The Old Man Takes a Break

Yep, Buddy was getting tired and needed a rest.

Seriously though, I apologize for the back-to-back long disappearances. There have been quite a few personal obligations as well as relatively large snags in the overall project process that has consumed quite a bit of my time lately. Let's start with the good news though and maybe move on to some of the other junk at a later time.

As of this morning I now have carpet in the basement and the 3rd floor large room, I have TWO - count them - TWO working toilets (no sinks to go with them though), I have tile in the 2 1/2 baths, I have some more yard work done, I have rugs on order for the first floor and I have chosen the final color for the dining room and entryway (I hope). It's really been a busy couple of weeks and sometimes being mired in the details I lose sight of that.

I also have a VERY large headboard sitting in my master bedroom and we'll start there today. This headboard was built off-site for the story of the master suite. The person in charge of the project never thought it important to measure the stairs (or the window) openings in my house. Nor did the recommendation by several cabinet makers resonate to build the unit in smaller pieces and complete the final assembly in the room. Consequently we were left with a headboard that is 8" too tall and about 12" too wide to go up the stairs and roughly 1/4" too tall to go through ANY of the windows in the house. Two lift rentals later and roughly 18 man hours later, the solution was to grind the window frame down to allow for the needed size - this only after one of the window frames being busted by a large hammer and block of wood.
The SECOND lift/Lifting carpet

Carpet in the 3rd floor/Then the headboard...

Coming in Ellie's window/Carpet being yanked in the 3rd floor

Everyone wonders how it's coming in/I go and get it

Jeni helps it into place/I climb off the forks (in the rain)


We are now making great strides in the basement and the entire first floor. It's awesome to see colors other than white on my walls - even if we don't quite hit the right color out of the box. In the basement we have the carpet laid and the tile in the 1/2 bath completely installed now. There is a toilet but unfortunately no door installed as of yet ;-) We have painted the walls in all the rooms except the fitness room and the bar top has been manufactured. I am still trying to get to creating the template for the back-of-the-bar counter top and need that before installing the bar top, but that isn't too far off. I was really hung up with the flooring and plumbing of the two 1/2 baths.
Trying to get the form JUST right/bar top's gotta be right

Basement carpet looks great/So does the paint job

I install the basement tile in the 1/2 bath

VERY slowly it all gets installed


Meanwhile though, Grandpa Case, Grandma Helen, Shana, Brittany, Caryn and a few others concentrated on painting the first floor dining room, entryway and living room as well as cleaning the dining room buffet. I have to be honest, I never fully appreciated that buffet until Grandma put a lot of elbow grease behind cleaning the hardware and glass doors and Grandpa finished the varnishing. That is truly a highlight of the entire first floor. I can't wait to finish the lighting in the top of that to make it really 'pop' as Shana likes to say.
The buffet after Grandma's great work/Down to the details

It's a great piece of furniture/Hook on the front door mirror


In between all of this Ellie had her 3rd birthday and had a surprise visit from Shrek. After nearly peeing herself out of fear (and I took off the mask) she settled down and we had a great day of cake, presents and green punch! She is growing SO quickly that I am REALLY trying to push through these last stages so I can start to l-i-v-e with my little girl. More and more she 'helps' me on the projects. Just last night we went to the hardware store for a shutoff valve pressure fitting for the basement 1/2 bath and I showed her what we were looking for. As I was perusing the isle I heard 'Just wike wis one Daddy?'. I'll be darned if she didn't find the exact same thing I had/needed. She's so amazing and I praise the Lord everyday for her. So, being three has already proven to have it's 'moment's - it has already shown there will be many great moments.
The decorations were everywhere/So were the gifts

Her artwork from school was on display

Here comes Shrek/To Ellie's horror!

She doesn't like a real-life Shrek/Even when begging

And selling it.../and more selling...

Even without the hood.../still not so sure

Moving on the the cake/LOTS of candles for three years

And lots of blowing/Of course lots of frosting


The kitchen has been a huge blessing in that we are having more meals together and thankfully I'm no longer stuffing the pockets of local food chain owners;-) Hopefully that means we're eating healthier as well. With gas prices sky rocketing lately I also bought a trailer for my bike so that Ellie and I can bike to school/work everyday this summer/fall. Since I have no showers yet, this works really well in speeding up the morning routine as well. Hopefully I can shave a few sizes off my backside and Ellie can have a great time going to school in a very unique way! Things are starting to have more of a rhythm, but we have a ways to go and unfortunately this project is dragging out a bit. I have a few thoughts on that and maybe I'll save those for the next entry and stop the never ending keystrokes for a while.