Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  My folks came up from Phoenix to spend Christmas with us here in Utah.  We enjoyed a nice church service at Grace last night, followed by the traditional party at Ted & Cathy Liou's.  Today we slept in a little, and spent the day at Pat & Chris's.  This is us just after enjoying a delicious Italian meal of salad with pear, roasted pecans, and gorgonzola, home-made lasagna, and home-made chicken fettucini - mmmm, delicious.  My in-laws bought an 1892 victorian home, which they've been remodeling/renovating for about 5 years - it's really cool.

December 24th is our brother-in-law, Alan's birthday.  His brothers/sisters-in-law pitched in to buy him a "Borat Mankini", which makes total sense if you know Alan at all...

 

 

This is Alan with my Mother-in-law's dog, Kira.  Kira is an abused dog with lots of problems - one of which is that she has no teeth, and therefore her tongue sticks out constantly.

Drywall

Well, the sheetrocker finally showed up this week.  He's hung rock and done most of the mudding.  He'll be by today to skim coat a few spots and paint.  He hopes to have the paint finished today, Christmas Eve, and collect that check before tomorrow...

Family Portraits

My sister-in-law is an artist, and recently took family portraits for Brandon & Wiz...  I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something funny going on.

Pat & Chris tagged along too.

What was I thinking?

I was reminding Katie last night at 830pm that there would be a couple of contractors coming over tomorrow for windows and drywall. I was reviewing the fine points of the work I expected done when she replied "you're going to be here for all this, right?".  I figured it wouldn't be a big deal for her to open the door and show these guys what to do, but it was... What was I thinking?  I'm really glad I was here because a few things came up during the window install that were outside the original scope of the project, that I was able to address myself. Also, my drywaller flaked out so I was able to bring over 5 contractors to bid today. The last one will be here within the hour, and most can start first thing in the morning. I'm also very grateful that my boss is so understanding - thanks Karen!

That's Sean the window-guy.  He's the son of a dairy farmer.  Having grown up with dairy farm kids, I might have guessed that - reminded me a lot of the VanHoffwagen clan.

Waiting to be installed.

Sonny is hiding inside.  He's a beef cattle farmer with about 50 head - enough to cover the cost of the land and equipment, but not enough to live on - hence the window work.  He was a really funny guy.

Middle of the day.  Aluminum recycles at $.53 per pound, which is where all my old window frames are heading.  We really need Obama to start regulating aluminum bats or something to drive the price like he did with brass, lead, and copper.

It's too dark out right now for a final photo of all our new windows.  I'll put one up in the next couple of days.  One of these drywallers should be here in the morning to start upstairs.  If they're willing to negotiate a bit, they'll also prime and paint this week too!

Thanks Pat!

My trusty Father-in-law Pat came to my rescue, as usual.  Pat helped me wrap up the sub-floor last night so I could be ready for my drywaller today.  Thanks Pat!

Almost ready for drywall

Our shower valve arrived last week, which allowed me to finish the rough plumbing yesterday.  Unlike a typical shower where everything is hidden in the wall, this valve and shower head standpipe are chromed and exposed.  It's manufactured in the UK, and we bought it on Ebay for half the price of the crummy chinese-made parts at home depot.

The supply lines had to be exactly 5 3/16" apart on center so I used some scrap plywood, doubled them up, and made this frame.  I also got to use my handy pocket screw jig to fasten it to the framing.

This probably looks like a big mess to everyone, but the plumbing is gorgeous to me.  I threw some left over fiberglass insulation over/under most of the drain lines to help dampen the noise common to ABS drains.

The bookcase and dresser are in place!  They're a terrific use of space and will help the master suite feel much larger.

I need to finish piecing the sub-floor back together and we'll be drywalling this week with a little luck!

Since the 2nd bedroom up here needed very little work, it's now a temporary storage room.  Like my marble-top vanity?  That should give you an idea of the finish materials coming soon - Deluxe!

Don't worry, I finally have my drawers on...

Well, my first dresser is coming together.  I installed the full-extension drawer glides this weekend.  I was hoping to have the cases trimmed out too, but ended up raking leaves in the snow much of Saturday.  I have a giant cottonwood tree in my yard that hasn't finished dropping leaves, even though every other tree in Utah dropped 3 weeks ago.  I'm going to cut it down before next fall.  Here are photos of the drawers in place.

Where's Santa?

Most of you already know my "son" Mario.  He checks the windows frequently for cats, and this time of year, for Santa. 

This is "Santa Kirby".  We name all of his toys after his much loved Uncle Kirby (Pat & Chris's dog, who passed away a couple of years ago).  Mario still gets jealous at the mere mention of Kirby's name, and usually rips the stuffing out of any toys named Kirby.

Baby Update

Katie and I visited the Dr. again last week.  He performed an ultrasound and the baby is progressing normally.  We didn't get any pictures to share this time, but should on our next appointment at the end of December.  We are watching our child's fearful and wonderful creation, and we are in awe. 

My First Drawers!

I've read that drawers are difficult to make, and now I know first-hand...  They turned out really well though, and I'm looking forward to attaching the glides this weekend.  After that I'll add poplar facing and trim to finish, and haul them upstairs.

I have experience with dovetail joints on a knife box I made for a chef friend.  However, because I wanted to finish this sometime in 2009, I used a much simpler but strong locking dado.

Because I was accused of not taking safety seriously, here's photographic evidence of my eye and ear protection, as well as a "chicken stick" so I don't chop off my hand.  Never mind that my pant leg almost lit on fire next to my toasty heater (yes, there is a door open for ventilation off camera).  I also did not use a celebrity to conceal my identity, or did I.....?