure to the roller. I cut-in using the gunky paint at the very bottom of the can and whatever I could scrape off the sides.

But despite my best efforts, on the 3rd wall, I really started getting low. At this point Mike got home and said, "I wish I had known! I would have told you to thin out the paint with a little water from the start!"

Now he tells me. So Mike took the littlest bit of paint I had left and added some water. I was amazed at how it brought it right back to life! And the coverage was nearly identical! Of course, even then, we ran out at the very last part of the very last wall. So Mike added more water. This second addition of water I would not recommend unless you're in a similarly desperate situation. Though it worked and we managed to cover the last part of the last wall - the paint was drippy and hard to handle.

But any mistakes made in this first base coat will be covered by my second sponged-on coat - so I wasn't really concerned with drip marks or other imperfections.

*IMPORTANT: If you're going to try this at home, make sure you have water based paint. You cannot add water to oil based paint... you know, that whole oil and water not mixing thing? If you have oil based paint, use mineral spirits.

By 9pm the room was blue!! And let me tell you (because I can't take pics cause I haven't found my camera battery charger yet) it looks awesome against the white door and window frames. I could not be happier.

Tonight's challenge is sponge paint! The trick to sponge painting... or so I would imagine because it worked so well the first time... is the paint to glaze ratio. Adding glaze to the paint adds to the time you have before the paint dries, so you can work with it for longer. Plus it thins the paint and helps blend it against the base coat.

The last time I sponged this room my friend Kie was with me and we got the mix dead on! Within just a few minutes, we became sponge pro's and the room came out... well, as good as wallpaper apparently.

I've got a lot to live up to this time around!

Here's a pic of how the room looked back on Sept 20th, 2005.

Goodbye to Yet Another Eyesore

As promised, Mike and our neighbor Dana finished the drywall on Saturday and got it all primed.
Of course I was supposed to paint on Sunday... but unfortunately there were a couple cracks that Mike had filled in on Saturday that weren't completely cured yet. I am, however, planning on painting tonight - no ifs ands or butts. I'm hoping I have enough of the base blue leftover from the last time I painted this room to cover it. I really should just go down and get another gallon - but I honestly don't feel like spending the cash, so I'm going to try and stretch what I've got. At least I have plenty of glaze and light blue for the sponging.

If you look in the above pic out the french doors, you'll see a locust tree - I think that's what it is. Half of it is already down in this pic. Anyway - the tree is basically located on where the edge of the porch will be... so it had to come down.

I spent most of the day carrying logs back to the woodpile... in between the rain showers that is. Mike, after finishing the drywall, came out to take down the second tree.

So he tied one end of the rope to the tree and another to a telephone pole on the other side of the yard.

What you can't see in this pic is the electrical wires just over Mike's head. But he was confident that the tree wasn't tall enough to hit the wires. Me? I'm never entirely confident about these things - being a bad judge of distance and all. So Mike cut into the tree while I pulled on the rope. And sure enough, it just barely missed the wires.

I thought it was wicked close but Mike just replied, "It's only close if the wires are swinging." Oh my god.

So here's a cool pic of the tree down. Mike cut up the whole thing while I continued to bring logs to the wood pile. At the end of the day we loaded all the brush into his truck for a Sunday dump run and raked the yard. (Cause I had when you take a tree down and then there's stupid sticks all over the place.... Stupid Sticks - great band name. First album: "All Over the Place")

Good Snews and Bad Snews

The good snews is - THE PERMIT IS IN!

wait for it

wait for it

NOW:

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

I just had a feeling when I got home on Friday that it would be in the mailbox. Especially when Mike said he hadn't checked the mail. And when I looked in there and saw my self addressed envelope - I was just psyched. What a great start to the weekend!

So I guess in fact this project is small enough to slip under the conservation radar. Phew! I take back 90% of the smut I wrote about them. The town hath been redeemed. Behind the permit was a document from the Historical people that stated "Yes, a meeting was held." and "The addition of the porch will not be detrimental to the historic preservation of Bourne."

Yay!

What's the bad snews? I can't find my camera battery charger - hens no new pics until I find it or buy a new one. Lucky for all you guys I did manage to take some pics on Saturday and uploaded them using my printer. See next post!!

Get Ready for Rain

Every time I have a major list of places to go, people to see, things to do - it rains. And this weekend looks as though it will be no different.

I'm trying to relax right now - because for at least the next 48hrs, as you all know, I'm going to be on the move. But by end of Sunday the mudroom will be painted - hell or high water. (A little rain joke there people.)

Speaking of rain - did I ever fill you in on the french doors? Pft, I can't even remember - there's been too much going on lately, I'm having trouble keeping up with myself. Anyway, our new french doors leak water through the trim every time it rains in the right direction.

They have a warranty, so I contacted Jeldwen through the Lowe's that I bought the doors from - and I have to say, I was quite pleased with the ease and speed of the whole process. All I had to do was answer a few simple questions for my Lowe's door representative and he filled out the form and sent it in for me.

Just a few business days later I recieved a call from Jeldwen, who knew exactly what my problem was and told me they'd send the part out and have the installer people contact me.

