Memorial Day in Pentwater

Had a very relaxing Memorial Day weekend, in Pentwater, filled with good company, good food, lots of reading and finally a little sun today.

Half and Half

The work with my parents last night started out good, but ultimately ended up being very frustrating. When I arrived my Dad had the door framed and all of the molding in. After dinner we started with the Windowsills, they were heavy (a bit over 100lbs).  Since the granite store refused to let me take the sills home in my car for fear they would break (my Mom had to pick them up for me) I I had been running windowsill disaster scenarios through my head pretty much all afternoon (ie we slip carrying the windowsill in the rain outside or the sill cracks into multiple pieces and ruins the new floor or it is impossible to fit the thing into place, or...) My Dad wanted to set the sills in place without doing a dry run, but I wasn't willing to take that risk so we started to maneuver them into position and immediately realized that the opening was too short at the front. This was easily fixed by cutting back the drywall and allowing the sill to slip into place under the drywall.  Next we Caulked on some silicone and with three people slipped the sill into position fairly easily.  My heart was racing, but the process was almost painless.

I am really happy with how they look, and for the price that better be the case (Granite remnants are not as inexpensive as the home improvement shows on TV lead you to believe). The one thing left to complete the look is a bit of caulk and paint.

Next we went to work on the door and it was/is a disaster I am not ready to talk about yet...

Moving Along

It Turns out the wall I didn't build is not plumb. Before the drywall was installed I never noticed that the door, which is plumb, did not have a consistent gap to the framing.  This inconsistent gap posed a problem for trimming out the door, so my Dad spent a lot of the day yesterday making custom shims to cover the issue.

In addition to the door trim, by the end of the work day most of the quarter round was installed.  I am happy with the color match to the floor.  Who knew 'Special Walnut' stain on pine is a good match for cork?

Breaking in the Paddle

It took far too long to put the new mixer to use making cookies.  Searching the Smitten Kitchen blog for chocolaty cookies I stetted on World Peace Cookies

Without chocolate chips my cookies are slightly different from the recipe, but they were delicious enough for me. I hardly had any left to photograph.

Mistakes

Now that this basement project is almost finished I am finding some mistakes.

*The heat vent is too close to the floor, I should have taken the height of the molding into consideration when I decided where the vent would be located.

*On the TV side of the room I forgot to include a plaster ring for the speaker wires to come through.

 *I took the time to level the plaster rings for the rear speakers, but I didn't pay enough attention to their position relative to the ceiling and they ended up at slightly different heights.

*I forgot to hard wire in a smoker detector for the unfinished side of the basement.  I'll be installing a less reliable battery powered one instead.

South Jersey

This was my ride to South Jersey - a sixteen foot moving truck towing a car trailer.

We departed from Michigan around 7:00 on Saturday morning and thanks to my wrong turn that lead to a detour through downtown Pittsburgh we didn't arrive until after 8:00 that evening. As soon as we arrived unloading started and it took until after 11:00 to haul the contents of the truck to the second floor walk up.

Sunday was spent unpacking which made sense Rebecca has a roommate (who was hoping to see the floor of her living room ASAP) and started her new Job this morning.

The drive to the airport this morning was gray and cloudy as we passed over the Delaware River.

Philadelphia Bound

I never pass up travel if I can help it...so I'm currently on the road with my best friend for the Michigan to New Jersey leg or her Texas to New Jersey relocation.

 

The Floor is Finished

Thursday while I worked my parents worked on the basement.  They were able to finish laying down the floor and install the baseboards up to the point where they will meet up with the doors.

I've got a lot of homework before they come back next Wednesday:
*Buy sliding doors & track
*Frame the opening for sliding door
*Stain the framing around the future sliding door
*Adjust the drywall surface around the existing door so the molding will fit flush
*Buy finishing piece for the raw edge of flooring on the unfinished side of the basement
*Cross my fingers that the windowsills are completed quickly

Bike to Work Day

Happy Bike to Work Day. Here are some views from my bike ride this morning, it was very foggy!

Oops

Part of the electrical required getting a wire from the basement up through the stairway wall so we could tie it into the the three-way switch at the top of the stairs.  In the process - which included coat hangers, a fiberglass stick, and lots of cheering when we finally succeeded - the drywall next to the switch was slightly damaged.

 

I am not much of a drywaller, but little jobs like this are manageable.  As my uncle explained it to me, the secret to good drywall repairs is to cut the damaged material out to the point where the paper still has good adhesion to the gypsum plaster.

Just got word from Lowes that the lone box of cork has arrived.  It was supposed to arrive on the 16th and then it was delayed until the 19th, but now it is here.  I've got to get a move on painting / staining moldings.

Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream

I took Lindsay's advice and made Salted Butter Caramel as the first batch of ice cream.  I love sweets (which I blame for the dental filling I got this morning), and this ice cream has an excellent flavor, but it is just a bit too rich for my taste.  What else could I have expected from an ice cream made with 1 cup of heavy cream, 1/2 a stick of butter, and 5 egg yolks?

For the next batch I'm thinking something a little lighter, maybe matcha, or chocolate sorbet? hmm, I also love vanilla beans...

In searching for ice creams I also noticed that Google has a recipe ingredient search, is this new or have I just never noticed it?

Tool Box Cleanup

This is the tool and materials storage situation I've been working with this Winter.  It actually doesn't look too bad right now, usually tools are spread out much further onto the floor. 

