Organized!

Mission organization continues... and in fact, I think I may be done with the basement! Or, at least with my stuff  in the basement. (I'm not reorganizing Mike's stuff. It's just a disaster in his areas and I refuse to be aggravated with cleaning that.)

Yesterday I took on the bins in the bathroom closet. Two were filled mostly with wrapping and present materials, so I started there, separating the bags from the tissue from the ribbons. And that led to the thought, "Hmm, I have more bags and tissue and ribbons in other bins under the basement stairs." So I pulled those out and separated everything: bags, tissue, ribbons, boxes, and wrapping paper. (And of course - trash, of which there was a ton.)

So once all the wrapping material was straight, I got to fixing up all the christmas boxes and other bins under the stairs. They were all messed up after I had torn out all the bulk t.p. and paper towels and diapers to put them in the new basement bathroom closet.

After I reorganized and replaced all the boxes and bins under the stairs, I found I had room for more stuff! So I went around the basement, gathered up anything that could be considered "mine" (anything not a tool, a building material, or parts) and incorporated it under the stairs.

Here is the result... And there's still room for more stuff if necessary.

And here's the closet so far - completely organized except for those few tools you see there on the third shelf. There's still more room here too - mostly in the small drawers underneath the shelves. As we demolish and re-do the upstairs bathroom, there will be more moving and re-moving of stuff too, so additional space is a good thing.

Take That, Locust

Last year during hurricane Irene, a huge branch fell off our front yard locust tree, knocking out our power for 6 days. Compounding the problem, Nstar was lax in their response to the problem, despite our poor two year old, who had the stomach flu through half of the outage. Nstar continued to mark the job as "completed" when in fact it wasn't. We were still in the dark when the rest of the town... and the rest of the street were on. Mike and I were livid. Mike told them over the phone, "I want you to come out here after this is all over and remove this tree. You owe us that."

Just over a year later, they did in fact make good on that promise.

When I saw the trucks arrive in front of our house, I was ecstatic. I grabbed my camera, pulled up a chair on the porch, and enjoyed the show - Sweet revenge on that ugly, ugly pain in the butt tree.

The "Before" as the trucks have just arrived.

Boom man cuts the low branches first

Moving up, cutting branches

Time to give this guy a hair cut

Cutting and dropping

Up to the tippy top

Carrying down the branches

Dopping branches

Tree's looking uglier than ever

There goes the top

Bringing it down to size

Halfway there

Now for the big logs

Last few logs

Time to drop it!

Finishing the incision

Timber!

And it's down!

We elected to keep the wood - it will be lots of good firewood after it's seasoned, and after we get the wood stove installed of course.

And what a nice view in the front yard without that ugly thing.

And Up...

The chimney crew was back on the job Monday evening - completing another 10 feet.

One more evening and the chimney will be complete! Wow. Then, just connect up the wood stove, get everything inspected, and light a fire... just in time for fall.

Downstairs in the basement bathroom, we've made a little progress here and there. Monday, (before the chimney guys arrived) Mike hooked up all the outlets and the closet light. I continue to pick away at closet organizing whenever I get a free moment. We still need to stain all the doors, install the closet doors, and complete trim on all doors. After that - window trim. And then it's done. Wow again. Strong words. "Done." I don't hear myself saying that very often!

Going Up and Going Down

Amazing what the impending end of summer can accomplish for you. In our case, we had a visit on Sunday from Timmy, our carpenter. He was all set and ready to build those front steps. Wow. Ok. Mike dug out the rest of the decking planks from the basement, some lumber lock screws, and some joist hangers, and we were ready to rock - no additional purchases needed.

A few quick hours later and we had the stairs we'd been waiting for... for four years. (Hard to believe we started this porch four years ago, aint it?)

 

Next up, we'll have to purchase the two railings, two posts, and six 6" post end caps. I think I'm giving up on my dream of having solar lit post end caps. They just don't exist in 6" for a reasonable price. (4" solar lit ones are under $20 at the DeepHo - but we don't have 4" posts.) I just want ye-old regular end caps to finish off this job! Those plus a little bit more trim... a little stain on these front steps... a little bit more lattice work... and this job is done.

