Why not?

So maybe this blog is going to turn into a home improvement blog, at the rate I am going. 

First off, the new stove:

It has a convection oven.  I will admit, I am not too sure what exactly that means, other than people really like them and it makes it more expensive.

I also added the cabinet hardware, and leveled all the doors.  Check!

But instead of finishing up the other odd jobs and cleaning the house, I embarked on new projects.  (why?)

We painted the hallway - left up the paneling, but softened/brightened the space with an off-white.  Picture some other time.

More ambitious, I started the process to restore the brick fireplace.  I really disliked the giant white accent in the room, and felt that it would do some good to try and restore it to its brickly goodness.

Unfortunately, it looks like something from a horror flick.  I am using organic non-toxic (relatively speaking) chemicals, so no worry in getting dizzy and making the family take unintended naps when in the living room.  However, it is somewhat less effective and will take a number of coats.  But I am cautiously optimistic that it might be possible to do.  I have a four day weekend coming up after all!

I also cleaned out the garage today.  The mouse poop and the weeds in front of the garage became too much.  Now it is spic and span and holds a vehicle again!  Hooray!  The metal awnings are salvaged, the dry wall thrown away, and old kitchen cabinets are in the basement, ready to receive tools and laundry soap.

Andrew had some rough nights.  He learned to turn over when going to sleep.  But when he wakes up, he realizes that he does not like to be on his stomach, and so he screams.  And drools.  A lot.

But he is getting ready for football season.  Can't you tell he is excited to finally see a Northwestern atheltic event outside the womb?

Rachel says this is the baby Polamalu look.

One last bit of baby news - he got his passport this week.  This trip to Taiwan is coming up faster than we thought!

This week is the first day of classes - orientation Tuesday, classes on Wednesday and Thursday.  Yay school!

-alan

Promised picture!

I decided to wait until I cleaned up the kitchen a bit before posting a picture.  With most of the tools gone, here is how the place looks now:

You will notice the snazzy new curtains, hemmed thanks to the work of Sarah.  Thanks sis!  We partially moved our dishes and food into cabinets, and got the refrigerator moved while we were at it.  There is still a lot in the basement and other items yet to be organized.  Not to mention the cabinet doors that have yet to be aligned, and hardware to install.  And trim.  Oh, and paint touch-ups.  And other things not worth mentioning now....

About that stove?  After investing quite a bit of time and money in getting a fitting, I irrationally gave up and went with Rachel today to Sears to buy a new range/convection oven.  It was on a deep discount.  Not top of the line, but a nice mid-level appliance that is probably nicer than anything we have had before.  It arrives on Thursday.  Since I have Friday off, I am thinking that an evening of cookie baking is in order.  Mmmmmmmm....

Time for bed.  I head to the brand new school building (which only houses the elementary!) for the first day of meetings tomorrow morning.

-alan

Hiccups

Kitchen update!

But first, about important things -

Andrew is making great progress in grasping objects.  This week he went from haphazardly swinging his arms (hoping that random chance would bring them in contact with the object in question) to using his fingers to (clumsily) hold objects.  His fascination is to grab his pacifier from his mouth and (with tremendous concentration) pass it from hand to hand.  I would say that his success of transfer rate hovers around 40% right now.

Also, he has taken to throwing himself with a violent arching motion while on his back.  It brings him to rest on his side.  He does it when we put him to bed.  Unfortunately, he then loses his pacifier, causing frequent trips to his crib at bedtime. 

In the kitchen, things are in the closing stages.  I report to school on Monday, so the pressure is on.  Currently, I am working to reconnect the stove, install shoe molding, hook up the dishwasher and disposal, finishing up the backsplash, and plumbing the sink.  All are in various stages of completion. I am hopeful to get some knocked off yet tonight, if Andrew will go to sleep!

The stove has given me fits.  We had a plumber install new 1/2" pipe when it was moved, replacing the old 3/4" pipe.  We bought a new gas line installation kit, but it lacks the necessary adapter to hook it up to our old stove (and its larger connection).  Apparently Home Depot lacks the needed adapter and/or the employee knowledge to find it for me.  Rachel is currently at Menards giving them a try.

