And the light goes on...

Basement remodel update:
I've been focusing on work this week. But feeling the urge to do a "little" something, I opted to look at the "accent" lighting that will be near the basement windows, behind what I'm calling faux windows that I have to build. To my surprise, the went quite quick. While they are not screwed down (since I still need to trim out the inside of that rough window framing) I did test them on the dimmer switch that controls them.

WOW! I turned off all the other lights in the basement. Being night time, that left the basement quite dark. I turned on the accent lighting (which includes a new spotlight pointing above the fireplace). SO COOL. even with the light dimmed down. It was just so cool. if I listened hard I could almost hear the Medieval revelry within some Inn.

Splash one more item on the basement punch list...

Peace

A taste of Soul..

slurp.. slurp..
(the sound of Ted licking the last remnants off his fingers)

For those not in the know, February is Black History Month. At work today, there was an event. "A taste of soul". Its was a smorgasbord of "soul food". I've heard people talk of soul before, and its definition seems difficult to nail down. I'm not going to attempt to do that her. But as I finish off this giant plate filled with food. I'm thinking. I like "soul food". Especially the spicier dishes.

What did I have. Some rice prepared in different ways. Some great corn bread stuffing. Regular corn bread muffin. some pulled pork. turkey prepared I dunno how, except to say YUM!. Some spicy sausage. Some awesome potato salad. Fried fish. Fried chicken. Another kinda of BBQ pork. Black eyed peas. spaghetti (not sure how that's soul food). My plate was full. So I skipped over some candied yams, some different varieties of greens.

In all, very good. But I must say that spicy sausage I had. Doing my best Homer Simpson.. Aaaaahhhhhhh (as I wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth).

All I can say is its good I ate just after a wicked hard cardio/strength class at the fitness center, as I probably ate a 1-1/2 worth of calories...

Peace

A biscuit for your basket

With the laminate flooring carefully pulled up. It was time to get to Menards this time, rented the Menards truck since I cant bring home 4x8 sheet goods. 12 3/4 tongue and groove OSB in fact. A couple of very long night getting it cut up and installed. A short break for a baptism in North Central Wisconsin. And it was time to get the floor done.

The fun part about installing the OSB? was jointing the short edges of the wood. There is no tongue and groove. After some research, and some phones calls. The answer was "biscuits". Not having the ability to use biscuits, I ended up with a cost conscience biscuit jointer from the Depot. It was quite, clean, and did the job like a champ. Heck even my mom was excited about it, no sure why she's always wanted to have or use a biscuit jointer.. but there you have it..

With the OSB down, and the laminate already cut, it didn't take long to get the laminate by down. A couple hours tops. The floor looks awesome. And now it feels awesome as well. Its still got a tad of give, that's good. but it doesn't fell like walking on cardboard over shag carpeting.



There were some tricky areas to cut around, but the I-Beam support post was one of the most tricky. Especially given the nature of the flooring with the tile and the grout lines. In order to keep the pattern going, it proved to be quite a challenge. I couldn't be happier how well that turned out. It's blog worthy by itself.

So the flooring is done. The chair rail, baseboard, window and door casing will begin sometime very soon. I've got to snap up the rest of the ceiling after I install some speakers, and do some accent lighting in the windows. Those are the biggest punch list items. So we're almost there.

Peace!

A bounce, A spring in your Step, but spongy?

Great progress was made on the basement. Last weekend the flooring was put it. J picked out an awesome Dupont laminate. Its called "Tuscan Stone", its sort of a cobble stone look. Very cool and very fitting for the Medieval theme to the basement.

Unfortunately, this week, I have to un-install the flooring. The flooring was a bit "spongy". That is to say, I expected a little give in the floor while using the Delta-FL underlayment, but it just didn't fell right. Calling up DuPont, the people at Delta, I got some mixed answers. In the end, I listened to the riot act read to me from the DuPont people about invalidating the flooring warranty. So I carefully pulled up the laminate and put some some 3/4 tongue & groove OSB as a subfloor material on top of the Delta-FL.

The flexibility in the floor, and the clicking from the Delta.. are now fixed. I'll need a couple of hours to put the laminate back down. So soon I'll be back on schedule. J has already pre-stained all the trim. So it will be full speed ahead on the trim very soon. Following that, the punch list if pretty small. Pictures are forthcoming...

peace

Prayers for Baby Miles

Please pray for baby Miles and his family, especially mommy Megan. He is being treated, and we are praying that the malaria does not delay them coming home at the end of the week so he is able to receive treatment here in the US. UPDATE: Miles still has a fever and is not taking liquids so they have him on an IV, please keep him and Megan in your prayers that they will be allowed to fly out tomorrow! Thanks

News on our K

The ladies that left on Saturday made it safely and Megan has her little boy in her arms! He is such a cutie pie! Sounds like they are bonding very well! Megan reported that they met the Pastor that is fostering K with his family and that he reported that K is very healthy and is doing well. We also heard that K is potty trained (yah!!!) but wears a diaper at night and . Megan sent a camera home with the Pastor to take some pictures. Hoping for more news tomorrow!

Time Capsule (well sort of)

(name of the kids removed)

I sometimes thing that when I remodel these rooms I should wall up some trinkets or newspapers or something as a time capsule. While I think about it, I don't ever follow through. As I was preparing to cover up the concrete floor, in prep for the new floor in the basement, I had an idea. A time capsule or sorts, but also a little praise, a little prayer, and message for the kids. Since J and I are working on the basement for them. So I grabbed some of the big, fat kids chalk and did a time capsule "Ted Style"...

