Big night for us in the basement! With a second column pad poured, and a new support beam installed, and a first pass taken at lowering the pit depth… we were ready to cut a clean ledge for the pour, and to do a final pass at getting things to the proper depth.
The striped line on the bottom represents 4 inches (the actual depth of what we need to get). The line above with the arrows is adjusted for the height of the laser level itself. So if the red dot is hitting that line, we know we’re good.
Bob getting the second column prepped. Note that these are not the final columns, and are just to help raise the joists up a little more. Again, look to the line and the red dot on the left.
In preparation for some work we’ll be doing in the basement, Liz started to work on opening up the transoms on the second floor. While they’re not over every door, we have them over three doors.
Liz and I trekked over to Valpo late in the afternoon today. We were slated to help move some furniture, to get the home TV/Internet wired up again, and to exchange Christmas gifts. Wtih everyone’s holiday travel plans, coupled with the fact that Julie and Bob were getting new floors – the timing just hadn’t been good for us to get together, until this weekend.
A few weeks ago, we got an invite to a surprise birthday party for Brandon and Aunt Beth (whose birthdays are close together). Folks drove in from all over, and were staying at a hotel in Frankfort – with a bus arranged to transport folks over to CD & Me, a few miles away.
Though we were both a little tired, Liz and I suited up after work and went down to the basement to keep the house train going. With the concrete set from Saturday’s pour, we got things ready for the second pour.
Working in the basement felt really good tonight, and I walked away from the evening feeling really proud of myself and Liz. While we had Bob on hand to help advise/guide us, Liz and I fell back into our familiar cement mixing routine.
The past few days, I’ve been on a WordPress kick. On my growing to-do list, I’ve got blog redesigns (one for me, and one for Liz). I’m still not sure exactly what or when I’ll be doing my redesign, but I’ve been making good headway for Liz.
Today, Liz and I went down to the basement for a few hours to tackle the last remaining portion (in the main basement area). We’re close to finishing up all the paint work, and are making a push over this weekend to get done.
A delicious meal of dumplings, pot stickers, and fried rice. If I was asked to manifest my childhood as a single meal, this would be it.
Liz and I arrived on Friday to spend the Christmas weekend with my family in Indianapolis. Though I originally purchased Beasts of Balance for myself… I decided that it would be better as a gift to my niece and nephew.
The ladies, checking out some family photos on Tricia’s laptop. For some reason, my iPhone added this extra blur/gauze to things and this looks like a ridiculous stock photo.
After arriving, we got a tour of the new place. And ended up in the basement, watching a bit of TV. We ended up sitting at the basement bar, watching the second half of “It’s a Wonderful Life” – which was a nice thing to do, as we were visiting for our “Early Christmas” celebration.
A table absolutely filled with hand-made slippers. Meg created a set for every guest who requested a pair – in exchange for a donation to a local organization – Center on Halsted.