it hasn't been so bad
coming back to work after 10 days off... it's kinda nice to see everyone again. we'll see how i feel in a couple days.
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April 28, 2008
April 26, 2008
so
i got to take the first shower in my new bathroom on thursday. it was the awesomest.
my week-long vacation is slowly coming to an end. tomorrow is the last day of it. at least the first half was almost too hot. these last couple days have been very cold and rainy and refuses to give up. i brought the budding plants in from the cold. hopefully they don't mind the stink of disinfectant all over. kurt and i power-cleaned the house today to get rid of all evidence of construction. and dog hair. at least for half a week.
every time we clean, we say, "we should do this every week!" and then we don't. shh, i think it's the first time the kitchen floor had been mopped since we moved in. don't tell anyone.
April 25, 2008
water!
What does usable water mean?
it's not drinkable. but it is, in fact usable. actually, plants hate tap water. it's undistilled. rainwater, on the otherhand, gets distilled up in the sky with all the crap that happens up there.
April 24, 2008
new toy
i forgot to take a picture of the finished product. it's in the shed now and it's pouring out, so you'll just have to wait.
omg you guys
i just threaded my first bobbin, and sewed my first significant project.
April 23, 2008
sewing
tomorrow morning, i'm headed to hans' sewing center to pick up a brand new janome sewist 509 sewing machine. i starter a project today that took 1 hour to hand-sew a foot. and i have several more to go. i figure it's a good investment for at least the upkeep up articles of clothing, if not for making new stuff for the house.
i even found myself keeping the 24"x5" scrap of fabric today, just in case.
now i need to clear off the drafting table for projects.
April 22, 2008
we're getting greener
on this earth day, as first home-owners, we installed a rain barrel; and collected almost 2 usable gallons of water (the spout sits 4" from the bottom). i also just ordered a scalewatcher from a company in california. it'll reduce scale in our water system, presumably without need of a water softener. i'll certainly be keeping track of that one.
i also just finished filling our garden with 21 cubic yards of compost that smelled like the south end of a northbound cow.
i, really, have been going non-stop since friday and will probably be happy to go back to work for relief.
April 21, 2008
finally!
the grout may be going in this afternoon; tomorrow morning at the latest.
April 20, 2008
*phew*
(click pic to see more)
best birthday so far, at least that i can remember. :)
mom and george met me at marigold for breakfast (where i got to see longtime friend who is now the general manager!) then around the square once for the first farmer's market of the season. i walked away with some rootable pussywillows and a baby cherry tomato plant.
then the work began. the raised-bed garden you see above took 4.5 hours from unloading the wood to putting in the last bolt. today, i dug post holes and put a coat of sealer on the untreated wood. i think i'll wait until tomorrow to do the second coat.
the bathroom isn't going as fast as i'd like, but it looks like they'll be done with tile and grout tomorrow, if we're lucky.
April 18, 2008
well
we had a minor snafu with the fixtures we bought... see, they weren't moen brand, so it was either rip out half the wall and re-plumb for the new brand, or go get another moen fixture. we opted to get another moen fixture. kurt's understandably disappointed, but i don't think the shape of the faucet is worth tearing out what they've done.
except now, one of the guys came in and went back outside and looks a little distraught about something...
update: apparently the first set of fixtures will work better, so kurt went back to menards to return the moen and to home depot to get the first one.
April 17, 2008
another update
(you can click on the pic to see more)
so, they did mudding, cement board, and more mudding in the last two days. it's a shame drying time has to be considered because it seems wasteful.
apparently tiling will start tomorrow, that's the part i'm most interested in.
tomorrow
i have to go renew my new driver's license. my current one has an address from 5 years ago on it. and the pic has orange hair; i finally get to fill the hair-color line with an accurate abbreviation.
