Back on the air: May update

I like the warm weather.  Do you???



While I did not go back to check, I am pretty sure this has been the longest I have gone without posting since the blog began.

So what has been happening?

Well, family is most important so I will begin there. Andrew had his first birthday in the time since I last posted. We had a wonderful time, and I think he did too. Check it out if you don't believe me.

He has been able to play a lot with his new toys - he likes riding in the wagon, reading his new books, playing (outside) in bubbles, pretending to cook his new play food, and spending not-so-quiet time talking to the parts of his quiet book.

Andrew is just itching to take his first steps, but Rachel said she knocks him over whenever he is about to try, because he is not allowed to do it without me! (I think she is kidding. Maybe?)

We recently met one of our former students from Chengdu at O'Hare, as he transferred from international to a domestic flight.  I hope he remember us when he is rich.

I was the best man at Tom and Sarah's wedding - fun times!  (Being in a wedding is hard work.  I need to make sure only to made friends with married guys from now on.)  Ok, seriously it was an honor and I enjoyed it all.  Congratulations again!

Rachel has taken on a new role, volunteering her services to the college counseling department at the local high school. She has always had a secret desire to help kids transition to college, so she is planning a transition event for graduating seniors. They will network with one another and representatives from their matriculating colleges. This is coming up in early June.

Meanwhile, her latest playdate was cancelled due to threat of a strep outbreak, but it is now rescheduled for later this week. She will host a Mandarin play hour - she will lead stories and simple songs in Chinese for local moms / babies.

We helped the Weddles move from their long-standing Bridgeport home into their new digs in Jefferson Park. It has been rewarding to have them closer by - selfishly for their babysitting and manual labor, but more generally because you can never overestimate having good friends nearby.

My school year is wrapping up fast. Transitions of staff are already underway, and there are only 2 more real weeks of school left. Actually, the second week of that is a wash because of Memorial Day, review for final exams, an end-of-year standardized test, and final exams. So this is really the last week...and I am showing a movie in 3 of my classes. Ha! Nice planning, Alan.

So why too busy to blog? Well, our recreational time has been used up playing house. We started a couple weeks ago to plan in earnest for our summer renovations. We need to get a jump on projects this year - Sarah and Dave will be temporarily moving upstairs at the end of June, and Becca and Stephen will be visiting in July. So there will be a whole mess of Millers here 6 weeks from now, and they need suitable places to sleep (if not for their benefit, than for our own sanity).

So what has been done do far? Well, it began with basement demolition. Rachel and Eric helped me rip out a wall and all the paneling from the basement exterior walls, so we could get a good look at the condition of the foundation.



Things are in good shape, overall. There are two minor foundation cracks, and a little bit of mortar that needs patching. In all, spending $130 on a foundation crack repair kit and a bag of mortar is a far better deal than the multi-thousand dollar bill we feared.

Last week, I rented a truck to buy and transport the starting materials for the basement project: we now have a garage full of foam insulation, subfloor tiles, and of course all the junk from the demo. Yuck.



This is the overall plan: to finish half the basement, making it into a media / play room with an open floor plan. This will also provide temporary Miller lodging as needed. I will lay the subfloor and insulation, followed by drywall, and then we hope to get carpeting for warmth and soft play. Don't worry - I am taking precautions to make sure we are safe from all but the most catastrophic of floods. Simultaneously, I will be renovating the attic bath, to add a shower/tub. This will serve as guest quarters, but one day we play to install proper kid(s) bedrooms up there.

We had plans to add a bath in the basement, but this project was cost prohibitive based on plumbing estimates. Instead we will work on renovating the main bath - which was supposed to be job #1, but has somehow slipped down the priority list.

To that end, Rachel scored a great find at a local garage sale - 21 boxes of floor and wall tiles, in a variety of styles. Perfect for bathroom floors and shower walls!



Finally, good news to report on the window treatment front.

You should not be surprised to find out that vertical blinds and small children to not mix. They are much too inviting to pull on! (actually, they do not mix with Rachel either, but we won't go there) We had lost close to 10 slats in the living room alone, and had run out of options to rearrange them. We never liked the blinds in the first place, but needed inspiration for what to get.



We never really got the needed inspiration, but I simply got tired of waiting. A year ago, we had written off the blinds at Ikea based on color. Desperate, I suggested we take color samples back to the store and try again. Thankfully, the color, though not perfect, would work. However, the size was not quite right. Undeterred, we bought them anyway and hoped for the best. Back at home, I discovered that someone mixed the wrong size into our pile, so a few of the boxes would REALLY not fit.

Despite the many roadblocks, I sized up the blinds and found them to be 5/8" too wide to mount them inside the window frame. Rachel did not want them mounted any other way, so I improvised. I sawed each one down to size and restained the end to match the color. I am very happy with the end result!

One more thing - new patio furniture!  A table and set of 4 chairs, bought from a neighbor on deep discount.  Sunny Sunday morning, come quickly!

Just for fun:

There aren't too many costume parties in May.  Oh well!

-alan