Four Months Later

It actually took longer to post another blog than it did to finish the deck. The first pic shows my bro with his mind being blown away by my awesome stair making skills. The next one shows the deck completely finished, with the exception of hand rails. You may ask what inspired me to not put hand rails up. Could it be the next trend in 2009, the short arrival of a fire pole, or maybe it is an invisible one that doesn't block the scenery? Nope, I just don't have enough money for safety measures. Trex decking is super expensive and I don't have any kids to fall off the stairs. If the cats or dogs fell, oh well, they would be less expensive to replace than the cost of those hand rails. The only dog I care about is the one in the last picture (Leopold) and he's gone now because my wife sold him for money; she's in the dog slave trade business.

Help, I'm stuck on my porch!

My upper back porch is currently 9' above my lower back porch without any means of getting from one porch to the other. And who wants a lame set of "normal" stairs anyway. My first idea of a fireman pole is a one way travel method and a rope just isn't conventional if you have a soda in one hand and a ballpark in the other. If I was a little more innovative, I would have gone Swiss Family Robinson, but I settled on modern style with practical functionality.

The pictures above depict the landing that I am currently working on. The structural members are not randomly place, as one with an untrained eye would assume. There is one right angle, two equivalent obtuse angles and one acute angle. There are no parallel lines. Anyone remember geometry? Can you guess the official name of this polygon? Is is a parallelogram, trapezoid, quadrilateral, or a rhombus? Take the quiz.

Now I know that many of you are worried about the success of this project and can't though the dense fog in front of us, but let your hearts not be troubled, for I, Dustin, am your commander in chief of this operation and I have 20/20 talent. So let your minds at ease, and we will persevere.

The Finished Product

It seems that I neglected to put any finished pictures on my blog, sad! I'm working on the basement currently and I hope to get a front lawn in May. I'll keep y'all updated.

Where Should I Put that Darn Microwave.

I have regretted not designing the kitchen to have a place for the microwave ever since the day I moved in. I was going over different projects that I had conceptualized around the house with my bro and we both looked at the microwave sitting on the counter top in the kitchen. With disgust, I started making nasty faces at the microwave. Then I looked at an empty wall, looked at the other side of the wall and then a moment of serendipity came to my 180 IQ brain. My stairs going to the basement have a lot of head room above the intermediate landing. I could squeeze a microwave right there! The next night when I went to bed my wife said "I didn't think you would have the project done is less than 24 hours after you thought of it." I responded, "that's how I roll, baby."

The Fence

So a couple months ago, an evil neighbor came over and started to spew evil language at my sister in law for the two cats that she owns. I guess the cats make their kids sick because the cats are always hanging out at their house and forcing the kids to play with them. I was on the evil neighbor's side initially, but I got pulled into the "my cats are perfect and the neighbor is an idiot" side because of the people I live with. So, we decided to bump up the schedule of building our fence to contain the furry speed bumps.

So did we build a normal fence? Not a chance in the world! We knew up front the the old neighbors next door probably wouldn't split any of the cost, and they didn't. That's why I put the entire fence in our property by a 1/2 inch. We went with a beige fence with a concrete mow strip underneath it. The mow strip took a little while to do, but it was well worth it. That fence will be the last thing standing in a natural, or unnatural disaster. I hope the kittys are happy!

Ok, I Get the Point

It's like every other day, someone is like "so why don't you update your blog?" I had no idea it was so popular since nobody, except skivy, posts comments. I thought since my house and my lifelong goal was complete, I could just drop off the map and live like a hermit. I have been agitated back in the game.

So I have a secret room in the house, about 8 feet wide by 10 feet deep. It is encapsulated with concrete and doesn't fit in the "footprint" of the house. I have been making it into a storage room. I acid washed the floor, grinded and patched the walls, and painted the ceiling to make it less dungeon-like. I stunk up the house with caustic chemicals and silica dust for two weeks, but it was worth it. I have tons of space to put my boxes and weaponry. One box was affectionately named "holiday crap" by myself. I'll save my holiday decoration frustrations for another day.

Done...? Yes

As you might can tell, I have been way too busy to even post to my own blog! Here's the DL: Carpet is in, finish fixtures are done, cabinets installed, most of the countertops have been laid, concrete is finished, exterior is 99% finished and I'm lovin it. The carpet is so cushy and the air conditioner works beautiful. The hot water is almost instanteanous and lighting is spectacular. When you drive past our house at night, it is one that catches your eye because of the accent lighting in the soffit. I'm having a party this saturday and all you have to bring is your back (moving party). I can only promise pizza, soda and a hug as payment. I'll have my real party probably in two weeks cause it will coinside with my B-day. So naturaly we will have a Park-a-palooza. See ya there.