Today

Today is my birthday. 10 days before the Alpacalypse. Thanks, Mom, for being there all those years ago. I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks, siblings, for reaching out. It *is* nice to be remembered.

Short and to the point

You know that saying "It's better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved"? I think it should be "It's better to have never loved, than to have loved and lost." Which goes with "you never know what you have, until it's gone".

Phase 2 Begins: Insulating

So we've passed the rough-in framing/mechanical/electrical inspection. He waived the insulation inspection since we put the framing up right up (SMOOSHED) against the existing batting. We're still insulating around the windows and for sound mitigation. Woo Hoo. Amazing how much quieter it already is in there! Check out the photos!

Our Basement Finish Project

Basement Finish: Framing

So we're almost done with the framing and rough-in electrical. The framing *would* be done, but we are NOT going to close the soffits until the electrical is all whiz-bang good.

About the framing: we have structural subfloors (OSB) so we do not have any load bearing walls in the basement. We also have a steel i-beam down the center (which we used for our "straight line"). We decided to do 16" on center instead of 24" or whatever (since they're all floating walls) mainly due to the fact that A. insulation is by default 14.5" wide, and B. drywall and stuff will be stiffer. We are planning to add sound board as well as insulation in the two framed walls of the "guest room" to suppress washing machine spinning noises. The closet for the bedroom is framed with an access panel so a future plumber who may at some point need to access the pipes for the kitchen sink can get access to them. We haven't framed the radon-mitigation-duct-thing yet, because we're waiting for our handy-dandy Dimplex electric fireplace to arrive to decide if we really want it in the corner, or if we'll build a chase for the radon-thing and stick it in the center wall. (Please observe the fine drawing of the fireplace and lower surround which didn't really help). The electric is all roughed-in (sans fireplace corner/wall - where there are danglies at this point) and the low-voltage is DONE (since I'm still working in the basement) EXCEPT for the dreaded Sub-Panel. So we're trying to find an electricial friend because 220V SCARES me. Even with the main flipped, I still have fear. LOL. Once that's done, we'll call the Code Dude (a.k.a. M. Inspector) and get that first inspection ticked off :-D So here are the rest of the Framing and Rough-In Electrical photos.

Okay, those pictures were all messed up, so here's the link to the picassa web album:

Our Basement Finish Project

Finishing the Basement: Before

Since a few people have asked, I'm going to post some pictures as we go. We are finishing about HALF our basement with a "family room" - which we're calling "The Playroom", and an office/guest room. Someday (after a surprise lottery win or something), we'll finish the "unfinished" area into a bathroom, laundry room and utility closet. We've gone all proper and got a permit as well (redacted for our basement's privacy).

Well, we have ALWAYS used the WHOLE basement, and so here are the "before" pictures:

Pee Wee Soccer

Ashley's first soccer game. A fun filled "What are we doing?" event. LOL. It was cold last Saturday, but she had fun!

Hawaii

Okay... It's been a LOOOOOOONNNNGGGG while since I've posted. But since my last post, on October 02, 2007 to be precise, we extended our family by one. It's our foster daughter and we can't post any pictures of her because of the legalese... We're at the end of the whole "concurrent planning" thing... and we'd like her "permanency" to include us as the parents :-D

On to Hawaii: It was beautiful! It was very relaxing just to be there. The beaches were beautiful, the air nicely humid but not TOO much... (sigh!).

You can look at our whole photo album, if you like :-D We even got to see the volcano!!!

My Niece's Wedding

Wow. Teri looked sooooo elegant at her wedding. It always amazes me that someone with that much poise and grace is my relative :-). I'm exhausted now...so I'll tell you all about it later. But here's a few photos for now.