While Timmy was over, Mike talked to him about the kitchen roof. As you'll recall, it's been tarped since March when we discovered that it was leaking on the back wall when we were re-re-doing the kitchen in early spring. Well, needless to say it can't be tarped all winter. The tarp is in fact, fading fast as you can imagine. So Timmy took some measurements and he'll see if he can order the roofing through his work. He'll be getting back to us on that - the roof job will need to be completed before weather gets cold. Rubber roof cannot be done under 50 degrees. It's scientifically impossible.

Now that we've gone down (stairs), we move on to up - the chimney. The chimney guys will be back this Friday night and plan to go up another 10 feet. So, in preparation, Mike loaded the scaffolding with blocks and removed the siding from another 10' up the house.

Mikey on the scaffolding

Mike tears off siding up another 10 feet.

 Meanwhile, in the basement, Mike cemented in the top part of the chimney hook up (or whatever you call it.) And as for me... in the bathroom... my closet organizer arrived on Monday, but Mike did not have an opportunity to install it. I must admit, I'm dying to organize. I'm hoping he'll be able to do it tonight, since tomorrow we'll be having friends over and Friday night is chimney night. BUSY!

Up, Up, and Up Some More

Mike successfully exchanged the chimney liners and the guys were back to work last night, 6pm to 9pm. This time, they were up to house level and had to cut into the old siding to get the blocks right up against the house.

You'll see that the hole has finally been filled. (No more rain storm cave-ins and re-digs.) Also, you'll see that the guys are almost up to the old hole in the wall... This, we cut into the house when we were first renovating and imagined that we'd put a fireplace or wood stove in the living room. Now, of course, we're going in a different direction with the stove in the basement. The living room hole has long since been filled and covered on the inside of the house - and now it's about to be covered on the outside.

Next session, more cutting... more blocks... and so on and so forth right up to the top of the house.

Chimney Holes, Stair Stringers, and Other Surprises

All of a sudden and out of nowhere - chaos! Yesterday evening, the chimney guys arrived to begin construction. Yes, yesterday evening. They arrived around 5pm and worked until nearly 9pm. After those few hours, we had two brand new holes in the basement wall:

 And outside, we have the start of a chimney nearing ground level:

 

Bad news, some of our materials are the wrong size... the liners do not fit. Mike's going to have to make a call and see if we can get them exchanged. Once that's taken care of, the guys will return and it's up, up, and away with the rest of it.

Believe it or not, while the chimney guys were working, our neighbor stopped by and told us that our carpenter told him that Home Depot had the stair stringers we needed for the porch for just $15 each. He was going over there and offered to pick them up for us... uh, ok? And sure enough, he was back around 8pm with four stair stringers. So... the porch is all of a sudden happening again. After the stair stringers, we really don't need to purchase much more. The biggest ticket items will be the two railings and the 6 post end caps. Which I suppose I'll be ordering soon?

If that wasn't enough, I've still got bathroom on the brain. Last week I visited Lowes and picked up a brushed nickle mirror for over the sink:

I also ordered the Rubbermaid FastTrack Pantry Kit - from Amazon. Theirs was just $116 with free shipping, as compared to Lowes $149. (And I did check it out while I was at Lowes - they had one left in stock and it had already been opened. No thank you. It was meant to be, I saved big bucks buying through Amazon instead.)

The kit is due to be delivered next Monday, so I'm hoping Mike will be able to take a break from all his other tasks to install it for me.

It's a Girl!

Our new baby girl, Zaida, finally arrived on Thursday 8/2, and man are we ever happy she's here. For me, it begins a much needed break from our fast paced finish everything rush of the past few months. (And also relief from all the back pain and heartburn.) Finally, I get to just sit and relax and recuperate with a little girl happy in my arms.

It also gives me time to catch up on all the computer activities I had to put aside in the last couple months of pregnancy.

So, here are some much needed house blog updates:

Baby Room
First, lets get the final picture of the old office, now split with room for my desk and all of Zaida's things.

As you can imagine, the desk is on the other side of the room. And I am waiting for the pictures for those frames to arrive in the mail. (Another computer job I was finally able to complete.)

