House – Page 2 – Marked Up

Remodeling the Remodel

So far, this is the first. We wanted a floating vanity and I really liked the vessel sink that came with it. (See what I did there? I’m training you on the magic words.) Well, the floating vanity didn’t. It started as the precariously hanging vanity, segued through the barely-held-on-by-plumbing vanity, then ended its lifeContinue reading “Remodeling the Remodel”

Christmas in July

I bought a rifle for myself as a “Christmas” present. The scare quotes are because I didn’t buy it until February and did not receive it until March. I thought that finally mounting it would be a good Independence Day present. It seems very low, but it needs to be lifted up to get itContinue reading “Christmas in July”

How to Rationalize Anything

Or “How I bought an insane thing and want to feel justified about it.” I would hope that anyone old enough to drink has at least heard the phrase, “humans are not rational, they rationalize.” We do things because we want to. We come up with the logical reasons, afterward. Not always, of course (notContinue reading “How to Rationalize Anything”

Building a Castle Wall

The street in front of my house has been under construction since last summer. The street, itself, has been rebuilt. They’re now rebuilding the retaining walls on the far side. (On this side, the houses are the retaining walls; most of them are single-story fronts with walk-out basements in the back.) The old retaining wallsContinue reading “Building a Castle Wall”

Patio Pre-Pour

This happened back in September, but I want the photo public. It’s apparently too big to fit through outlook.com filters. I usually shrink my phone photos, but I want this one full sized. It’s the only evidence we have that a footer (that trench on the far side of the hot tub) was poured andContinue reading “Patio Pre-Pour”

Yearbook Tiles

Fifteen years ago, we had an idea for a fun backsplash for the bar: Have our friends sign tiles. We managed the latter, but we never put them up. They’re up, now. A picture of the whole kitchen would be helpful for context. One sec… That’s the downstairs, rental-to-be kitchen. Rick finished the tile, yesterday.Continue reading “Yearbook Tiles”

Chicken/Egg Problem

If it is digging up the dirt, how did it get on top of the dirt? I wasn’t watching, so I don’t know.

Learning 2 Bake – from Scratch LXI 2

Biscuits The biscuit saga continues so I left the roman numeral the same. Because I’m me, all sorts of things changed. They were larger in diameter because I made them egg-ring size, not biscuit-cutter size, to make bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits. I decided to “go big” and hammer them with leavening. 120 g HungarianContinue reading “Learning 2 Bake – from Scratch LXI 2”

Less Than Half The Host I Was

Ah, nostalgia. I just stumbled across these looking for a picture of Thanksgiving tofurkey, which is highly contraindicated. I only did it once, hence the hard to find picture. This was a church event right after we moved to Denver. That’s why the table is setup in the living room. We chopped 18 inches offContinue reading “Less Than Half The Host I Was”

Grading Fail

I’m not sure what to do about this. The new back driveway was poured yesterday. I didn’t expect a grade test so quickly, but it rained last night. This is not the desired outcome. There is good news: That dry line across the bottom of the garage door is an improvement and the rest ofContinue reading “Grading Fail”