Reno Stories

So, weekly I have to report on my activities for work, and on my time sheet from last week I wrote "reno vacation used." Apparently I should have differentiated between renovation and Reno, Nevada, as it looked like I took a day to go gambling.

When removing the upper cabinets, I was working on the second set by myself, and reefing on them, and after an hour or so of working nails out and trying this or that, all of a sudden they let go of the wall, and fell on me. I was standing on the countertop, and somehow managed to stay up there and not fall back and impale myself on whatever tools were on the floor behind me.

Yesterday we rented a floor scraping machine, so we could strip the floor down to the wood sub-floor, because we are laying laminate tile down in two rooms, and it would be nice if it was level between them. Unfortunately anywhere that was high traffic meant that the glue had bonded to the wood so well that the scraper pulled wood off and left the floor in rough shape. So now I get the added joy of filling those holes. Prime and paint today, cabinets in tomorrow, flooring in on Saturday (at least in the kitchen), and plumber coming on Monday to hook up dishwasher and install sink. I am realizing now that I need to get the sweep kick installed at some point in there, and I don't know if I have wiring to do it. Hmmm.

Update: Jeremiah

Kitchenless

The big kitchen bonanza has already hit week two. Though, it has been a long time since the oven conked, so it feels longer. Today was the second coat of mud, and hopefully a few touch-ups, and then put on the paint, and in come the cabinets. It will be good to have them installed, as they are clearly the largest part of the kitchen. As for unexpected surprises, the drywall needed a little more attention than expected, and the flooring is coming off a little harder than I thought, but that is not too bad. Living in the basement has been alright, but where we notice the most is not having space for the girls to play. I am pleased to announce that the basement bedroom reno project is now finished, as I put the last piece of baseboard on yesterday. I suppose technically we are still waiting for curtains, but that is not my department.

Gutted

I couldn't help but think about the movie Life as a House this weekend as I was gutting my kitchen. Go watch it.

We wanted to save some of the cupboards and not feel like we are wasteful wasters, so we carefully pulled off the smaller bank on Saturday after getting everything moved downstairs. Note: major windy snowstorm + back porch area full of my random stuff = snowy stuff that shouldn't be wet. So I spent too long on Saturday morning cleaning that mess up. Frickin frackin. Taking off the upper cabinets sounds easy, but there were twice as many nails as needed and they are all two inch ribbed spikes, which means it was a stinking hard job. But we managed. We then mounted that section in the laundry room in the basement, and now that room is a little more organized (it needs to be since it is where we wash dishes while the kitchen is out of commission). Monday we gutted the rest, took out half of a wall, and got ready for the electrician. He came yesterday and did a bunch of wiring. They plan to finish today.

Projects like this inevitably have unforeseen things, and we had some holes in the drywall to contend with, but nothing too major thus far. Originally the plan was to modify old cabinets, but going with new ones meant re-picking all the other decor in the room to go with a wood grain instead of painted white. I have happily abdicated any choice in the matter.

I Can Zimba Zimba Zi, I Can Zimba Zimba Ze

Well, we are taking the big plunge. The oven is on the fritz, randomly shutting off and on when it is supposed to be on the whole time. Since a bigger oven is preferred to a 24 inch one (27 is small by today's standards), that started the dominoes tipping. New counter, back-splash, sink and faucet, take wall down between kitchen and dining room, more counter space, paint everything... then we got a quote on whole new cabinets. It is $4000-5000 more to go that route. But once we evaluated that, we couldn't go back to spending as much as it was going to cost and still have an old kitchen. So we agreed. The deposit we paid just came through on our bank account, which means any progress made on the mortgage has just been compromised. And it will only get worse. But rather than pay it off and then do the big reno, we decided to do it now and enjoy it for the extra few years. But it hurts. My goal of paying off the mortgage by the time I am 30 is now dead. Or at least on life support. I suppose it isn't totally dead until I am 31 and it hasn't happened. Until then I can cling to hope that Bill Gates will have a flat tire and I will stop and help him and refuse compensation and he will go pay off my mortgage. Sigh.

The electrician was over this morning, and the good news is that we won't need to replace our whole panel. It seemed everything else with this project was costing more than we had thought. It means I will be thinking of every possible way in which I can help or do it myself in order to save on costs. I mean, usually I would try to do most of it myself, but that means it takes much longer to finish. And with a kitchen, I don't think my marriage would survive. The stink hole was evidence of that. Speaking of which, I don't think it is completely sealed because every now and then we get a little whiff of stink again. Boo-urns.

Win

23-7.

The Brooks Buffalos are provincial champions for the first time since 1997.

Booya.

Stink Hole Saga

Well, remember when we dug up our entire front yard so that we would address the stink issue in our basement? The stink came back. Cue music on the low end of the register. So yesterday rather than prepare for my sermon this Sunday, I went home and played plumber (this may have saved my marriage). Turns out the little room with the smell has another source: the mystery square hole! After eliminating the main drain clean out trap (I packed it full of expanding foam, so it couldn't be the culprit), it had to be this other thing. Turns out it is where the old school weeping tile drains into the main sewer. We figure at some point the sewer backed up and filled the weeping tile with nasty sewer water. It was rank-tastic. I had to leave and let the room air out a little. So we put a new seal down in the hole, to prevent future gases (there is no way to flush out weeping tile without flooding the basement) from escaping into the house. It may not be a "forever" solution, but at least now I know what to do. Silly how they never used a sump pump back in the 60s.

I am working on the big paper to my seminary course on the parables, and luckily I will also be preaching on the same passage this Sunday, so some of my work at least overlaps. I have been chipping away at the reading, and slowly but surely am getting up to 800 pages.

So there, my life is about more than just football. Tomorrow is the final! Peace River! Eeee ee!

Booya-ha-ha!

49-0.

The game is on a Saturday in Brooks for the first time and I still couldn't make it. We were hosting a video conference here so I couldn't get away. But it was broadcast on local radio, so I snuck away at lunch to hear the update. Twas a dominating performance, as you can see by the score.

This means we play for the provincial championship on Saturday. One problem. It is in Edmonton. Boo! This means I will have seen a grand total of 1.75 quarters of football. Not even half a game! Thanks for coming out, coach.
The last time we moved past the first game of provincials was when I was playing (back in the last millenia).