What MDO loves about Miles

Miles came home from MDO the week before Christmas with a note detailing what his teachers love about him most.  They did this for all the kids, but of course we assumed that it was easiest to do for Miles. 

A few of the things they love are:

1. How you help pick things up when we drop them and give your friends their pacifiers and special blankets when they leave them behind.
2. Your giant smile and job of playing.
3. The way you have always bounded right in without fear or worry even from the first day of school.
4. Your excitement at watching the big boys and girls play on the playground through our window.

Love, Mrs. Sarah and Mrs. Niger

Why I don't take the Ferry to/from Work

Every once in a while, people ask whether I take the ferry to or from work.  It seems like it would be the fastest way to travel since it's more of a direct shot than using the bridge.

The past few weeks, traffic on LA-1 and the bridge has been absolutely miserable.  One day I was sitting in traffic seriously contemplating trying to get a job at BASF since it's on the same side of the river as my house.  That's really not a reasonable option so I'm trying to vary the other factors (route, timing) and see how that helps.    Yesterday I had to run in to Plaquemine after work, so I figured it was a good time to try the ferry option. 

Side note: I've taken the ferry before and my major complaint then was having to drive on River Road (east bank) for what felt like forever.  Also throw in the fact that there's a bike training route on that stretch of River Road and people like to drive >60 mph and it makes me very nervous.

I planned to take River Road into St. Gabriel (to shorten my River Road driving) and then Hwy 30 back to Bluebonnet. Here's my timeline:

4:20, leave work and go into Plaquemine to run my errand.
4:38, in line for the ferry, towards the back of the line (about 5 or 6 cars could get in line behind me and not be blocking LA-1)
4:39, Ferry has docked and starts unloading... this is looking promising.  I had pretty good timing.
4:43, Our side starts loading.
4:51, Ferry leaves the west bank, I'm #2 in line for the next boat.  (D'oh, this isn't working out as well as I hoped)
I pass the time listening to Sirius radio, jamming to horrible summer hits that I love, and blowing bubbles left over from Koubi's wedding.
5:20, Ferry returns and docks on the west bank.
5:27, I'm on the boat.
5:34, Boat is on the river.  We're travelling down-river, so this trip is quicker than the east - west one.
5:40, Ferry is docked and offloading. 
5:44, I'm off the boat and on my way home. 
As I said above, there are bikers and people that want to drive a lot faster than I do. They pass me, I pass the bikers.  I missed the first turn option (Bayou Paul Ln.), so I had to go a little further to LA-74.
5:54, I'm on Hwy 30
6:04, I'm at Burbank and Bluebonnet. 

Verdict:  I like the River Road to St. Gabriel route better, but taking the ferry is still WAY longer than just driving the bridge.  I estimate I would have been home (at least) by 5:30 had I gone to the bridge.  And that's with running my Plaquemine errand. 

I still think taking the Ferry is fun, and wouldn't mind doing it in the middle of the day, or when there's less traffic.  I did look for property for sale while driving, but didn't see any.  Wouldn't it be awesome to live on River Road right near the Ferry?  Then I would take the ferry everyday!

Monthly Pictures Catch-Up

6 Months Old


6 Monts Old -- Eating his first food!



7 Months Old



7 Months Old -- Looking cute in his football jersey



8 Months Old

8 Months Old -- Food Truck Round up at Tin Roof



9 Months Old



9 Monts Old -- Playing with Honey in Destin



It's been a while...

It's been a few months since my last post.  Months have come and gone. 

Miles is now 10 months old.  Some milestones since February:

He's crawling, babbling, and pulling up on anything that will stand still long enough. 

We went to the beach in May to celebrate a marriage between one of our favorite cousins and her awesome groom.  It took a little while for Miles to get used to the sand, but after he realized he could throw it around with a shovel, he couldn't get enough of it.  He got to spend a lot of time with all of his cousins.  Unfortunately Jeff's parents couldn't join us, so Paul, Christy and David got a last-minute invitation.  It was a lot of fun to have all the boys together.  

Miles (finally) popped a tooth at about 9.5 months.  I think he's got ~2.5 now, two on the bottom and an almost-tooth up top.  They're pretty difficult to see and he's not very willing to show them off just yet.   

He will now drink a bottle of only formula.  I'm still pumping once a day at work and nursing in the morning and before bed (though I think he's trying to give up the bed-time nurse).  I think Beau would just like to wean totally, but I'm still hesitant to give it up. 

On the house front, virtually nothing has changed. 

I completed a project refinishing a couch table that I bought for $37.50 at an estate sale last year.  Beau and I ordered a new couch from La-Z-Boy.  A Memorial Day Sale gets us everytime... It's a 3 cushion, sleeper sofa.  We've always wanted a sleeper sofa with plans to eventually put it in the office (where ever that happens to be). 

I finally picked out drawer pulls and Beau installed them last weekend.  They're perfect (even though they were a little annoying to install). 

