Nothing Real Exciting

My week in North Carolina was pretty nice. The weather was cooler down there than it was up here throughout the week. That was slightly disappointing, as I was hoping to be spending my down time in shorts and flip-flops! THEN, when I returned to Michigan, I found the weather up here has turned cold again also!

While I was gone Dad finished up my basement windows. He installed the windows and window wells. Saturday afternoon we had to go steal some gravel from a local business. I suggested that if we were stealing it, maybe we should go at night, wearing black. But Dad assured me we weren't stealing it, he had a note from the owner saying we could take a few buckets of gravel for the window wells. Whew...I was a bit worried! :)

This weekend was used to wrap up some miscellaneous projects. We built a ladder in the chimney to make it easier to work on the fireplace, and build up the chimney stack from the inside. We temporarily placed the fireplace in it's spot just to get an idea of how it will look. We are awaiting my special order from Menards to fully assemble the chimney parts and place the fireplace.

Sunday I worked on finishing up my speaker wire while Dad put together an attic access in the garage. Once my speaker wires were finished I spent the rest of the day on my hands and knees, with the shop vac, vacuuming out the stud spaces and doing a thorough cleaning. I have about half the house done.

For the second weekend in a row I have had to evict some birds from my house. They seem to think that my eaves are a safe place to build their nest! I'm not sure what kind of bird it is, it flew away pretty quickly when I walked into the room.

I purchased my shower faucets this weekend. I got a pretty good deal on them at Home Depot. So hopefully my plumber will come back out and FINISH the job, now that he has the parts to work with.

Steve was out working in the basement yesterday. I now have working lights with switches in my basement! We have just had some outdoor lights wired up to the joist, plugged in with extension cords until then. So that was exciting.

The only other exciting news I have is that Grandpa will be returning from Alabama this week! Yea!!!! Aunt Nora has been showing him pictures as the house goes up, and I guess he's anxious to get back to work on it. :) I'll be glad to have him back up north for the summer, and for his help to finish the house. Please pray for safe travels for him during his trip this week.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend...have a fantastic work week!

Menards...The Marathon Trip

The weather this weekend was beautiful AGAIN!

On Saturday I spent the entire day putting 250 feet of speaker wire through my house, and I'm still not finished! While I was doing that Dad was putting foundation sealer on the back of the house around the garage windows. This needs to be put on before the windows can go in and the window wells can be attached to the house. We knocked off a bit early in the evening so Mom and Dad could go to the Loon's baseball game.

Sunday was not extremely productive. Dad and I headed over to Menards in Saginaw. And I'm sure you can guess that like most of our Menards trips...this was not a quick one. I think we were in the store for well over 2 hours! I spent lots of money and will probably be spending LOTS more in the next week or two. I bought a fireplace and all of the fixin's for a chimney. Unfortunately I had to special order a few parts of the chimney and they were ridiculously expensive! I also have most of my exterior doors picked out. They are on sale for the next two weeks. So I will be purchasing those sometime soon also.

This week I am in North Carolina again for work. Surprisingly, it is colder here than it is in Michigan! But the grass and the trees are all green, a slightly different view than the landscape up north. It should be an enjoyable week of work...there could be worse places they could send me right?

The Joys of Home Ownership

Yesterday was a good day...

Until I made my nightly visit to the house...

Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit...it wasn't that bad...but it was that good either.

I noticed that my plumber had visited again for a short time. He put some copper where my kitchen sink will be, in the half bath, and the laundry room. I decided to check downstairs to see if he had hooked up the water, or run the gas line, or any other pipes in the basement.

Upon my arrival in the basement I noticed that there was about 1/2" of water covering 90% of the basement floor. My first thought, "Oh shit!" My second thought, "How odd...I can hear my sump running" My third thought, "Really, Oh shit! If my sump is running why do I have water in my basement?????" So I called Dad to ask if he had talked to the plumber that day, and he hadn't, but was going to call him to investigate this water issue. When I transferred my pump to my other two crocks full of water I blew the GFI outlet it was plugged into (twice)...I thought, "Ah ha! It must have blown a breaker and Jim reset it for me so it would run." I plugged the pump into a non-GFI outlet...but still had worries in the back of my mind that it might blow a breaker and this could possibly happen again.

I started squeegeeing the basement floor. I decided that doing this in high-heeled boots and dress pants probably wasn't the best idea, so I called Laura to bring me some jeans and my work boots. As she and Mom were surveying the basement Mom asked, "Laura, do you have chicken on the grill at home?" OOPS!

Later in the evening when Dad and I finally caught up he informed me that when Jim arrived at the house the sump was not plugged in! I don't know how it got unplugged, I don't know when it got unplugged, but it was. So I guess I can't complain about my plumber too much...he did save my basement from another major flooding.