Basement Bathroom
Some time before I gave birth, Mike installed the basement bathroom doors. No, they're not stained yet. No, they're not trimmed yet. But they're hung! And you can close them! Oooo! Stain and trimming are next on the agenda. Next on my agenda in the basement, the closet. I'm so sick of having to travel up and down for towels and toiletries. And I can't wait to store bulk items like diapers, paper towels, and toilet paper in there. All I need is a closet organizer. This one from Rubbermaid is pretty much exactly what we need: http://www.lowes.com/pd_325991-315-FG3R16FTWHT_4294857751__?productId=3239927&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=

Four deep adjustable shelves. What do you think it costs? Well, at the local Lowes, it costs $150. What what? That's over $35 per shelf. Redonkulous. But I'd really like to get the Rubbermaid, since that's the same one we have in the mudroom and we can use some of the extra shelves and tracks leftover from that project, if need be.

Chimney
Mike was sick of waiting for the inspector. He imagined that he'd already come, but not signed off on the permit because it was inside the house, taped to the window. So he went to the town hall with it, and got it signed in person.

Straight from the town hall, he went and ordered all the chimney block and other needed materials to build. Those were just delivered a few days ago and already Mike has scheduled the chimney dude to start building this coming Monday. We'll see just how fast this thing can go up. The dude told him it would only take a couple days, max. It will be nice to complete this project and fill the hole. (And yes, it has once again caved in from recent heavy rain. Mike's going to need to dig it out again, so you can imagine his excitement.)

Exterior
Outside the house, Mike spent part of his paternity week off cleaning up the yard. Our neighbor recently contracted Lyme disease with several horrible complications all arising from a tick bite. Fearful for the fam, Mike borrowed a brush cutter and took down the massive overgrowth in the back back yard. Then, he cleaned out underbrush along the edges of our property and used the weed whacker to take down the tall grass on our hill (too steep to mow) and around the house.

Next Up?
Don't forget, there's still a tarp over the kitchen roof. This will need to be completed before the winter.

Making Half an Effort... Maybe

Friday the 27^th – day four past my due date. I’m tired. Lethargic. Bored. Most everything has been done… I’m procrastinating a whole lot of stuff that doesn’t matter too much. Like D batteries. I’m not sure if I have any. And I don’t feel like checking.

The office/nursery is all set up except for a random extra changing table and the bassinet, which are both just hanging out in the room for now. Both will eventually go into our bedroom – again, I just don’t feel like making the rearranging effort until I need to. Mike will have some time off to help me when this baby finally does come anyway.

And have I taken a picture to show you all? No.

Meanwhile, other things are just trudging along slowly. Down in the bathroom we put up one hook for towels, a toilet paper holder, and all the lightbulbs for the vanity and fan fixtures. I bought a dimmer switch and a wall plate to go with it yesterday on my way home. That will probably go up in the coming days along with the closet light and light switch. I’m also looking forward to doors… nothing new in that department yet.

Outside, the chimney foundation is still as it was. We’re still waiting for the town to come and inspect. In the past week or two, heavy thunderstorms have caved in the hole more then once. Mike dug it out, then dug it out again, then dug it out and made a barrier of wood scraps to keep it from washing out. So far, it seems to be holding, but we hope for the inspection soon.

No sign of our carpenter in regards to work on the porch. But we were all out of the house on a family outting last Sunday anyway. Doesn’t much matter since we haven’t ordered or even listed out the next round of materials needed.

And that’s just about all the news that’s fit to print. Mike’s had a ton of misc stuff of his own to take care of – a jetski fix-to-sell project, a 4wheeler fix for a friend, a lawn tractor fix… There’s no shortage of work to be done out in the garage.

Me, I’ll just keep on waiting.

Lots of Work For A Little Concrete Square

The dudes came on Monday and formed, then poured the chimney footing, attaching to the house's foundation with rebar. Sounds easy enough, but involved a lot of digging, cutting, mixing, and pouring. The result:

Yup, there it is. That tiny little square with the inscription, "The Boys." Their calling card. And while the dudes were in the hole, Mike fixed the back brakes in the dude's truck. Both parties were more then satisfied with the work accomplished.

Today, Mike called the town inspector, who said he'd be out today to review the work. Undoubtedly, we'll get some paperwork in the mail with the result of that first inspection. Beyond that, we have some more materials to purchase and a second day of work to schedule. The dude estimates he can build the chimney all the way to the top in just a couple days if not one. All good.