The next big house project is still undetermined.  We keep throwing around ideas but have yet to settle on anything.  I think the next project will be to clean out Kristen's room, which has become my dumping ground for all things.  My grandmother is moving out of her house and into an assisted living complex and I've recieved/taken a lot of her artwork (in addition to anything that I have a memory associated with).  All of it has ended up stacked against the wall in Kristen's room waiting for a new frame and a permanent home.  The only challenge of reframing everything is the high pricetag...

Monthly Pictures

This will be a repeat for anyone who's in my circles on Google Plus (but really, who minds looking at cute pictures of my kid over and over?).

3 months old and outraged.



4 Months old and sitting all by myself.


5 months old and ready to drive


I'm supposed to chew on this, right?


Mom's not very good at getting the medicine in my mouth.

I'm a happy boy most of the time.

MAC 5 Months

Miles turned 5 months old on Wednesday. We celebrated his first Christmas and New Years.
Our Christmas wasn't very Christmas-y this year. Mostly due to Miles being sick with ear infections for over a month, Beau getting some virus that effectively incapacitated him for 10 days and me getting a version of the virus that put me out of commission for 2 or 3 days. I didn't have the time, energy or desire to decorate. I did put up the Christmas tree, but had my mom finish decorating it while she kept Miles one morning.
Miles health recap: the amoxicillian only cleared up 1 ear, so we tried a 2nd antibiotic (omnicef) for about 6 days, at which point we realized he was still feeling horrible so we brought him back in and the doc prescribed augmentin. The augementin finally kicked both ear infections (confirmed on Dec 23... who knows what we would have done if he was still sick). In retrospect, we think Miles had some version of the virus too. Every time we would pick him up, move him or touch him he would scream. He ran fever and was inconsolable for a couple of days.
Beau health recap: The virus showed itself in Beau with muscle weakness in his arms, fever, and general achey-ness (I have no idea how to spell that). His hands and arms were so weak he couldn't open the 2 liter of coke. Big thanks to Pippi, Honey and Shelley for spending time with Miles so that Beau and I could recuperate.
Jenny health: The virus showed up in me by throwing up (while at work). I left work at lunch got home and went to bed. I ran the highest fever I have since I was in high school -- 101 degF. Everyone I talked to asked "are you pregnant?" Terrified that I might be, (thanks to all the girls I know who got pregnant while breastfeeding) I took a pregnancy test. *Sigh of relief* NEGATIVE. 12 months apart is a little too close for comfort.





5 Month Milestones


LSU embarrassed themselves in the national championship game laying down a big goose-egg vs. Alabama

We're finally back on some sort of schedule after all the sickness.
Miles is beginning to consider sleeping through the night. He's doing 4 or 5 hours at a time.
He rolls over sometimes when put on his tummy (but really he's done this since he was a month old).
He loves playing in his over-stimulation-station (exersaucer).
He's gotten VERY interested in Izzy. He watches her and reaches out for her when she comes to smell him. Izzy is very good and lets him grab her face without any protest.
He's getting interested in food. I'm planning to delay solids until 6 months, but he's tasted some things.
He's working on sitting up without help. He's not too good at it yet. He always tips over to one side or the other.
Anything and everything gets put in his mouth.
He recognizes faces and people. I love it when he smiles when I walk in from work :)

**EDIT 1/9/12** I started writing this post a month ago, sooo Miles is actually nearly 5 months old now.**

Miles is nearly 4 months old and I haven't posted his 3 month pictures yet. I'm not even sure I've taken them...

In the last month he's started really smiling and laughing.
He's basically outgrown his 3 month footie pajamas.
He's doing well sitting up with assistance.
He had his first encounter with the fabled "pink stuff"* thanks to a double ear infection.
Tigers have completed their first ever 13-0 season

*Apparently the amoxicillin we got was dye free and thus not pink. What is wrong with this world?!

since apparenly I fail at finishing posts, I'm just going to post this then I'll eventually follow-up with pictures.

2 Months

I'm late on posting this...






23" 11 lb 8 oz.

(He's playing his air guitar)

Two Month Milestones:

• Smiling


• Miles is no longer a heathen (he got baptised)


• Mom went back to work


• The Tigers continued their great football season


• We had our first cold snap and the footie pajamas made their debut


• Mom got her new car and sold her old one


• Miles grew out of some of his clothes and switched to size 1 diapers


• The 6 PM to 9 PM witching hours continue

Beau and I are slowing figuring out what keeps the kid happy and how to manage his unhappiness. Overall he's a pretty easy kid and I have to remind myself that when he's screaming at me.

Miles' Birth Story

I feel that I should go ahead and record what I remember of Miles' birth story so that 25 years (or more) from now I can pull it out and let his wife read it as she prepares for the birth of her first. Or something cliched like that...