Its about a floor... (part 2)

So the old flooring it out. The ground was vacuumed, scrubbed, and vacuumed again. Then it was time for the Delta-FL. It took me a bit to get used to working with it, to cut it to size, but its more rigid than I thought, which is good

After that was in, it was recommended to still use some thin foam underlayment. So I did that as well. The final view with both layers of underlayment is shown to the left.

During some reviews I read of the Delta-FL. I read that the underlayment can make some noise until its has been lived in awhile. I hope so, since its pretty noticeable the noise it makes. Some of the noise is the delta-FL sticking then unsticking to the still sticky black adhesive that I didn't fully remove. The other noise was simple from the plastic coming in contact with the concrete flooring.

As of the writing of this post, I've got the first three rows of laminate in. I'll post a photo when I'm all done tomorrow.

Peace

Its about the floor... (part 1)

(photo at left is the last shot taken before I tear out the old linoleum tiling)

So J asked me to rearrange some of the things i was going to do on the basement this weekend. So moved to the front of the line is the new flooring. Going int this project we knew that the ceiling and the flooring would be the two bigger ticket items. We saved some on the ceiling, and instead we added it to a flooring that J and I really like. Needless to say, that laminate floor cost probably as much as what I've put into the basement (supply costs only).

We had an underlayment product names Delta-FL. Best way to describe it is large, rigid, bubble wrap in steroids.

In a project like this, its always fun to see what you'll find. We know that there was a gas appliance in the basement at some point. The old pipes was there. We suspect a stove or a cooktop, since there was a fan. We I discovered after I removed the flooring was that there was a 2nd kitchen in the basement. Or minimally a really fancy wet bar. (photo below to the right is the floor after the tile is removing, showing where the old kitchen was).

You can sorta make out a circle in the first rectangle. That's where (I'm pretty certain) an old drain was filled in with concrete. The white areas are thin layers of concrete or thin set. When the kitchen was taken out, the owners opted to put a 2nd layer of tile down, and to make the two layers level, they used the concrete.

more to come in part II...

In about 30 hours.....

Cami and Megan will head out on their long journey to to bring home the Terry family's little cutie Miles. On their journey, they will be meeting our little K and giving her lots of hugs and kisses for us (and finding out some really important burning questions like is she using the potty!). Today, I just wanted to ask all our friends in the blog-o-sphere to say a prayer for these two for their safe travels together, that the funds and donations they will be bringing with them will provide nourishment to the children in the orphanages and that what they experience in their time will enable them both to continue to make a difference in the lives of the children there. Also, for Megan especially, pray that she will be kept safe from the rats and other critters at the guest house :) God bless you both on your journey!

Why does it mean so much?

After 4.5 years of searching and one failed attempt at a tour guide detour, a wonderful woman on one of the Yahoo groups I belong to posted 10 photos of the Hospital National Retalhuleu. When I opened the photo album and saw the maternity ward, the tears started to flow. I can’t really put into words why it has always been so important to me to see where E1 took his first breath of air, and where his madre decided to make an adoption plan for him. I can’t help but wonder if the labor was difficult, if E1 came out crying and what he looked like all wrapped up in blankets with his little hospital bracelet around his ankle. There was something so HUGE that was gain by us that day in that room, our son was born and we would be a family in a few short months, but there was also something so HUGE that was lost and all the love in the world will not fill that empty space in my precious boy’s heart. Hopefully some day, I will see that room for myself…until then I will hold the picture near and dear.

Friends of the Congo

More to come, but below is a link to some interesting information regarding the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.

http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/historyofcongo/index.php

Really Cute Doll Recommendation!

I have searched up and down for a cute black doll for K and have been really dissapointed in the selection. I found a black baby doll at Target right after Christmas, but I was not overly excited about it. At the time, it seemed like the best black doll I could find (no slutty clothes at least!) within the terrible selection that was available. While I am not surprised, having read about many other mothers having the same problems with the poor selection of black dolls, I was over the moon excited when I went to Family Christian Store for a baptism gift and found an adorable black doll named Faith. The whole line of all the dolls and clothes was on 50% clearance, so I am a little dissapointed that it seems like they won't be carrying the dolls anymore, but the dolls and clothes were all a great deal. I love love love the fact that her hair is natural and not straightened like many of the black dolls out there and her skin is a beautiful mocha, and being at a Christian store, she wasn't wearing slutty Barbie clothes either. Yah for Family Christian Store!

Week 2: New Year,New You!

Its week two of the "New Year, New You!" at the fitness center. I"m wicked bored/tired of counting calories. What a major drag. I get the idea, yes I see what I'm eating or home much some foods add to the diet. I just need to get out and run more, to get back to burning more calories. That said. My "weigh in" last week was unusually high following the family get together (and Teds over eating) at the water park. and the "weigh in" for reasons I'm not yet sure, must be low this week. As there is a 6 pounds difference. That's to much for 1 week. Yeah yeah. Water weight. I get that. but for me..that is typically a 2lbs swing. Maybe I really really over ate last week, and was still "full of it". I'm sure J would shake her head yes....

On another note. It appears as if running in my 4th Chicago Marathon could be in doubt. A close friend is getting married on the 10th of October, so I do not yet have family clearance to run that race. We'll see how that goes, and if I can find an alternative.

Peace