More Kitchen Odds and Ends

Countertop installed next to the stove. The space between the stove and the wall couldn't fit a stock cabinet and top.

As if both readers of this blog aren’t getting sick of reading about kitchen improvements. Writing about the progress in the kitchen is a good excuse for not making more progress on the kitchen. Okay, maybe not. But I’m using it.

I didn’t get started on house projects until mid-afternoon. Susanna went for a long walk with our neighbor, so I had a couple of  hours (after our walk with the dogs) to work in the kitchen. I cut a countertop for the corner out of the remnants from the main counter (specifically, the cutout from the sink was big enough to use). I had purchased a kit from the store to laminate the end of the main countertop, and the kit included two pieces of laminate, so I quickly trimmed the extra piece and ironed it onto the front of the countertop.

It took maybe 15-20 minutes to file the laminate flush with the existing surface, and a few minutes to replace the temporary piece of wood with the finished top. I caulked the top edge of all the counters as well as the bottom edge of the upper cabinets.  I milled a piece of sapele for the toe kick. I know, it feels almost wrong to use a piece of exoctic lumber for a toe kick that will get painted – but it was in the lumber pile, so costs less than picking up a piece of wood at the store. And it was almost the right size, so it was a lot less work than milling down a large piece of oak or cherry.

Tomorrow we will paint the wall over the counter, and I will install the laminate on the end of the countertop. If I have time I will run wiring to the light above the sink, and maybe replace some of the damaged floor tiles (linoleum not ceramic tile).

Publishing the blogs

It is that time of year again. Time to look back on the year. Time to get the blog printed into a book. Not only do I need to get this blog printed, I promised the boys that I will print their blogs as well.

Last year I used blog2print.com. The site make it easy to print a hardback book from a blog, and the quality of the printed book is good.  One of the things I didn’t like with the service was there was no control over the size of the pictures in the book. The quality of the images was decent, but they were all a little smaller than I would have liked.  The book also doesn’t include comments. The comments aren’t really an issue for my blog, but for Will’s and Ben’s blogs, the comments would be nice.

I’m trying a new path for the boys. I haven’t decided what do do with this blog.  I am using BlogBooker.com.  The service is free (though to get it to use high-resolution photos you must make a donation (about $14). The service takes the blog and converts it to a print quality PDF.  I can then upload the PDF to Lulu.com.

With BlogBooker.com and Lulu.com, I can only (easily) get the book in a 6×9 or A4 (letter) softcover book.  I probably could find a way to get it to one of the hardbound book sizes for Lulu.com, but it would require a couple of extra steps. Another advantage is that I could open up the Lulu.com books if grandparents wanted to get a copy of the boys’ blogs.   BlogBooker.com also allows comments to be automatically included.

If anyone has a better way to take a blog and publish it, please let me know.

Kitchen Odds and Ends

New microwave installed - the kitchen is starting to feel finished.

Today was a day to work on some of the remaining small projects in the kitchen.  The cabinets are in, so all that remains are the odds and ends to finish up.  If one ever totally finished any room in an old house.

First, I did some more patching of the wall over the sink.  I think one more coat tomorrow and we can paint. Next I replaced one of the broken linoleum tiles in front of the dishwasher, and reinstalled the trim underneath the dishwasher.

After lunch the new microwave arrived, so this afternoon I installed the microwave. The power was already run to the back of the cabinet above the stove, so the installation was quick and simple.

There are still probably one or two days of small projects to finish up before finally finishing the kitchen (for now). But those are for another day. Tonight, Susanna and I are heading out to a friend’s house for dinner.

Small Projects

Ben showing off one of his completed Christmas projects

I’ve had a couple of evenings and a full Sunday to work on small projects in the workshop. Some of the projects are my (continual) reorganization of the workshop, and cleaning up from house projects.

But I was able to get some work done. The boys and I worked on their Christmas projects. We almost ran out of time to finish them – it has been a busy month and they are missing two weekends in a row here.  We get lots of time after Christmas, but that doesn’t help with the Christmas projects.

My friend, Mark, has been over and we have been working on his drunken cutting boards. We should be able to finish his boards tomorrow – then it is time for me to make my boards.  They will have to be “after Christmas” presents.

Last weekend I built two sets of Jenga blocks and boxes. One was made from sapele (or mahogany) and the other from cedar. The sapele on is pretty heavy – we have to play it on the floor or risk hurting people when it collapses.

Will working on one of his (and Ben's) Christmas projects. No one likes to sand, but it is a needed evil.

I’ve been building a better (now my third try) clamp rack in the workshop. The last one wasn’t bad, but took a lot of wall space. I’ve also been trying to add some insulation – just enough that my kerosene heater will be able to warm up the space.