Beware, there are discussions of bodily fluids and needles below. If you don't want to read about it, don't. Also, about 50% of this post has to do with the timing of Miles' arrival and my pregnancy, not the actual birth.

From the time I found out I was pregnant, my goal was to go in to labor on my own and to not have to have a c-section. I made that known to my doctor and she said that was fine, so long as both me and the baby were healthy and happy. It seems like everyone I know of was being induced and I didn't want to be one of those people who got induced because they just got uncomfortable and impatient. So the pregnancy progressed normally until week 26, when I did my glucose test, and hooray, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I tried following the diabetic diet given to me by the nutritionist, but it wasn't working for me. Being who I am, I did some "research" on the internet and after being terrified because I was predisposing myself and my kid to type 2 diabetes and obesity along with the increased chances of having a large baby (and therefore increased chances of c-section) my doctor suggested I cut out all carbs, and so I did. I didn't eat (much) bad stuff and actually lost weight through the 2nd half of my pregnancy. Baby continued to grow, and he even continued to measure a little big. One of the highlights of all my doctor visits was when I expressed concern (my dr. probably saw it as obsessive concern) over having a big baby, she said "Well, you could always take up smoking. That's shown great results at causing small babies." At that moment, I knew she understood my absurdity, and how to deal with me.

So pregnancy continued on rather normal for a few more weeks until I went in for a monthly appointment at week 32, and my blood pressure was high. (like 145/79 ish) Dr. said that I had to go to the lab, let them draw some blood and do a 24 hour urine collection. When I asked how I was supposed to do that at work, she laughed and said "oh, you're not going to work." Since I was about a month away from starting the largest project I had ever planned that was simply not going to do. (Don't doctors understand that overachieving people like me get more stressed out by NOT being at work!?) So I did my lab collections and the results said that I didn't have preeclampsia (technically) but that I was on the edge. Doctor's orders were to have blood pressure checks 2x/week, ultrasounds 1x/week, dr. appointments and 24 hour collections 1x/2 weeks. Yay. (not...)

Because I work with mostly men, and they're all basically terrified of pregnant women just dropping the kid out unannounced, (or they're concerned for my health) I compromised with my boss that I would work 2 days a week from home and 3 from work (he wanted me at home all the time). This allowed me to continue working and to wrap up everything I needed to, but still get my rest and do all my doctor appointment stuff without the stress of driving to work afterwards. This worked well for about 5 weeks at which point I went in for an ultrasound, and the tech stressed me out by saying "this is a BIG baby." After that, I was convinced Dr. Davis was going to make me be induced that week. Instead (because my BP and protein were up) she just made me stop going to work and actually sit at home and go insane/rest. Apparently she wanted me to actually rest on my 2 days/week off and not clean the house/run errands/other stuff. So bed rest GREATLY helped my blood pressure and protein, and my labs almost looked like I didn't actually have preeclampsia.

**(Jump forward to 1 week post-partum, I get readmitted to the hospital for preeclampsia and they give me a magnesium sulfate drip. Note to all pregnant women: avoid MgSO4 drips at all costs. They give it to you for pre-term labor and to deal with preeclampsia. It's miserable. Imagine being on the verge of a migraine as long as you're on the drip and radiating heat. You can't sleep because you're so uncomfortable, and nothing works for pain.)**

So lots of details, none about Miles' birth, and all about the timing. We did the weekly ultrasound and Dr. appointment thing for a couple more weeks, each time pushing off the decision with whether to induce or not because I REALLY didn't want to be induced, and Dr. Davis was fine with it as long as both the baby and I were healthy. Week 38 came along, and I was still doing fine and trying everything possible to go into labor on my own (except Castor oil). Nothing had worked, so we waited out the weekend. At this point, Beau and I had decided that we should probably induce the following week so that the baby didn't get to big, and so that my preeclampsia could be managed. Induction scheduled for Thursday, August 11 at 5:30 AM.

Beau and I didn't sleep much Wednesday night. I woke up at 4:20 to call the hospital to make sure they had room for me. They did, so I took my antibacterial soap shower and prepared to go to the hospital. We left the house a little later than we should have because we had to take the "Last picture as a duo" picture. We got to the hospital around 5:40, did the paperwork thing and went on up to labor and delivery. The nurse got my IV started on the 2nd try (and after me vomiting) and the pitocin drip started.

Christy came to keep Beau and me company about 9. Around 10:30, Dr. Davis came in, decided I looked WAAAY to comfortable and broke my water. Christy warned me that it was pretty gross when she had hers broken with David, but I was not prepared. I was totally disgusted and every time I moved more fluid would come out and it grossed me out even more. I am definitely glad that didn't happen to me in public. Breaking my water definitely increased my pain (because instead of a head pushing through a nice cushion of amniotic fluid, it's pushing directly on your cervix). I labored unmedicated until about 4:30, and didn't progress much at all (like 2 cm's all day...). Throughout the day my blood pressure had been on the high end of things and seemed to be increasing. Around 4:30, I decided I needed my epidural, and after a bag of fluids, got it. The epidural seemed to take effect almost immediately, and I was smiling by the time that Beau and Christy came back into the room.

