Customer Pop

Just when you think you're done walking through snow, bang.... it snows on March 17th. Not cool. I'm sick of snow. I want to see my brown grass turn green. I want to pick up 1,200 dog turds in my back yard. I want to smell the exhaust of my lawn mower and weed eater. I want to grill and light up tiki torches. I want to get back to shorts and t-shirts. I want a clean truck.

I don't think that's asking too much.

In other news, the only TV that's operational in my house right now is a 19" SHARP that I bought when I was in 10th grade. Perfect for watching March Madness, the single greatest sports event in the world. Both of my big screen TV's decided to fry the lamps in the same week. I just got off the phone with Customer Support and they said there's a known problem with a faulty balast in both of my TV's (They're both exactly the same model, only difference is their screen size), and they'll replace the lamps/balasts for free. I'm supposed to be getting 8,000 - 10,000 hours off of one lamp, so watching TV for 6 months doesn't really add up to 10,000 hours. They're also extending the standard 1 year warranty to 2 years, just in case.

To my surprise, replacing the bulbs is a "do it yourself" job. I took the old lamps out in about 20 seconds each. It consists of taking one screw off of a little trap door on the left side of the TV, then removing the bulb contraption by it's easily accessible pull handle.

Something that I thought was a little odd, is when the customer service rep told me to email my receipts into customer support, and in the subject line I need to put "Customer Pop". I guess that's the sound the lamp makes when it blows up.

Work is going really good. Like, beyond good.... good. For those of you who know where I work, you know that we're a company who relies on loaning money to sub-prime customers as our main source of revenue, to the tune of about 100 billion in receivables, give or take a few million. My company is replacing it's origination and servicing system (which are the systems the loans are booked and serviced on) starting in a couple of months. My database team has been chosen to lead the reporting conversion, and it's causing quite the disruption throughout the Chain of Command.

Since we're not officially under "IT", the entire technology group is wondering why they didn't get to take on this high profile project. Well, I got news for you IT nerds.... you're too nerdy, and you take waayyy too long to get things done.

This is going to be a really good project to showcase the skills of my team, and show the company how talented we are. If this project goes well, or I should say, when this project goes well, it will open up a lot of doors for my team. We've already been gaining some fantastic recognition lately, and this is just icing on the cake.

I also have a new guy hired who will be starting on the 26th of this month. He's much needed and I can't wait for him to start. I have 1 more opening to fill, and then I'm done recruiting. For awhile hopefully.

Snow Day

Just like back in the days of going to school, we had a snow day at work on Friday and for some reason, I was more excited now then I was back then. Maybe it's because I actually get paid to stay home now. Either way....

I started off my day with a trip to the gym in the morning and I had to ram through about 4 feet of piled up snow at the end of my driveway to get out of it. I barely made it out, but with 4 wheel drive, you can pretty much do anything you want. Right? So I thought. On my way back home, getting in wasn't quite as easy.
That, my friends, is the picture of a 4 wheel drive vehicle, with 0 tires touching the pavement. I had to dig that thing out for about an hour. There was so much snow compacted beneath that vehicle, I had to basically chip it away with a spade little by little. What does that remind you of dad? If you replace the Explorer with a 1976 Trans Am and add about 6 feet of snow beneath the vehicle the memory might come back to you.

After I was dug out I went to the casino with a couple coworkers. We bet on some dog races and some horse races for a few hours and really didn't have much luck. I think I lost about $20. We went to the blackjack tables and in about 30 minutes I was up $125 and my boss was up $165 so we called it quits and had a few beers at the Casino bar while we waited for our other companions to finish up.

We scooped up Andrea on our way back home and went and played some darts, ate some pizza and drank some beers at a bar called Stix. Greg and Steph and Chad and Lindsay came a little later and we had a grand old time.

One thing that still blows my mind is how someone didn't lose an eye with Andrea throwing darts. I guess I'll just consider myself lucky and call it good.

Ice Storm Saturday

What do you get when you cross an ice storm outside, a garage with a propane heater and box full of trailer parts? You get 4 hours of fun. That's what.

I've done a lot of home improvement projects over the past 7 years, and in those 7 years, I've always driven a Ford Explorer. Great for bringing home things such as toilets and barstools. Bad for bringing home drywall, plywood, and 2X4's longer then 10 feet long.

