Weekend In Review

I told my wife that I was hoping to post a weekend in review, or a week in review every Monday depending on the events of the week and time permitting. I always have time, just lacking the inclination. The older I get, the more I realize that not having the time is a poor excuse, because we all make time for the things that are important.

This is my brain:

The good thing about working in an MRI clinic is the opportunity to jump into the scanner to work on improving the imaging protocols. When my boys are teenagers, this is proof that I have a brain.

We continued to work on the front yard, and improve the curb appeal. We have exhausted the landscaping budget, and I think we've done pretty good on a $1000.00. This weekend we spread two truckloads of super soil and 8 bags of bark mulch. The bark mulch went under the two trees that we ringing with metal edgings, over weed block. I'll have to squeeze out about 4 more bags of mulch ($10) after payday to finish this area to my satisfaction.

This area was begging for a hammock.

A lot of plants were planted, but I was inadvertently a terrible father and accidentally covered Red Ant's watermelon plant he had grown from seed at school. When he came out and saw what had happened, it was full tears running down his face. Talk about feeling bad...

We (Sweetheart mostly) finally got Row calmed down and I promised him that we would go buy more plants just for him. He selected six watermelon seedlings, and a pretty tray of flowers (bottom right) that he was sure that Mommy would like the colors.

I'll post more pictures of the plants when I get a written list of the plant spellings. A lot of marigolds, 2 strawberry plants, 2 tomato plants, and 2 Zinnia plants went into the new soil. I also got my new toy hooked up, the Orbit automatic watering system. I have plans to expand the system to get most of the front yard, so that I can plant some Bermuda seed, then weed and feed the yard for a really lush yard. I figure it'll take a two or three year time frame for my dream lawn. We have the time, not the money.

My school's official graduation ceremony was this weekend, but I opted to work on the house instead of spending 3 hours listening to self-inflated old men talk to themselves. Besides, my wife, boys and parents told me that they were proud of me...that's all that really matters.

That being said, I had thought about going out to eat, but really just wanted an awesome steak dinner. You know me, I'd rather go to the butcher shop and get some REALLY nice steaks for the price of an average restaurant meal. Here's what we had: Angus T-bone for parents, Ribeye for Row, Filet for Red Ant, grilled chicken for The Doctor, Asian salad, baked potatoes or psuedo-McDonald's french fries, roasted asparagus, and croissants.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Fixing A Hole

Today was a nice cool day to get some repair work done around the house. Our master bathroom had developed a leak and dripping through the ceiling sheetrock. I'll eventually get to doing the inside repair work, but I'll wait until the next round of steady rain to make sure that the leak has been fixed.

Once I know that the leak has been fixed, I'll move to scrapping the ceiling popcorn, and reapplying a new coat. Which means I'll need to paint the ceiling, and remove the old wall paper. Since I'm already removing old wallpaper, I'm sure that the wife would love a new color in our bathroom. It's just a few more dollars and another hour or two to add some new pulls on the cabinets, then some new towel holders.

This is a typical example of how a small repair blossoms into a minor bathroom remodel. We gotta make this house more marketable for the next buyer while increasing our enjoyment and raising the equity in this house with a little sweat.

A BIG "Thank You" for the generous donation that we got yesterday. You know who you are...

I'm checking into perhaps buying some more silver American Eagles since spot price is below $14.00. I'll see if they can take PayPal.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

PS- I have indeed ordered 7 more silver American Eagles. These will go into the direct transfer of wealth fund for the kids. The silver will pass into the hands of our kids without the government's taxes upon our death or whim.

Standard Storm preps

1. Cars filled with gas
2. Generator ready with power cords & gas
3. Electronic devices topped off
4. Pantry topped off with some comfort foods
5. Firewood
6. Over night bag for work , stranded scenario (Get to Work Bag)
7. Outside car covered with tarp (ice and freezing rain here)
8. Flashlights checked

What are some of your standard routines when a storm is on the radar?

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Another Project Finished: Home Speaker Installation & Finishing

This project has been an on and off project since we bought the house. The big rush was to get the room painted and the speakers placed out of the way.

The blank slate of our new house.

The plan was to have the flat panel TV mounted on the wall, and putting all of the stereo components under the TV in its own cabinet. However, the projection TV wouldn't fit through the doorway of the playroom, and it made it's home in the living room.