Picture after tonight.

-alan

Our kitchen rocks and other thoughts

Today the two guys came to install our lovely new granite and sink.  I have been anxiously awaiting this day throughout the whole kitchen renovation and now it has come and gone.

One part of me really needed to see the granite in the space to feel secure in the choices we made.  I was the one who picked it out the actual slabs from the giant warehouse trying to find the perfect stone.  I polled random strangers about paint color in Home Depot as I agonized over the decision.  I had to know if everything would tie together well.  I am happy to report that I think it looks better than I envisioned.

Also, I mentally set up this day as the most important of all.  The capstone to the whole project.  Now I see how each day of the kitchen work is equally critical, albeit less sexy, for the completion of the final product.  I am amazed daily as I see Alan's diligence in attempting the myriad of tasks involved in this project.  So even though I was delighted to see the granite guys installing our new treasures, I am even more moved as I see my husband learn and labor for the sake of the family.

As I close this entry, I am reminded at how blessed  we are to have opportunity to own this home and money to make these renovations.  Even though HGTV has been brainwashing me to believe otherwise, design and the picture perfect house are not everything.  It is hard sometimes to have this perspective when the project seems so all consuming and materialism feels so good.  I guess the real value of this renovation will be seen in the days ahead as we use our new wonderful space to bless and serve others.

Who is hungry?

-rachel

PS Thank you miners in India for the granite.

PPS Andrew is tired of all the kitchen work, can't we build him a fort instead?

Kitchen update, day ?

After spending much of the week in Michigan with my family, we resumed work yesterday on the kitchen.  We were quite productive - I installed brackets to support the counter overhang, wired the island for electricity, installed a new ceiling fan, and the new over-the-counter microwave. 

The fan caused me the most issues.  I installed it fairly easily - there was a bracket and wiring already in place from the old fan.  I hooked it all up, but nothing turned on.  So I took it apart and found faulty electrical connections (oops!).  So I re-made the connections and put it back up.  It worked!  But would not turn off.  Huh?  The switch did nothing to affect the light or the fan motor.  So I took it all apart and did some forensic investigation of the wiring.  In the end, I found that into that box went 3 live wires and 1 live wire that was connected to the wall switch.  The wall switch indicated it should have been a red wire, but what came of out the box was blue.  Argh!  So back up it went, and now it works just fine.

On our way back from MI, we stopped at the outlet mall in Indiana to get some clothes.  Andrew was great - appropriately cute for the salespeople, and very comfy in his stroller most of the time.  Rachel seems to be working on making him more independent.

-alan

Man Hands!

Right now, my hands are stained (construction adhesive), calloused, and rough.  In short, they are man hands.  My soft, girlish hands are no more.  And I am not sure if I should be happy or sad.  

With only 7 days to go until the granite will be installed, there are many things to get done in the kitchen.  I think I have finally convinced Rachel that the whole kitchen will not be done on the 15th; with our being gone the next few days in Michigan, we need to keep expectations realistic.

The electrical work is just about done.  I was up in the attic crawlspace most of the afternoon working on a new light fixture, and installing the new ducting for the vent.  I got ambitious and cleaned up in there as well (lots of messes from the electricians a couple months ago in addition to my own).  I also conquered my fear of the roof and was able to install the flashing for the vent with no problem.  (though I hope there are "no problems" with the flashing in the future!)

Our house is in some serious need of decoration.  There are still no pictures, no artwork, no trinkets out.  Our old things are still boxed up and we have not purchased anything new for all our addition wall space. 

On Saturday we went to an engagement party on a rooftop deck near my school.  Ohhh Chicago, lookin' good!  Andrew slept the whole time.  Phew!

On Sunday we were rained out twice.  First, we wanted to go back to our old church in Bridgeport for their annual service at the beach.  Unfortunately it was pouring rain, and we relocated back to church. 

Then our softball game was rained out.  We had warmed up and were getting ready to take the field when the deluge came and sent everyone scrambling for their cars.  At least we saw a rainbow on the way home!