Just a few business days after that I got a call from the independent installers. They expect the part to be in no later than April 21st and they'll call me when it's in to set up an appointment.

AOK. That's what I say.

So - that was a tangent. Tune in on Monday for paint pics!

The Man Plan

No permit in the mail when I arrived home yesterday. I didn't really expect it. The building inspector isn't going to stuff the envelope himself and rush it over to my house on his way home or anything. If I get it by Friday or Saturday - I'll consider myself very lucky. Not to mention there's the whole conservation thing to be concerned about - but at this point, we're thinking the project may be small enough to slip through without muss or fuss. Cross your fingers.

Meanwhile, our neighbor Dana came by last night and he and Mike worked for a little while on the mudroom drywall. Then they made big plans for Saturday.

So - Dana and Mike will meet in the morning and pea coat and finish up the room. Then, while all that's drying, Mike will help Dana pickup some.... stuff (I forget what stuff - some heavy garden or home stuff) with his truck and bring it back to Dana's house. Once they finish unloading that, they'll come back to the mudroom and prime the drywall and paint the ceiling.

By Sunday - it'll be ready for me to paint! So I'll be getting my butt up early with my blue paint and my lighter blue paint and my glaze and my sponge roller to re-sponge the room.

OH - speaking of which, Dana said to Mike, "I don't know what we're going to do about this wallpaper."

Mike replied, "Wallpaper?! That's paint! Jess sponge painted this room!"

My painting was so good, he thought it was wallpaper! Too cool, huh? Hopefully I'll be able to replicate my results the second time.... the first time around I had my friend and artist, Kie to help me out... This time I'll be all by my lonesome.

If I can finish all my painting on Sunday - you know what that means.

FLOORING!

And maybe if I play my cards right, I can get Mike to help me with it next week. Shhhhh - it's my evil plan! Well, not that evil. He's been more motivated than me lately!

We just have to put down tile at the french door entry area and in the laundry closet, then hardwood over the rest of the room. I'll have to get some tile and rent the hardwood stapler again - but hopefully I'll have the money for it next Tuesday. And if all that goes well, we could be trimming by by the week of the 21st!

Of course the permit will hopefully be definitely in by then. Hopefully Definitely.

FPP Breaking News!

Dateline - Wednesday - Hump Day:

Signed Historical Commission approval in hand, I called the Town to see if I needed to personally bring them this document.

Nope, they said, it had been delivered by the commission this morning and the permit was now on the building inspector's desk.

I think I'm going to risk a preemptive celebratory squeal: "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Coincidence? More Like Fate

Remember this lovely pic?

As you recall, I found it while scouring the internet one day. This is a house in Bourne, by the library, the photographer told me. And I saved it because it looks just like my house.... or, what my house hopefully will look like.

Well, Mike was due at the Historical Commission this morning... (remember I told you I omit certain details in this blog for personal safety - haha, that was one of them)

Anyway, just for the heck of it, I printed out the pic and gave it with him to take. Low and behold, turns out this very house BELONGS to one of the commission members!! So when they asked about what color we were doing the house and all that, Mike showed them the picture and boy were they happy about that!

Mike was out of there and calling me just 10minutes after 10am, which is when the meeting began. No problems - no Andersons - no big deal. Phew!

So, what next? That's the big question now. Mike said that the commission gave him a signed sheet of paper, but he hasn't looked at it closely yet. He was back on his way to work when I talked to him. I'm wondering if conservation is next... the battle rages on! We shall see what happens.

A Late Start to a Long Day

Saturday - the final frontier.

And Mike and I totally slept in after holding a little going away party for one of our friends on the previous night. We didn't even get moving until around noon, believe it or not. And even then we were still moving around pretty sluggishly.

Nevertheless, it was with a heavy heart that we took the old side door and mudroom windows to the dump... NAH, just kidding. That was awesome. Goodbye seashell door knocker. Goodbye energy deficient windows. Goodbye to that stupid awning thing over the old door. And good riddance to all.

We got home, feeling a little more motivated, and measured and cut the exterior trim for the new windows. Then we gave them a coat of paint.



While waiting for the paint to dry, we quickly installed the doorbell and exterior light that we had moved the wiring for when we moved the door. (Read that sentence at least three times to fully understand.) That didn't take too long, so, while all the electrical tools were handy, we installed a new light in the basement stairway and wired it to the switch.

We had at first wanted the stair light and the basement lights to come on at the same time with the same switchs. But, finding the wiring very very very confusing, (two switches, two sets of lights, two feeds, and a partridge in a pear tree) we just decided to make one switch turn on the stair light and one turn on the rest of the lights. It seemed to make more sense for future anyway. So we did that.


But once the light was on in that basement stairway, it illuminated a big problem. The drywall looked like crap. Having previously been a closet, the now stairway had not received very much care and attention from the drywallers. And now lit up for all the world to see - it was rather pathetic looking.

Plus - remember that big 'ol hole in the hallway where the under-stair closet used to be?
(Here's a pic from last summer - notice, that space under the stairs is still a closet.)

