Week Twenty Five

Okay. Here we go with some catching up. I had a cute little wedding to prepare for, and a refreshing week off work. Although I thought about the web page a bunch during Week Twenty Six, I was not allowed to spend any time working on it. I have a cute, little wife who was relentless in her demands for my attention this week. I was expressly forbidden to work on the web page.

 The week began gloriously! We have a green tag!

Don must have been in a good mood, because everything was approved. We were free to continue.

Work began immediately on insulation.
This is the insulation in Brittany's room.
And the insulation in Justin's room, as seen through the staircase.

And of course, nothing's complete in our fine project without an extra or two. We upgraded the insulation in the outside walls a little bit, I think it was from R-19 to R-21, but don't bet on it. That was about $100 or so. Mark said it would pay for itself within a year. We also put insulation in under the floor, to deaden the sound coming from Brittany and Justin. I don't want to hear "Rollin' with the Homies, Poppin' some caps," at 1:30 in the morning. That was about $200 extra.
The insulation took about a day to install. After that, they moved the drywall inside. They were able to use 12 foot lengths upstairs.
Downstairs was a different matter. Scroll back up a couple of photos to the shot of Justin's room with insulation. See the middle stud at the top of the stairway? They had to remove that to get these 8 foot lengths of drywall downstairs. There was probably some disparaging of my name going on that day.
The stud is back in place, and here's the same shot as above, only now it's got drywall.
 
This is the drywall downstairs. To the left is the master bedroom. There's a one foot gap in the drywall. The ceiling is nine feet high. The drywall comes in four foot widths. They run it from the floor up, and the ceiling down, leaving an easy-to-reach gap in the middle. To the right is the door to the master bedroom, as well as the cute little niche in the wall.

Interesting fact about the doorway. We originally planned for a standard 36" doorway here. When Leisa found out that she had 41" hips, though, we had to go back to the drawing board. We decided to put in some 48" freedom doors. They'll look pretty cool, as well as allow Leisa to comfortably enter and exit the bedroom.

 
While the insulation guys and drywall guys were busy inside, Chris was busy outside. The carport has started going up. Although Leisa's not looking at the worthless shed, seen pictured behind her, you just have to know that she's thinking about it. And what an eyesore it is. And how much better her life will be when it's gone.

The beam hanger, right, was put in place with epoxy. Mark was cursing that stuff. It was all over his hands, and was well-nigh impossible to remove. He was also worried that Don, the inspector, wasn't on site when the epoxy was being applied, and would have issues with its use. He didn't, and carport construction continued.

Here's Chris, hard at work on the beams. No back fat on Chris!
As they were working on the carport, they were also starting on the patio. We're planning on putting a table and chairs in this area, close to the barbeque island.

I have a feeling that my future is going to consist of Leisa telling me on Saturday morning that she's invited so-and-so over for dinner, and that I'll be cooking that evening.

And something about which I've been wondering: if the patio goes on before the stucco, how are they going to get stucco behind the beam?

A couple of shots of the house at sunset.

The Brittany Report

Misquoting Samuel L. Jackson: "check out the Big Brain on Brittany." Brittany was honored this week for academic excellence. Three consecutive quarters with a 4.0 GPA. And since the presentation, a fourth 4.0 quarter!

Here she is, receiving her certificate from the principal, then walking up to stand on the stairs with her classmates. I have more photos, but the lighting wasn't that great and they showed a lot of motion with the digital camera. (The principal's head, for example.)

 

Brittany receiving her accolades.

I think that's her friend, Angelica, receiving her certificate.

Here's the young scholar with her brainiac Mom. Leisa has a few IQ points on Brittany, though, and knows not to stick out her tongue at the camera. You can check out Brittany's certificate here.
 

Brittany has a brother. His name is Justin.

Justin's my homie, and I always give my homies much play. What do I mean by "much play?" That's right! It's time for the...

Justin Report

I'm so disheartened. Justin is now complaining about the "Justin Report." He says he doesn't like having his life "on blast" on the internet. He wants me to stop posting information about him. I want to quit putting his life up here for all to see, but I forget.

Justin "forgets" to go to school, I "forget" to quit updating the Justin Report. Justin "forgets" to keep the house clean. I "forget" to quit updating the Justin Report. Justin "forgets" that he shouldn't be smoking dope. I "forget" to quit updating the Justin Report. And besides, I get a lot of good feedback about the "Justin Report." People like knowing what's going on with Justin.

I guess the most troubling thing this week is that Justin has lost his pipe. I lost my car keys once. They were gone for a couple of days. I feel his pain. Brittany found my car keys for me. We all need to help Justin find his pipe.

Here's where he used to keep his pipe. Right outside the garage door. It's hard to see, so we can do a close-up.

    

Isn't that a cute little pipe? It probably cost a few bucks. How many hours do you have to work at Papa John's to replace a pipe like that? And buy clothes? And pay the cell phone bill? And save to go to Vegas for his friend's graduation? Probably quite a few hours.

If I lost a cute little pipe like that, where would I look? Hmmmmm. He likes to hide it near a door and near a fence. Where have I seen a door and fence in such close proximity lately? Wait! Over at the new place. The fence isn't in yet, but there's a door, and a fence on the plans. That looks like his pipe. I'm a master of deductive reasoning!


That's a good hiding place. I hope the construction workers don't find it. And I hope that this doesn't constitute putting his life "on blast."

 
Coming next week. Paint. Pavers. A finished carport. Drywall tape. And a cute little wedding.

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