I was able to rest some after getting the epidural. Dr. Davis came by and checked on me around 5:30, and I was still not progressing well. My day nurse prepped me for the potential of having a c-section if I continued not to dilate. I discussed with Dr. Davis and she basically said she'd let me labor as long as I wanted as long as both me and the baby were ok. At some point I developed a fever, which caused the baby's heart rate to get high. All I saw were high numbers, and I got really concerned. When Dr. Davis returned around 9 pm (after watching the finale of SYTCD and tucking her girls in), I was very stressed out by the baby's heart rate, and still hadn't progressed much and told her that I was ok with a c-section if that needed to be done (because I was worried that I was hurting the baby). She told me that my fever caused the baby's high heart rate, and that she wasn't worried with it -- we just needed to get my fever down. In the next hour or so, I (finally) progressed from around a 4 or 5 to 8 cm and fully effaced. At some point, I got a little nauseous and asked the nurse for some juice. She brought it to me, then realized I was nauseous and told me not to drink it since I was probably nauseous because I was going through transition (from 8 cm to 10 cm). Lo and behold, she was right and I was at 10 cm. Dr. Davis wanted me to "labor down" but in the next 20ish minutes, I had a lot of pressure in my bottom. There was some concern about the baby not being turned the right way because I was feeling pressure in my tailbone. As it turns out, his head was just a little off center, but facing the right way. At some point, I felt what I thought was the urge to push, so I informed my nurse. She checked me and said that we'd start pushing.

As I recall, I pushed for about 45 minutes, and got all kinds of "atta girls" for good pushing (Do they do that to everyone? I feel like they must...). At some point birth became imminent, and they started doing all the room set-up/prep stuff. I was pretty focused on pushing, but Beau tells me (and I sorta remember) that the transition nurse for Miles wasn't even there when he was delivered. I pushed him out at 11:24 PM, which met Dr. Davis' goal of "before midnight." Since Miles' warmer, etc wasn't ready yet Dr. Davis was just holding him and put him all gooey on my belly when I asked for him. After the nurse took him and cleaned him up, Beau brought him over to me to look at and we discussed names... I decided that he looked like a Miles instead of our other option and thus he was named Miles Andrew. Post baby delivery things happened (placenta, stitching, general clean-up, etc). Apparently my epidural ran out while they were stitching me up... Beau didn't tell me that until days later. Thankfully it takes a while to wear off.

Family came in, talked about how awesome he was, etc. We got into our mother baby room around 2:30, sent Miles to the nursery, took a short nap, my first food (since 7 pm 30 hours before...) arrived and I ate. We slept when we could, Miles got brought in, but wasn't really interested in eating so he went back to the nursery while we attempted to sleep some more.

!!!TMI ALERT!!!

The best way I can describe birth (with an epidural) is like you're taking a HUGE poop. When described that way, it seems way less daunting.

That is all I remember, and I'm glad I wrote it down because that birth amnesia thing already seems to be happening.

Welcome to the world, Miles Andrew Champion!

Miles joined us after about 16 hours of labor on August 11, 2011. He arrived on the scene at 23:24 (I write it in military time because I like the sequence, not because I'm that engineer-y), weighed 7 lb 15 oz, and measured 20 1/2 inches long. He's not quite the chunker I thought he was going to be, but perfect in every way (including his bodacious cone head complements of being stuck at 3 - 4 cm for most of the day.

It was a long day, but not too painful or unpleasant. We got moved into a mother-baby room around 2:00 AM, and promptly sent Miles to the nursery so that Mom and Dad could get some much needed sleep.

We came home from the hospital yesterday, and have been working on figuring this parenting thing out. Miles is working on learning to sleep at night and not sleep during the day.

Izzy's attempting to help at every opportunity...

Beau-rito, Baby Benny, He-who-hasn't-been-named

Tomorrow Beau and my life will change. I'm being induced at 5:30 AM. Hopefully everything will be uneventful and our duo will become a trio.

I've been preparing myself for the last 3 weeks to be induced at my doctor's direction. I have gestational diabetes, and a relatively mild case of high blood pressure. I've been off of work and on home rest since 7/22. I don't like to call it bed rest, because that would imply that I was in bed the entire time; something I'm incapable of doing. Beau has been great at meeting my every need, and attempting to keep me calm and relaxed. He has watched horrible TV with me for hours on end, and even some pretty painful movies.

The rest of the world seems to think that I should be/am terrified of how my life is about to change, but I'm really not. Anxious? Sure. Nervous about how much this is actually going to hurt? Of course. But not scared. I've always said that God put me on this earth to be a mother, and tomorrow I get to start that journey.

