More Shelves Than We Know What To Do With

Again, Annie and I want to give a big thanks to her dad for helping make the basement look less creepy and more livable. He recently finished painting the last section of basement floor. Yesterday (Sunday, Feb. 10th) he added some much needed shelving. And, although Leo hasn't completely tested each shelf, they look to be quite solid. 

 This photo shows the finished floor as well as one set of shelves, which are connected to the previous shelving. 

 The shelves are anchored to the ceiling joists, which I think was a pretty good idea on Annie's dads part. Unless, that is, we get a massive tornado—then the shelves might get sucked out of the basement. 

Here is a 'Leo view' photo that shows both sets of shelves. 

So we've pretty much doubled our storage space, which is good, because we should be able to keep everything except rugs off the ground, and who knows when this basement will flood next.

Now we just need to drive around looking for piles of junk on curb sides with signs that say 'Free' so we can fill up all these shelves. Until then, we have this stuff to put away. 

Of course, what's really important is the question, "What does Leo think?" When I asked him, he said the shelves looked nice, but he thought the materials and effort could have been put to a better use making one of these . . .

Maybe next time Leo.

-Daniel

Basement Update

Annie and I would like to give a large thanks to Dave, Annie's dad, who just spent a large amount of time working on our basement. The cement floor is close to a hundred years old. It was multi-colored and pockmarked from time and probably from flooding. A new coat of paint really went a long way in making it look great.

First, a before shot . . . 

There's a lot of junk laying around in this one, but you can see quite well the state of the floor. It wasn't very good. 

And now, here is an after shot . . .

Ahhh. Much better. Most of the small craters are still there, it's just really hard to see them with a fresh coat of paint. 

Here's another angle . . .

(Notice the large pile of crap still in the back corner)

In addition to painting the basement floor, Dave also painted the walls above the stairwell. They were simply unpainted wood before and there is no light, so it was extremely dark walking down the stairs. Now, however, it's nice and white, and much brighter when taking the journey to the basement. Here is a photo, although I don't have a before shot . . .

That's all for now!

-Daniel

Welcome, 2013!

It's been a while since I've updated anything on the blog. A long while, really. I think it was around the start of fall or end of summer since the last post. Naturally a lot has happened between then and now, and I've probably forgotten a good deal—which is a bummer, because one of the reasons we created this blog was so that we would remember some of the details we might forget. Oh well, live and learn.

One memorable event from fall was when our garage door broke. It was the first major pitfall of home ownership. I should have taken a picture, but I was bummed, and I didn't want to feel like a gawker at a disaster site. But I can paint a pretty clear mental image . . . you ready? Okay. Image a normal garage door. Now imagine an accordion. Now imagine both those things at once. You've just seen our broken garage door. Luckily the repair man was able to add a brace to the existing door and we didn't have to replace the old one. That would've cost a few Benjamin's, as they say in hip places that call hundred dollar bills Benjamin's.

The next memory of note, which I also do not have a picture of, was raking. I knew the tree in our backyard was a monster, but there was no way anyone could prepare for the amount of leaves that were spewed about our yard. I bought thirty leaf bags from Menards. After those had all been filled (using a mulcher, so the leaves were in very tiny pieces) I just raked the rest of the leaves into the back corner of the yard. We intend to use that section as a garden next year, so I figure the leaves will just act as fertilizer. That's what happens, right?

Well, I bet you're bored. Too much talking . . . where are all the pictures in this book? Here's one!

     This is the first Christmas tree in the new house, as well as the first living Christmas tree Annie and I have ever had. It did a stupendous job performing it's holiday cheer functions. Not one ornament fell off, it didn't shed too many needles, and it didn't let Leo climb it's prickly boughs. 

This next photo is a night shot of the house using a long exposure with a new camera. If you click it, it will get bigger, and you just might be able to see the moonlight sparkling on the snow covered roof. How special. 