It's also bad for my two trusty friends Kris and Chad(pickup owners). I've relied on them a LOT over the past few years to help me out with hauling things here and there, and I finally found a way to relieve them of their pickup related duties.

I bought a nifty little 4' X 8' trailer that's capable of hauling 1500 lbs. The great people of Harbor Freight provide a very good trailer at a very good price ($275 with shipping). Only problem is, it comes looking like this:



But, if you add in a new socket/wrench set that was purchased with gift cards that I received at Christmas time from my family:

4 hours, one smashed thumb, 2 cuts, and a goose egg on the forehead later, this will somehow appear out of that pile of parts:

I still have to get it licensed and put in some floor boards to give it a nice base, but other then that, it's officially ready for action. The really good thing about this trailer, is that it doesn't sit there like that and take up an entire stall in my garage by itself. Let's face it, nobody want to waste garage space on something that you use 10 - 20 times a year.

That's where this feature really comes in handy:

It takes up 19 inches X 4 ft of floor space when folded up and placed against the wall. Not even 8 square feet is being wasted. Garage Men of the world unite and high five while we drink beer and talk about guns and motorcycles.

I know what you're thinking. I won't be able to run boards the full 8' length of the trailer because it had to fold up. So, I'll have to cut the 8 foot boards in half where it needs to folds. Big deal. It's well worth it to have the folding feature.

Honestly, did any of you think about that?

That's what I thought.

Do you feel Manly?

My man's room is done. Finally.
I've had many requests to post this project, and I'm finally gonna follow through, just minutes after I finished getting it organized and cleaned up.

Here's the outside of the door. Notice the security punch code? That's the only way in. No way you're gonna get through that 2 inch steel door, or the plate steel that I'm gonna cover the outside walls in. But, if you wanna give it a try, I have a clip full of 14 hollow points waiting for you. ;-)





This is what it looks like when you step into the room. It's 6 feet wide and 22 feet long. Perfect size and space for a Gun Room. In my personal opinion. I textured the walls and put in knotty pine panelling on the ceiling and two end walls.






Here's a closeup of the texture. It's called slashcut, and the paint is no other then "Gun Metal Grey".



This is the first bench you come across when you enter the room. It's 6 feet wide and covered with a granite-look-alike laminate countertop. The bench is used for cleaning as well as displaying a few of my prized possessions.





The second bench is identical to the first, but this bench is used for reloading my shells. I inherited Dad's reloading equipment so I could keep ammo costs down for my Smith and Wesson Revolver. Each bullet costs $2.50 from the store, but when I reload, that costs goes down to $0.80 per shell. That also, automatically puts me at the mercy of dad anytime he wants some bullets made. I'm just a phone call away, and I'm sure he planned it that way.





This is the view from inside that I like. The door is perfectly trimmed in knotty pine and the color is a clost match to the walls. On the right hanging on the wall is my trusty Winchester semi-auto shotgun that I've had since I was 16. Hanging below that is Grandpa Eddie's double barrell shotgun that he gave to me Thanksgiving 2006. Notice there's one slot left on the rack? That will be filled this summer with my new goose gun. On the left wall there's a couple hunting pictures hanging up. A picture from the trip that I blogged about in my last posting, and another one when Dad, Tyler, Rambo, Zella and I had a good day of hunting.



"But, Rich... where's all the bullets you've been making in this shiney new room?"
Well, I've made 20 so far, and that's just because that's all the tips that Sportsman's Warehouse had in stock for my gun. No fear, there's more on the way via the internet. The bullet on the left is a factory 325 grain Hornady round, and the bullet on the right is one that I made. Mine is 275 grains and has a much deeper hollow point, which will do more damage on impact then the factory round.

Hunting 101

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog, but I've been pretty busy. Now that things have settled down a little bit, look for me to post a couple times a week.

The real reason for this post is to share an unbelievable hunting trip that I was lucky to experience with my dad and my nephew at Swanson Hunting Acres in Niobrara Nebraska.