Sorry for the totally disjointed post. I just felt like I should write something before my baby boy arrives.

Finally...

At long last we have a functioning kitchen and you have a blog post to read about it.  I have uploaded photos to picasa for your viewing pleasure.


Unfortunately, I have not been keeping up with this as well as I had originally planned and that results in a loss of some of the particulars of various hiccups along the way.  I will touch on some of them, but if you ever have a specific desire for a more detailed account of anything, let me know.  I don't want to bore everyone with every detail.


Well, the countertop install went fairly well.  It took the guys several hours to install the counters, but there weren't any major problems.  Because we chose to do an undermount sink, the sink had to be installed at the same time as the countertops.  It was hooked up (plumbing-wise) the following day.  Over the course of the next few days, I got the dishwasher, refrigerator and stove installed.  Of course, the range and dishwasher wouldn't just slide into their new home, so that took some extra cussing and finagling, but eventually they were in and happy.


The backsplash has yet to be installed.  My original plan was to attempt to tackle it myself, but with the impending arrival of the next generation, I think we'll pay someone to do it.  I'm dragging my feet right now because I became tired of spending money and worried about possible financial obligations associated with the family expansion.  I am finally relaxing a little and will probably get the ball rolling on that soon.   There are some other "punch list" items to which I need to tend.  I need to spray a few cabinet doors.  I have a couple of sheetrock repairs. Eventually, Jenny wants a new shelf unit built, painted and installed, but she has told me that there's no rush. 

There was a bit of kitchen sink fiasco which I don't feel like delving into.  The kitchen sink got clogged up, I tried to straighten it out and couldn't.  I called a plumber out (see previous posts to get a feel for my love of plumbers).  The plumber was friendly enough and not pushy.  He got the sink working again, but not before telling me that the cast iron drain pipe has rotted out underneath the slab.  It will eventually have to be replaced.  This costs north of $2K and will involve breaking up the slab in our dining room under our new tile floors in order to replace the offending section of pipe.  He reassured me that this is not uncommon and that he has presonally had to do this to over a dozen homes in my neighborhood because of the cast iron pipes that were used in construction 50 years ago.  Awesome.

In an effort to end on a positive note, we are thoroughly enjoying our new kitchen.  We are happy with how all of our ideas came together.  I have spent the last week and a half working on the new nursery so a blog post and pictures of that will follow shortly.  No, really, I mean it this time.  I will post again soon. :)

BEFORE

AFTER

Countertops and More

Our countertops will be installed today. Hopefully everything goes well, and there's a follow-up post this evening with pictures of a nearly complete kitchen. Beau has the applicances scheduled for delivery tomorrow, and the plumber lined up to take care of some small things. After that, all that's left is back splash.

I can't wait to have my kitchen back. A few weeks ago, I was instructed by my doctor to cut-out carbs to help manage my blood sugar, which I've done before, and it's totally managable... with a kitchen. Eating grilled chicken with vegetables from various take-out places around town has gotten old.

A lot of progress has also been made in the soon-to-be nursery. Mom came over last week and helped us move furniture out of it. Beau pulled up the carpet then painted and put down laminate wood floor. Thanks to Miranda for color selection, and Nathan, Michael, and Chris will the flooring help. It was quite nice to leave in the morning for a day at the spa with Miranda and friends and come home to a room with new flooring in it! Beau put trim up in the room this week, and we've been working on filling and caulking it. For obvious reasons, the kitchen has taken priority.

Hopefully pictures will follow soon!!

Getting closer...

Although the progress isn't visible, it is real.  The slabs for our counter tops have arrived in Baton Rouge!  Jenny and I went to check them out on Friday and choose how we want the counters to be cut from them.  The fabricator was happy, maybe even impressed, with the quality of the slabs.  We are now waiting for the fabricator to cut and finish the stone and then install!  I'm hoping that we can get them installed next week, but I'm probably being overly optimistic. 

Now it's time for a pair of rants and a rave.  

I hate plumbers.  No, really.  I am thoroughly convinced that plumbing is the single biggest rip-off in home renovation.  I got an estimate to run the gas line for our stove.  There are two different lines that can be tapped into that are easily accessible in our attic and don't require any long or complicated runs.  Yes, the line has to be plumbed down the wall.  It is not that big of a deal.  Guess what the estimate was.  Most people have guessed in the $500 range given the tone of my explanation.  $1000!  That's right, a grand for maybe $200 worth of material and probably 2 hours work.  He even readily admitted that this job was pretty straightforward. 

We ordered our sink from Amazon.  Jenny had a couple of gift cards that she had been awarded through work and their prices were reasonable.  We found an enameled cast iron undermount sink that we liked.  It shipped through a freight carrier because it was too big to ship via fed-ex, ups, etc.  I tracked down the carrier to schedule a delivery (long story - amazon was very helpful).  When the sink arrived, I opened it up to inspect it before signing off on the delivery.  Good thing I did, the sink was broken in two places.  That's special guys, you managed to break a cast iron sink, twice.  I sent it back and called Amazon.  Amazon said that since I had refused delivery, they could get another on its way immediately.  I asked if they could expedite the shipment, but because of the delivery method it wasn't an option.  Because they couldn't expedite it, they gave me $75 back (thanks!) and sent me another sink.  Lesson learned - Amazon rocks!

