Out of the Closet

Today we finished up the new basement office by building the closet. Some day, it will be the equipment closet for my basement studio. Just picture two stackes of Marshall's where I'm standing... The office will have a 56" frosted glass double door, and the closet opening is 60" wide. The double doors make the room seem larger than it is, and they allow the light from the window to reach the rest of the area. Next task: the bathroom. This week, we'll draw up the details in CAD and scout out how to do plumbing.

Building Walls

Friday night, both boys went to friends' houses for sleep-overs. This was the first time EVER that we have been w/o kids in the house. We didn't know what to do! Where to go? Menard's, of course! We loaded the Odyssey up with another load of 2x4s for the basement.

Friday nite we put up the north wall of the new office (man cave), and Saturday we added the west and south walls. Sunday's task is to put in the closet.

Lucky Day

On St. Patrick's Day, I was playing ball w/GP. It was a beautiful day - warm, breezy, and Friday. I looked down and saw a 4-leaf clover. Well, it looks like a 4-leaf clover, and it was good enough for GP, especially on St. P's day, so we're sticking with our story - It's a four-leaf clover and we're lucky!

Opening Season

This weekend we added another wall to the basement. This is the one under the laundry room. We rebuilt the silly header over window that the builder built. Three 2x4s laying flat is not the same as two 2x5s lying on edge. The original headers over both windows were sagging.

Today was the first day of spring. 74 degrees, a warm breeze (not wind), and sunshine. All the neighbors climbed out from under thier rocks and wandered over to the deck. We've been shuffling all the crap around in the basement as we move from area to area, so it was a relief to move the deck chairs outside. Much less stuff to shuffle. now.

Back in the Real World

Spending a week in paradise was too nice. When we arrived in Chicago, I turned on my phone for the first time in a week and saw a message from the neighbor: "If you get this in between flights - Call Me!" Called him and found out that the furnace had gone out the night before and Nana & the boys were living w/o heat. Good thing it wasn't zero...

We spent most of Friday troubleshooting the furnace, heat pump, and thermostat. Finally got it working and then it was on to Menards to get materials for another wall in the basement.

We were able to finish the wall that makes the new storage area.

Mexico!

We spent 6 days in Mexico on the Mayan Riviera at the Imperial Valentin resort. Wow - it was better than I expected. Next time we need to plan on staying longer. I forgot how nice it is to lounge around in the sunshine.

We went with our neighbors from across the street. No kids!

1st Day of Spring?

After we got the basement wall complete, we ran outside to enjoy the beautiful spring day. Needless to say, the entire neighborhood had a bit of spring fever.

Basement Wall No. 5

Today was absolutely gorgeous outside, so we worked on the basement as fast as we could in order to get outside and enjoy the windless sunny day.

Even the cat & dog helped do their parts.

So far we have four days labor and $260 for five walls. That's $52 per wall. Not bad. We only have 8 to go.
Plus electrical. Plus HVAC. Plus plumbing. Plus insulation & drywall. We have a long way to go...

Basement Wall No. 4

Saturday we framed up wall number 4 in the basement. The whole family got involved pushing it up into place.

The shape of things to come is becoming evident. Check out the duct tape TV screen. 120" of HD! The TV wall is next on the list.

Blue & Gold

This year JP volunteered to put on the Blue & Gold banquet for cub scouts. She put together displays for all of our activities throughout the year, and the scouts voted for their favorite. My single vote for rockets was not enough (despite the really cool display I made). Laser tag won by a landslide.

Next year at this time will be GP's last cub scout event. JP wanted to do this year's banquet in order to set a precedent for next year, when GP will be moving on.

In all, we had about 200 people and the whole shindig went off without a hitch, thanks to JP's planning and attention to detail.

Blizzard of 2011

The great blizzard of 2011 that pounded most of the US just missed Nebraska. We only received a few inches of snow, but with it came 40 mph continuous winds. Having no trees between us and the north pole, the snow blows and blows and blows around and all over. I had to get in on the passenger side of my car due to the snowdrift that piled up during the day. 10 deg and non-stop 40 mph wind - Yuk! It was total whiteout at times on my way home from work.