We left Sioux City on Wednesday afternoon after an hour of clay pigeon shooting. We felt like we needed to warm up a little before we set out to kill the real thing. We made a pitstop at the Castle Bar in Newcastle, Nebraska. The town where I spent the first 10 years of my life. When we entered the bar, everyone in there knew dad, of course. I think they actually have his stool that he used to sit in, gold plated. After some refreshements, we were on our way to the lodge in Niobrara, about 65 miles west of Newcastle.

To our surprise, the lodge was unbelievable. Stuck out in the middle of nowhere at the end of a questionable dirt road. This place had 6 rooms upstairs, and 8 rooms downstairs, all with double beds, and their own bathroom. Tyler and I bunked up, and left dad to snore by himself across the hall. If I had to guess, I would say the lodge is probably about 6,000 square feet.

This is a picture of the main dining / TV area. From left to right it's Betty (the 75 year old spitfire that runs Swanson Acres), Craig "Rooster" Nelson (our guide and dog handler), the Cook, Dad and Tyler. This place was more unbelievable then I can explain. This picture does absolutely no justice to the cedar cupboards and the knotty pine ceiling. To our surprise, we ate prime rib for dinner... which nobody complained about.



This is Betty and JR(a Jack Russel Terrier) and Tyler looking at some squirrels out the window. Betty runs a tight ship there, and she is one of the nicest hosts I've ever met. You'd never know that she's 75 because of the amount of work that she does in a day. JR also earns his keep at the farm. It's his job to kill the rats in the pheasant barns, and the day that we were there, he killed 12.



This is the other wall of the lodge, with Jimmy's (a guy who works at Swanson Acres) trophies mounted. He went on an African Safari last year for 9 days and bagged 6 different animals. The Caribou in the middle was attained on a hunting trip he took to Alaska. It was a pretty neat spread. Neat enough to make dad, Tyler and myself want to take a similar trip, probably around my 35th birthday, because the trip, along with mounting the animals, runs along the lines of $10,000.



This was my absolute favorite trophy of Jimmy's. It's a Golden Pheasant that he bought from a pheasant farmer a couple years ago. It's Cyclone colors, and if I ever come across one, I'm definitley gonna have it mounted for my game room. Look at it, in all it's beauty. I love it.


Hunting was great. We had fantastic weather in the morning and afternoon, and Rooster's dogs performed flawlessly. Here's a shot of me in the field with a pointer and a 2 year old black lab named Gabby.


This is Gabby's dad, Shadow bringing a bird back to Rooster. Shadow is THE best hunting dog I have ever seen. He's a pointing lab with a nose like a canon. He was very well behaved, and retrieved all 18 birds that we shot while he was working the fields.



This is Tyler displaying the results of our morning hunt. You can tell it's the morning hunt because his Rambo like shell holster is only 1/2 empty.



This is all of us after our afternoon hunt. Notice Tyler's shell holster is completely empty at this point. A pretty remarkable stat is Tyler shooting 36 shells that day from a single shot .410. All at different birds. He's holding up the black pheasant that he shot all by himself. A pretty good shot from about 75 yards away. One thing the picture is missing is a good view of dad's swollen hand. This will probably be the last picture you'll ever see of dad holding this gun, because it did a number on his hand that earned itself a permanent place in the gun cabinet, never to be touched again. I see a new semi-auto in dad's future.


We left Swanson Acres around 3:30 with a cooler full of birds, a flock of stories, and a promise to Betty that we will be making a return trip next year. We decided that this could be the start of a new tradition for us. A fantastic time was had by all, and I couldn't think of a crew that I would rather be hunting with, then the 2 fellas wearing hunter orange in that picture above. I'm counting the days till our next trip out there.

You're 30? Seriously?

Yes, I am 30, and I gotta tell ya... not much different then being 16, mentally.

You feel me on that dad?

Dad actually had a pretty good quote he told me on my birthday that sums up my life about as good as you can in one sentence. "Aging is not an option, but maturing is".

It's been awhile since I've updated by blog, but it's been a whirlwind ever since we moved into the house. I've been working nonstop on pretty much everything you could imagine. Not to mention, I've got a brand new job that I'm still getting used to. But, as far as jobs go, this one is definitely one of the best. I love going to work. I love being at work. I like every single thing about my new job, even the stuff that I shouldn't like. It's the perfect fit for me, and for the first time in my life, I feel like I could stay at that company till retirement.