Well - that was now a giant hole, as you can see from this more recent pic.

I pondered a lot of your suggestions while thinking of what to do with such a hole and finally decided to make shelves on the inside - ie, the basement stairs side. Thus providing a secret space for secret nick nacks or tools or whatever. It just made more sense than shelves on the other side, which would be at your feet. That just seemed silly to have to bend down to look at whatever was on them. Plus, we'd have to create a cat door in the same hole so our two cats could get downstairs.

Wow, tangent. Anyhoo - those were the problems at hand. Also, at this point it was late in the day - maybe around 5pm. But nevertheless (can you believed I've used the word 'nevertheless" twice in here? Unbelievable.) NEVERTHELESS (3, had to do it.) Mike wanted to go down to the DeepHo for drywall.

Again, I was not one to stop the motivation train. Plus, I had about $9 on a gift card leftover from a return. So I figured, what the heck. We went down, picked up some stuffx, and started working as soon as we got home. Mike started in on the drywall while I gave those window trim pieces another coat of pain... I mean, paint. Hahaha.



Mike was still working when I finished the painting.

"You know what," he said, "We should really paint that bathroom ceiling."

Hmmm, I thought. He was right. It was brown in spots and disgusting. So I took the exterior paint I had been working with, grabbed a roller, and started painting the bathroom ceiling. But once I had most of the ceiling done, I was frustrated. Now the stark white bathroom walls looked mismatched against the cream colored ceiling. So I took everything out of the bathroom and started painting everything - the walls, the trim, the door - everything that looked dirty or gross or white, I painted.


Then I unscrewed and took down the old metal shower curtain rod that we didn't use. (It was too short for Mike, so we had a spring loaded one up.) And while I was painting the window trim I noticed a piece of tape under the window. Of course I thought, I'm going to take this tape off. Little did I know it was holding a couple of tiles on... which came off with it. I showed Mike and he laughed and came in to the bathroom and ripped off one of the stupid towel bars that I hated.



After that, Mike continued on the drywall - hanging all of the oddly shaped pieces. He also made my shelves and the cat door hole.



By the time we both realized we were hungry, it was around 10:30pm. Luckily, I had some leftovers, which we heated up. After that, the paint in the bathroom was pretty much dry and I was able to put everything back. Mike was done hanging and ready to sand, but didn't want to fire up his loud palm sander at 11:00 at night. So we went to bed.

And that was Saturday.

Frustrations

You know of course that no weekend could be as productive as last weekend.... which has got me wondering, "Why am I so tired right now?"

I vaguely remember waking up from a bad dream last night - and although I can't remember the dream, I have a feeling it may have been Historical Commission related, or at least Historical Commission induced.

All weekend I felt stressed - for no particular reason I could figure out. Just a little of that dreaded free floating anxiety.... And I really believe it's all due to this upcoming meeting.

I'll catch you up if you've fallen behind - a new Demolition/Alteration bylaw requires us to appear before the Historical Commission before we can get our farmer's porch permit approved. That's the short of it. The stress of it is - Andersons. They're our neighbors and they don't like us. And they like to share their dislike of my husband and I (and our house) at public forums. Like this upcoming Historical meeting.

There's this little worried voice in my head that even worries about this blog. I mean, you can pretty much figure out who we are, what our address is, etc etc if you just put a few pieces together. And the pics don't lie either. Those Andersons could be reading this very sentence right now... as unlikely as that is. They're older and don't seem like the tech-savy type. But you never know.

And I realize that's probably silly. What could they say anyway? A farmer's porch is unhistorical? It's ruining the neighborhood? I can't even imagine...

I've got a girl friend (not a girlfriend, mind you) who's already got her farmer's porch half done. Sans permit. I'm so jealous I can't see straight. My carpenter and good friend TJ assures me that we'll get started ASAP once our permit goes through. And why am I in such a hurry - it's not even warm enough to go out and sit on it yet!

This is just all the mental madness I'm going through right now and it's exhausting.

That's why Mike is going to the meeting without me - I get waaay too mental if and when sh*t hits the historical fan.

Walls, Windows, Trees, and Motivation

The madness continues on!

I've barely had time to breath this week - and let me tell you, it feels good.

Lets rewind the this week's tape back to last saturday morning...

8:30am - We're up and at 'em and out of the house, headed on cape.
9:30am - We arrive at Mike's parent's house, and the guys start taking down trees. I head over to the vet's to drop off cat poo.
11:30am - Five trees are down and cut. Poo is off to the lab. The truck is loaded up with logs. And we're out again, this time to mike's friend's house.
12:30pm - Another tree is down in Yarmouth and we're on our way to Hyannis.
1:30pm - We've filled the gas tank and our bellies and are now on our way to the dump.
2:15pm - Dump is done and we're home and start ripping down the old side door.
4:30pm - Side door is out and the new window is in! We take a break for a light snack.
6:00pm - We randomly decide to get drywall. So, off to the DeepHo we go, and purchase drywall, screws, and some other supplies.
10:00pm - Most of the drywall is hung. We finally eat dinner and go to bed.