     After we packed up the Christmas stuff, Annie and I pulled out a puzzle I got for Christmas. I actually got it several years ago, but with the new table we actually have a space that can properly handle a 1500 piece puzzle. 

     Today, Annie's dad and brother came over to help with a major project—painting the basement floor. It was during this that I thought to take some pictures, and use them to update the blog. The first step was to try to level out some of the gouges in the concrete, so here are some before and after shots so you can see the difference some self-leveling cement makes. 

(Before)

(After)

     We had to move all the crap we have in the basement into the back corner in order to free up ground space. It makes for quite a cluttered mess. Leo loves it, so many places to explore. We had to shut the basement door though—we didn't want any Leo tracks in the wet cement. Here's the basement crap pile.

     Leo hates closed doors. He likes to let us know that this is his house, and he should have full access to every room. When you close a door, he voices his objections. 

     I've seen that face before. If you get within four inches he'll reach out that little orange paw of his and pull you under the door. He's quite strong, for a cat. Don't let the cuteness fool you. 

Well, that's all for now, a large update. Hopefully it won't be as long until the next post.

-Daniel

The First Mouse near the House

I don't have any picture to go along with this post like I do with most other posts, but I thought it would be wise to at least chronicle a momentous event. Today, while grilling pizza on the grill (as if you grill it any other place), I noticed a black furry rodent scurrying around the back of our house. It came through the small patch of the Lilly of the Valley flowers, ran around the corner toward the porch, then disappeared through a small hole in the concrete steps that I previously hadn't noticed. I was speechless and was staring at the rodent. I quickly looked up at Annie and tried to wipe the startled look off my face before she could notice anything amiss, but it was too late. She noticed. I haven't seen a mouse with her before, and I can say I am proud she didn't scream, but she did seem disgusted. In fact, she kept saying, "That's disgusting," with heavy emphasis on the "gust." I hope the little critter wasn't too offended.  We later saw him scamper back the the Lilly of the Valley from whence he came.

After reading this, you're probably thinking, "Grilled pizza, how does that work?" I was just as skeptical, but it works—and it tastes amazing. I start with a dough ball that I buy from Lunds for 1.49. After forming the right shape by tossing the dough in the air like a pizza professional, I heavily oil the grill then drape the dough on the hot grates. After a few minutes, I flip the dough and add the sauce, cheese, and toppings. Within a total of 5-8 minutes, the pizza is done, and it tastes super-duper (as some nerdy home school kids I know would say). I know I said there wouldn't be any pictures in this post, but what the heck, here you go...

This was a nice margherita-esque pizza. Marinara sauce with sliced mozzarella, olives, and basil from the garden. The possibilities are endless.

-Daniel

Updated Home Video

Here is a video of the Updated Home.

It's been a while since we've posted anything on the blog. After about a month of being in the new home it is starting to look like a place where people live. We still need to hang most things on the walls, but overall the house looks great.

Annie's dad has spent many hours painting the walls and in some cases the ceilings in order to make the home feel warmer. The rust colored accent wall goes great with the brown in the dining and living room, and the odd shade of green that we probably wouldn't have normally picked works surprisingly well with the tile backsplash in the kitchen. Also, the newly painted white porch is much brighter and fresher looking then the worn, non painted wood that was in there before.

In addition to paint, we have also added furniture to fill in the house. Luckily we moved from a decent sized apartment into not to large of a house, so we didn't need to buy too much furniture. Mainly we wanted a large dining room table (So that we would have ample board game space) and a queen sized bed (The full was feeling small, especially when Leo was sleeping with us).

We also did a lot of work on the exterior of the house. Over memorial day weekend I got on the roof and removed four garbage bags worth of dead leaves and other detritus. The garden got a little freshening up with a new layer of mulch, and I planted my hops along with some vegetables.

You can see all of these updates in the video, so I won't post any pictures of them. Enjoy!

-Daniel