Onto the house. Since September 1st, my new full-time job title has been "Head Groundsman". My main purpose everyday was to keep the sod adequately watered. Not much fun. At all. But, here we are, 4 weeks later, and the sod is green, and only requires water once every other day. Mission accomplished.

I've also managed to paint and clear coat my garage floor, install wall organizers, install a slick new mailbox, paint my basement floor, drywall 1,000 sq ft in the basement, hang all the blinds, put together misc shelves and about a million other things that a new house requires.

Pictures to follow sometime when I'm not buried in a pile of drywall dust.

Which is about to happen in 5... 4... 3... 2...

The Iowa State Fair

Andrea and I spent the day at the Iowa State Fair with Chad and Lindsay, and it was definitely one of the best/most interesting times I've ever had at the fair.

One reason, came as we were leaving the fair and decided to walk through the petting zoo. We came upon the miniature donkey exhibit and there were two male donkeys, who appeared to be playing. Upon further inspection, it became obvious that we stumbled upon some sort of barely legal, somewhat homosexual, and incredibly interesting donkey incest game.

The older male donkey was biting the younger donkey on the back and legs, in an attempt to mount him. The younger donkey kept running around the ring playing the best defense he could, and after a few minutes of dodging big brother, he would stop and do a pretty nasty donkey kick in an effort to get the older one off his back. He kicked hard too. Like, hard enough to probably knock out a full grown man. Problem is, he kept missing his target. So, the biting kept going on and on, and the kicking would soon follow. Chad and I watched like 2 kids watching a cartoon. And to make the situation a little weirder, there was a pot bellied pig in the same kennel. He had to be pretty pi$$ed about having those two jackasses for roommates.

The other reason this fair rocked was for the simple fact that I came back with more money in my wallet then what I left with. Chad informed me of this booth that was sponsored by a Credit Union, and they did "Fear Factor" type stunts for cash. All you had to do was sign a waiver and be prepared to eat something or get something dumped on you....

We got there and got our waivers signed as a pretty big crowd was forming. They started out by just throwing out t-shirts and $1 bills and a couple other trinkets to the crowd. Then they paid some guy $5 to put lipstick on him, then gave him $10 if he ate the lipstick. He did... he even chewed it. Next up was paying someong $5 to drink glass of lemon juice. Then he asked the golden question "Who's hungry?" My arm shot up in the air like I was trying to dislocate my shoulder. The guy saw me... pointed at me... then continued to scan the crowd... then he came back to me and said "You... come up here?". Asked me my name and asked if I was allergic to shellfish or any other types of food.

He said he was going to pay me $20 / glass to drink stuff that may not taste that good. He said they would be about 2 oz each, the equivalent of 2 shot glasses. I agreed.

First off... liquid smoke. It went down pretty easy, but the aftertaste was horrible. $20 in my pocket nonetheless.

Next... raw oysters in some sort of thick oily liquid. Down the hatch they went, and they were actually pretty tasty. I didn't mind those at all. $20 in my pocket.

Next... habanero sauce. Thick and hot, but not too bad. $20 in my pocket.

Next... a double shot of lemon juice. FOr some reason, this one was terrible. I'm not really sure why, because when you think about it, it should be the easiest. $20 in my pocket.

When I thought I was done, he said that he'd give me another $20 to eat a spoonfull of Wasabe. I agreed. Licked it off the spoon, and when that stuff hit my throat, I thought I was gonna die. That stuff made my eyes water, and turned my stomach into a gurgling volcano.

Total of $100 in my pocket made it a little easier though.

Now, take all that stuff, and add it to 2 beers, a footlong corndog, chocolate chip cookies, and a glass of milk, and you got yourself a recipe for disaster. Which is brewing in my stomach right now as I type this.

I'm pretty sure around midnight tonight I'm gonna be feeling that habanero sauce again, only this time I'll be burning south of the border.

Other people got $100 to have catfish stinkbait rubbed in their hair, an iPod to a gril who let them paint her blue with housepaint, an X-box to a guy that dresssed up in pink clothes, and then let them cut his hair anyway they liked him, $100 to a girl who let the guys cover her in peanut butter and jelly. All of that was pretty funny because they rubbed so much of the stuff in their hair, which has got to be impossible to get out.