Here are some pics from Sunday morning:


Now for Sunday.

9:00am - Once again were up and out of the house, this time with an old dresser loaded in the truck.
9:30am - We arrive at my friend Amanda's place and give her the dresser.
10:00am - We arrive at Mike's parent's house to help them move their new 700lb gun safe into the house.
11:30am - We're back on the road, this time to try and figure out bike week accommodations at our friends' house.
1:30pm - No luck on the accommodations, so we leave for home. Upon arriving home, we start again on the mudroom. First drilling holes for the new exterior light location and doorbell. Then, back to drywall.
5:30pm - All the drywall is hung and we're ready for mud when our drywaller neighbor comes down and chews us out for doing drywall without him. He tells us not to do anymore and offers to come on Monday to do the first mud coat. We grudgingly agree and clean up our tools.
6:00pm - We're headed up the hill to the same neighbor's house for some stuffers and clams casino with drinks.
8:30pm - At home at last, we chill out for about an hour or so and then hit the hay.

So how do you like that for motivation, eh?

Weekend Ahead, Captain....

Looks like another hectic weekend for the onesixty crew.

First thing Sat we've got to hit the dump and then we're headed down Cape for a little tree removal and I've got to drop off some cat poop while we're there... While on Cape that is...At the vet's that is. Wow, what a bizarre to-do list, huh?

And then, if we can get our butts back home before dark, we'll attempt to prepare for and put in that other window. I was supposed to work on stripping and sanding the TA - but I don't know if there's going to be enough time to bother dragging it out of the garage!

Sunday's no better. We've got to get up early, drop off our old dresser at a friend's place and then high tail it back home so Mike isn't late for riding.

Don't you just love spring?!

Speaking of which, we went to the DeepHo on Tuesday and picked up some Lime and Scotts Step 1 spring stuff. Whatever it's called. Mike put down the Lime on Wednesday, although I don't think we can put down the Scotts yet. It's a little chilly still and I think it has seed in it. I can't wait though - maybe this year we'll have a real live bonified lawn! Sans weeds! That would be amazing....

Another Day, Another Window!

Saturday was almost a complete bust. In the AM, we rushed out of the house after seeing missionaries coming down the street towards our house. But we had planned on visiting a friend of ours in Hyannis anyway.

After we stopped there, we went to check out some possible free Anderson windows. Unfortunately, they had been sitting outside unprotected and were no good. Too bad, there were 8-10 big, nice windows.

So, we went home. Hung out for a bit, and then went to Home Depot to purchase windows. For the first time, they actually had the windows in the sizes we needed in stock.... Or, I should say, for the first time, we actually had a need for windows of a NORMAL size. Most of our windows had to be special ordered because of the old non-16-on-center construction.

We purchased the two for the mudroom. One to replace that old window, and one to replace the old door. But by the time we got home it was 6.

Mike, that psycho, said, "When does it get dark? 7? Do you think we could put this window in by 7 - in an hour?"

And so we did! We ripped out the old window, and just caulked and nailed in the new one. It fit so perfectly - no additional prep work was needed. Amazing! And, we were done in about a half hour. Record time!

Out with the Old

A few nails to hold in those shingles...

And In with the New

Done by Sundown!

Now, replacing that old door with a window will take some doing.... That will have to wait until this upcoming weekend.

Historical Shimishtorical

Mike and I got a letter from the Town on Wednesday. And for a split second, I imagined that our permit had arrived already - sans Conservation Commission.

When we opened it, we were shocked to discover that it came from the Historical Commission. Some Demolition Delay Bylaw would require us to pay $50 and appear before the Historical Commission - because our house is nearly 100 years old.

I was raging mad. First off - no demolition of any kind was in our permit. This was simply the addition of a farmer's porch - simple stuff, people! Second off, we hadn't gone through this when we lifted the entire house to put a foundation underneath... why was this project subject to this bylaw?!

And besides that - it's another $50 - so the Historical Commission can notify all my neighbors and everyone else in town via the newspaper. (And who reads that anymore anyway, but that's another blog.) So I have to pay another $50 on top of the $25 for the permit and another $50 because I'll probably still have to go through the conservation commission.

If that weren't enough, guess when the meeting is? 10am on a Tuesday. WTF!? So now, my husband has to miss work - lose pay - all in addition to paying the $50, I mean, $125.... At least the Conservation meetings are in the evening.

So Mike and I got into a huge argument. (We don't usually have arguments, so when I say huge argument - I mean we were just both pissed off.) At one point I said, "We didn't buy into any historical society and if we can't do what we want to this house - we're moving and I don't care."

I mean, we were pissed. And right there and then (at 10:00 at night mide you) I left a frantic and probably bitchy message on the town voicemail.

The next morning, however, a very nice woman called me back. In my psychoticness, I left the message on the wrong voicemail. (Well, they sent me the wrong business card, so partially not my fault, but I should have checked.)

