A Nephew and Niece Weekend

This was another non-working weekend as we had family up from the valley.  One of our nephews and his wife recently bought a house in the Show Low area, where they have been living ever since he got a job with the police department.  They invited family and friends to a Halloween/house-warming party and we decided to attend.

Other family members were planning on going so we invited another niece and her husband (along with their adorable daughter, Mia) to stay with us since it is such a long trip to Show Low from the valley.  It was fun having them at the house again (they have been here before), but Mia was older now and our niece was pregnant with their 2nd child.  They seemed to appreciate the downtime as well as the entertainment we provided for Mia.

Just got here and already crashed

Parents getting a chance to lounge around

They brought a tricycle up with them for her to use, though Mia was still not skilled with pedaling it yet.  Mike used an adjustable hiking stick we have to push the tricycle while she was on it.  We were able to go on a long walk around the neighborhood, even up and down some hills.  Mia really enjoyed the trip.  She was very sad when it ended.

Most of the time we just spent relaxing, but we had to start getting ready for our two hour trip to Show Low for the Saturday night party.  Mia got dressed up in her new costume for the event.  The trip over was uneventful, though we had some trouble getting a computer to work for the on-the-road entertainment.  Eventually the issue was resolved and on we went.

A cute little purple witch

The party was fun and we enjoyed touring our nephew/niece's lovely new house and meeting their friends and co-workers.  One of the friends owns a Karaoke business and brought all their equipment.  Mike even got to sing a couple of songs before we left.  We could not stay too late because we had a two hour trip home and Mike is always worried about elk and deer on the road at night.  Just before we were about to leave, another family came to the party with some kids and Mia got to play for a little while. She especially enjoyed playing with our nephew's niece who was dressed up as Elsa (from Frozen). Mia was very sad to leave Elsa so we stopped off at McDonald's for her to play a little bit and to get drinks for the ride home.

The next day was quiet and relaxing and we took Mia on another tricycle ride.  She really loved getting pushed by Uncle Mike.  After that it was time for them to pack up and go home, which made us all sad.

Rocking out, but it is really quiet for the adults

One last crash before heading home

Stats: 0 Home Depot trips; 1 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 10/15/14-10/20/14: $0
Remodeling expense to date: $43,209

Making The House Warmer

Ever since the remodel started back in July 2010, we noticed we were missing quite a bit of insulation from underneath the house.  In addition, there were new electrical wires and plumbing run during those first few months which meant more insulation had to be removed. The remaining insulation, still in the joists, had been put in backwards by a previous owner (paper side down).  We were finally at a point to put in new insulation.

We had been researching this project for quite some time to be sure we were doing it correctly and our plan was to do the work ourselves.  We had also had some conversations on the subject with our handyman Bob, who years earlier had said he wanted nothing to do with it.  However, as we began formulating a plan of action, we realized how nasty of a job it was going to be. In addition, Mike's work had been taking up more of his time than when we started our house remodel, so, in order to get this project done before the winter and not wait another year, we asked (begged) Bob to reconsider and he agreed, although I'm sure that in the midst of the project he wished he had stuck to his original decision.

To save money, we decided to remove the existing insulation ourselves. So we both got suited up in coveralls, masks, eyewear, knee pads and gloves and dove into the dark, dank, smelly crawlspace.  Since Laurie is smaller, she got the fun job of going back into the far reaches of the crawlspace - braving huge spiders and possible snakes - to pull down the insulation which she then passed to Mike (wasn't that nice of him!).  Then all the old insulation was dragged slowly to the crawlspace opening and thrown into our rented dumpster.  We had just enough room for it. We did not get any photos of this activity, but Mike used his GoPro and captured some of the highlights. Here is just a snippet of what went on down under. This was horrible work and we would not recommend that anyone do this themselves. Pay a couple of youngsters $300 and save yourselves a lot of sore body parts.

After we completed the insulation work, Mike installed protective covers on the light fixtures in the crawlspace.  When the lights were installed in 2010, they were just generic bases with a light bulb.  Since that time, Mike and others have come close to breaking off a light bulb or two during a trip into the crawlspace.  Mike also knows that, based on home improvement shows he has seen, bare bulbs like this are not to code.  We bought some plastic cages from Amazon  that connect to the base and cover the bulb (could not find anything similar at our local stores).  We hoped this would protect the workers and the bulbs during the installation of the insulation.

Now protected from head banging

Now that the space was clear, it was ready for Bob and his crew.  We had purchased all the supplies in advance online and had it delivered to the house.  The materials we settled on were unfaced R21 batting, held in place with steel pins, and then covered with 6 MIL plastic sheeting to protect it from bugs and small animals.  It took 3 guys just under two days to complete the whole project.  Laurie took some pictures of their activity for our records as shown below.  A week later our camera stopped focusing which we can only attribute to all the dust and insulation that was in the air. Mike found some online sources on how to clean it, but it was never the same after that.  Will have to add a new camera to the remodeling costs.