You can see pictures of the stuff here -> http://anythingformoneyiowa.com/highlights.htm
Someone was taking pictures of me as I was drinking those shots, so I might eventually be in one of the galleries.

A very memorable day at the fair with great company really completed this weekend for me.

Oh, and just in case you didn't notice... my use of the word jackasses above, in my opinion, was very well played.

Day 90

I haven't been able to give photo updates lately because the house has been locked up everytime I go over to check it out. I know they're doing stuff, because I see new boxes showing up in the dumpster outside the house.

We have the final walk through this Wednesday, which means everything should be done, with the exception of the sod. The builder told me the sod would go in the day before we close, or the day of closing, weather permitting.

I will be able to give you an update of the deck, when its done, but other then that. Probably nothing until Wednesday. One major thing they did last week was putting in the gutters and downspouts. I completely forgot about that needing to happen. But it did, and it wasn't very exciting.

Until Hump Day..... Adios.

Day 85

Our first kitchen appliance has been installed:


We have black Maytag appliances (stove, dishwasher and microwave), and a Stainless Steel refrigerator with black handles that should tie in nicely.

The carpet was put in today too:

The Great Room, 3 bedrooms, stairs, and landing area all got carpetted. The carpet we picked out is called frazee and it's the best carpet under the sun. It's very soft, and feels like you could lay down on it and go to sleep. We also got an upgraded pad underneath that makes walking/laying on this stuff as close to heaven as you can get without actually dying.

Deck, sod, garage door openers, floor vents, touch up paint, and a couple of outlets in the kitchen are the only things that are left to do, and we'll be able to party like I'm turning 30. Which I am, in a few short weeks.

I gotta tell ya, I'm really looking forward to turning 30, and I'm not really sure why. Maybe because I still feel like I'm 14. I'm not sure if I still act like it, but judging from what my wife tells me, I don't think I'm that far off from acne, mopeds and feathered hair.

Day 83

When the carpet shows up, you know you're getting close to the end.


They're also working on the last section of finish carpentry. They're running the quarter round trim, and it looks like they're about 60% done. They have all the main rooms done, with just the 3 bedrooms remaining.

It's funny that I'm getting requests to tell the story that I promised last week. Some through email, some by phone, and some through the comments section here. So, as promised, here's how I became hero, for a day.

Midnight on Wednesday, August 2nd.... both of us are sleeping soundly in our bed. Rambo runs downstairs and starts barking at something. It's nothing new, because if he hears a peep outside, he feels the need to bark at it. Lot's of times people will be walking by, or neighbors will be leaving late at night, and without hesitation, Rambo, and sometimes Zella will bark at them.

I actually like this little K9 built in feature that comes standard with all Labs because it turns away "would be" burglars pretty quickly.

After the 10 seconds of barking was over, I was drifting back into a gracefull slumber, when I heard Andrea say "Rich... I heard some voices downstairs". If I had the energy, I would have given a little giggle, but I was tired, so I chose to exercise my selective hearing, and attempt to drift away. Then, I get an arm shake... "Rich, there's someone downstairs... I'm not kidding".

Pulse increases.... adrenoline starts to flow... and things just went from funny to serious in about 0.000000006 seconds.... and I instantly go into protection mode.

I grab my little friend, who I like to call my "Magnum Research Polymer Baby Eagle 9mm semi-auto, cocked and locked with a clip full of Spear Gold Dot hollow points", and I head downstairs slowly.

I peaked around corners, I checked behind doors, I looked outside every window in the house to try and get a glimpse of the mysterious voices from below. I came up empty, and I was disappointed. I was disappointed in the fact that I wouldn't get to fight a burglar in my Hanes boxer briefs. Because I have a pretty good feeling that would be a great story to pass down to my kids someday.

"Daddy beat up a burglar in his underwear" just seems to roll off the tongue.

I'm pretty sure the noise the dogs hears heard was from a car parked in front of our house. The car's dome light was still on, which leads me to believe that someone had just recently gotten out of the car and gone into a neigbors house, and caused the dogs to bark.

So, there you have it. I succesfully chased away the boogie man, and was a hero for a day.

Albeit, a slightly sunburned, underwear only wearing hero with a loaded gun... but a hero nonetheless.