We ordered our hood vent from Homeclick.com.  It said "in stock" and probably still does on their website.  I called customer service because the ship on date came and went.  The guy said he would have to contact a vendor and get back to me.  (Isn't it in stock?)  He didn't get back in touch with me.  The following week I call again.  "The computer says it's in our warehouse.  That means it should ship out tomorrow if it didn't go today. Let me put you on hold while I contact our warehouse."  *hold*  "Uh, they aren't answering their phone.  It probably shipped out today or will tomorrow.  Sorry you didn't get contacted after your last call, the computer must have screwed up."  Doubtful.  Amazon sent me 2 sinks via freight carriers in the time it sent Homeclick to fed-ex me one in-stock item.  Customer Service - unsatisfactory.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND HOMECLICK.

Being without a kitchen sink and counter tops has been a bit annoying, but hopefully the kitchen will be usable soon!  After counter tops, appliances go in and then backsplash and we are done!  

That's when work begins on the nursery... :)

I haven't forgotten about this!

The Kitchen remodel is still putting along.  I didn't post for a long time because most of the work that was done was little stuff (like finishing the sheet rock behind the fridge, removing cabinet doors, etc.) that wasn't really interesting.  Now, we are finally in the homestretch.

The kitchen was painted a couple of weeks ago and it didn't go swimmingly.  I think perhaps my expectations were too high, you be the judge.

When it came to painting the cabinets, I decided to call in an expert for a few reasons.  First, I know how long it takes me to paint and I knew that a professional could get the job done more quickly.  Second, I wanted the super smooth finish of an airless sprayer.  These tools are awesome pieces of equipment that require experience (that I don't have) to operate.  Third, by the time I rented all of the tools and masked everything off, it would be worth my time and money just to hire someone.

Expectations:  I got a couple of estimates from guys with good reputations. (All of the painting done on my house had been performed by me up to this point so I had to rely on other people's experiences for guidance.)  I ended up hiring the less expensive guy because he was more confident that he could get to me in less than 6 weeks.  (Apparently the painting business is good right now.)  I expected the results to be better than something I could have done myself.  I expected a near flawless, glossy, smooth finish.  I expected that they would do all of the necessary prep work (which I had pretty much spelled out when the estimates were written).  I expected the job to take about 3 days (less than 8-hour days) of work.

In order to avoid going into every detail, they didn't prep nearly as thoroughly as I do, used equipment that was in need of repair and consequently had to basically start all over.  They had to sand through the paint, primer and previous finish to get down to bare wood in many spots because they hadn't prepared the surface properly.  The work took over a week to get finished because of all of the extra work that had to be done.  The cabinets didn't come out as well as I had hoped.  I am now having to come behind and touch up (something I was really hoping to avoid.)

Things the painter did right: he was good about staying in touch with me and communicating his plan.  He never ducked my phone calls and was professional about everything.  In the end he knocked $100 off of his original estimate because he was disappointed in how the job went.  I'm pretty sure he ended up losing money on the job as a result.

Is this a case of if you want the job done right, do it yourself?  Should I have used a different painter?  Should my expectations have been less lofty?  The short of it is that I have been mulling this over for a while and I still don't know.  Everybody has a bad day, I know that.  This guy didn't react badly when things didn't go his way,  which is something that many contractors do.  He lowered the price in the end because he knew that he and I were both disappointed in the job.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he also painted the sheet rock I had just finished, the trim I had just installed, the pocket door to the laundry room and the sheetrock on the bar/peninsula; all things that were not included in the estimate.  Also, don't get me wrong, the pictures will look good.  The flaws are relatively small but numerous and noticeable close up.

By the way, I'm better at finishing sheet rock that I thought.  It did take me considerably longer than it would a professional, though.

Don't forget to check out the pictures on Picasa.

Tile!

Well, after one small headache, the tile is being finished up.  We ran short on tile yesterday which prevented them from being able to lay all of the tile in one day which is pretty impressive.  Since the tile was not something the flooring supply had in stock, I was afraid that we would have to wait until next week to get the two boxes (12 tiles) we needed to finish.  Thankfully, the salesman at Prosource was able to track down a distributor in town who had some on hand.  After being told that they didn't have any from the same lot as ours, it turned out that they did and we were back in business.

The tile masons are finishing up the grout right now and should (I think) be done by lunchtime.  Yay!  I can't express how happy I am to be done with the broken, peeling vinyl floor.  It was disgusting, ugly and a tripping hazard.  Hopefully I can get some painters out here next week to give me a quote on painting the cabinets and get the cabinet guy back out here to measure for doors.  Let's keep some momentum going!