One of Bob's workers crawling around

A picture of Bob putting up insulation

After the plastic was put in place

Nice and neat

Even Zena likes the new cleaned up crawl space

Can still see the insulation through the plastic

Stats: 4 Home Depot trips; 2 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 9/02/14-10/14/14: $1,408
Remodeling expense to date: $43,209

A Fun Labor Day Weekend

It is currently September 2015 and we have been very remiss in keeping up with the blog this past year.  Our son and daughter-in-law just closed on their first house and it is a bit of a fixer-upper as ours was.  Laurie talked to them about starting their own blog as a way of documenting their progress as we have done, which got Mike thinking about getting our own blog up-to-date.  He decided it would be better to post individual entries from over the past year instead of one big update.

So here we go from September 2014 (the only recorded activity since our July 21 post) to September 2015.

The Labor Day weekend back in 2014 was a fun and non-working one.  Our son, Matt, and daughter-in-law, Danielle, who were living in Las Vegas at the time, decided to come and spend the long weekend with us in Payson.  We had a great time with them, going to the Pine/Strawberry craft fair (always a good activity) and then we did a little quad riding.

The lovely couple riding tandem

Off they go on their own

It was great to have the chance to spend the extended weekend with both of them and we were thankful their trip back and forth was safe.

Stats: 0 Home Depot trips; 3 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 7/22/14-9/01/14: $5
Remodeling expense to date: $41,801

Happy 4th Anniversary in Payson

On 7/22 we will have owned our Payson house for four years.  We both thought we would be much further along with its renovation, but we have come a long way and had many reasons for the delays in the last year and a half.  We have been very happy with the house, the location, the neighbors and being in Payson just feels like home.  Cannot wait to be up there full time.

Laurie started her week at the house with a visit from the Tub Guy.  She had talked to him quite awhile ago (probably over two years) and had him do a quote to refinish the guest tub - it was in sad shape.  He had recommended that we take care of the tub enclosure first before he did the tub.  So now, many months down the road, we have finally redone the enclosure and are ready for the tub.  We had hoped it would be completed before our guests came for the 4th of July, but he had a full schedule and couldn't fit us in.  It took two days for him to complete the work and the tub looks amazing! It was much cheaper, and less hassle, to have the tub fixed this way rather than to have tried pulling it out and replacing it when our walls were out.  A very good choice.

It's a shiny new tub - no nicks, dents, scratches or discolorations. Thanks Tub Guy!

Laurie found some shower curtains at Goodwill to use for the den closet that have the right colors to match our walls.  They are a little short, and the rod we have needs to be painted a better color, but the curtains look very good in the room.

Colorful curtains for a colorful wall

Since we installed Matt's router over the 4th of July, Laurie has had a few connection issues.  Plus, we knew that the router had a bad connector for the main ethernet port and the power connection easily comes loose, but the router was still working well in Mike's opinion.  While Laurie was on a thrift store run one day, she just happened upon a Netgear router for $5 that currently sells for $80 on Amazon.  She decided to buy it with the thought that, if we ended up not needing it, she could resell it.  Mike prefers Netgear routers over the brand Matt gave us and so he installed it at the house.  Now we do not have to worry about connection or power issues.  Thanks anyway Matt.

This $5 router can be bought brand new for $80 on Amazon - great find Laurie!

Laurie wanted more cabinet space in the kitchen, as well as a cabinet that could be closed off.  Having all the dishes in the open on the white shelf unit did not appeal to her, plus we found the dust accumulation on the dishes was a big pain.  So we found a bigger cabinet at Big Lots in the Valley during the weekend of their 20% off sale.  Laurie brought it up in the truck and we unloaded it and put it together when Mike came up on the weekend.  We had to rearrange some things in the kitchen to make it work, but it looks very nice and holds much more than the old shelf unit.  We hope to find a couple of more shelves to add to it.  In addition, Laurie had bought a rack that is used for holding aluminum foil/saran wrap rolls and Mike installed it on the side of the microwave cart.  A very efficient use of space.

Mike was amazed at the improvements that have been made to these put-it-together yourself kits

Had to relocate the microwave cart to make room for the cabinet's height

Still could use one or two more shelves, but there is free room as it is

Rack installed on the hidden side of the microwave cart

The kitchen changes allowed Laurie to move the white shelf unit to the den for books and games.  She also spent a lot of time putting the den back into office mode after having been used for guest sleeping quarters.  She exchanged the rolling plastic cart used for her nightstand with the one used for storage in the den to give her more room for clothes. Mike has found that Laurie loves to research deals online, shop at thrift stores and rearrange everything.  He is always having to look for items because, where they were last week, is not where they are today.

White kitchen cabinet moved to the den

Laurie took over the wider cart from the den. . .

