Change Log 4.17.09

Change log for Friday, April 17th, 2009

  • Today was a burn day from 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. so I burned construction debris for that entire period.  I started with untreated wood scraps and then switched to manufactured wood after our fire roasted lunch.  
  • With my father-in-law’s help, we moved rocks that were in the way of the grading we need to do, and we also moved some stumps that Matt cut low when I expanded the garden a couple weeks ago.

Change Log 04.16.09

Change log for April 16, 2009

Errand day and a fussy baby made it difficult to do much today…

  • Picked out a laminate countertop for the kids’ bath
  • Picked out a manufactured granite countertop for the master bath
  • Measured the cabinets for the countertops and found that the master bath counter may not work because of how the cabinet is laid out
  • Bought the connector hose to hook up the water to the fridge
  • Hooked up the fridge to the water and found that it didn’t work.  We’ve also noticed that our water spigot outside the kitchen doesn’t work.  However, since it used to work when the hot and cold water systems were linked together we think that the plumber who did our rough plumbing (no, not Matt) switched the hot and the cold lines.  Whoops.  By looking at the pictures I took before the drywall went up Matt thinks he has found the spot where the lines were probably switched.  Matt is supposed to call the plumber to talk to him about it.

Some days feel like one step forward, two steps back…  

Change Log 04.15.09

Change log for Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Amber

  • Installed plugs in Emma’s room
  • Installed blank plate in linen/telecom closet to cover the light future
  • Vacuumed downstairs
  • Moved more scrap wood outside
  • Planned newel post layout with Matt

Matt

  • Sanded the floor where the first railing section will be installed
  • Cut the base piece for a railing section and tacked it down
  • Planned out the location of the balusters

I have also started a static page with the move-in list as of today.  Here it is.  I’m sure Matt will think of things I’ve forgotten and I’ll probably remember a few things as well.  But this gives you an idea of what is left to do.  The page is linked above the masthead.

Change Log 04.14.09

Change log entry for Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

  • Boxed scrap Hardiboard and piled the big pieces
  • Moved more wood to burn area, bagged trash, heaved pieces of concrete into the gully (gotta love having acreage)
  • Loaded the trailer (with my father-in-law and Matt) with trash, recycling, Hardiboard, and other material that shouldn’t be burned. 
  • Installed plugs in the upstairs hallway and linen/telecom closet (don’t you have a linen/telecom closet?)  Felt like a very bad mother because Gregory pinched his finger with some unidentified tool (nippers of some sort?) and Nathan fussed (I wouldn’t let him scoot around on a second story area with no railing) all because Mommy was busy installing electrical outlets.

Change Log 04.13.09

Change log entry for Monday, April 13th, 2009

  • Called Al (our tractor guy) to see about getting him out to dig a trench for propane and do some grading work on the front of the house
  • Ordered the kitchen sink (and no, we’re not paying anything near that amount for it), as it is no longer being made and we want to get it before it disappears entirely
  • Found and installed the missing blank plates in the away room
  • Bagged trash, got trash and cardboard ready for a dump/recycling run
  • Started sorting wood in the scrap pile outside the house, moved a big pile of manufactured wood down to the burn area, started a burn pile and burned some of the scrap material.  Greatly upset the children by not providing marshmallows and hot dogs.

 

Introducing the Change Log

I’ve decided to start a new feature here on this largely neglected blog.  I’m going to try to post every day I work on the house with a brief description of what I’ve done – as a friend put it a little while ago, it’ll be a like a change log for the house.  Matt was doing something like this for awhile, and I’ve decided to pick it up again and see how long I can manage to do it.  

I do have one request though – could anyone out there reading this refrain from saying how close we are?  I’ve been hearing this for months now I’ve gone from “oh yes, we’re getting close!” to “*sigh* yes, getting closer” to “*huge sigh* well, there’s still a lot of work” to “*gigantic sigh* I guess”.  I may snap sometime soon, and the results may not be pretty.  Yes, if perhaps my husband didn’t have to work 70+ hours a week and/or I wasn’t homeschooling and taking care of three children and all the household duties a family entails, we probably would be in by now.  But that’s not the situation, and close is a relative term.  So as to not turn this into a huge rant, I think I’ll just stop now.  I think you all get the point.  🙂

Sort of along that vein, I’m also going to put together a list of everything that needs to be done for us to move in, so that you all can see what we’re up against.  I’m not sure how best to do this – perhaps I’ll see if I can make a static page and strike through the completed items as we finish them.  I’ll post something about it when I figure it out.