So, it’s been a while since I actually sat down and blogged – basically since my Rocky Raccoon recap over a month ago. I would apologize, but you get what you pay for around here. Besides, if you’ve been hanging on pins and needles to find out what’s been going on in my life, you probably should be questioning your life.
Anyways, so here’s a very random recap of what’s been going on. No rhyme or rhythm, but I did include pictures – that has to count for something, right?
I’ve got a sprint tri coming up in five weeks. Yikes. I really need to start swimming! More importantly, I need to drop a few pounds. I’m going to need my wetsuit for this race, and there is currently zero chance that I’d be able to zip that baby up around me right now. If I drop seven pounds, I think I’ll make it in. So there’s my goal. Seven pounds in five weeks.
I had a birthday, and my wife got me an awesome bike work stand (among other great gifts).
This poor little Monkey started peeing blood, and so we had to rush her to the Emergency Vet. That cleared up, and the she ended up with a bad skin issue that we’re in the middle of dealing with. Been a rough month for Monkey.
This guy, on the other hand, has been incredibly helpful as I work on projects around the house. That is, if “helpful” meant pawing at me for attention.
Speaking of house projects, I feel like that’s all I’ve been doing lately. But they count as cross-training, right? We had a leak in the main water line that feeds our house, which lead to a weekend of plumbing for me (I like most house projects, but plumbing is never something I’ve enjoyed). I called some plumbers out to find and fix the leak, but they got real shady on me so I told them to leave. Glad I did since they were wrong about where the leak was. So I ended up digging up part of our front yard and running a new water line through the attic. I only had to cut holes in the drywall in three rooms to run the new line.
Routing a new section of pipe outside.
Had to use a stethoscope to find the pipes in the walls. I didn’t want to make more holes than necessary!
Playing in the attic. Yes, I put on a full Tyvek suit – fiberglass insulation is itchy!
And then there is our bathroom remodel, which hasn’t exactly been going as planned.
Removing the nasty old tiles went pretty well once I realized I could use my reciprocating saw to cut through the grout and remove the tiles in large sections.
Mental note for next time: If the fiberglass shower unit you get will fit through the narrowest doorway by spinning it around, that doesn’t mean that you will be able to flip it into the right position once inside the bathroom. You may end up need to: 1) remove the door from the hinges, 2) remove the entire door frame because it still doesn’t fit, and then 3) knocking out one of the studs and some drywall to get the shower through the doorway in the correct position.
And then you may have to do the same thing for your bedroom door, knocking out a stud since you are 1/4″ shy of fitting through the doorway without removing drywall.
The bathroom is still a work in progress. I’ve made more trips to Home Depot in the last two weeks than any person should have to make in a lifetime. Seriously, I think I’ll count up my credit card receipts sometime. I must be somewhere around 24 trips. Once it’s all finished, I may post a before and after.
But the one project that did go “as planned” around here was the new wood floors in our bedroom. The bedrooms are the only rooms with carpet in them, but having three big dogs isn’t very conducive to carpet anywhere. So, we decided to spend the rest of our tax refund on some new flooring for our bedroom. My wife and I have laid hardwood floors together at least three times. And by hardwood floors, I mean the true hardwood floors that need to be nailed down to the subfloor. When we moved in two years ago, we put down hand-scraped bamboo in most of the main living areas. This round, we went with “engineered hardwoods” that click together. Holy sh*t, what a difference! I helped Natasha with the first two rows, and then went into the bathroom to work. Before I knew it, she had pretty much finished the entire bedroom by herself.
Hands down the best looking person on the construction crew.
It looks a lot better in there now, and I feel cleaner without the carpet. Hopefully this coming weekend I can finish up our bathroom, and then we can stop living in a construction zone. I’m getting tired of tripping over my tools every time I turn around!
Questionably Texan 
I’ve been wondering what you were up to!
Not a whole lot of running, but more plumbing than I’d ever care to do again!
You can come over and redo our shower tile when you get done there. Thanks.
Demo has never been an issue for me, if you want your tiles gone. I’m tired of plumbing though, so you’d be on your own for the rest.
Whew- busy! Poor pup. I hope Monkey gets better soon. And that’s an awesome bike stand. Kelly has one like that and LOVES it!
Good to know about the hardwood. We have it throughout our main floor and want it upstairs but that means having to do the stairs. I wonder if engineered hardwood would be easier on stairs, too?
I put in engineered hardwoods at my moms, including stairs. She had bought these stair pieces that made it super easy. They were basically just a piece of plywood with the stair nosing already attached, kind of like a tray. Just cut it to size, and then add the floor pieces to the riser. They added some extra cost, but made the stairs super easy. No idea what they’re called, but since she lives in canada I know you can get them up there!
Our main concern with the engineered is how well it will hold up to our three big dogs. Time will tell.
I hope your renos are going well and that your pup is feeling better! Your wife is about one million times handier around the house than I am.
When I was little I got covered in insulation in my grandparents’ crawl space. I do not blame you one bit for wearing that suit. I felt like I had it all over me for weeks. (And I probably did.)
Good luck with the bathroom and with the wetsuit!! Go SWIM!!! 🙂
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I have a blog centered on the same ideas you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my readers would enjoy
your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e mail.