April 16, 2008
a snopopsis of my day*
first, from a meeting perspective, i had to stand up for 15 minutes to discuss the process of a project in order to drive awareness and maintain visibility towards the end goal. then, the visibility to the café was announced and from a muffin, i had a great time.
afterwards, from a BiTwiConAppPersp, i updated the data file in order to continue the visibility to see the end of the project. also, from a bathroom standpoint, my goals were met.
our team as a whole touchbase meeting was extremely shareful and will continue to provide line of sight to KTLO and MMORPG projects within the business. this meeting will hopefully remove barriers and knock down obstacles toward self-improvement and career changes. afterwards, i went incognito in order to remove some of my own barriers and fill the void with some scrubbing.
my individual touch base was a series of information sharing, working toward spreading the knowledge from a user experience standpoint. the visibility to upcoming projects has created a need and it will be solved at some point after all those barriers are removed.
soon, i will discuss the changes to the usability test format which will involve driving awareness toward the building of our knowledgebase. afterwards, my needs will have been filled and i will go home, thankful that i was able to celebrate girls today.
*this documents the misspellings and improper language use that i get to weed through on a daily basis at work. it also represents how much i'm looking forward to my week off.
ikea
i'll probably never make the jaunt to shaumburg to put up with the epitome of consumerism that is ikea, but i really want this:
April 15, 2008
lookin' good
they got the tub, cement board, and glass-brick window in today. the dogs were decidedly upset about all the banging and stomping about. when i got home this evening, they looked at me as if to say, "wtf??" i assured them it wouldn't be for forever.
mid-day report
according to kurt, the new tub is in and there's a big hole in the wall where the new window will go. i thought the contractor was gunna get a prefab one, but i guess it's probably cheaper to have him build it. then, all that's left is tile. is it really that simple?
April 14, 2008
no shower for you
or for us. the demo went well, there weren't any super-surprises. the slight rotting was expected. i'm very excited for the tile to get up on the wall... i hope it turns out how the computer-rendered version would make it seem.
progress
i took before pictures this am, and will snap some more when they leave for the night, but i guess the old tub is out, and the surround has been removed. there was a little rot, but we all expected it. kurt decided yesterday to tell me that he wanted sliding doors intead of a shower curtain... so i'm giving that to him since i don't really care.
the contractor wants to get the glass-brick window in tomorrow because it's supposed to rain on thursday. and, kurt took a picture of the old linoleum, which he says looks cool.
April 13, 2008
stuffs
i have a few plants coming up that i'm not sure what they are. i suppose i'll find out as soon as they bloom or do whatever they do.
also, fun with shrinkydinks:
unfortunately, to make one plant sign takes a third of a sheet.. since it shrinks so much. i might have to modify the pattern to allow for more; the draw-onable shrinkydinks aren't cheap.
April 10, 2008
shh
what a quiet blog we have here! well, that's about to change. i have several projects slated to begin and end before memorial day weekend. one of which is the bathroom re-do, which starts on monday. we'll be without a shower for 3-5 days before it's finished.
omg it's going to be so awesome when it's done. a glass-brick window and very nice tile all the way around, and a lowered ceiling. in-progress pics are for sure to come.
also, the raised bed garden is being constructed soon; i just need to figure out where to get all the dirt with which to fill it.
thunderstorms in april
aren't generally this cold... and that's the one thing that bothers me right now. the other thing is watching nora react to the thunder. this is our first significant storm since getting her and she seems to be quite afraid of the rain splashing against the big window on the east side of the house.
now papa is home and she's fine. because she's distracted.
April 6, 2008
walking
April 2, 2008
hm.
i just re-read my last few entries and there's a definite theme of reflection. thanks for putting up with it.
growth
this is the first set of seasons that feels really important since before i could comprehend "spring". adults make such a big deal of the green trees in the arboretum, the little buds trying to grow everywhere... this is the first year i feel like i really get it.
i seeded some plants 13 days ago. the chives came up within two days and i was amazed that it even worked. today, i came home to see two of the three tomato plants shoosting toward the sky. it's so awesome to see. and i can't explain it to anyone who doesn't already understand.
now, the peppers need to arrive, and i need to get some basil and i'm set.
April 1, 2008
smells
i wore crayon today, and it's distracting me when i wave my hand anywhere in my cube. it reminds me of sharpening the crayons on the back of the big box just so i could get as good of a point as possible.