. . . and gave the den her nightstand

Awhile ago, Laurie had bought some other hooks and racks to use in the house.  Two of them are supposed to be attached to doors and Mike decided he did not want to put holes in the doors for hooks.  He knew we had some 3M tape hooks in the Valley and would check before buying more.  But two hooks she bought are for her towels in the master bathroom and would go into the wall.  She picked a spot and Mike put them up.  He had trouble at first as it seemed the hooks had been around awhile (a swapmeet purchase) and the wall mollies included in the packages started to completely fall apart.  Luckily it came with a different set which worked much better.

New hooks for Laurie's towels

As we were sitting one evening, Mike noticed the room was a little darker and found one of the ceiling fan bulbs was out.  This was a special type of bulb and we did not have spares.  We found some fluorescent bulbs at Walmart the next day that we thought would work and they did.  We bought the day light bulbs instead of the soft white and the room is much brighter now.  We also cleaned out the dead bugs from the celing fan and the entry lights.  They sure do accumulate in those glass domes.

Changing light bulbs and fixing how the glass dome attaches

During our 4th of July get-together, we wanted to make some home made ice cream.  We bought the ingredients, but just never found time to do it.  Mike took some time to make the mixture (it is a cooked milk recipe), but then remembered we had never bought ice for the maker (another reason we did not do it before).  So we put the mixture in the fridge overnight and got ice the next day.  After about 45 minutes in the maker, the ice cream was mostly done and we placed it into some plastic tubs for the freezer.  Later that night we tried some and it was very good.

Home-made chocolate-chip ice cream and it was gooood!

Late one night we heard some groaning from our pipes and there was no water running.  We have a known issue with our pipes that, when water is running, they groan a bit.  We are not sure if we want to fix the groan because twice it has shown us that we had a leak somewhere.  It is still necessary to find the leak, but at least we know there is one and can fix it once found.  Without the groan, we would have never known (poet and do not know it) and would have ended up with a lot of damage to our walls and flooring.  So in the dark we were running throughout the house looking in cabinets and then running outside to listen for running water and found nothing.  However, as Mike ran out the master bedroom french doors to the patio and then turned to come back in, at the entrance was a large tarantula.  Mike had seen one at a neighbors house a couple of years ago and they said they get them all the time, but this was our first.  In fact, one of our new neighbors across the street had just told Laurie that week about finding them in her yard/house.  Mike was too concerned at the time about the water issue and killed the tarantula instead of keeping it.  He regretted that later on.  He hopes to find another one, but Laurie does not.

The tarantula Mike crushed from the night before, almost looks alive

Mike has an electric toothbrush and an electric waterpik in the master bathroom.  They both stand so tall on the counter that they must be moved to open the cabinet over the sink.  Laurie found that she could adjust the cabinet shelves to make room for the units inside, but the power cords would keep the door from closing.  Mike was able to drill a hole in the side of the cabinet to run the cords through and allow the door to close.  Less clutter on our small counter now, which pleases Laurie.

New cut-out for cables

On the last day of our weekend, we took the quads out for a run since we had not been on them in many weeks.  We took them out to the trails behind our neighborhood because Mike wanted to scout out where the shooting area was.  We have heard shots from that area and had seen a big pit one time on a hike.  When we got to the open pit place, there were some boys shooting arrows and we saw many targets and shell casings all around, so that must be the place.  Mike hopes that he can go there some time to shoot his guns instead of going to the range at the southern edge of town.  When we took the quads out of the shed, Mike noticed some bolts in the enclosure were missing nuts.  When we got back, he found some of the nuts on the ground and some of the other bolt/nut combos were loose.  He went through the whole enclosure and tightened all the connections before closing it up.

Securing all the nuts/bolts in the quad shed (the green thing is a bungy cord)

To avoid a lot of dead grass like we had last year from all the rains, Mike sprayed weed/grass killer over the whole back yard and in the ditch in the front.  It took quite awhile with a 2 gallon sprayer, but he got it mostly covered and should be able to see where he missed next time we come up.

Spraying the weeds and the whole yard to prevent new growth

While Mike was working in the yard, Laurie started working on a project to put a fabric seat on an old director chair frame. She got the base at - you guessed it - a thrift store and thought it would work well as a luggage rack in the spare room for guests to use.  Then she thought it could also be used as a stool/chair if we used fabric for a seat instead of straps (like a luggage rack has).  So she found some fabric and Mike found a dowel he had at the Valley house that fit the slots in the chair.  Before the day ended, she had measured and pinned the fabric; hopefully the chair will be finished before we have guests again.

Laurie's new luggage rack/stool project

That is where our weekend ended and, though we had planned to take it a little slower after the fast pace we had been on before the holiday, we still got some stuff accomplished.

Stats: 1 Home Depot trip; 2 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 7/06/14-7/21/14: $436
Remodeling expense to date: $41,796