Five Weeks Gone

It is hard to believe that it has been five weeks since we have been to our Payson house (I am not counting the quick few hour trip on 4/30). We had so many other activities in May that we just could not get up here any sooner.  It was so nice getting back to the house (even with so much more to do) to enjoy the wonderful weather and things Payson has to offer.

We rarely do much work on Friday evening when we first arrive and this time was no exception.  Though instead, not long after we arrived I received a text from work that one of my servers had crashed and had to log in remotely to bring it back online.  I had just recently requested from my work to have tethering added to my work Blackberry so I could have network connectivity remotely for such an event.  It has been just a few weeks since that was enabled and it allowed me to do the work I needed to do.

After putting in a couple of hours on my work and grabbing a bite to eat, we made a list that night of all the items we wanted to accomplish on the three-day weekend so we would not miss anything.  We would have more time available as we planned to stay Monday night and return early Tuesday.  Since it was Laurie's day to go into work (make the awful trek downtown), I could drop her off at an express bus stop in Mesa on the way and then drop Zena off at home and go into work.

We made a stop on Saturday at Home Depot to get some items and to schedule our carpet measurement.  Looking ahead at our schedule, we should be able to complete the flooring in the bedrooms, den and pantry (the same floating vinyl as the kitchen) in time to have Home Depot install carpet when we come up for almost a full week the first of July.  They could have our place measured next weekend (June 2) and we will have the details in time to order our carpet the next time we come up, which will be in plenty of time to do the installation when we want it.

We removed all the items from the pantry, including the storage cabinets.  I bought some ring-shank nails for my nail gun to better secure the old sub-floor.  This was an extra step we did not need to do in the kitchen since it was a new floor that was set with ring-shanked nails.  We already planned that the rest of the house will need to have this extra nailing as the current nails are old and the floor squeaks in spots due to movement.  After getting the nails in, we laid the floating vinyl.  It was an easier task than the kitchen due to the piece of vinyl being a lot smaller, but the cutting was more difficult due to the A/C air return duct.  But the floor looks great and now we need to get proper shelving so we do not ruin the flooring by putting those old cabinets back in.

Pantries back in the great room - hopefully for the last time

Before photo #1. . .

. . . #2 . . .

. . . and #3

Trimming the floor around the duct

A finished corner

An unfinished corner

Pressing down the vinyl to make a proper cut

The after pictures - #1 . . .

. . . #2 . . .

. . . and #3

To complete the pantry, I bought some trim boards to frame out the piece of drywall for our plumbing access panel.  We had cut it out and had the texturing guy make it look like the walls.  The only issue is due to the texturing, the piece bowed some but it will be behind all the shelves so it should work fine.  I can never seem to make good 45 degree cuts to where the boards go together well and this time was no exception.  My efforts were also thwarted by not realizing one end of the drywall piece was a tapered edge which did not allow the trim pieces to come together very well in the corners.  I am not one to make do, but this time I am doing just that since it will be mostly covered.  I am sure that somewhere down the road when I do not have other projects to do, I will replace it.

Framed drywall board to cover the plumbing connections

We had a great time Saturday night with our friends Bob and Denise.  We had a PaysonDealz coupon for the Thai restaurant in town that we have never been to, but we knew Bob and Denise really liked.  We had a very good dinner though it took about three hours to complete (service was very slow).  Then we went to the Oxbow to try out some of our steps from our recent dance classes.  The place was busier than the last time we were there, but still had plenty of room on the dance floor.  A little after midnight, we called it a night.

The next morning came early as we wanted to get to the craft fair in Pine.  We have seen traffic stopped almost a mile out of that small town on a holiday weekend, so we went up early for breakfast at the Early Bird to beat the traffic (plus we love the breakfast there).  Although traffic was light, the Early Bird was packed and it took awhile to get and complete our breakfast (well worth the wait), then it was off to the fair.  Most of the booths were the same as previous years, but we found a Gold Canyon candle place that had some new stuff Laurie bought.  Of course, we cannot get out of any craft fair without buying some earrings or jewelry and this time was no exception.  After making our way through all the booths, we found the thrift store was open (it is usually closed Sundays) and had to stop.  They had a lot of wedding stuff (dresses, glasses, etc.) that Laurie wanted to look through for Matt and Danielle's wedding and/or reception.  She bought a few things but did not go too overboard.

Back in Payson, we stopped at a place called Grannie's Attic.  It is a place where people rent spaces to sell their antiques or stuff.  It was an interesting display of various items, but even with a sale going on, we did not find anything worth getting.  We then had a little bit of down time before going to Christopher Creek to have dinner with Laurie's dad.

We still had a few things on our list to complete on Monday, including yard work.  While Laurie did some online continuing education courses for her upcoming CPA renewal, I tackled the yard.  About three hours of cutting and raking on the front yard finally made it presentable again.  That is the downside of being gone for a whole month while things are starting to grow again.  All I could be thankful for was I was not in Phoenix doing this.  It was hot enough in Payson and could not imagine trying this back in the Valley.

Forgot to get before pictures, but this was a mess

The weeds were higher than these wild flower patches

Pretty wild flowers under the trees we decided to keep

Caught my shadow in the picture

After a well deserved rest, I pulled off the hall bathroom door and trimmed a 1/4" off the bottom so it would clear the tile that was laid awhile back.  I found some tips online as to the best way to do this task.  I used some painters tape to tape the whole area that was to be cut and where the circular saw would travel to protect the door from scraping and splintering.  I set the saw guide to be almost the exact depth of the door and made the cut.  It was a very clean cut.  The door now opens and closes without getting stopped on the tile.

Got enough of a gap to open, but not for a rug

Since we were staying the night, we had some extra time to shoot our new pellet guns (getting ready for 4th of July peep shooting) and watch a movie we brought for the weekend.  Morning came early for our trip back to the Valley, but traffic was very light.

Stats: 2 Home Depot trip; 2 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 5/1/12-5/28/12: $99
Remodeling expense to date: $40,915