So, I spent 4th of July weekend mostly in Salem.  Yea, they hung some witches there at one time.  Overall the place was pretty cool, the food was good and the people were nice.  I have never seen so many occult bookstores in one place before.  Needless to say I know where I will be for haloween this year.

Ivan!

Boston, well mostly Dedham.

The end of the first week of April my time at Midway ended.  I was pretty cool with it.  The drive was getting bad and expensive and the new department manager was a worthless fool on a good day.  So, I got home that afternoon and did something I had not done in a while.  I picked up the phone and started calling the recruiters back.  I was already scheduling interviews the next Monday and after a few really good ones, I am now at Turbine games in Westwood Ma.  Close call since I interviewed with Yahoo the day before I drove out here.  So, I am now hanging my hat here in Boston, and spending plenty of quality time in Salem.  When I get a chance I will post up some pics.  Boston, is like old house geek paradise.  I have driven past more Eastlake style places and Gothic Victorian and Italianate places than I can count.  Though I think Milwaukee has a higher Queen Ann density than there is here.  There are things out here that kind of suck though, the indian food is kind of crap, but I am very spoiled by Devon Street in Chicago, and the Thai food is runny, bland and tastless.  8^(  Kind of sad.  The whole area closes kind of early, like its built only to cater to old folks.  Also, everything about the culture seems to lean towards a prohibitionist view on drinking.

Then there is the accent and the idiomatic expressions.   I spent a lot of effort killing my use of Gems like “Alsyougottado”, now I am surrounded by it.

weak,

totally weak.

Ivan

It was a long winter.

A very long winter…

The spring work will begin again very soon.  We have a lot do do but not nearly as much as we had and no large projects on schedule this year.  Of course thats assuming I don’t go totally crazy and do the attic in the fall.  But really, this year is all about finishing work.  Trim, and paint and more trim.  Its is getting to be time to leave the place.  The sooner the better.

I have grown tired of being a pioneer.  As the economy collapses the natives are getting more restless.  Now that the very long winter is ending the amount of gunfire in the night is getting to be more frequent.  A lot more frequent.   The home improvement industry needs to come out with new products for this market.  Like Tyvek made out of ballistic nylon, and Kevlar Batt insulation.

Ivan

I am really starting to hate this project that seems to never really end.

I am slowly getting the mudding done… The vestibule is mudded and ready for primer..   The maids pantry is nearly ready, except for the part where I get the fun of fixing the old owners mud job on the ceiling.  The back hall has a long ways to go before its ready for paint and the kitchen even further.. .

Heck I need to get to the despot and pick up another sheet or tree of drywall to fill the last hole and get the other two unrelated fixes done that I wanted to. 8^P

bleh

The weather is already turning crappy..

And I have a downtime Saturday morning ( hoseing Saturday )

The good news is the bedroom window sashes..

Its been a long time but they are ready to go back in.  Stripped reglazed and tightened back up they are beautiful.

At least thats working out.

Ivan!

ok,

getting closer.. The tin for the vestibule is in and waiting for the walls to be done enough to hang it.    The back room is nearly done with the second coat.  The back hallway is also nearly second coated.  The kitchen however needs a lot of plaster to be done.  Worse and more annoying yet, it needs some plaster of paris work to fill the fat gaps between some of the wallboard.  I am pretty sure thats going to be annoying. 8^P

Still the project is getting a lot closer, I am no longer spending big piles of cash and time at home despot.   8^)

There is still a little bit of big cash spending that has to happen.  We need the kitchen doors, and two replacement windows.

And I dont want to know what I will spend on trim bits when trimming times comes.

Ivan!

Guh,

I just want to see the end of the kitchen project.   8^P

We are getting so close.. But I really do not expect to have all the plaster up till the end of this coming weekend…

Grrrrrrr

That part sux

Then again, we will see how motivated I am when I get home from work tonight.

Last night, as per usuall not so good.

To tell the truth I am still needing some sleep.

But things are getting so very close to done.. Especially once the plaster is finished.

But, this weekend other things get the primary attention.

Its really time for the windows to be back in place.

really really time.. 8^P

Also, Its  really really time to get the gutters clean..