Day 79

Chad, being the good American that he is, has graciously offered up his truck, and his services today, for the sake of picking up our new couches. They will be stored in our garage until we move, which is fine, because we got a killer deal on them and I'm willing to have my truck sit outside for the sake of saving money.

I didn't say I wouldn't cry everytime I see my truck sitting outside, I just said I'm "willing" to have it sit outside.

I have to get those couches moved, change clothes, and clean my bike up, to be at bike night by 7:00.

I have a good story to share, but I don't have time to write it up today.
Let's just say that I was a true hero in the Kneifl hacienda, and successfully chased away the boogie man last night. ;-)

Full story to come tomorrow.

Onto the house. Driveway and part of the sidewalk got poured today:

We also got a new front door, but you can't really see it in the picture. It has the handset also, which means our house is locked up now.

But Rich, how did you get in?

I did... and let's leave it at that. OK? OK.

Interior doors are in, sans doorknobs:

Look at those doors! Look at em I tell ya.....

Look.

They're awesome.

Day 78

A little bit of action at the house today. For some reason all of the lights were on. I think its for the inspection, because there was an inspection sheet taped to the back door.

Looks like our driveway and sidewalk are about to get poured.


In other news, we have Morning Dove #2 making a home in our hanging flower pot outside the front door. The first one sat on her egg non-stop for 4 weeks. When it hatched they hung out in our bushes for a couple of weeks before they took off to fend for themselves. This dove seems to lack the dedication of Dove #1. In my recently acquired bird knowledge opinion, Dove #2 doesn't put in the time that's required to hatch an egg and she seems to be off on her own in the evening hours. I wonder if she's a "lady of the night"?

One thing is for sure. That nest is probably about the nicest piece of real estate that a bird can get. It looks like a big nest, its comfortable, and it's sheltered from the elements.

When this new egg hatches, I think mother nature and I will be even after I ran over all those baby bunnies with the lawn mower a couple weeks ago.

*two thumbs up*

Day 73

The hardwood flooring guys got their job done today and even cleaned up the floors. The plumbers put our kitchen and bathroom sinks in. Stainless in the kitchen and white in the bathrooms. Everything is flowing together really well. You never really know how its gonna turn out, until it actually comes together.

Deck materials got delivered today:


If someone has to put a deck in tomorrow, I feel sorry for them because the heat index is supposed to be around 109. That makes me sweat just thinking about it. For real.

We're getting down to the end, the only tasks left that I can think of are:
Deck
Toilets
Driveway
Sod

The rest will be up to us. Like.... fencing, shower doors, garage floor paint... and some other nick nacky stuff.

Day 72

Are you ready for a retinal rampage, a visual assault, an eyeball onslaught, or maybe a pupil mugging?

Jesus, I need to pull it together.

I think I'm losing my mind.

I got a bunch of vented up camera frustration from not being able to get into the house. The flooring guys have been working late hours, which has kept me out for a couple of days, and it was driving me nuts. I was finally able to get in today at 8:00 pm to get some snapshots of their progress.

The hardwood flooring in the Great room/dining area is almost done. That area where there isn't hardwood is where the carpet goes. The reason there's an angle at the bottom of the picture is because it's like a mirror image of the fireplace. I figured it would look better like that, compared to having the floor come to a 90 degree corner. It's the little things people. The little things.


This is the rest of the Great Room and the hallway that goes back to the bedrooms. All hardwood. The pictures do the floors no justice. In person they look 1000 times better, even when they're dusty.


They also have the tiled backsplash done. They did a great job of laying it out, and we did a nice job of picking out the tile.


Our water heater finally has some company.
A nice high efficienty furnace from the good fellas at Lennox.


I wanted to show you our dining room light fixture too, because it's cool. See that little area on the floor that's not done yet? That's all they have to do tomorrow, and then the hardwood fellas will be done.


But, that's all the lighting you get to see. You'll have to come over and visit us to see the rest of the lights that Andrea and I picked out in our 4 1/2 hour, 2 day, light-picking-out-session.


Ahhh... I feel better now that I've shared.

Day 70

I checked the house at 7:30 pm and the flooring guys were still going at it. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to get in their way.

OK, so maybe I didn't want to look like a "Little Camera Fairy" in front of the flooring guys.