Anyway, this woman was sooo nice. She explained that the law was created in just the past year or so, because of all the old buildings that were being just torn down in Bourne - without anyone saying anything about it. And I knew that to be true. I knew of a couple on my own street, in fact.

Urg... I hate to admit it, but I agree with the bylaw... having worked for the last almost 4 years to restore a historic Bourne home that probably would have been just bulldozed otherwise. And even though it's called a "Demolition" Bylaw - there's some stupid sentence somewhere in there that makes reference to the alteration to the exterior of the property... hence - our invitation to the commission review.

But I'm still not happy about the $50 and the Tuesday, 10am meeting. And I wouldn't mind it so much if I didn't have to go through the whole thing again with Conservation.

AND - with this "Demolition" notice being sent to my neighbors, they're going to think I'm tearing down my house or something!! That's probably going to get the Andersons up in a tizzy. I'm sure they'll show up at the meeting and claim that we're ruining a historical blah blah blah... Aholes.

I get so frustrated. But as I said, I do happen to agree with this bylaw. The nice town woman assured me that I probably wouldn't have any problems.... though she doesn't know about the Andersons. Plus, they're an old Bourne family who just love to throw their weighty opinions out in the open. And they may be politically connected as well.

I'm sooo nervous. And I'll be sweating it out for a couple weeks until the meeting.

Switching It Up a Little

You know it's almost spring when you get home from work and your husband says, "I was thinking about putting in those switches..."

Not, "Do you want to watch a movie?" Not, "I'm going out to the garage for a while." Not, "What's for dinner?" Those are all winter-laziness-type after work questions.

It's something about sunlight, I swear, that motivates us all to get more accomplished. That's why I say, YAY to turning forward the clocks in March. It really helps productivity around the house!

Now, I must admit I was super hungry last night and just wanted to laze about and stuff my face with veggie lasagna.... but this sign of spring could not be ignored.

So off we went to the home depot to get two three pole switches. (Having, of course, a box of plain 'ol two poles.) We also picked up a couple other little odds and ends - like a light activated light socket for your outdoor lights to turn them on when it gets dark and off when it's light.... Wow, how many times can I use the word light in one sentence!

Upon returning home we got right to work. And first thing - I put the light activated light socket (hereafter to be referred to as the "light thing") on our front door light. Low and behold - it worked. Yay. Ok, no problem.

But when I went to shut off the breaker for Mike to install the new switches - there was a buzzing emanating from the breaker box! Seeing as how strange electrical noises are never a good thing, we tested each breaker until we found the culprit....

The breaker controlling the living room lights and the front door light. The one with the light thing on it. So, naturally, I removed the light thing and the buzzing stopped. Weird, huh? Now, it may be because I have an energy saving bulb on that light. The light thing package warns "incandescent bulbs only." And also, the living room lights have a dimmer on them. The light thing package also warns, "do not place on the same circuit with a dimmer."

Of course, I had not read these before testing the thing. Who does? So unfortunately, I can't use the light thing! I was so disappointed, but I don't want my breaker box buzzing! That's freaky. I'd be worried about it constantly.

Even more disappointing, we couldn't get the switches hooked up. Wiring is confusing!! Especially in our basement and especially when you throw in 3 pole switching, new lights, old lights, new wires, two feeds.... I can't keep track.

But at least we tried to get stuff accomplished! A for effort!

Whatta Weekend!

It's 7am on Saturday and my alarm is going off.

Instead of whacking it violently, like I usually do, I calmly turn it off and get out of bed. I hop into a pair of jeans, my black sheep shirt, and a pair of Chooka Love Hurts purple rain boots and head downstairs to do all those morning chores - you know, feed the cats, brush my hair, make some oatmeal etc etc.

By 8am I'm on the road, headed to the ER to have my stitches taken out. (Long story, don't ask.) I'm there before 8:30 and low and behold - there's no one else there! I get right in and those three little pains are out before 9. My mom pops into the hospital room where I am - we were supposed to grab breakfast together, but I didn't expect her to meet me at the ER!

We run out, through the rain, over to pickup my new glasses - which have been sitting at the eye doctor's for two and a half weeks. And then we head over to Panera's for a coffee and pastry. It's not even 9:30.

We just barely get out coffee and get seated when Mike calls.

"Where are ya?" he says, obviously just waking up.
"I couldn't tell you last night," I replied, thinking of the impromptu neighborhood bash he'd had in the garage the previous night. "But I had a few things to do in Hyannis this morning"

I listed off my to-dos and promised him I'd be home by 11:30. While I was away, he offered to start working on the mudroom. AOK - cool.

By 10 I was off and running again, this time to drop off my friend's scarf she'd left at my house at my b-day party the previous weekend. We hung out at her house for a little bit, and as promised, I was on my way home by 11.

When I got there, Mike was just finishing up some wiring. And I won't bore you with the unending details - but by the end of the day, we had reconnected the mudroom outlet power (returning power to the laundry closet, all outlets, and a couple of the kitchen fixtures), disconnected the side light and replaced it with a security light, disconnected and removed the side doorbell, increased the laundry closet door height to match the new floor (thus preparing it for new doors), and installed the new basement stairs door complete with trim, new hinges, and a new knob.