It is starting to look like I’ll have the entire week off next week.  Lots of time to finish the kitchen and get some workshop projects done. Susanna is still waiting on an island for the kitchen.

So it starts…

One has to love fourth grade. Will announced today that he has a girlfriend. Okay, not quite announced. Maybe it was more like an admission.

Apparently he asked her a couple of weeks ago. He even gave her a ring. According to Will, “That took a lot of courage.”  He won’t tell us who she is (though I think we figured it out). Today on the bus she called him her boyfriend. Will said, “it was like an early Christmas.”

Kitchen Cabinets

The upper cabinets hung and painted

It has been a busy week. The boys weren’t with us last weekend, so we had some time to get chores done. The missing upper cabinet didn’t get in until Tuesday, so no kitchen progress. But I did get lots of time in the workshop on Sunday. I haven’t had a full day to work in the shop in a long time. It seems that most free days are filled with home improvement projects. It was nice to take a break from home projects.

We picked up the new cabinet on Tuesday, and hung the cabinets that night. Susanna painted the cabinets and the doors this week, and tonight (after the boys went to bed) we reinstalled the doors.

I still need to finish the wall under the cabinet, and caulk the joint between the counter and the wall, but the end is in sight.  It is already a much more useful kitchen layout. Next, I’ll have to finish the island that I have in parts in the workshop. Maybe I can get that done in early January.

I’ll post pictures from workshop projects next week. The boys and I worked on Christmas projects, so I don’t want to post pictures until after the holiday.

A nice view of me installing the upper cabinets.

Let us mourn

Let us mourn for the senseless tragedy at Sandy Hill Elementary School in Newtown. It is often far too easy to ignore violence when it takes place on the other side of the world, or even half-way across the country. It is much harder to ignore when it occurs close to home (on the other side of the state).

Friday’s events were too close. From the initial panic when seeing a news flash of an elementary school in lockdown in Connecticut – knowing that both Will and Ben were in their elementary school at that time. To the relief on finding that it was on the other side of the state. Then the sadness as the news of the real horror of what happened started making it to us.  As we collectively grieve the horror, we should not forget those who are grieving a personal loss today.

Remember those that were lost:

Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Rachel Davino, 29
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana M Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dawn Hocksprung, 47
Madeline F. Hsu, 6
Catherine V. Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Russeau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56
Victoria Soto, 27
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison N Wyatt, 6

Kitchen Progress

First lower cabinet installed

I’m still waiting on the missing upper cabinet to arrive. This gives me time to work on the lower cabinets.

I ripped out the existing cabinet. It is in pieces in the front yard (here’s to hoping that Susanna gets time to move the debris under the garage tomorrow).

I was able to get the lower cabinets in and get the counter and sink installed. Our original plans were to take the evening off and watch a movie, but decided instead to see how far we could get on the kitchen instead. Tomorrow I’ll make a trip to the store to get the last piece of piping to finish the sink drain and we can get a working sink back.

And (for those following the story), Tucker spent all day sleeping on the dog bed. He got up to go out twice and eat dinner. He is still sleeping. Serves him right for disappearing for 15 hours.

Kitchen with new counter and cabinets mostly installed

Sunday Projects

Putting the ceiling fan back up after adding the ceiling medallion

I spent some time this morning finishing up a project that had been hanging over our heads for a while.

When we repainted the living room, we had discussed adding a ceiling medallion. So I finally got around to ordering the medallion. It arrived last week, and this morning I installed it.

Fan and medallion installed

 

Disappearing Dogs

Yesterday, the Targa and Tucker decided to take a little vacation from hanging out at home. They took off on the hike I took with the boys and them. We were pretty far in the woods when Tucker got a scent of something and off he went. Targa went in pursuit.

It was early afternoon when we went hiking. They hadn’t returned by nightfall, and we all were starting to get worried.  The boys started talking about putting up “Lost Dog” signs on every third telephone pole on Sunday if they didn’t come back before this morning. We even took a drive around the block to see if we could find them.

Nothing. Not even a Tucker bark.  We went to bed in an extra quiet, dog empty, house. Will woke up a couple of times in the night to check if they got back. I had strange dreams about finding the dogs, only to wake up to discover it was a dream (but thankfully they were dreams – I also had a dream where Will and Ben decided to steal from a toy store – maybe I had too much wine before bed).

Finally about 4 AM I woke up to the distant sounds of Tucker barking.  Yes, he is loud enough to hear through the window when he is far away in the field across the street. I went outside and called for them, but it was too dark to go looking for them.

Will woke up at six and went downstairs to find the dogs sitting at the back door. Dirty and very very tired. Tired enough to not protest a bath.