Tonight, Mike also installed the vanity light, switch, and multi-function switch in the basement bathroom. At long last, maybe we can get a mirror above the sink. (At long last... listen to me. This thing hasn't even been functional a week. My concept of time is warped.)

Ta-da! Of course, we only had one light bulb in stock. This is probably the only light fixture in the house that takes regular bulbs and not those little tiny expensive whatever they are's. The fan fixture is another story. Mike claims it did not come with light bulbs. I claim that nearly every fixture I've ever purchased from Home Depot came with light fixtures. It must have and we just either lost them or threw them out with the box. Frustrating now, since it takes SUPER WEIRD bulbs.

My next task is to go to the Home Depot, find the fixture, notate which light bulbs we need, and purchase. Perhaps tomorrow.

Nesting Together

Nesting: A pregnant woman's natural urge to clean, prepare, and accomplish mass quantities of to-do's before the arrival of a new baby. You might ask, "so how is that any different then your normal self?"

In my first pregnancy I was obsessed with removing the mildew smell from an old steamer truck that we used to keep all our Halloween costumes in. (Which were also smelly.) I succeeded in de-stinking the costumes but had little luck on the box.... which I ended up just throwing away after giving birth despite all the crazy efforts I'd gone through.

This time around, we had the yard sale. I've been thinking to myself that it would be useful to schedule a pregnancy every 5 years or so just so I could find the motivation to re-organize and clean out the entire house. (Not going to happen by the way.)

The strange thing is, now with only a couple weeks left to go, everyone around me seems to want to help "build the nest" so to speak. Take the past week as an example:

Monday Mike had our plumber over and the two of them finished the pump plumbing downstairs.

Tuesday through Thursday nights after work, Mike completed final plumbing on the downstairs sink and shower, hooked up the recessed lights and fan fixture, vacuumed the entire downstairs, and began work on drywall outside of the bathroom so that the doors will be able to be hung.

Thursday night, we began using the bathroom full time. 7/12/12. Mikey was the first one to take a bath in "the big tubby." And with everything functional, Mike and I were soon to follow. We brought down what we needed from the old bathroom - all shower soaps/shampoos and the shower curtain. We also brought down toothbrushes and toothpaste and a couple other things. I had to leave my contacts and the hair brushes upstairs, since we have no mirror downstairs as of yet. (Can't put up a mirror until we see where the light fixture over the sink is going to sit exactly.) And with no towel racks and no hooks, it's a little difficult to bring down all the towels and bathrobes.

So we're living in the middle of a Tale of Two Bathrooms. Downstairs shower, upstairs miscellaneous.

And you can blame my nesting for a couple of giant bathroom related shopping trips on Friday and Saturday if you'd like. I picked up a new shower curtain rod, curtain holders, curtain, liner, microfiber absorbent bath mat, soap dispenser, toothbrush holder, over-the-door hooks, toilet paper holder, and one single hook. Of course, I was unhappy with the expense of nice bathroom accessories. The brushed nickle shower curtain rod alone was $40. The bath mat was $25... I had wanted the larger one, but it was $60. Ouch. Everything else was between $10 and $20 each. (The only thing from stopping me from buying the rest - towel rods, closet organizer, shelving etc etc.)

Mike also admitted to me he cleaned out the shop at work of his own accord. I didn't tell him there was such a thing as male nesting, but there is.

Now to the weird part... out of the blue, Mike scheduled the dude to come set the chimney foundation form - tomorrow. And he's coming. Wow.

If you think that's a coincidence, our neighbor dropped by this morning and said our carpenter wanted to come by and measure our porch to build the final front steps in the coming weekends. And he'll give us an estimate on a rubber roof for the kitchen, which we hope to accomplish in early September while the weather is still warm, but not scorching.

And he came by! I somehow missed the doorbell ringing, but he left a note and said he'd be back in a couple of weeks to do the job. Mike will give him a call to get the materials list.

It's enough to make your head spin!

Thank god I'm keeping busy. Saturday, after that big shopping trip, I came home and did this:

A little wall decor in the baby's area. (Since we share the room.) I also put up some other decorative shelves that had been sitting around gathering dust and completed a photo collage for the hallway with some of our travel pictures. Then I brought up a toy sized box from downstairs and loaded it with all the baby toys previously stored in Mikey's closet. And that's all just the tip of the iceberg of progress I made yesterday.