Incidentally, I also had a small roofing repair which I was able to get done on Tuesday.  Some of the shingles on our ridge vent were damaged in a recent storm.  I probably wouldn't have noticed it if Jenny hadn't pointed it out.  Twenty bucks in materials and about 45 minutes or so of work to get it fixed.  Not too shabby.

Pictures of the new floor to come soon.

Cabinets are installed!

Well, the cabinet problem has been resolved and all three of the cabinet units we are adding have been installed. Yay!  I met the cabinet man on Sunday to pick them up.  I could not fit all three of them in the bed of my truck, but since we met here in town I brought along the trailer that I borrowed to transport the tile... with the tile on it.  Sure hauling around an extra 1500 or so lbs. doesn't seem like the best idea, but it worked out okay.

Jenny helped me install the cabinets on Monday evening.  Don't worry!  She didn't lift anything heavy or strain in any way.  She helped make sure that everything was aligned and made sure that nothing fell on my head.  No major problems to report with the install.  We are now better able to envision how our kitchen will work when we are finished and we are pleased.

The tile man is here right now prepping the slab for the tile installation which will begin tomorrow.  The vinyl flooring was installed using this nasty black adhesive to which other adhesives (like thin set, the stuff used to set tile) won't bond.  To rectify this they are using something called uniflex which will serve as the meat in a glue sandwich.  They claim that this stuff will adhere to anything and anything will adhere to it.  I will update again when the tile is complete!

First major delay...

Well, I guess it was bound to happen, we have hit our first setback.  Sure, we have had little bumps here and there, but this is a guaranteed, one-week set back.

When you are reflooring the spine of your ranch-style home, there are lots of things that you have to prepare for.  We will have to spend a couple of nights out of the house so that the tile can set.  We can't stay here because we wouldn't be able to get to a bathroom.  One of the other little things is that our washer and dryer have to be moved.  In preparation for this task, I did a massive amount of laundry yesterday so that anything we could possibly need would be clean and available.  There were a few other things to do before calling the tile mason to get him out here.  One of these tasks was installing a lower cabinet that we have had for a couple of weeks now.  When I went to set it in place, it was a half inch too short.  The cabinet guy didn't account for the overhang of the Formica (yes, it is technically a proper name) countertop when he measured the cabinets.  Now I have to get it back to him so that he can take the front face apart and make two new stiles and a new bottom rail.  Although this will probably not take more than an hour or two, it is not his main line of work, and I have to get it to Ponchatoula via Plaquemine (he's a coworker of Jenny).  I realized the mistake yesterday, will get the cabinet to him tomorrow, he will fix it over the weekend and get it back to Jenny on Monday.  This means the earliest possible day to start the tile is next Tuesday.

I guess I have to do another round of laundry.  Oh well.

In another matter, I also realized that installing the cabinet would cover up the receptacle that was previously used for the refrigerator.  After brainstorming a bit with Nathan over the phone, we realized that the refrigerator was probably on a dedicated circuit and that I could use that wiring to install two new receptacles in the backsplash on that wall.  I am really glad that this thought occurred to us.  That wall would have had no receptacles if it wasn't for that epiphany.  I also used the 220-volt circuit that previously powered the oven to create a 110-volt outlet for the new refrigerator, thus creating a new dedicated circuit to power the new refrigerator.  It blows my mind that so far Beau the electrician has fared better than Beau the plumber, but c'est la vie.

In other news, Jenny and I went appliance shopping (success) and countertop shopping (abysmal failure) on Monday.  Jenny gets a discount on Whirlpool family appliances through work, and we managed to get a locally-owned appliance store (which I have worked with in the past) to give us very competitive prices.  We will probably end up purchasing the appliances through the local guys because they have a good service department, the sales people have been very nice and helpful, and it never hurts to support a local business, right?  Here's our dilemma: we are looking at two gas slide-in ranges.  They are both good units that retail around the same price point.  The one that we both really like is the slightly more expensive one (obviously because otherwise there would be no dilemma).  The slightly less expensive one we can purchase for around $1500; it retails for $2049.  The one we really like is $2199 and there is no haggling or deal-making to be done.  The manufacturer forces its retailers to sell it for the price they set.  This means it is the same price everywhere (even on the internet).  So, if it were a matter of $150, it would be no contest.  $700 on the other hand, is a pretty nice chunk of change.  Advice/Donations are welcome.

Progress is being made

Sorry for two posts in one day, but they are pretty unrelated and occurred days apart but didn't get blogged about because things have been a little hectic.

Sunday afternoon Nathan and I set about modifying the cabinets to suit our new kitchen plan.  We will be installing a slide-in range where the cooktop previously resided.  In order to make this happen, we needed to cut the 30" hole in the cabinets where the range will go and then remodel the remaining cabinets on either side.  