There, I said it.

It looked like they were about 30% done with the hardwood flooring. There was no sign of tile or carpet, which leads me to believe they need the hardwood in place first, before they can do the other stuff.

It looked like all of the lighting fixtures had been hung, and the rest of the outlets and switches were done.

On a non-house related note. I was walking back from lunch on the skywalk today and there were two guys walking towards me. As they approached, I overheard a tiny piece of their conversation, and it went like this....

Guy #1 "No way...."
Guy #2 "Yeah, so my mom told me that I was making out with my cousin"
Guy #1 and Guy #2 laugh hysterically.

That sounds like an interesting story.

I'd like to hear it in its entirety.

Day 69

Day 69.

Yup, that's right.... 69.

We are definitely on day 69.

6 + 9.

On Day 69 they put about 75% of the outlets and switches in, as well as the smoke detectors, and some of the ducts for the HVAC. Floor tiles for the entry way, laundry room, and 2 bathrooms was delivered today and sitting in the garage. The builder told me they're going to start the carpet and hardwood tomorrow also. I can't wait to show you pictures of our hardwood floors. It's definitely the one thing about the house that stands out more then anything else. Andrea and I fell in love with them the instant we saw them in one of the spec homes.

The kitchen counter tops:

The countertops we put in were a free upgrade. They're not smooth like most countertops, they're actually a little rough, and a little more durable then regular laminate.

The 2 bathroom counter tops were installed as well, but the lighting wasn't good enough to get a picture that's worth posting.

Speaking of lighting....Tonight we're picking out our celing fans and other light fixtures. I think we have around 20 different lights to pick out, and the theme is going to be "Brushed Nickel". All of the light fixtures are supposed to be going in tomorrow as well.

We're definitely getting near the end, and every day that passes, makes me more and more excited to move in.

Day 69.

Today.

Day 65

I worked late, and now I'm heading to bike night, so this is what you get.

Paint. It's called Star Home Tan. The ceiling color is called White.


Stone, it's called Pennsylvania. I'm not sure we could have picked out anything more perfect then what we did. Couldn't get a full picture of the house because of the paint trailor, but rest assured, it lookes AWESOME!

Day 64

I knew good stuff was happening inside the house when I pulled up and saw a trailor parked in the driveway that said "Professional Paint Service". But I wasn't prepared for the overwhelming smell of varnish as I walked through the front door. It slapped me in the face like a Rambo fart. I had to get in and out in less then a minute, or there's a good chance I'd still be laying next to one of those fans. Permanently.


They covered the cupboards with plastic, and they taped off all the windows, but other then that, they just let the varnish fly all over the walls and subfloor. Which makes sense, because it will all be covered in paint and carpet eventually.

Paint tomorrow?

I hope so.

Diarrhea in less then a minute?

Most likely.

Day 63

We have garage doors! They're big, and they're white. Finally our house is now 100% protected from the elements. The garage doors will be painted the same color as our siding so they don't blind you when you pull into the driveway.



They also delivered our interior doors to the laundry room.



I can't wait to see what they look like when they're hung and poly'd. I took out one of the 6-panel doors to get a closer look at it, and I could barely lift the thing. They're very solid, and the craftmanship that was put into them is unparalleled.

You don't really think about doors when you walk into someone's house, but these will actually stand out enough to grab your attention, and maybe even bring forth some sort of comment. That's what I'm hoping will happen, anyway. ;-)

Day 58

Storms were a'brewin on day 58. But, the siding got done. You can still see the house wrap where the stone will be. The color of the siding doesn't come through very well on these pictures, but its called Natural Clay, and its a very earthy neutral color that will look really good next to the "bold" stone we picked out.


The back looks bigger to me now that the siding is on.


All of the interior trim work was done too. I figured it would take a full week to get all the trim done. Below is the open staircase. I gave it a shake to see how well it was built, and I'm proud to say, it was solid as a rock.


Almost all the wood and supplies are gone from the garage, so I'm not really sure what's next on the agenda. They hung all the doors in the house too, but they're just filler doors, so they could get all the trim done. Our real doors are custom made, solid oak, 6 panel doors that we upgraded to. It will give the interior a much classier look then the standard doors they offered.