Plans for this week - well, I guess there's a foundation being set tomorrow. Mike still needs to install the vanity light in the new bathroom along with some other small bits that we need to hit the home depot for. (Outlets, covers, a multi-function switch for the fan, light bulbs...) Then there's the completion of that drywall so we can hang both doors, nevermind the complete and utter destruction of the upstairs bathroom. That's going on video. And I'm going to be a part of it no matter what. Just give me a respirator and a hammer. It's going to be smashing!

Truckin Stuff

Chimney Dude dropped off his truck last Saturday night. Mike fixed it on Sunday. Chimney Dude picked it up on Sunday night.

One half of the trade, completed.

The dude examined our hole, which had washed out some in the recent rains, and gave Mike a couple notes such as, "go a little deeper" and "you may lose that bathroom window." Tuesday night, Mike re-dug the washed out portion. So.... we're ready.

In the next step, the dude is going to set the forms for the chimney's foundation. That has to be inspected before we can actually pour the foundation. Then, it's up, up, and away! Seems fairly simple to me, but as always, we'll see how it goes. We have no clue when the dude will be back out to set the forms.

In the mean time, I've been poking and poking Mike to schedule our plumber for the last phase of bath-madness. (The pump to the septic part.) Our old bathroom is doing worse by the minute, leaking water everywhere. I fear that some day soon the floor is just going to give way and I'm going to end up in the basement with a real mess on my hands. But I doubt he's remembered today either... his memory is worse then mine these days.

And me? I'll be pooped until I'm popped, I guess. I have no energy, extreme pain, and plenty on my mind. I could probably sleep half the day away and spend the second half on the couch eating tacos. Fish tacos. With avocado. Yes, California style. But instead I spend my little bit of free time trying to arrange and clean the upstairs once-office now turning-nursery. The crib's up, the swing and bassinet are assembled, and the dresser changing table is purchased and in place. Nothing is quite put away yet... but I did do my first load of chemical-free dye-free fragrance-free laundry!

Yay?

Chimney - A Reality?

Great and unexpected news - chimney work is scheduled to begin this Sunday! I was betting against this project for the simple reason that we started it before we should have and created a giant hole in the yard.

The arrival of the permit was the first surprise. Now, the guys have scheduled themselves for this coming Sunday. Mike is going to fix the dude's truck and the dude is going to poor the footing. (I still have no clue how we're funding this endeavor by the way.)

This last weekend, I also spoke to our plumber regarding the basement bathroom. (Yes, that's still down there... just hangin out.) He's available, in his words, "whenever" to come over and plumb what we need plumbed - the pump to the septic, out. Awesome! So when are we available? Ur... um... uh... dunno. Maybe I shouldn't have started the conversation without a calendar and the entire family at hand.

Already this weekend's booked... so, the following? Of course I wasn't able to articulate that when I was talking to the guy. We'll see what happens after this weekend, I suppose.

A Rug Counts For Something

Yes. Yes it does. You see, I was searching for an economical and quality rug option for the upstairs old-office-turning-new-baby-room/office for quite a while. Probably close to a month - ever since we had the yard sale, really. The problem is, large 7x10 to 8x11 area rugs in modern colors and designs just don't come cheap. (Neither do traditional colors and designs, actually.) I scoured the internet and local stores for weeks... even looked in New Hampshire while I was there a couple weekends ago. Nothing. I was looking to spend about $150.

Of course I'm well aware that these sizes of rugs run upwards of twice that amount. And to top it all off, I was looking for something of quality. You know, a nice pile height that your feet would be pleased to walk on... that your butt would be happy to sit on... that your baby could fall over on and not cry for too long... So obviously it didn't surprise me that finding such a rug was nearly impossible.

Then on an exasperated whim, I did a google search for "discount rugs." One of the first sites on the list was Overstock.com. Hmmm. I'd never thought of searching there. I clicked in, started looking around, and was surprised to find a HUGE selection in my price range. From descriptions and ratings, the rugs seemed to be of good quality.