Anyway, all is well again...the sump is plugged back in. The water should be dried up from the floor today. The plumber is working on the house. And the Tigers won another game last night.

A Story of Plumbers, Online Shopping and Frustration

After listening to the weather forecast for last weekend I was ready to haul out the long underwear again for the construction work. The weather was surprisingly mild though. Saturday it did rain and snow, but I was inside and working hard, so I was plenty warm. Sunday was supposed to be mid-30s and turned out to be mid-40s instead. What a fantastic surprise!

The last couple weeks have been rather frustrating.

First off, I placed an order online for some exhaust fans, grilles, and duct work for the bathroom fans. I knew something was amiss when I entered my credit card information, pressed the finalize order button, and got sent to the mother company web page without an order confirmation number or an order confirmation email. Since it was a Sunday, I sent an email to the company asking for their assistance. The gentleman from the company replied with "Are you sure you were on our website?" What the hell? Of course I was on his website or I wouldn't be contacting him!!!!! Please do not insult me with ridiculous questions. I followed up with a phone call and had to re-order everything on the phone. I was assured that everything would be shipped out in the next 20 minutes, but it couldn't be next day for free because I was only a state away and it will only take 2 days to get there. That was Monday...I received my items on Thursday...being the intelligent engineer that I am...I pulled out my calculator and figured out that it was in fact 3 days. Ok, I can deal with that...the kicker was that I was missing a fan. I called the ever so helpful vendor AGAIN, telling them that they were holding up my project and that I needed the fan Saturday...no shipping charge. Well I was told that because it was UPS's fault that I didn't receive my package because they failed to pick it up, I couldn't get it Saturday unless I wanted to pay the $50 Saturday shipping cost. The woman I spoke to told me the fan was shipped out Friday morning..."It will be there Monday"...Guess what...no fan. This company is just amazing in their customer service attempts! Luckily, once I get the fan I will not have to deal with them again.

On top of that...my plumber promised that he would start last week Monday. I visit my house everyday on the way home from work now...just to say hi and to tell it that I really will move in sometime this summer...ok...it's really to check on the progress of the plumber. He finally showed up Wednesday, did a minimal amount of work, putting in drains for 3 sinks. I have 7 sinks in my house. No progress Thursday. Friday a washing machine hookup appeared. No work yesterday either.

I am currently shopping for exterior doors. That is my job, 100%. Do I know what I'm looking for? Sort of. I found the door that I REALLY want in a magazine. It's $1000...for a DOOR! So...I've started looking for comparable glass styles. Unfortunately I already have my heart set on the most expensive door I could find...therefore finding something comparable in a significantly cheaper door has been somewhat difficult. I've found glass that I like, but it doesn't come in a wood grain, stainable (or even better...pre-finished stained), fiberglass door. I'm hoping to have a solution soon. And that is only my front door...I have 3 other exterior doors to decide upon too...such decisions...

This weekend Dad worked on the exhaust fans for the bathrooms, routing duct work and such...using his newly constructed catwalk in the attic space! :) I finished putting in cabinet blocking in the kitchen...2x6, 2x10, and 2x12's to attach the cabinets too when we get to that point. I also put in some drapery blocking...to attach my window treatments to in the other rooms. There are all these little things that come up and have to be done that I never would have thought of...they all make sense...but I never would have thought of needing them.

Sunday I skipped out of work early. A "kid" I knew from coaching swimming has joined a professional dance troupe...and they were performing in Saginaw. He was FANTASTIC! The show is a Broadway show called Movin' Out. It is 100% Billy Joel music and they use it to tell the story of three guys during the Vietnam war. It is an amazing show and I would suggest to anyone that has the opportunity to go see it!

Ok...I have some pictures of the minimal plumbing work...but I forgot my camera today. I'll try to put some up tonight. Have a fantastic week!

Spring is Here!

The frogs are croakin' out in the ditches, the birds are singing, and the sun is shining! This weekend was GORGEOUS! It was the first time since October that I didn't have to wear long underwear out to work on the house! And as an added bonus, Dad let us skip out early both days to go watch some Ferris softball. They were playing at Northwood and Saginaw Valley.

We put in the two egress windows in the basement on Saturday. I finished up some framing for the skylights Saturday. Sunday Dad worked on my other two windows in the basement and some miscellaneous stuff while I put in blocking for the kitchen cabinets. These are boards between the studs in the wall used to screw the cabinets to when we hang them.

The plumber PROMISED that he'd start this week...I'm getting ready to roll out of the office and out to the house to see if that is true. :)

Quick Update

Ok, I don't have much time for a detailed update.

Over the weekend we finished wrapping the house and put the last two windows in the garage and in the front entry. Steve and Nick got quite a bit finished for the electrical work. The plumber stopped out on Saturday and said he would start this week. I stopped by on my way home yesterday and he hadn't been in though. The insulator wants to start next week if the plumbing and electrical work is done.