I inherited the shelf, on the right, with the house and it is defective and permanently crooked. My goal is, using only materials I already have, to turn this mess into something functional and organized

Window Covering

This post was supposed to be about stick-to-it-iveness, but I ran into trouble that I couldn't overcome.  Yesterday's project was hanging curtains, I wanted this to be a one day project and I wasn't going to let anything stop me. Step one was calculating how wide to set the rods and correct spacing with respect to the window.  My personal preference is to hang curtains high and wide trying to make the window look as large as possible.

The first road block, came when I tried to drill into the heat duct.  Why does the heat duct have to run in exactly the same place where the curtain rod bracket needs to go?  This issue was solved with a very short metal drywall anchor and an equally short fine threaded screw.

So far so good and it's still light outside.  Next stage, sew some curtains. I had about 4 yards of fabric and it took exactly 2.5 to make one panel, no problem, Joann Fabrics is about 2 miles away.  Unfortunately, they only had less than 2 yards in stock and I'll need to place a special order to get more.

 

On the upside I have a lot of molding to paint / stain while I'm waiting for the fabric.

What Remains?

Doing a mental tally of what construction tasks remain:

1) Flooring - Did I mention that I miscalculated the square footage and came up one box of cork short?  I forgot to include the stairwell.  The box is scheduled for delivery Monday.

 2) Baseboard -  The baseboard that I used throughout the rest of the house is too narrow for the floating cork so I'll need to also use quarter round I need to calculate how much material I need and get it painted / stained.

3) Windowsills - I decided on granite because in the Winter I'd like to put plants on the sill and I worry about wood being damaged.  The granite has been ordered and will arrive around May 25th.

4) Door - After I rejected the poor quality French door from Home Depot my Dad suggested sliding doors. I priced them out and they will cost about 1/4 of a French Door.

 5) Molding - The current door and the new sliding door need molding, I'd like to match existing door molding.

 6) Heat Register - it just needs to be installed, why have I procrastinated this long?

Rain Rain

...go away I want to ride my bike to work again someday.

Mulch

Loving the look of my freshly mulched front garden.  In previous years I used the natural colored cypress mulch, but, this year I switched to the dark brown version.  My Aunt and Uncle were out walking the dogs and stopped by while I was putting the stuff down, they agreed with my color choice.

Tackling the Top Two

For years the top two items on my long and random To Do List have been "Watch Rain Man" and "Ice Cream Maker."  Earlier, on the day that M and I planned to watch Rain Man, I was in Salvation Army for Ladies Night (all women's clothes are 50% off and they play fun music) checking out, in a hurry, late for a hair appointment when I spotted the prize - a Donvier Ice Cream Maker - on the counter waiting to be restocked.

It was marked $4.99, but out of nowhere the cashier suggested that it was only worth $3.99 and that's what she charged me.  I should be embarrassed to admit that the thing has been in the trunk of my car since before I left for Mexico. Time to hunt for the perfect first recipe, any suggestions?  The next two tasks on the To Do List are "Shower Curtain for Upstairs" and "Order Window Sills for Basement," much less fun than movies and ice cream.

Vacation in Mexico

When I asked the boss to sign my vacation request for a trip to Mexico he laughed at me since traveling to Mexico for work isn't my favorite.  As I hoped the beach in Mexico is a lot more enjoyable than the area where I got for work.

We stayed at an all inclusive resort which was a first for me and very convenient.  I did get a little tired of the food toward the end of the trip, but that is my only complaint - otherwise it was a most relaxing vacation.

Our one trip off resort was to the Mayan ruins of Tulum.

Couch Hunting

I'm on the hunt for a sectional for the basement - I need something to sit on if I'm ever going put the TV to use. Ikea is usually my first try for furniture, but when I looked in January I didnt see/feel anything that was right.  I'm not sure if I tested the "KIVIK," or not, I might like it if it had full height arms.

image from  http://www.ikea.com

The second place I have luck finding furniture is West Elm.  Browsing their website I liked the "Blake"

and the "Henry"

 

I wanted to test these two sofas out and the nearest West Elm is on Columbus.  Unfortunately neither of these was comfortable, but luckily the mall also had a Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware and Crate and Barrel.  Of the 15 or 20 sofas I sat on far and away the most comfortable was from the Pottery Barn "Comfort Collection."

The bad news is this one starts around $3000.  The search will continue.

Columbus, OH

Last Saturday I talked M into driving with me to Columbus on a couch scouting (more on that later) trip.  I like road trips, but a little less so when gas is over $4/gallon.

For lunch we went to Northstar Cafe.  I had the Northstar Burger "Just made with organic brown rice, black beans and beets, topped with white cheddar, lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion + simple salad."  I like beets and they were a nice veggie burger addition, but the real highlight was the café vinaigrette.

*Notice how green the trees are just 3 hours south?

On our way out we noticed a sign for Jeni's Ice Cream which I recognized instantly from Lindsay's blog.  I sampled the Goat Cheese with Cognac Fig Sauce and Olive Oil with Sea-Salted Pepitas, but ended up going with the a scoop each of Honey Butter Cake and Brown Butter Almond Brittle.  I'm now craving more of the Goat Cheese Fig.

Flooring Day 2

Also known as the Monday I went to work and my Dad went to my house and nearly finished putting down the floor.

Flooring Day 1

My Dad is a slave driver. On Sunday he had me installing flooring from the time I got home from swim practice at 11:00 until 10:00 at night.  I got breaks to pick up extra materials at Lowe's, get a Frosty from Wendy's and cook dinner.  My Dad worked harder than me, he didn't take any breaks.

The day's results look like this:

 

To get there we used an additional 50lbs of floor leveler, laid down almost 400sqft of vapor barrier, watched a video about the floor installation and then started clicking together the cork planks (which is more difficult than the video indicates).