I put the last of the ridge cap shingles on this afternoon when I got home a bit early.

OK now for the inside....

This radiator-less house is fairly good at not retaining heat during the night. All I can say about Melissa and the boys is that they are being troupers through all of this.

Yea I missed a post or two... (perhaps more) back in September, somewhere around the 18th I think, we moved all the radiators out of the house (via moving co.) and down to a place that would sandblast then powder-coat them.

So.. long story short there has been no heat in this house since then.

I need a big concrete lorry!

Dad was in charge of finishing up the tub surround. Which required the re-cutting of a few complicated angles. He reported finishing this up, (I haven't checked it yet).

While he was doing that I started mixing and pouring some concrete for the floor of the future shed. I was able to get two feet of the slab done. This is the first ever concrete I have dealt with. Quite a fun experience... but a mixer would be better!

I owe much of the actual progress of the two foot section to Mom. She was the official time keeper and the one who kept prodding the mixer (Dad) along.

I spent some time this afternoon doing the first over in the front yard. Man I don't really like yard work. I need to find a setup that can remain weed free with the least bit of effort on my end. The bare dirt waiting for weeds isnt working any more.

The back gets trampled, driven on, and dug-up by the little ones so I'm not really worried about how it looks, its just a giant play area for the boys. The front however, is what people walk by and actually see. Who knows someday I might get to planting some grass up front.

I think I'll link my twitter account here as well to see


what that does.

This is a sweet tool ... web2.0 action for ya.

There goes, visualize the thoughts..

After living with no insulation in the attic for about 2 years it feels a bit warmer (even if its only a false feeling) in the house this evening. I started installing the insulation with the help of another brother-in-law before the holidays. Things got stopped quickly once the holidays started and people started showing up. Jason and I spent about 3 hours yesterday and about another 3 to 4 hours today finishing up this project.

Tech Specs:
I decided to install fiberglass batts for ease of install and not trusting or understanding the products available to me for blown in. I started with a r19 kraft faced batt running with the cieling joists. Once this was installed over the whole cieling I installed r30 batts running perpendicular to the rafters. This provided a blanket coverage overthe entire cieling area and resulted in roughly an r49 insulation factor. A bit better than the 0 I had before.

I still need to create an insulated door for the opening. And some day I'll get to the knee-wall area that needs attention as well.

Lack of posts != lack of stuff going on around here. Its not that there is nothing going on around here project wise its just that time is a void around this house. Projects get started, projects drag on, vacations happen, more projects get started.. etc etc.

Will update on some projects soon.

It was interesting to me that dispite the more afluent area and the house itself being on a far grander scale. There were still most of the old house characteristics, slightly uneven floors, dipping floor areas where radiators are placed, single pane windows with standard storm windows as well, a retrofit of AC into an old structure. It was fun to be there for some time and check out the house, but of course the purpose of the visti was family :-)

Ok now the list of projects that are ongoing:
. bathroom (very slowly) *
. front yard stone wall **
. structured wire (yes its started)
. dry lock basement ***

* havent really touched this project in a while. will start working on Sat afternoons when
its too hot to be out side.
** yes the stump is out (Nick). the front yard looks like a big dirt pile and a big hole
*** my dad helped me kick off this project when he came up for a few days after
the family get together in Norfolk

I have learned that there is more to life than house and house projects. We have 2 boys that are growing up fast and need interaction that I don't want to miss out on. We also took a family vacation to Germany the first two weeks in March.

Since back from the vacation we have decided to curb the bathroom project a bit. And tend to some house stuff that needs organizing and being a family in the mean time. That said...

I have an active helper now on Sat (sometimes two) work is slower than before but this is also partly to blame on me. Some times I don't feal motivated to do this bathroom project (I just want to play with computers or go outside - althought its frigin cold right now). After a weekend of 'work' on the bathroom the tool situation as well as the basement and bathroom are a wreck. I am starting to do a bit more work during the weeknights but this is slow as well, Monday is spent cleaning up the aftermath of the weekend and some little bits and pieces are able to be done on Tue / Wed / Thur depending on how tired I am. This week I will get the angle bench finished up and ready to go along with the TP holder backing block.

I still have my goal of having the sheet rock up and the shower area enclosed ready for Kirdi before we go to Germany. I think this is do-able. :-) It won't be taped and mudded but that is ok with me ... for now.

Dispite it taking me 2 days to get the sheetrock in place its there now. This wall did have alot of holes to account for in my cuts. I also had to get the shower cubby (niche) in place before I could get the wall closed up. The shower cubby (niche) is very nice if I dont say so myself. The wall will be insulated when ever I get into that space from the other side (roughly 1.5 years from now) but none the less its up and only one more outside wall to sheetrock.

Matthew stays very ocupied with the plugs from the tools I'm not using. He has an extention cord that is not plugged into anything that he uses the female end of then plugs and unpulgs the various tools. He seems to enjoy this and has his own things that he is doing. I usually have to ask to use the drill when needed. :-) But he will usually let me use it without too much fuss ..

.... Ahhhh remodeling with preschoolers

I was able to get my single piece of dry wall hung today.. yeppie :-) This wall is hard because now I have to deal with cutouts for the electric boxes and shower junk. I'm planning on getting the rest of that wall rocked next weekend. (we'll see how that goes)