We'd really like a TV that we can hang on the wall, but we can't justify spending the money while the other TV is still working like a champ.

Our 65" Mitsubishi TV that I bought in 2001, and still rockin' a great picture.

The Klipsch KLF-C7 center channel for the surround sound on the ground that's waiting to be wired into the system. I've been gradually working on my home theater for over 20 years, and still have a few more things I'd like to add.

The Cornwallis speakers will just barely fit into the space, with a few modifications. The top trim will have to be trimmed down, and the center shelf inside the cabinet will have to go. The space will also have to be widened a few inches on the top and sides for a good fit.

 

The speaker is finally installed, and the wiring done. I took a rather long break to finish school, and other pressing projects.

The living room got new colors, and the built-ins got all new paint, plus new hardware. The front trim has also been reinstalled.

Another close-up.

These are the frames that cover the speakers. All I needed was a fabric that matches the cream finish on the built-ins. I took paint samples from all three colors in the living room, and made my own paint wheel. Sweetheart picked the cloth fabric.

The fabric was pulled tight over the frame and trimmed.

Of course, no project of mine would be complete without a run to the hardware store. Where did those staples go? Anyways, I had to pick up the Velcro strips to hold the frames onto the built-in.

The almost finished project, before a minor reworking of the loose fabric on the frame.

Measure twice, pencil mark where the frames should be, and apply Velcro.

I'm happy with the final result. A hidden speaker area for our home entertainment system. Now, how long will it take the boys to notice?

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Problem/Solution: Current Project: Pantry Part 1

One of the niceties that we were looking for in a new house was room to store our deep pantry. We like to buy in bulk at the cyclical low prices, ergo we need a lot of storage. The house that we bought didn't have a lot of food storage. This is our solution:

This is the laundry room as you enter from the garage with a small closet to the right.

 
This is a better picture of the closet and limited shelving.

This is a current picture with a good portion of our short term food stuff on a folding table for easy access.

I had a friend install a door on the back of the little closet that opens up into the garage storage area. My Dad did a similar conversion to a house that I grew up in.

The little anteroom will hold cookbooks, chemicals, and assorted items.

The view from the garage gives you an idea of the old access to the storage area. Eventually, I'll remove the door, maybe even a little pass through for groceries.

Indy, the local security, is making the rounds to check on my progress for the day.

This is another before today picture. We moved a lot of the food items into the room for Row and Red Ant's birthday party. It's been hard trying to carve out chunks of time for this project with school, family, and life.

The wall on the right is eleven and a half feet, and the widest part of the pantry is seven and a half feet. With the built in shelving and two additional wire racks, that should give us ample room to properly store our foods. The far wall will eventually house a wine chiller with custom wine racks built around it.

The shelves got a proper cleaning a few days ago.

Yes, the paint is still wet.

This morning I wanted to get the area around the built-ins painted so that the food could be moved from the laundry area. The paint was left over from the living room, so we haven't had to spend any more cash to get this project going. I've also got a little over five cases of tile leftover from the rental house. It might take another $30-$40 to finish this room.I also decided to paint the shelves a bright white. This will help contrast any little clues that mice have invaded the store room. A few traps, and glue traps will be placed in a couple of safe places.

I got all the area around the shelves painted, and some of the cut-ins done.

I'll move the table into the pantry, and use the folding table to sort through the canned goods. I'm hoping to finish this project by next Monday.

On another note, the boys have keep the secret about the baby's sex. Looks like everyone that voted less than a week is out of the running.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Day Three and Four Of Spring Break

I didn't post anything last night because I was worn out. Sweetheart made me take a long hot bath, then she massaged my hands with lotion. I spent most of the morning and afternoon doing yard work, then after dinner, I went to the rent house and grouted the back room and landing. I finally got home about 8:30, and headed for the tub.

Before

I finished all the top and bottom colors on Tuesday, and resumed painting the detail work today. I officially finished around 2:00pm today. 

After

I spent an hour after dinner putting the furniture back in place. Tomorrow I will purchase new brackets for the shelves, and wire the front of the stereo system. The rear surround sound will have to be another weekend project when the finances improve.