I picked out this one:

For a price of just $164. (Don't forget their $2.95 everyday shipping, too!) I added it to my cart and said to myself, "I'll buy it on Friday." This was on Wednesday or Thursday. Friday comes around and I'm all excited... go to the cart... and now it's on sale! $146! I was getting the rug I wanted and the price dropped under my budget. Psyched. So psyched.

Ordered it and it arrived the following Tuesday - just this past Tuesday, if fact. (Fast shipping for $2.95, right? I was def impressed!) It's up in the room now, laid out but still awaiting a non-skid pad for underneath.

Then, we can start assembling all that lovely baby furniture and arranging and re-arranging.

So that's my long rug story. Around the house, not much has been happening. Mike was in NH for a week and I've been completely helpless with allergies and back pain. (Very frustrating.) Needless to say, we still have the giant hole in back of the house where the alleged wood stove chimney will go. No word from the dude who's supposedly building it for us as of yet.


Then, randomly, we got the permit in the mail. So they granted us the permit without the plans they asked for. Strange. Ok. So we're all dressed up and no where to go at this point.

A Hole, A Yard Sale, and A Place for Everything

News news and more news.

The new chimney project is for the wood stove - good news. It's not going in the same place as the old chimney. The old furnace chimney will eventually have to be replaced. That's our first headline of the week.

Mike has not received the plans from his friend yet... but hopes to by Monday so that he can return to the town hall and get the permit squared away. Nevertheless, he began digging for the footing.

And I have to admit, there's less of a mark on the yard then I had imagined. But here we are, sitting on a hole in the yard for over a week with no plan and no permit. Just gives me something else to worry about, if I didn't have enough on my plate already.

Second headline of the week: Yard Sale Sales Decent! Ok, so it wasn't a mad rush of people and we didn't make a million dollars. I don't think the craigslist ad did anything for us and neither did the signs... last time I put Mike in charge of signage. No clue where he put those things. Most of our folks were neighborhood locals.

But still, we sold a lot of the big stuff, make enough to make it worthwhile, and made some much needed space.

I spent the rest of Sunday and potions of Monday trying to organize stuff. Mostly stuff that had previously been stored on the now-junked bookshelf.

Some of the stuff is scattered around our bedroom and some of it is still in the office. But I made good progress for the amount of time I had and how incredibly tired I was feeling.

While I was cleaning, Mike was down in the bathroom. Yes, I said the bathroom. He had, over the previous couple of days, gotten the foam brushes and completed the final coat of stain on the trim. On Monday, he installed it and began the laborious tasks of getting in the sink and toilet.


The toilet posed a bit of a problem because some of the tile around it was cut too wide and it showed on one side. We discussed it and decided we didn't want to wait to fix it. "It's a bathroom in a basement," I repeated. So when all was said and done and the toilet was in place, there was a little bit of caulking showing on one side. (I still say, No Big Deal.)

After the toilet, Mike installed the faucet fixture to the sink, attached the sink top to the cabinet for good, and put the whole thing in place. Plumbing will have to wait, as the caulking had to dry. 

Onward and upward! Mike hopes to bring back our plumber friend to help him properly plumb the pump to the septic-out and test everything. Me? I hope to finish organizing and find a rug for the now half-office so we can set up all the baby furniture. (Seven more weeks to go!)

Wait... What?!

I think I've reached the pregnancy state of total brain capacity overload. Mikey's Birthday party has come and gone... my good friend's Bachelorette Weekend has come and gone... Everything should be hunky dorey, under control.

Yeah, no.

I feel more flustered the ever. More in a rush to complete things that I can't complete. More frustrated by the lack of interest over at Craigslist. (Buy my stuff, people!) And generally more exhausted by the every day. Very unusual for me.

We're having the big yard sale this Sunday - selling a bunch of furniture from the upstairs office and basement, miscellaneous items, chainsaws, an outboard motor, some electronics including a DVD player, video camera, and keyboard... Should be highly exciting, but not a big money maker. Mike is wondering why I'm putting forth such effort for so little return. "Why don't you just take everything to the dump?" he asks. Sorry my stuff isn't worth very much, but it is worth something... I hope. Least I can do is try. If that doesn't work - free on the lawn. If that doesn't work - dump.