What a day! And I had been worried that my morning errands would make this day another wash.... But boy did we get a lot done. We would have even put the old side light on the front next to the new doors, but Mike didn't have his drill bits at home, so we couldn't drill the hole for the wire.

Sunday, I was able to get more accomplished - even though Mike was out riding. I did errands like cleaning, laundry, grocery store, home depot, gas - the usual Sunday stuff. But I was still able to put up my two new candle sconces in the living room, paint the new basement door and trim in the same off-white as the hallway, and install the last remaining outlet needing to be installed in the hallway.

What a fulfilling weekend overall! I was so psyched! I can't wait for this upcoming weekend. I hope to get the new windows for the mudroom and put those in - taking out that 'ol original side door in the process. With the windows in, we'll be officially ready for drywall!

And... dare I say it? That means we're almost done....

The Deed Is Done

Well, I did it. Just this morning I dropped off the permit app and all related plans down at the town hall. Now we get to play the waiting game. It'll probably be a couple weeks before we get the call from Conservation. And after that we'll have to wait for the next hearing, which may be a couple more weeks.

Wouldn't it just kick butt if conservation didn't notice the river across the street? Or maybe the law has changed so that you can complete small projects on pre-existing structures without dealing with the red tape of conservation. I mean, they're only going to make me put up some hay bales! So I wait weeks and weeks for they to tell me that in some ridiculous public forum meeting, for which I have to alert all my neighbors?

Now if I was right on the ocean, or on a lake front, or on a river front - and I was doing new construction or messing with the sea wall or installing a septic - then I totally understand the purpose of Conservation.

But the thing is, we're across the street from a river. And it's not even a river - it's a dinky little herring stream. I could walk through it and barely get my ankles wet. And we're not even right on top of it! It's across the street - 100ft away. But Conservation says whenever you're less than 200 feet from a river, you must pay the ultimate price.... did I mention it's $50 just for processing of all the conservation paperwork? Talk about adding insult to injury. Not to mention you have to send all your abutters (neighbors) certified letters stating what you plan to do.

And in our case, that seems to get the Andersons up in arms. I wonder what kind of ridiculous plan they'll have for trying to stop us this time.... Thank god the rest of our neighbors are so supportive.

Moving Wires

I'm finally getting around to posting about this. We moved these wires the weekend before last, and I just couldn't get motivated enough to download the pics!

Anyway, let me explain it from the top. So we installed new french doors in the mudroom, but the light switches, 4 of them to be precise, were still located next to the old door! And really it would be silly to leave them there after we removed the old door. They had to be moved to next to the new door.

And although 4 switches does not seem like a lot, boy did they have a lot of wires going to them! Lights from the kitchen, lights from the mudroom, two exterior lights.... With two or three wires plus grounds for all, and then the feed and all its wires - that's a lot.

The first step was to label the wires as to which slot (1-6) they each went into. For two wires in one slot, we labeled #3.1 and #3.2. Then we drew a diagram to show which wires were connected to the switches and which were connected together.

Then came the fun part. Mike knew that we had slack in the wires in the small space above the mudroom. So he cut a trap door through our attic to access the space.


As you can tell, the space is very small and full of insulation dust - which made it difficult to breath in there. Mike and I both had turns pulling wires up the wall, through the ceiling, over to the opposite wall, and down from the ceiling. It was so uncomfortable, but we were able to get everything through.

Then we just followed our diagram and rewired everything. And although it sounds easy, with just a few steps - it took forever. Probably just because of the number of wires.

And even now there's more wiring related work to do. We have to hook up an additional exterior light outside the new door, move the doorbell, and wire for new exterior outlets to go on the farmer's porch.

At least now we can move onto the next step - preparing to repair the mudroom drywall - which has been torn apart during all these renovations plus cracks from the house lifting.

Making Trades

First off, let me just thank all 'yalls for your input on my - What-Should-We-Do-With-Our-Tax-Refund-Money survey. I'm happy to report that we got our return last Friday. (Thank you e-file with direct deposit! Quicker than quaker!)

But over the weekend a trade opportunity made the decision for us. We have in our possession a '99 Honda F4 motorcycle. And although I love the thing to death, Mike hates its ergonomics. He bought a cruiser last summer and has since wanted to sell the F4. Anyway, to make a long story just a little bit shorter, our friend and carpenter showed interest in purchasing it.

And on Sunday Mike offered him this trade: the bike for the porch.
*Materials not included. Labor only.

And he agreed! Labor on the porch plus extra... Mike did not elaborate to me on what the "extra" might be, but I don't really care. I thought that was a really awesome deal! Everybody wins.

On the same day, TJ was over too and took with him our sketchy permit sketch. He's going to turn our scribblings into a permit ready work of art! Thank goodness, because we were at a loss at how to draw the roof line and what materials to list out.

Now, if we can manage to get the permit stuff in by next week - I'd imagine that we could be through conservation by April 1st. And I imagine we have to go through conservation again. Crazy - for something so small as a porch. Then, we could begin construction shortly after. That would be nearly perfect timing - with spring in the air...