The picture above is the before picture and the picture below is roughly about 3-4 hours work. I really want the fence line to be cleared so that I get more sunlight. I'm hoping that after watching the back yard this year, that maybe I'll find a plot for a garden.

I broke "the lopper", as my boys call it, which turned out to be a good thing. I did some quick mental calculations and found that I was quickly running out of time, especially since rain was forecast at about sunset.

The sides of the house had a ton of leaves, and it took most of the morning to get them mulched and bagged. I'll have to brag on my boys for a bit...they were a big help. Both of them dragged, and lollygagged all of the limbs and bagged leaves to the curb. Granted, I happened to find a little two wheeler that made the job even more fun for two young men. Still, around  25 bags of leaves is a big job for two boys.

After about two hours of really hitting it hard, I asked Red Ant to bring my tea from off the porch. He kind of giggled as he handed it to me, and they had both drank all of my tea! I normally don't mind sharing with my boys, but drinking a man's tea on a hot yard day is downright wrong.

The yard still has a lot weekend projects, but this was a good start. Saturday is the big birthday part for the boys, and the backyard is where all the kiddos are gonna be playing. We have a bounce house coming, and it should be interesting. For $100, they had better jump up and down until they fall out from exhaustion. It'll be money well spent though. They are old enough to remember this year's party. After this big tax refund blowout, it'll be a lot of pancakes, grilled chicken, and ham steaks for dinner.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

PS- The only project that hasn't been completed this spring break is the studying for the 3 exams after the break. Friday night is reserved for my studies, and I'll record one of my classes to listen to at work for Sunday morning.

Day Two Of Spring Break

Today was paint the living room day. Mother-in-law came over and helped do the bottom layer of the living room.

Before

Before

 I made it to about sunset before the light (and hands) started to give out. The trim work is the only thing that needs to be done. The built-ins are about a quarter of the way done. I purchased Frog tape, and have been pretty impressed with the results so far. I'm not good enough to do the cut-ins by hand, yet.

Quitting time

Tomorrow is yard day. I need to get it cleaned up, and cleared for the birthday party on Saturday. Row and Red Ant chose to have their b-day party at the "new" house. The weather will be much better than their January birthdays!

I might knock out a few chapters of Pathology before bedtime, but after two long days I'm ready for some downtime. In a true SHTF situation, I doubt many people could put in a string of six solid days work. Heck, many people don't want to put in a solid days work.

I've got to finish the grout, which is looking like Thursday because it is predicted to rain. I'll probably finish up the trim work on Thursday too. I'm hoping to make a little progress on painting each day until Friday. Friday will be unpacking a bunch of boxes, and running errands.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Day One Of Spring Break

I have rather ambitious plans for my spring break. A lot of it revolves around the rent house and the new house. Plus, I've got to fit school work into the equation somewhere since we have 3 tests the first two days back.

The downstairs (formerly the storage room) room needed a better floor surface, especially if I'm going to rent it.

The old tile had to be removed from the closets. For some reason I never finished removing the old tiles, and tack strips for the carpet.

I almost got too far into the project before pictures were snapped.

Row asked me if he could help. I told him no, and paused for a minute. Why was I saying no, when my son wants to help his Dad. Plus, I will probably be threatening him in a few years to do anything around the house, so I had better get my head on straight and take his help. Perhaps, this could be the beginnings of a good work ethic 

I was tempted to leave the insides of the closet rough, but decided to have to room look nice when it was finished. If the house is nice enough to sell, then it is nice enough to rent.

The toilet has been seated, and the float replaced.

The new vanity, sink, and faucet have been installed and the sheet rock patched. I'll have to add another layer, then sand the patch flush with the wall. A coat of paint needs to be done in the bathroom to bring it into this century.

The landing tiles were removed, and primed for new tile.

I hated to vacuum the stairs, and usually had one of the boys do it. I checked under the carpet, and the wood is in really good shape, so I've added another project onto my plate. I'm going to remove the carpet, and repaint the stairs. It will look better since Indy used the stairs to clean his paws on a regular basis. The time to clean vs. refurbishing will probably be equal.

The pry bar has to be one of the most essential tools that a homeowner can purchase.

 

 I've completed all of the tile work at the old house. A good start to a heavy week of chores.

Now, it's time for a hot shower, and The Walking Dead.

Keep Right On Prepping - K