Basement Bathroom… Day 1
So I worked on the basement bathroom today.... and I am tired...
Let me step back... when we bought this townhouse/condo whatever, there was no interior decorating at all. None. Original white walls that had 13 years of crap on them. The floors were either 13 year old cheap shitty filthy carpet or crappy 13 year old vinyl flooring. Nasty. So while I have done lots in the house, this weekend I was finally going to finish the basement bathroom. It used to look like this:
awesome huh. Gotta love that floor. So I finally got the vinyl flooring all off, which was a pain to say the least. For some reason there was a lot of glue holding that floor to the concrete beneath. I found the best solution was to score the vinyl, scrap it with a floor scraper, then use heat to get the glue and cardboard up. Those butane torches worked great, although they made the room really warm and I am sure those fumes were not good for me.
We had picked up a nice shiny black granite tile from the tile outlet down the way from fireside bowl. I had always wanted to go in there since highschool, so that is where we ended up. Today I cleaned the floor, pulled the toilet out, laid out all the tiles out as I had planned (thanks sketchup) and made all the cuts required.
Tomorrow I am going to actually mix the thinset and actually lay them. Word. Then I need to grout and seal them. All thats left in that room is a new light fixture, new faucet, some finishing touches (the walls are very bare) and I can call that room done.
wow… talk about behind…
so lets play some catchup...
mason: doing great.. talkative (but just no in english) and almost always in a good mood. he is always smiling and can be so easily entertained. As I type this he is scooting around on the floor playing with a piece of paper he pulled off an empty box. Funny stuff. He is pretty social, and he still sleeps really well. We are beginning to ween him and we have started giving him formula as well as the solid foods, and he is all about that. He is also getting big enough that we need to get him into a normal car seat, as we aver overdue. He isn't crawling yet but he scoots around on the hardwood on his belly, which is fun to watch, primarily because he can only really go backwards.
house: we are making progress on the house, in preparation for mason's first birthday party, which we will be celebrating on 10/28. We have hung a bunch of stuff on the walls that we had been meaning to get up, and we got some black tile for the basement bathroom. Unfortunately, I haven't finished pulling up the glue from the linoleum yet, which is a pain, but is coming along. We have a grocery list of stuff that we need to finish though, amongst them is tile for the front entry, which will likely be a slate. Should be super nice.
cars: I have been busy enough that my free time hasn't been spent at the garage, which is too bad. the jetta is really close to ready... check out that blog for more on the project. The Audi performed very well Blackhawk Farms with the ACCCC last month and it was great being on the track. I have a short video that I stole from josh and edited down to just the part I am in, which you can watch if you want, even though it is long... check it (warning, 20mb). I have only been driving around in the city lately, not pushing the car much. I had noticed a few thunks in the rear lately, I assuming it was stuff in the back of the car rolling around. I happened to be driving the camry home the other night and as I pulled behind the audi, I noticed something hanging down. Sure enough, the swaybar was BROKEN. Kinda nuts, I'll get some pics tonight. but it is odd. Needless to say, the camry is doing fine. I'll likely buy some better tires for it next summer, as I hate these RE92s, and one has a slow leak. But whatever. I am still impressed by the gas mileage for a car of its size.
computer stuff: I still think my macbook is dope. still very happy with it. The move to the intels was a great move by apple. I also got a nice case for it that fits in my backpack, very nice.
side stuff... I have been inspired a bunch of times readin the MAKE blog and I have a few little projects I am going to work on, but I have been so busy with side web work and other shit I haven't had time to play. I finally got around to learning layout with CSS vs. tables, and that has worked out well for me. I am by no means an expert, but I am getting the hang of it. I don't know why I had such trouble figuring it out in the past, it is easy. I think I just wasn't motivated enough.
Other than that, nothing super amazing to make note off... off to hang some more stuff on the walls. or back to the basement bathroom. And I need to go to the garage to talk with dylan about websites we are working on. And I have some work to do for work work. awesome.
Catchup…
It seems we are always busy... so what is new? I'll do it in some list method...
• Mason is doing great. He is smiling lots, has begun laughing on his own, and is eating like there is no tomorrow, so I would imagine another growth spurt soon.
• I got my new glasses. I don't have any pictures come to think of it, but they are nice. I am totally used to them now. They are dope. I picked them up on friday, 6/2. The place was nice, urban eyecare on milwuakee. Close, insurance covered them, and I like the glasses. Can't beat that.
• Gardening... so we planted some flowers. And by we, I don't mean me. Rebecca and her folks did the plant buying and the planting. The backyard looks great. I think we are going to do some new sod. I need to read up on what is involved, time windows, etc. I REALLY want to build an in ground sprinkler system, but everyone tells me it is over kill. Which it is. But I still want to build it.
• Outings... we went to the Chicago Botanical Gardens with Lisa, we have gone out the burbs a few times, hung out with Robyn a few times... been busy, but nothing too awesome too report...
• I am still not drinking pop... well, I have had like 4 cans in the last month...
• We worked on the house a bit... I may have mentioned it, but we did a bunch of touch up, I laid peel and stick vinyl tile in the laundry room, hung new lights in the basement hallway, hung some more shelves in the den, hung the projector screen in the den, bought the chair rail for mason's room, painted clouds in mason's room, etc... Slowly but surely...
• The jetta is getting close to done... the list of things to do is pretty small, and I am getting excited. Check the Cali The Jetta blog for more on the progress. Once I can drive that, the Audi goes to Al's at Chicago Performance and Tuning for the A/C repair. THAT will be nice too.
• Been doing some more side work, which is nice money, I like money. I haven't gotten paid on much of it yet, but we are getting there.
• Rebecca and I both got sick, and it sucks. On Sunday AM we both wokeup commenting that our throats felt weird. Well, now it is wednesday and I am home sick. I am feeling a bit better, but rebecca is still moving along. I stayed home to babysit and recover so rebecca could get some sleep. Being sick sucks, especially when both of us get sick at the same time.
• Autox on saturday, and we are planning on moving all the shit to the new garage on sunday. Busy Busy.
• I hacked one of the tivos. I am still playing with it, so it is not 100% awesome yet, but progress is being made. It is cool.
I think that is all for now... I think. I will try to be more current with my posts, I swear.
Sold the Appliances!
Finally... they are out of the garage... $280 picked up... so if you figure... we had 12 year old appliances, we bought some 2 year old GE white appliances, considerably nicer than ours, for $600. Then I sold the old ones for $280, net cost to upgrade was $320. Not a bad deal. Now I need to clear some more shit out of the garage, and we MAY be able to park a car in there soon! How novel!