So, Saturday will be gutters and windows..

Sunday I need to replace light switches, and put in the upstairs ceiling fan.

While thats getting done hopefully Thrusday and Friday night I will have gotten the plaster up and the sanding will be getting done.  8^P

then we can prime next week, and paint…

I am gonna be glad to have the freeking paint up.

Ivan!

finally,

we started the real cleaning part of this summers adventure in new kitchen making.

I am starting to have a dining room again.. Of course  I still need to mop the floors about 3 times to get the evidence of summer project off.

Also, still not done on the kitchen.. There are a few squares of tile to go up, the sink reset needs to be done.  There are like two pieces of drywall that need to be dealt with.   Then I need to finish the mudding and paint, finally leaving the trim.  8^)

Getting closer there…

The front hall needs, mudding finished, paint trim the new tile floor and the tin up.. then some heavy double checking of the weather stripping.

The back stairwell, needs mudding 1 piece of drywall the light up the trim paint and tile floor.

The lists are shrinking

Ivan!

The grime of major projects has to be the worst part. The tripping over of soon to be tossed drywall bits makes things more annoying.. Being covered in plaster dust more or less non stop is not helpful. The project is getting close to finished. Once its done in a week or two, I am going to spend the first clean weekend in the house not enjoying the new kitchen but soaking all of the embedded plaster dust out of me by taking a very long very hot bath. Yes, soon the last of my heavy involvement big house projects will be over.

I am so not gonna miss it.

The attic will actually be the last dramatic project before we sell.

But, I am totally hiring out for the nasty parts of the job. Yea, I will do the mudding, yea I will lay the floor, wire the boxes and screw in the lights.. But the drywalling, insulation, doors and windows sub flooring and inevitable fixing of framing. Screw that, I will have that done for me.

Till then the mudding is coming along reasonably well. I was really slowed down by all of the crap in the way yesterday. Ok and a slight hangover from Saturday night. 8^)

But, I really expect to be hanging trim and stuff this coming weekend.

perhapses the weekend after.. 8^P

Ivan!

ok,

I had a nice long 4 day weekend… Thats better than a 3 day weekend because if you piss a day away ( which I did ) you still have three to get things done.

Things actually got done. Still I am a bit disappointed that there is still un-hung drywall in the front room. But to look on the bright side we have

A fully walled backroom

Nearly no holes in the kitchen walls

a very fully walled vestibule.

The electrics to the back room are all 100% and good.

The vestibule are 90% all done upstairs and running on a temp hookup in the basement.

We have a working doorbell, working lights and a total mess. 8^P

I should start mudding tomorrow night Finally I will be doing the part I am really really good at. 8^) some of the inside corners are looking kind of like they will be a pain in the ass.. Still, mudding means the project hell is nearly over. Things get to be clean after this.

The weather is turning towards colder. So this coming weekend I really really need to get started on getting the windows squared away. I mean in a get it mostly done this weekend and finished next sort of way. That means a quality trip to the window place to order a couple of replacement windows and finishing getting the good sashes back up in place. I would really really like to get the bathroom done this time around. It seems like fall always turns into a rush to get windows done before it gets crappy cold out.

Ivan!

done,

the electrics for the vestibule, and back room to describe that as a pain in the ass would be a slight understatement but not too much.  8^P

The back room was a monster sized pain in the ass.

We have a new porch light though, the new light for the vestibule itself is also picked out and waiting for a more finished room to install into.  The two are also insulated.  Thats a fairly big deal.  The vestibule will be nearly air tight, or exactly what it was not before.   8^)

The back room is pretty much in the same boat.   Insulation and air tightness = winter comfort.  Finally we should be able to walk near that part of the kitchen with out feeling the wind.  8^)   We also finally have light back there, and will soon have smooth walls.  nice…   I still don’t have any idea what color anything will be but I still have a few days to figure that our at least.  8^)

Still there was a lot that did not get done… We had three solid days that mostly got wasted by me being asleep.  I have just been so damm tired the last couple of weeks.  I desperately need  this project fully in the rear view mirror and some actually time to rest.  I need the walls up and painted and trim hung and the place clean first though.

8^P

in short it kind of sucks.

Ivan