Road Trip to Grandmas

It't that time of year again, the time when our house is a wreck, our laundry piles up, and our gear stays sorta soggy. It's gauley Season. So to prepare for our weekly pilgrimage to WV we made our rounds to the south to see some friends and family. And of course, what trip would be complete without catching a cold? Not this one. That is the reason I am at home blogging at noon on a wed.

Meat fest was fun again. We were not able to complete the Bocce tournament due to a Mime misplacing one of the yellow balls. I know if she had one more margaritta she would have found it. Lots and lots of food and great friends. We are getting way older cause our beverage cooler was just as full at nights end as it was in the begining. It's the time ya share with good folks that you love. I don't even think we touched the shine. Probably all for the better.

Going on 2 years now here in NC.

We closed on this stone house just about 2 years ago. Really just 2 years? WOW! All of the things that we have done in 2 years.
Central AC. New Plumbing. New Electric. New Kitchen. Redid the floors. Reseed the backyard. New Laundry closet. Removed all of the wallpaper upstairs. New drywall upstairs. complete gut of the master bathroom and lots of tile in it's place. 3 new closets in dead attic space.....and 1 healthy baby boy. Busy bees.

Now what I miss
Snowboarding being just an hour away in my truck.
.

Clean and clear whitewater

The water here in NC is nice....warm....but not clean.



Our Friends-





Safeco Field-


Hood River-



The views-

Tile is done! Legs Hurt!

Finally! The tile for the master bath is up and down! With the help of my favorite father-in-law we were able to get the rest of the tile in the bathroom layed. While we have not moved to grout, we are super excited to get to the point that we can. I estimate that we layed almost 200 square feet of tile in 4 days. Don't leave replies if you are some master tilesman and say that is nothing! Nothing is what you got payed to do our bathroom, cause we did it ourselves!

So we have the flat white hex tiles on the floor. Subway tile with squares for the shower walls, and flat white squares for the shower floor. Now we are getting ready to grout, get Adam in to hook up the exhaust, and get the glass folks in to measure for our gigantic shower enclosure. Will this be the largest shower on the block? 7 ft by 4 ft...probably.



I have posted the pictures over on flickr since Blogger isn't digging my mac tonight!

Country Roads Take Her Home-

Found in a hollow in wv...adopted by two young kids....and loved as a family member for 7.5 years. Rest in Peace girl. You had a great life, a full life, many friends and many many miles on those paws.

Cheney predicts the future. If you have not seen this...WATCH IT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BEsZMvrq-I

Wrap it up...bring em home. If this doesn't get that W sticker off your car then there is a serious problem.

What made the tile job easier?

while we are by NO MEANS tile pros....I would say that we are some serious DIY'ers and that we do know when a project has kicked our ass. I am not going to go step by step on how to tile, but I will describe some of the things that made it easiers.

1. The 4 beam laser level. Plumb? Square? Level? YEP! This thing ( see the red line in the picture) allowed us to see if the tile were sliding, or not on the level.

2. Wet Tile Saw. - What a dream this machine is. This puppy plundge cuts, bevel cuts, and slides like ichiro stealing 2nd base. Knowing the Kerf of the diamond blade and getting use to how thick it cuts will allow you to make a tighter set.

3. The thin-set paddle mixer bit. Whatever you want to call it. I didn't spring for the$$$$ one but this thing made mixing the thin set a breeze. Be sure to clean it off after every mix or else you will hate yourself at the end of the day. It does take a drill with some guts so don't expect to hook this thing up to anything labeled Ryobi or Skil. Well you can if you want to go out and buy a new unit.
4. Help. A couple of helpers go a long way. Sandy's dad came up from SC and Sandy really threw down on some tile. I hope to get the shower floor layed this week. Anything to get me inside and out of the 100 degree heat with 200% humidity. THanks Bill!

Make sure it's level. Measure 5 times...cut twice ( cut long, then trim it up!)....rubber hammer those things in that nasty mud! Keep your eye on the entire thing. Step back...look....and don't be afraid to adjust.

Master bathroom shower gets tile!

Too tired to write much.

We got both walls of the shower tiled. No grout, but tile is up. Grout, floor, get the glass up....enjoy.

What's the freakin hold up?

(what keeps us busy)

somewhere upstairs, amongst the kayaking and backpacking gear, beind on or two solid white doors is a freakin mess. A mess of tools, insulation, screws, fans, drop cords....all things that we used while we remodeled the upstairs. But there is one room. The master bath that holds it all. For 3 months now the upstairs has been ignored. It's time to get on it.

Next week I will finish hanging the hardy board so that Mark can come and pour the shower floor. From there it is all tile. Boxes of tile await me. Floor tile, showertile, backsplash tile...oh joy! I am not really looking forward to it, but damn, it's time to get it done.

Antioch College to Close in 2008!?

Be Ashamed to die until you have won some good for humanity! Horace Mann, founder of my great college in the middle of Ohio.

It was announced yesterday that Antioch College will close the doors in July of 2008. SHIT! I knew it was a downward spiral when they closed up Maples, but this is just too much. Antioch is everything that I am, it made me who I am, it is in my blood.

More Info on it
http://technorati.com/posts/tag/antioch+college?page=2


I am going to be calling for a large kick ass festival next year for all alumni and family. We have to send this place out in style.

Dream Job over New Dream being lived-

5 years ago, as a underpaid teacher, I worked as a raft guide in my hometown of WV. It was my 6 season, and I was really just working to make ends meet through the summer. Sandy was in grad school and we were trying to figure out what we were going to do. I met someone in my raft who forever changed my life. A recruiter for the number 1 powertool company in the world. We hit it off, I interviewed, got the job....Moved to Seattle.

Life started to turn. They paid to move us out west, we were excited to be going somewhere new, ready to start a new life. It just couldn't be any better. A dream job of doing field work and marketing for a powertool company. Driving a big truck, free gas, working with young people, no office...yeah it was good. Seattle was good. Awesome food, awesome scenery, rivers, beer, music, and friends. for 3 years we lived out in the PNW working and playing. I went from being a teacher, which is what I went to school to do, to being a sales rep. Not really a job that many would say " damn I want that job" but just about 90% of all guys out there wanted my job. It was a good job.

Our dreams started to shift back to the east coast. My dad was getting ready to retire and most importantly we were thinking about starting a family. Sandy took a job over here in NC and I had that difficult phone call to make to the tool company. They took care of me. They created a position for me here in Raleigh NC. I took the lateral, and we moved east. That is when this stonehouse project started.

But that family conversation didn't come about for an entire year while here in NC. But when it did come up, we were just ready. This past April it all came to be. Along with that was reality of working too much. The company that I loved to work for was turning. I was working too much, stretched too thin and no end in sight. I had to leave. I knew that I was going to need more time with my son and wife. That priorities had changed, changed for the best. It's just awesome! I start a new sales job next week for a local distributor. Still in sales, still for a great company, just a little bit different.