Carterpants

This weekend flew by…

** Friday night was spent working a bit, needed to catch up on a project that had me road blocked. Took me longer than expected but it really paid off.. my Monday was far more manageable thanks to that extra bit of effort.

** Saturday morning I finished up a few outstanding sanding duties on the poles and began to formulate my plan for tackling the decking boards. It was time for a belt sander, there just was no other way. Since that sounded like a truck load of no fun, I threw it on the procrastination platter.

Saturday afternoon was spent editing and uploading my Lazerfest footage. I think I’m getting rather proficient with Avidemux after a few hours of perfecting my technique. I would like to find a program that is more transition friendly but AVM does a good job for basic editing. As the final products were uploading, Jillian and I did some quick shopping and made some dinner. And by dinner I mean two 20oz T-bone steaks baby!

That night we met up with the Cory clan at, you guessed it, Cory’s! It was good to see Ian, Mindy, Sean and Lew again.

** Sunday we hit up Menards for flowers and the belt sander (wow, that procrastination platter didn’t last long..) and grabbed some Tokyo Steakhouse on the way home. Another order of Spicy Maki rolls and they didn’t disappoint! The belt sander made quick work of the decking boards so I moved around front to hit the entry steps. Two boards later and the belt was slipping like crazy. Apparently the belt guide melted. Yeah, melted. Either there is a serious design flaw with this piece of equipment or I just kicked its ass. Oh well, the back deck was ready for stain so we cracked open the gallon of sealant/toner and went to town. A very fumigated 3 hours later and we finished the deck, minus the decking boards We simply ran out of daylight!

** Today I took the Fisher Price belt sander back and they gave me a new one. Yay, I got a new piece of crap to replace the old. Hooray. If anyone needs their Lincoln Logs sanded let me know, I’ve got just the tool. Actually its not half bad really.. I think I just laid into it a bit hard. We’ll see when I do the front steps tomorrow.

Just finished watching the series finale of 24.. now bring on the movie franchise!

One more room complete within the house. Jillian found a color we both liked (and matched the existing items in the room) and painted the walls this week. Next up, the bedroom or her bathroom.

We’ve been talking about adding some improvements to my bathroom, as its rather dull.

Step 1 was to get some back splash tiling up above the shower so no further water damage could be done. I’ve never hung wall tile before, and have only tiled a few times period. This would be my first solo run, but I did enough research to feel confident in the process. Turns out it was very simple and the end result was exactly what we were looking for.

This is what it looked like before the work began.

After a few learning/growing pains, the adhesive is holding and the tiles are all in place.

We spend Saturday night at Rob’s house celebrating Dan and Linda’s 50th birthdays. Grilled out (thanks Ulmer!) and visited with the family.
Ulmer’s Post on the Birthday Party

Sunday morning I was up early to get a start on the grout. I figured this would be the easy part as there’s nothing to align, no border to worry about, just slather on some grainy crap into some cracks, right? Heh, this was the messy part… but turned out well!

We still have to paint the room to finish the effect but so far things are looking good.