So all that money will be put towards materials. In addition to the porch itself, don't forget that we'll also have to re-do the siding on the front of the house. We plan to get rid of the gross blue junk we have now and put up clapboards - not the wood kind, but the kind that look like wood but never need any maintenance or anything. More on that when I find out more on that. =)

On the Porch

Mike asked me recently what I wanted this farmer's porch to look like. And I found I couldn't give him a very descriptive answer. In fact, he had no clue what I was talking about. So I dug up this picture on the net:
Believe it or not, this house is actually in my town. Down by the library, the picture-taker told me. (Picture-taker... yeah, how about photographer, jess?) I wish I had a current pic of my actual house to compare it to.... then again, it would put my house to shame.

THIS is pretty damn near to what I want ours to look like. The white with green, the farmer's porch, the super-nice grass... *sigh*

But you can see what I was trying to explain to Mike on the porch - he said, "What do you want it to look like?" and I said, "Like a fence! You know, with posts..." And he said, "Oh, columns?" So, you can see how circularly confusing that conversation was.

But this is a great pic, because this house is the same exact style as ours, except for the mudroom jutting out the right hand side... that will be tough with the porch roof line.

Ahhh, Friday at Long Last

I've never been so happy to be on the edge of a weekend! February is almost over and I'm feeling fine. Over the past week, I've gotten so much relieving news too. No more worries for me! Well... at least not as many.

We did our taxes last night - and now comes time for the all important tax-return decision. If you remember, last year's returns purchased all the hardwood for the upstairs. I'm wondering if we should continue this year and purchase all the hardwood for the downstairs...

Or, should we save it for the construction of the farmer's porch.

I'm really on the fence about this one. Getting the hardwood for the downstairs would bring the house-interior-doneness level up to over 95%. As in the upstairs, we'd have to fix the downstairs drywall cracks, install subfloor and hardwood, and then finish the baseboard and other trim. And although that's a lot of work - it's the last hoorrah. At that point, the downstairs would be officially nearly done. We'd just have to do our stair railing and a couple other little things and that would be it. An amazing concept....

But we've been really gearing up for the farmer's porch, what with the installation of the french doors and permit preparation. Putting on the farmer's porch would be a huge improvement for the house's exterior. At the same time, we'd replace the disgusting old siding on the front of the house with nice clapboards - white with green shutters, window boxes, and of course the beautiful porch. It would be picture perfect.... at least from the front.

I want both equally as much! Ok housebloggers, let's take a vote. What would you do if you were me? Interior doneness or exterior progress?

This Room's Name Is Mud

Just when I was riding high on the progress of the mudroom, (soon to be dining room by the way) an obstacle popped out and smacked me in the butt. Upon said smack, I fell down and a fight ensued, causing major suable damages to myself and the obstacle in question.

Ok, so that's a gross exaggeration of a weird metaphor. Let's back this truck up.

On Sunday, Mike was with our carpenter friend and DIY answer man, TJ. And of course, Mike showed off the mudroom floor and talked with him about our plans for the room's floor. (Tile by the door and in the laundry closet, and the remainder of our 3/8" hardwood for the rest.)

But TJ pointed out that since this was the house's main entry point and an extreme high traffic, high dirt, high muddy boots stomping all over the place room - the 3/8" hardwood would quickly wear down. And, being 3/8 and not 3/4 - you can only refinish it a couple times before completely refinishing it down to nothing. He suggested that we tile the entire room.

He's right. He's 100% right. But I have several problems with tiling the entire room.

1. From a design/personal opinion standpoint - I think tile is too cold and unloving for a dining room.
2. We don't have enough leftover kitchen tile to do the entire mudroom, and I don't want to have to buy new tile.
3. The kitchen tile design, although fine for beneath the french door and laundry closet, does not match the color scheme of the room and I'd have to re-think all that.
4. We currently have plenty of leftover 3/8" hardwood from the upstairs to do the mudroom. BUT, that's the only room we could use 3/8 in. The rest of the house we need to do in the more supportive 3/4. So... we'd be left with a whole bunch of 3/8 that we could never ever use anywhere else. (Can you say, a lot of money just sitting around?!)
5. I cannot afford to purchase 3/4 right now. If I was to purchase it, I would want to purchase for the entire amount I need for the entire downstairs anyway.
6. For all those above reasons - this delays the completion of the room.

So Mike and I talked about it back and forth. We went through all the options. We finally decided to just put down the 3/8 with a couple of rows of tile. I will purchase an area rug to help cut down on damage to the floor, and if we indeed need to replace it 5 years down the line, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

It's just the most cost effective, materials effective, time effective solution. And I know it's probably not the best solution - but we're going to just go with it.

Semi-Solved

Alright - I know you've all been wondering how the whole plywood ordeal turned out.

We returned to the DeepHo Friday night with our electro-measuring thingie. Sure enough, the plywood measured 0.46... something. (Or, 15/32.)

I said to Mike, "Well, how is that going to work with the piece we have currently that measures 0.4?!"