Thankfully, we sandwiched the misfortunes with an afternoon at Sarah and Dave's apartment.  We took a walk, and then dominated in canasta.  Go Allmens!

-alan

Back on the air

The new modem has been received, so we are reconnected to the world.  

The most exciting kitchen-related news of the week is the granite counter - I finished installing the cabinets on Monday, and the measurements were made on Tuesday.  Today we got a call to schedule installation on Aug 15.  So that is our new "we're all done!!!" date.

In the meantime, I have been trying to get some other loose ends tied up.  Electrical work has consumed the last couple of days.  It is not quite done, but getting there.  The big to-do on my mental list right now is installing the microwave (over the range), adding new ducts for the vent, and adding a new light fixture.  The latter two will involve hauling myself back in the attic crawlspace and prying up some floor boards.  Not exacting looking forward to that....or to cutting a hole in the roof for the new vent!

Yesterday, though, was an unfortunate emotional milestone for me.  It was the day I officially became sick of working on the kitchen.  I would love to just laze around a little bit and enjoy my summer in other ways.  We are having fun too - I golfed this week, we went back to Millennium Park, had brunch in Logan Square, etc - but there is no such thing as complete relaxation as long as the kitchen project is hanging over my head.  Today I was mainly in the basement, which was a nice diversion.  And Rachel cleaned up a lot, which helps a ton!

Getting there.

-alan

  

Internet outage

Last week, several massive storms blew through Chicago and dumped lots of rain.  We had 4 inches one night - and there had been rain the night before and the night after.  Good for the lawn - I do not water much so it was not growing.  Unfortunately, the rain means that now I might have to actually mow it again!  Well, during those storms there was a lot of lightning.  We lost power twice, and lost internet connectivity.  After being given the run around for several days by AT&T, Rachel was able to connect with a rep last night who determined that our modem is wacky.  So still no internet, and probably none until Wednesday.  Thankfully, she sweet talked him into replacing our modem for free!  That is why there have been no updates and why we are in the public library right now catching up on work.

At home, the house has been a disaster.

Rachel devoted a couple hours last night cleaning up - doing dishes, laundry, cleaning up the clutter.  I am very thankful for that!  It was looking bad.  The kind of bad that causes you to stress out just thinking about it!

The airlock on the kitchen is down, but the work continues.  The cabinets are 75% installed, and the final ones will not be difficult at all to do.  There was a lot of troubleshooting to do; our corner cabinets were major problems because our walls are quite out-of-square.  That meant a lot of putting the cabinets up, pulling down, up, down, shim, up, down, shim, repeat.  Even cabinets from Ikea I guess are not capable of fitting every shape of room.

The floors are completely done and look great, I think.  It is coming together and the end is in sight.  The guys are coming tomorrow to measure for our countertops, which is a big milestone.

Meanwhile, I keep having periodic dreams about the kitchen.  Last night I dreamt that a friend came over to check on the quality of my work, but criticized me mercilessly when he found defects.  Time to work on some new projects, I think!  This week I hope to go golfing and do some other fun summer things.

But I cannot say that it has been all work and no play.  Last week I did very little housework, because during the day I was down at the Field Museum for a PD seminar.  It was decent - the best part was all the tours of behind-the-scenes collections and lab spaces that "normal" visitors cannot see.  We also toured the fancy new research facilities at the UofC.  Apparently, if you want a great view as a prof at UofC, go into Biology.

In other fun news, we celebrated our 6th anniversary by going to see "Chinglish" downtown.  This play capitalizes on the cultural misunderstandings that result in business interactions between China and America.  Timely, funny, serious, had Chinese, and we could relate to a lot of the subject manner thanks to our own experience.  We also splurged on a fancy Chinese dinner.  Yum!

Softball season is wrapping up - the playoffs begin next week.  We won by forfeit in our last 2 games, but scrimmaged yesterday so that my 109 block drive south to the field was not in vain.


Finally, Andrew's 3 month birthday is tomorrow!  He is developing more personality, which is fun to see.  How should we celebrate?

-alan