I removed the cooktop right before Nathan arrived.  First, we set about removing some of the Formica countertop.  Nathan hates Formica.  I only included this because I think this fact came up about 2 dozen times.  It was removed pretty much without incident.  

The next step was to cut the cabinets.  We brainstormed a little bit and then came up with a system/jig to promote straight cutting and clean edges for our cuts.  The cuts were made with a circular saw, which worked well except that you can't cut all the way to the floor with a circular saw.  The front edge of the blade is recessed a few inches short of the front of the tool.  

As we had anticipated this problem, I borrowed a handy tool from Mr. James to help us out.  If you are into home improvement or tools in general, one of the new tools to hit the market is these little oscillating multi-tools.  You'll see commercials where they use them for cutting, scraping, sanding, etc.  The often have a little triangle-shaped sanding pad or other attachment affixed to the front.  This is one of those tools that is a jack-of-all-trades and master of none.  I dare say that there is a better sanding tool, scraping tool, and cutting tool out there, but this little guy is mighty handy.  He allowed us to cut pretty much whatever we wanted, wherever we wanted.  We used him to cut a lot of parts that were hard to get to.

We then set about building the end pieces for the new cabinets.  We used a table saw that I had been given a while back but never really used.  The next part is really a bit embarrassing.  The saw was not cutting very well and creating a bunch of smoke.  Twenty minutes or so into using it, Jenny rolls up and says: "Um, is the blade on backwards?"  Yes, yes it was.  It is really annoying when engineers do that.  90% of the time they make the job harder than it has to be, ask 1400 questions and provide little to no help.  This time, Jenny was absolutely right and we hadn't even considered that particular source of our troubles.  TO OUR CREDIT, the blade was installed backwards when it was given to me.

After flipping the blade around, the saw worked much better and without smoking us out from the burning plywood.  Ugh.

Anyway, after an hour or so of ripping down plywood on the table saw, we had the sides and stiles cut for the cabinet.  I have to finish nailing it all together since the hardware store was closed by the time we got to that step.  All in all, it was a very productive day and Nathan was once again quite helpful.  

I uploaded a few new pictures to the Kitchen Remodel album on picasa (link on the right.)

I hate plumbing

I will explain the photo above in just a minute, but first a little bit about plumbing.  There is a saying in construction: "There are only two things to know about plumbing: sh!t rolls downhill and payday's Friday."  This is not far from the truth.  Plumbing is very simple and uncomplicated.  It is, however, a royal pain in the butt.  As I was attempting to get some work done in the kitchen (removing the dishwasher in this instance) I realized there was water dripping from the hot water connection under my sink.  Because there is not a shut-off installed, I figured I would go ahead and kill two birds with one stone.  A shut off is that little knob that you will probably find against the wall underneath every toilet, sink, washing machine, etc. in your house.  A brilliant idea, this is intended to allow you to shut off the water supply to that fixture without having to turn the water off to the whole house.  This was not part of the building code in 1962.  (Was there even a building code in 1962?)

Unfortunately, due to the simplicity of the basic nature of plumbing, every joe blow handyman thinks that he can tackle any plumbing problem.  Apparently this was the case when it comes to the hot water supply to my kitchen sink and disposal.  The reason it was leaking is because the two fittings you see on either end of that T connector above are for natural gas.  As you might guess, natural gas and water have some slightly different properties.  Genius.

Having done one previous plumbing project in my house, the whole thing was galvanized pipe which is pretty helpful.  I say this because there are no special tools or knowledge required to work with galvanized pipe.  Since I couldn't see what was in the wall, I assumed that it was all galvanized pipe.  It wasn't.  I tried in vain to disconnect that T connector in any way that I could.  Note: underneath the kitchen sink is not the most comfortable place to work.  Eventually, I just tried to turn the whole thing.  The copper elbow you see on the left was happy to let go and the whole thing came out.  This is because copper is very soft and doesn't screw together.  

After a few unhappy words, Jenny showed up and we brainstormed a bit.  The most common way to connect copper pipes is by soldering them together.  This is the third thing that you need to know to be a plumber.  It is not all that difficult to learn, but it does require a blow torch.  There are some downsides to this.  When you are working inside a wooden cabinet, most things around you do not respond well to a high temperature flame.  I decided to go to the hardware store and purchase a brass compression fitting, the other way to attach copper pipe.  

Long story short, by the next day I had the thing sorted out and the hot water turned back on.  We still don't have hot water on the kitchen sink because the hardware store was out of the cap I needed to close off the dishwasher connection and I haven't bothered to find another one.

Here is why I hate plumbing: there is nothing difficult conceptually about plumbing, but it tends to be in the most awkward spaces to work, it never goes quite as you hope, you NEVER know what is behind a wall, and most importantly plumbers cost a fortune!  I despise this because there really is nothing particularly difficult about plumbing!