He replied, "Oh, that measured the same... 0.4-something."

Ok, he forgot to mention the dot dot dot after the 0.4 when he told me the measurement the other day. So the piece we had in was in fact 15/32.

So we purchased all we needed, used our coupon. 15/32 seems to be the standard "actual" width of 1/2" plywood. BUT that does not excuse the Home Depot from labeling it in such a manner, thus confusing those of us (like myself) who are novice DIY - er's. LABEL IT 1/2" OR DO NOT LABEL IT AT ALL!

Over the weekend, I was working like a crazy gal - 14 hour days all weekend - the whole bit. While I was working, I asked Mike to go on Saturday and see if our good friend Hal still had his extra Anderson window and if we could get it/buy it.

But when I got home Saturday night (at about 10pm mind you) I was shocked and elated to discover that he had installed all the plywood in the mudroom! He had even moved our stackable washer/dryer all by himself. It was all done and it looked awesome!

He hadn't gone to see about the window, but I didn't care - this was great! Another big step in finishing the mudroom! And it made my tough weekend just that much easier!

It's Only A Little Bit Off....

Undo shenanigans. That's what we're dealing with here. UNDO shenanigans.

Let's back up a few months into last summer, I believe it was. Mike and I purchased what we thought was a 1/2" sheet of plywood from the DeepHo, brought it home, measured and cut it to our needs, plopped it in place, and discovered that it was not 1/2" plywood.

It was, in fact, we discovered after making some measurements and checking the markings on the plywood sheet itself - 15/32."

Now, you may think that 15/32 is not so far off from 1/2, (which would be 15/30) but when you're working on an underlayment for a floor and you have even the most minuscule difference, it makes a BIG difference.

So we got pissed and couldn't use the piece. But, we figured that it was just a flook. We picked plywood from the wrong DeepHo bin - or somehow it had been mislabeled, or that piece had been put back incorrectly, something like that.

Fast forward to last night. I had a coupon for the DeepHo, so we figured we'd head down and purchase the rest of the plywood for the mudroom floor. And low and behold the plywood was labeled as such: "15/32 or 1/2"

Or. What is the word "or" doing in that sentence? It should not be "or" and moreover, it should not be "15/32" It should be 1/2. But apart from that, "or" in there begs the question: WHICH IS IT?

In an industry where fractions of an inch can make your life and the life of your future flooring a living hell - why the crap would they do that? Even a big box store like Home Depot should know that they're just going to piss people off with undo shenanigans like that.

And so we're standing there staring at it.

We have in the mudroom already one sheet of 1/2" plywood. And now we're second guessing that piece. Is it really 1/2" or is it 15/32? Because if you had all of one or the other, life would be grand. But you can't have both.

And then we're thinking, well, is this Home Depot bin full of 15/32 AND 1/2? Are we playing plywood Russian roulette?! What are they doing to us?

So of course, with all these doubts in our minds, we left without buying anything - much to our aggravation. Upon returning home and measuring our already installed piece of plywood - it measured 0.4" and 15/32 works out to 0.46875."

And now we're even more confused on what to do. Another strike against big box stores. But what am I supposed to do? I shop there because I can use my Home Depot card. I suppose I should just get a regular credit card and shop elseware... but then there's the fact that Home Depot is open later hours (because everyone in the known world works 9-5) and all that. Plus the coupon!

Watch your local DeepHo stores! "OR" is on the loose! Along with a buncha fractions that have no place in standard construction.

Time, Mike, and a Dream about a Toilet

Yes, I had a dream about a toilet - weird huh? I haven't even been thinking about it lately either. It's been a good toilet. Anyway, I knew I had to address that first because that's why you clicked onto this post. I dreampt that we were getting a new toilet as a temporary solution. I don't remember much else except images of shopping for a toilet. Maybe it means something... or maybe I'm just bathroom obsessed.

Time has been killing me. I've been doing some traveling for work and it's been just exhausting. I slept 24 hours between Saturday night and now. And Sunday I spent the entire day recovering from the previous week on the couch. Next weekend will be work crazy too - no rest for the weary.

While I was away, Mike did a lot of work in the back back yard. He pulled out a lot of stumps and loaded up the truck 3 times with dump runs of stumps. (Great band name: Dump Runs of Stumps.) I haven't even been back to look at the yard, but I'm sure with that much stumpage gone, it looks great.

Mike was also going to put in the new basement door for me on Saturday night, but his back was killing him from the stumps. He did manage to cut the drywall in prep for the door though. The current door to the basement is an old 24" bi-fold closet door that we shortened to fit. But since it wasn't a solid wood door, shortening it basically ruined it. I wouldn't recommend it. It just doesn't fit in the tracks like it should and falls out every time you try to open it. The new door is also 24", but it's solid and we decided that rather than cut the door, we'd just add height to the doorway.

(This original doorway was for a tiny closet under the upstairs stairs, and a short one at that.)

So hopefully we can get that accomplished this week if I'm not too pooped. AND the new french doors, which are still not screwed in completely. I need to push to get that room done. I need to push myself too.