Old Friends

While in the SRQ area, I hooked up with some old highschool friends. Here are F & B.
Also saw MAL, who is now MAG. She has a 13-year old son with a brain tumor that has just started to undergo chemotherapy. Check out her blog: theNathanReport.blogspot.com.

Florida Trip

I hate business travel, and I really hate going to warm places in the middle of winter. I had to go to Florida for a few days to check on some of our test mowers. Flew into Ft. Lauderdale, then drove up to Tampa, spent the weekend in the SRQ area, and then on to Orlando. Rough.

My coworker and I started Sunday in Venice and worked our way up to the northern tip of Ana Maria Island. We found three sharks' teeth at Venice. I was surprised to see that the pier I used to love to fish from is alive and well after being away for 25 years.

The pier at Bradenton Beach is also alive and well and much cleaner. I couldn't believe how clean Sarasota Bay has become. It's beautiful now!

We stumbled across a Packers playoff party in Florida. Go figure.

Misc

Check out how tall CP is! Today he swiped my sneakers. That's my shirt he's wearing.

This weekend we finished up framing under the kitchen table area of the basement. $125 of lumber. The builder used three 2x6's stacked flat as a header above the window. I never noticed it, but it was sagging about half an inch. We beefed it up with some additional 2x6s on edge in the window frame as well as a double 2x8 header in the basement frame wall. We also added that beam that runs across.

JP has been busy baking artisan bread from her new favorite cookbook, "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" We're both putting on weight. Who can resist fresh baked bread EVERY day?

Good Karma

On my return trip from WI, I left my portfolio on top of the self-check-in kiosk. I made a mental note to grab it, but I was so amazed that the machine printed out a real old-school cardstock boarding pass, I walked away without my stuff. In my portfolio I had all my trip notes, business cards, and most importantly, the family Kindle. Throughout my trip, whenever I had a few minutes, I worked on the book I've been reading. The thought of losing my Kindle devastated me.

I realized that I left my stuff on the ticket machine while I was tying my shoes on the far side of the security wall. It took five solid minutes to walk back around (and downstairs to the baggage claim and back up to the lobby) to the ticket kiosk (@ O'Hare). Of course, my belongings were nowhere to be found. I asked the ticket agents, the passenger herders, etc. - no luck.

I went back through security (got the full body scan this time) and met up with my group. We got on the plane and just as the door was being shut, a woman came on and asked if I was TP. "Yeah, that's me. I'm in the right seat, though." I thought she was going to try to take my seat. She asked me again and then asked if I was missing anything. "Yeah - I lost my leather folder and Kindle!" From behind her back she handed me my portfolio. I thought I would never see it again! OK, maybe It would find its way back, but most likely sans Kindle.

I try to have a positive outlook on life, and when I realized my loss, I hoped that some kindred traveller would help me. After all, it's O'Hare, right? Chicago is just about the friendliest place I know. I had a wonderful flight back to NE.

...and so it begins

After a two year hiatus, we returned to Menard's. We filled the Odyssey up with 2x4's and started on finishing the basement. One wall is done. Quite a few more to go. Anyone have a framing nailer & compressor?

Tailgating

I took advantage of an opportunity to go to the Packers / Bears game the day after New Year's. I've always admired the Packers for being able to pack 80,000 fans into Lambeau Field every game. Green Bay has a population of only 83,000 people.

New Year's Eve

This year the usual gang got together to celebrate the arrival of the new year. We all went to the lodge for dinner and then from house to house for drinks & games. (...and legal fireworks @ midnite!)

Legos

I should have told everyone to buy stock in Legos this season. GP got Lego Universe (PC-based MMOG), and CP got a motorized walking AT-AT. GP's lego game is taxing the old laptop - it's pretty graphics intensive and needs a lot of horsepower. CP's AT-AT had over 1100 parts. We had read reviews of it that said to expect 8-12 hours of assembly time. As we unbagged the parts, my level of concern kept climbing.

CP started after lunch and worked all afternoon on it.

After 4-1/2 hours, he had his AT-AT walking along. I just hope that it doesn't become a dog toy - the dogs HATE it.