Down in the basement, we're stuck. On mother's day we measured and cut as much of the baseboard trim as we could without installing the doors. (Which apparently is going to be an issue because there needs to be drywall on the other, unfinished side of the wall before those can be hung?! WTF) So all the trim is cut... two coats of stain applied... but it needs a third coat. And we're out of spongy brushes. The trim is on hold for spongy brushes. The doors are on hold for drywall. The rest of the trim is on hold for doors. The plumbing is on hold for trim.

I'm so ready to just take a knife and stick it in my brain, repeatedly. The whole situation is so stressful, I think I've just been blocking it from my mind completely.

Meanwhile, Mike in his infinite wisdom has taken steps to start an entirely new project. Great. Something else to take time away from the entirely unfinished old projects. It's another opportunity, much like the kitchen, that cannot be ignored, so I understand. But timing is incredibly bad. The short of it, there's a dude, with a truck, that needs some major work. In trade for a truck-fix, he has offered to build us a new chimney. Whether this is just for the furnace or for a wood stove, I have no clue.

Mike said we couldn't do two flu - floo? No clue how to spell it, but it can't be done. There's not enough room. So what is this for?! I have no idea. I really hope we're not going through all this effort for just a furnace venting chimney.

On Monday he went to the town and applied for the permit. They called him back on it asking for plans, which he's having the dude draw up for him. This thing is for really real. And then he dropped the bomb on me last night that he was going to have to dig for the chimney foundation.... alllllllllll the way to the floor of the house foundation.

And I'm thinking to myself, are you freaking kidding me? We just managed to get some grass growing over there and now you're going to bring in the skid steere and dig a big-ass hole and ruin everything. I expressed my concerns to him in much nicer terms... I know this is another one of those "opportunity jobs." I just got a kitchen for god's sake, I shouldn't be complaining.

It's just a lot of major stress. At least I can take comfort in the fact that our grass is growing nicely. We fertilized twice with nice results - using human poop. Cheap and effective, though slightly smelly. And not our own if that's what you're thinking - from a package. You weirdos. All the trees are doing well - even that Japanese maple I bought and thought I killed last year. It's back with a leafy vengeance this year.

I bought all the porch plants from BJ's again - though I'm not satisfied with this year's like I was with last year's. Had to buy for Mikey's party though. Spruce up the porch.

The coming weeks will be interesting to say the least.

Killer Week

My back is just killing me this afternoon. Just thought I'd share that with you folks. I need to make an effort to relax, stop doing stuff, and go to bed earlier. At least for a few days. It was a rough weekend.

The driveway stuff delivery did not come on Saturday as scheduled. They told Mike over the phone that there would be up to 5" pieces of cement in the reclaimed mix - too big for our taste. He cancelled it all and decided to go and look at our options before making a decision. When he came home Saturday night, he had been to the materials yard and decided that crushed blue stone would be a better way to go.

Lucky for us, they deliver on Sunday and the price wasn't that much more. $170 vs $120 for the concrete stuff. Done and delivered before noon on Sunday. What service!

Sunday afternoon, Mike was out of the house and I took it upon myself to paint the white on the porch steps.

Just tilt your head - this one won't turn in iPhoto for me. Grrrr!

 I may have failed to mention that I also wet wiped/dry wiped the basement tile grout on Saturday. Feeling motivated after finishing that job, I cleaned up the drywall mess in the tub and moved in the vanity and the bottom half of the toilet. (I should not have been lifting either.) Then, I put in the recessed light bulbs and trim on all but one recessed light. (Turns out the shower needs an R20 rather then an R16 bulb.)

I also brought more summer stuff on the porch - the cushion for the chaise and all the small plant holder tables. I checked BJ's, since that's where I got all my awesome porch plants at this time last year. But this year, they don't have anything similar. Just small ones. What a disappointment. Now I'll have to go on the hunt for similar ones at a similar price...

Anyway!

Monday, Mike gave the stairs a second coat and spread the stone. Turns out we just barely got not enough. There's a little portion across from the garage addition that will have to go without stone for a bit. Tuesday, Mike brought home a compactor from work and hit the entire stone driveway.

Meanwhile, I've been busy with preparations for Mikey's bday party saturday. Neither of us have been back in the basement, which is regrettable, but unavoidable at the moment.

Today I'm just exhausted and in total pain. I need to take it easy. It's not even Friday yet.

 

PS - Garage Trim. Very late in posting this pic!