Sunday, June 26, 2011

New Stuff

Christine found much of the replacement parts online. We were able to get great deals buying stuff this way rather than going to one of the big box stores. We could have driven to several different hardware stores and tried to find what we need but the internet saves gas.

Buying wall and floor tile was much harder than I would have thought. I see in guy, where Chris see’s in girl. This becomes an issue after 30 minutes in a tile store. After 30 minutes it all looks fine to me as long as we can leave. Lucky for me Christine pushed through and we ended up picking up a couple of samples that I think will look great in the end.

Since I will have the bathroom ceiling down we decided to add a whole house fan in the hall. This will help keep my AC use down. I would love to be able to extend my non-AC season.

If only I could extend the non-furnace season.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Demolition

We dove in ripping out the bathroom.

Jason and Sam helped out as well. Chris found a way to dispose of construction waste that was quick and easy. We bought a Bagster at Home Depot. You can fill it up to 3 cubic yards of stuff, or one 45 square foot bathroom.

We put the cabinets, toilet and sink on the curb. The trash grabber guys come buy pick stuff up and re-use, or sell for scrap, a lot of it. One weekend later the walls are gone and there is a giant hole in the floor.

During demolition we found that insulation was blown in the walls, but not all of them. We found old fixes and some old fixes that weren’t fixes. With everything exposed at least we can tear it apart and do it right. Other than a couple of rotten spots on the floor the wood underneath is in great shape. I cut out the rotten subfloor and I will replace it later. I need the access to remove the plumbing and replace all of it. Much of it is leaking or the joints have become loose.

More to come!




Even Abby wanted to help.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Chris in Motion

So after the excitement of the first day home for Chris started to pass she fell asleep. Each night the kids would marvel at how early she seemed to fall right asleep. I told them she was tired and also there was a time difference she was still working out. I was wrong. She was recharging for the next big thing.

I came home Thursday and found a large portion of the upstairs bathroom on our front porch. The remodel had begun.

More to follow.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Homecoming

Yeah! Chris is home early. She arrived Friday morning. After a quick trip home to drop off her stuff and change we were off to pick up the kids. Unknown to us the school had called channel 4. We arrived to a reporter and the public affairs guy from the Army Corps. When we went to pick up Jason, his teacher set up the class and Chris walked in to surprise him. Very cool. While we were in the hall they tried to interview the three of us but Jason wasn’t real comfortable on camera. He was giving short or one word answers. This doesn’t play well on TV so there was some neat editing. When we left to pick up Samantha the channel 4 guy followed us. Sam didn’t get the same elaborate set up but it worked out very well anyway. We ended up on the channel 4 news that evening at 6pm.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?=2HiTo2ycCk4v

Monday, June 6, 2011

Worthy Cause

Since my wife couldn’t sit still with 14 or 16 hours of work to do so she volunteered to run the KAF Wounded Warriors Project. She found a helper to run it while she is gone and then she will pick it back up upon her return. The solders need things. Click on this link or copy and paste it in your browser and help out a Wounded Warrior.

http://www.walmart.com/giftregistry/gr_detail.do?registryId=26771441112

The Weekend

I just returned from a camping trip up north with the guys. Chris calls it “Man Weekend.” It fits. It is a nice getaway without the wife and kids. Not that I need to get away from the wife as she is on the other side of the planet, but a nice getaway nonetheless. On the ride up I received half-dozen phone calls concerning a power loss at work, login issues, what’s-the-combination stuff, and general Friday fire issues. The further I got the less the calls came and eventually I was just thinking about relaxing with a beer by the fire.

When I arrived I was stopped on the trail by a large truck in the way. I got out saying hello and suddenly feeling faint. It seems that several billion mosquitoes also came to say hello to me, while draining me of blood. I leapt back in the car and grabbed a can of Deep Woods Off. This was the cancer-is-in-your-future kind, not the get cancer now stuff. It worked for awhile. Once in camp I soon realized the older tougher mosquitoes like the taste of off and seem to seek it out. We eventually just drank until we didn’t notice the mosquitoes. That was the best solution.

I realized Monday morning that I have quite a few mosquito bites on the bottom of my feet. Those mosquitoes earned that blood.